Eugene Boblits, 125th Pennsylvania

Andy Cardinal

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Eugene Boblits was a 15 year-old son of a tanner from Huntington County, Pennsylvania, when he enlisted in Co. H, 125th Pennsylvania, in August 1862. Just over a month later, Boblits (sometimes spelled Boblitz) found himself in deadly conflict near the Dunker Church.

The 125th Pennsylvania was in a precarious position just before 9:00 a.m. that morning. The rookie regiment stood alone and unsupported in the West Woods, against an unknown number of Confederates. It did not take long before the overwhelmed regiment was forced to fall back. "Had I remained in my position two minutes longer I would have lost my whole command," Colonel Jacob Higgins reported.

According to Milton Lytle of Company C (diary): "They advanced in solid columns pouring their balls among us, but every musket in our regiment was being used to the best advantage. As we were now situated there was nothing to prevent the enemy from coming up on either flank, and they were not disposed to allow such an opportunity to pass unimproved. But not a man offered to leave his post." Soon, however, they had no choice. Under fire from the front and both flanks, Confederates closing in on three sides, the regiment gave way. "Had I remained in my position two minutes longer I would have lost my whole command," Colonel Jacob Higgins reported. It was basically every man for himself.

The regimental monument sits on the spot where Sgt. George A. Simpson, the 22 year-old color bearer was killed instantly when a bullet pierced the middle of his forehead. Simpson was found "lying on his left side with his right arm around the flag and staff," Lytle wrote in a 1902 article. "His death was instant, his arms after the battle retaining the exact position they were in as he held the colors when he was struck by the bullet."

Boblits took the flag, still in Simpson's grasp, saving it from capture, and took off at a run. According to Lytle's account: "Private Boblitz, as he bore the flag away, was closely pursued in an effort by the rebels to take it and was wounded in the right ankle and hip. This wound did not disable him; he was still able to walk, but the second brought him to the ground. When he found that he was falling he threw the flag forward, and it was caught or taken up by Sergeant W. W. Greenland, of Company C, who carried it out of danger, and delivered it to Captain William W. Wallace, his company commander." Wallace planted the flag behind Monroes's battery and rallied the regiment.

Meanwhile, the wounded Boblits was captured. He was "taken back into the lines of the enemy and held overnight as a prisoner, and in the morning was brought to the picket line and given into the hands of Union soldiers, who carried him to a hospital and placed him under the care of surgeons." He would remain hospitalized for three months, and was discharged in December.

Boblits returned home to Huntington County, where he continued to recover, Boblits entered Millwood Academy to finish his education. He also learned the tanning business from his father, and eventually moved to New Creek, West Virginia, where he worked for James B. Reese in his large steam-powered tannery. He married Harriet McNeil of New Creek in 1871, and the family moved to Nebraska two years later, where Boblits went into the cattle business.

In 1916, Randolph Simpson returned to visit his brother’s grave at the Antietam National Cemetery (grave #3953). While there, the cemetery superintendent told Simpson that another member of the regiment had visited the year before. The visitor had broken down in tears, the superintendent said, and provided funds so that Simpson’s grave could be adorned with flowers every year on Memorial Day. When Simpson asked who the old veteran was, the superintendent told him that it was Eugene Boblits.

Sources:
O. R., vol 19, pt 1, 491-493 (Higgins's report)
History of the 125th Pennsylvania
Milton S. Lytle Diaries
The Mount Union Times (Aug. 1, 1902)
History of Custer County, Nebraska
"Baptized in Blood, Part 3"
 
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