Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-08-09
IN THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY
DAY
AT GREENCASTLE
William p. Wilhelm Pays
Tribute to Brave Officer
at Celebration

Greencastle, Pa, Aug. 9.-Dahl-
Gren Day was celebrated at Green
castles Old Home Week Tuesday. It
brought great crowds to the town
from all over the country. William
p. Wilhelm, of Pottsville, an "old
Greencastle boy" delivered an ad-
dress in which he said: THE emf
grants who came from the north Of
Ireland and selected the fertile fields
in this beautiful valley did not fore
see the struggle that was to take
place in this great limestone belt
bounded on the northeast by the
Susquehanna and on the southwest
by the James river. The Potomac,
fourteen miles to the south, was the
great divide in the battle for SUI
premacy between the North and the
South.
The fact that Winchester was
taken and retaken twenty-seven
times goes to show the military ac-
tivities of the contending forces in
the Shenandoah Valley, during those
four years of the Civil War. Here
in Greencastle we were, during the
war, in the line of moving troops.
John Brown, in his dream of free
black man, selected Chambersburg
for his base. Brown
spent one night in Greencastle and
told few Greehcastle people of
his struggles and hopes. We lived
in a turmoil of excitement and an
xiety from the time of John Browns
fiasco at Harper's Ferry until Lee
surrendered. We. could even hear
the big guns at Antietam and Banks
retreat taxed us to the limit to pro-
vid food and shelter for the south
ern negro refugees. =.
I'VE saw one little band of boys
in blue a number of times during
the invasion, paying visits to our
own. They were commanded by a
handsome, manly, intrepid leader,
whose name is so enshrined in the
hearts of those who recall his deeds
that it scarcely needs mention, Colo
mel Uric Dahlgren. No one has re-
corded all the trips Uric Dahlgren
made to Greencastle from the time
the Confederates first passed
through here, until he made his sal
lies on them in their retreat. But
as to at least four l can bear wit
ness through personal knowledge.
born April 3, 1912, in Bucks county
When but six years old Admiral
Dahlgren. his father took his fam
lily to Washington. The father had
charge of the ordnance department
of the United States Navy at Wash
ington.
During the month of August,
1852, Dahlgren was in all the active
fighting with General Mcdowell,
General Sigel, Captain Reynolds and
General Banks. General Sigel COM
manded his services during that
period as being most valuable Cen
eral Sigel, with the endorsement of
President Lincoln, and others high
in command, requested the governor
of Pennsylvania to appoint Captain
Dahlgren a major of artillery, so
that he might be made chief of ar
tillery of the Eleventh Corps. Some
difficulties of routine, however, in
terfered and the appointment was
not made.
There was maneuvering and
counter-maneuvering along the Rap
pahannock in May and early June,
1863. In June Dahlgren joined
General Pleasonton. The fight at
Beverly Ford on June 8 further
proved the courage of this young
hero. In all account of that battle,
it was said: Captain Dahlgren, of
General Hooker's staff, a model of
cool and dauntless bravery, charged
with the regiment and his horse was
shot in two places
Then came the plans for the in
vasion of the North by the Con-
federates. Dahlgren was so busy
scouting that General Hooker made
special mention of his zeal and his
efficiency.
July 4, 1868, was the most men,
orable day Greencastle ever had.
The capture of the dispatch bearers
on July 2 was through the wild dash
of few men coming out of alleys
and streets, in South Carlisle street,
heading for the square. The way
they pounced on the message bear
ers was enough TO make them be-
lieve there were thousands sup
porting the Dahlgren attack. But,
eclipsing that, was the contest on the
Fourth of July, with several hun
dred of Jenkins cavalry disputing
the ground. My father, an aged
man, and l were on the hills of the
southeast of the town. We were en-
deavoring to save as much as we
could of the ripened wheat. L was
then almost eight years old, and
carried water for the workers. We
saw the fight and heard the flying
bullets. On July 5 Captain Dahl
gren led an attack on the retreat
ing Confederates, resulting in the
destruction of 176 wagons.
ION July he was wounded in
fight at Boonsboro. This wound re-
suited in the amputation of his leg.
His wound was not yet healed, nor
his strength restored when he
visited his father, then in command
of the South Atlantic Blockading
Squadron in November, 1863"
WED AT CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS