November 1861: 2nd NJ Brigade Leaves NJ

By late November 1861, the regiments of the Second New Jersey Brigade were trained and ready to be transported to Washington, D.C. and Virginia. 

In July 1861, during the State's second call up of three-year volunteer troops, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Infantry Regiments were created along with Batteries A & B of the NJ Volunteer Artillery.  The 4th NJ Volunteer Infantry Regiment and Battery A were assigned to the First NJ Brigade to join the 1st, 2nd and 3rd NJ Volunteer Infantry Regiments, which were already in Washington, DC and had taken part in the 1st Battle of Manassas [Bull Run].   The 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th NJV regiments along with Battery B were to form the Second NJ Brigade. 

Warren County men who enlisted in the 4th NJ Volunteer Infantry Regiment in August 1861 were: Company B: George W. Acker, of Mountain Lake,  Company C: Hiram Schultz, of Belvidere; Company D: John W. Whittey, of Washington; Company I: Corporal Joseph L. Young, of Phillipsburg; and Company K: George W. Hartman, of Hope.  

Men who enlisted in the 4th NJV later in 1864 and 1865 - many as substitutes - were: Company A: Frederick Fisher, of Phillipsburg; Company D: William Hoff, of Harmony, and William G. Tomer, of Phillipsburg; Company E: John Donovan, of Millbrook, and John Madigan, of Hackettstown; Company G: Reverend Isaac J. Cooke, of Phillipsburg, and William B. Smith, of Asbury; and Company I: Daniel O'Brien, of Dunfield/Belvidere.  John Hart, alias Jacob Hart, of Hackettstown, enlisted in Company B on 2 February 1864 but deserted en route to the regiment. Hart enlisted in Company A as a substitute on 19 June 1865 and deserted in February 1865. 

Warren County men who enlisted in the 5th NJ Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1861 were: Company G: Thomas M. Baker, of Port Murray; and Company H: John David Ensley [Inslee], of Phillipsburg, and William Reimer [Ryman], of Washington.   In 1864, William Cole, of Belvidere, and Frederick Kling, of Phillipsburg, enlisted in Company A.

Warren County men who enlisted in the 6th NJ Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1861 were: Assistant Regimental Surgeon: Dr. Redford Sharp, of Belvidere;  Company B: Corporal Peter S. Mutchler and Corporal George R. Shebbard [Shebbeard], of Phillipsburg; Company F: James M. Tate, of Phillipsburg; Company H: Augustus Fisher, of Riegelsville, and Simon Snyder, of Hope; and Company K: William H. Randolph, of Phillipsburg.  Joining the regiment later were: Assistant Regimental Surgeon:  Dr. Henry M. Fagan, of Oxford (1863); and Company I: Albert Herman, of Phillipsburg (1864).

Copyright 1997-2011: Jay C. Richards

October 29, 1861: 47th PA In Vienna, VA

On October 29, 1861, the men of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment were in a picket line near Vienna, VA.  Captain J. P. S. Gobin's Company C was assigned to picket duty near a farm house owned by a man named Stewart.  Stewart was married to the sister of James Jackson - the hotel owner who killed Colonel Elmer Ellsworth in Alexandria, VA at the start of the war a few months earlier. 

Stewart was a quartermaster in the Confederate Army.  Mrs. Stewart had been arrested and sent to Washington, D.C. after she was caught passing information to Confederate spies. 

Gobin went through the house and found a note addressed to Mrs. Stewart from two Confederate cavalry officers.  the note stated, "Mrs. Stewart: Please accept our most hearty thanks for the nice breakfast we have partaken of, and of the kindness manifested to Southern soldiers.  May your sorrows be dreams, and your joys bright realities.  Your Friends, J. R. Rambo and J. B. Edmundson.  Sept. 10, 1861"

Captain Gobin reported, "This was written on the back of an envelope directed to James Rambo, 1st Regiment Virginia Cavalry, in care of Capt. W. E. Jones, of the Washington Mounted Rifles... We found several slaves and two small children at Stewart's, who are all in a state of want, and dependent upon our army for their daily subsistence."

Copyright 1999-2011: Jay C. Richards