Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-04-24
PENNSYLVANIA IN
FIRST MEXICAN WAR
Commonwealth Sent More Than
1000 Troops; Quota Now Ten
Times That Number

call for 250,00O volunteer troops
would be 21,53S-nearly 10000 more
than was sent to the invasion of the |
Southern Republican from the Key |
stone Commonwealth in 1916. Volume
10 OF the Pennsylvania Archives. sixth |
series, contains the names of 1850 vol |
unteers. This is not complete, but 1t
is. approximate.
The State gave good account OF
itself in that struggle, and there are
Commonwealth. One of these sur
vivors, Sylvester Meyers, was married
only two years ago.
Captain Francis ]. Keffers was pres
ident of the Mexican War Association.
of Philadelphia, for many years.
At the beginning of the present year
there were 1.142 Mexican War pen
sioners who saw service and 5,126
widows. There has been paid out on
account of the Mexican War to date
s47.2S2,572.4S in pensions.
The Pennsylvania troops who LETT
home sixty eight years ago had no OPP
portunity to become acquainted with
travel de luxe. They would have re-
earded a train of cattle cars as a lux
ury, and as for present up-to-date
khaki uniforms, looking to the COM
fort Of the soldier in warm weather,
they had not been invented. Most of
the troops were ordered to Pittsburgh,
where they were embarked on all sorts
of watercraft from stern-wheeI steam
boats to flats, and taken down the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Camp
jackson, New Orleans. From there
they were transported to Tampico by
sailing vessels, and not a particularly
pleasant feature of the voyage was
gale encountered as they reached the
Mexican coast, a gale which drove the
transports to sea, where they rolled in
the Gulf of Mexico for several days.
Officers in the Service
With the two regiments of PennsyI-
vania troops were 104 officers. includ-
wounded at Chapultapec, but who
lived to command a brigade at Gettys-
burg in the Civil War. Colonel Geary
was one of Buchanan's appointees as
Governor of Kansas during the bor-
der troubles.
A roster of the volunteer officers
from Pennsylvania in the Mexican
War follows:
First Regiment
Colonel-Francis NJ. Wyncoop.
Lieutenant-Colonel - Samuel w.
Black.
Major-Francis L. Bowman.
Surgeon-John C. Reynolds.
Assistant Surgeon - Thomas c.
Bunting.
acknowledgements Brown.
Captains-John Bennett, Frederick
| w. Binder, William A. Charleton. Ed
mund L. Dana, James OH. Denny.
Alexander Hay, John Heron. Joseph
Hill, T. c. Moorehead, James Nagle,
Robert X. Scott, w. f. Small.
First Lieutenants w. J. Ankrim,
John F. Ballier. Sullivan d. Breeze.
w. A. NJ. Briggs, Alexander Brown,
Abba Ferguson, William H. Gray,
Simon S. Nagle, William Trevillo,
Montgomery P. Young.
Second Lieutenants--Casper w. Ber-
ry. Adam Blucher, Isaac G. Brown,
| William Bryan, Ed. Carroll. William
Clinton, James A. Deany, Norvin Fl.
Golf, Joseph NJ. Hall, Henry Hunter
son, Franklin E. Kaercher, Ed C.
Lewis, W. F. Mann, George Moore,
Edward Rehr, John Ribault. Frederick
Seidenstricker, Lewis Voltair, Jacob
Waelder, Robert Woods.
Second Regiment
Colonels-John w. Geary and Will
liam II. Roberts.
Lieutenant Colonel William
Brindle.
Surgeon-Frederick w. Miller.
Assistant Surgeon-A. M. Cassidy.
II
Isaac Waterbury.
Captains-James Caldwell, Clar-
ence Fl. Frick, Charles H. Heyer, John
Humphreys, John W. Johnston,
Thomas S. Loeser. Alex. Mckinney,
James Miller. James Murray, Charles
Naylor, Lewis w. Smith, Samuel M.
Taylor, Edward C. Williams and John
S. Wilson.
First Lieutenants - James Arm
Sfronp Sopo1tal PIacly Iohp A noxyIa
H. a. Hambright, Edward E. LIE Clerc,
Charles McDermitt, Peter H. McWn-
liams, William Rankin, John Sturgeon,
William Williams, Hiram Wold and
| William Wunder.
| Second Lieutenants-Charie Bow
er. James Coulter. Bivan R. Davis,
Richard Erwin, John G. Given, D. II.
mund Kline, Robert Klotz. Christian
W. Loeb, Richard McMichael. James
McKeen. Jr., Joseph l.. Madison. Wash
| ington Murray, Peter S. Reed. w. P
| Skelly, Stewart Speers, Jacob L. Sper-
ry, A. S. Tourrison, David J. Unger.
General Robert Patterson. of Penn
sylvania, was the senior major general
of volunteers in this war. He was
commended for gallantry and for mill
| tary strategy.
| He was also a major general at the
outbreak of the Civil War, but was so
strongly censured after first Manassas
| (Bull RUM that his usefulness was
destroyed. 1t was charged that If he
had been more active he could have
| prevented the junction Johnstown's
army with the Confederates at the
critical period of the battle.
Gave Country Two Presidents
The last war with Mexico gave to
the country two Presidents-General
Zachary Taylor and General Franklin
Pierce although 1t cannot be said of
the latter that he made his reputation
in the field. He was nominated, how
ever, as a matter of expediency against
General Winfield Scott, whom the
Wings selected as their standard
bearer in 1852.
| Captain Charles P. Neck. of this
city, has an interesting souvenir of the
war with Mexico in the form of a
diary kept by his father, the late
Ephraim G. H. Neck, who enlisted at
Carlisle barracks-now the Indian
School-and served throughout the
war period as a sergeant. 1t gives the
movements of Sergeant Meck's COM
| pany from the day it left until the
day it returned and was mustered out
of the service.