Them Schuylkill boys!

Ethan S.

First Sergeant
Joined
Aug 19, 2019
Location
Carter County Kentucky
I have a special interest in the 50th Pennsylvania volunteer infantry. After all, I've had three ancestors in there! The regiment had a very interesting place in the Civil War. I am proud to announce that I will be posting interesting stories, events and parts of battles that this regiment participated in. This won't be an every day thing, but I'll try to do it often.
 
I have a special interest in the 50th Pennsylvania volunteer infantry. After all, I've had three ancestors in there! The regiment had a very interesting place in the Civil War. I am proud to announce that I will be posting interesting stories, events and parts of battles that this regiment participated in. This won't be an every day thing, but I'll try to do it often.
I will look forward to your posts—I live “next door” in Berks County.
 
A whale of a tail, on the Atlantic coast
On Oct. 29th, 1861, troop carrying steamers embarked on a mission to Port Royal South Carolina, to rid the rebels from the area. The Pennsylvania coal miners, farmers, and tradesmen, who had never been to sea before, immediately began to experience the effects of nausea, and sea sickness, with little to no relief.

"There had been no adequate provision made for so many sick, and the poor fellows were vomiting everywhere they could." - Corporal Nicholas Rice, Company I, 50th PA.

The corporal also remembered dodging several "yorking parties" up in the top bunks.

One things for sure, I don't feel like a trans-Atlantic cruise anymore.

This was the first day, but when dawn broke the second day, the men found some relief due to the glassy calm seas. One soldier said of a sunset "it is truly a magnificent sight, art cannot paint it, and language becomes powerless in an attempt to portray it".

However, that went to hell and a handbasket quicker than most could say spit. On Nov. 1st, 1861, a terrible storm arose, scattering the union boats. They became separated in the howling gale, and violent seas. One boat, the Winfield Scott, lost her masts, and had her bows stowed in. Water came rushing in somehow, and 500 men from the 50th PA were set to work on the pumps. Benjamin Lyon of Company D, was remembered for rallying the panic stricken men to work at the pumps. Officers and crew members praised the men for quick and efficient work later on.


However, a perhaps foolish mistake occurred, when a captain ordered the men to "lighten the load". Blankets, ammunition, tents, and all manners of equipment were thrown overboard. Stuff they needed! The ship sent up signal rockets, but the biggest ship, the Beinville, could only poke around in the dark, to try and find any survivors if necessary.




The bad weather continued the next day, and the ships captain ordered the American flag be flown upside down to show their distress. Some began to jump in the lifeboats, and one captain was remembered, badly, as to yelling "officers first!" and jumping in the boat in a cowardly fashion.

At two points, the Beinville got close enough to the Scott to have men jump to the other side. But as conditions worsened, an absolutely stupid mistake happened. Somehow, the men were ordered to throw overboard their guns, knapsacks and overcoats, to which the soldiers obliged. Finally, on Nov. 4th, the seas calmed, and all was deemed well. However, when the 50th went to make the landing at Port Royal, they had no ammo, no guns, no coat, no tents, nothing!
 
A whale of a tail, on the Atlantic coast
On Oct. 29th, 1861, troop carrying steamers embarked on a mission to Port Royal South Carolina, to rid the rebels from the area. The Pennsylvania coal miners, farmers, and tradesmen, who had never been to sea before, immediately began to experience the effects of nausea, and sea sickness, with little to no relief.

"There had been no adequate provision made for so many sick, and the poor fellows were vomiting everywhere they could." - Corporal Nicholas Rice, Company I, 50th PA.

The corporal also remembered dodging several "yorking parties" up in the top bunks.

One things for sure, I don't feel like a trans-Atlantic cruise anymore.

This was the first day, but when dawn broke the second day, the men found some relief due to the glassy calm seas. One soldier said of a sunset "it is truly a magnificent sight, art cannot paint it, and language becomes powerless in an attempt to portray it".

However, that went to hell and a handbasket quicker than most could say spit. On Nov. 1st, 1861, a terrible storm arose, scattering the union boats. They became separated in the howling gale, and violent seas. One boat, the Winfield Scott, lost her masts, and had her bows stowed in. Water came rushing in somehow, and 500 men from the 50th PA were set to work on the pumps. Benjamin Lyon of Company D, was remembered for rallying the panic stricken men to work at the pumps. Officers and crew members praised the men for quick and efficient work later on.


However, a perhaps foolish mistake occurred, when a captain ordered the men to "lighten the load". Blankets, ammunition, tents, and all manners of equipment were thrown overboard. Stuff they needed! The ship sent up signal rockets, but the biggest ship, the Beinville, could only poke around in the dark, to try and find any survivors if necessary.




The bad weather continued the next day, and the ships captain ordered the American flag be flown upside down to show their distress. Some began to jump in the lifeboats, and one captain was remembered, badly, as to yelling "officers first!" and jumping in the boat in a cowardly fashion.

At two points, the Beinville got close enough to the Scott to have men jump to the other side. But as conditions worsened, an absolutely stupid mistake happened. Somehow, the men were ordered to throw overboard their guns, knapsacks and overcoats, to which the soldiers obliged. Finally, on Nov. 4th, the seas calmed, and all was deemed well. However, when the 50th went to make the landing at Port Royal, they had no ammo, no guns, no coat, no tents, nothing!
Yet somehow the Union did seize Port Royal.
Leftyhunter
 
In search of sweet potatoes...
After the troops had landed, there were of course raids and "acquiring" of local livestock. After securing himself a fine horse, General Issac Stevens noted a humorous scene in a South Carolina farmfield. The farmers fled, leaving behind a massive crop of fresh sweet potatoes. The men from the 50th PA, likely never seen sweet potatoes before, let alone tried them, and the general witnessed the field covered with thousands of soldiers from his brigade, digging madly into the dirt with their bare hands, trying to recover the sweet potatoes.

As a guy very fond of sweet potatoes, I would have been there with them!
 
This is so funny- three relatives also then 4 when another grgrgrandfather mustered out of the 6th US Cavalry early 1865 and must have decided to finish the war with his brothers. Who did my son marry but someone e whose grgrgrgrandfather was in the 50th. My grandson doesn't seem impressed but he's only 10. There's time to bring him around. @Ethan S. , one of the Gettysburg guides is a relative, must know the blood type and mother's maiden name of every soldier, it's crazy. If you ever run out of sources he'd be one.

Harper's did an article on the Winfield Scott. Hang on, image here somewhere. Quite a few in the regiment were boatmen. I've never been able to figure out if that was helpful but the 50th refused to budge.

50th pa gale 1861 3.JPG


Another snip, I think a Philly paper.
gale 50th 1.JPG


winfield scott ship.JPG


I have a book... A History of Company C. 50th Penna. Veteran Volunteer Inf. Regiment.... by J Stuart Richards.............
Company C. of the 50th Regiment was recruited in Schuylkill Haven Schuylkill County Pa........(I live in Sch. Haven)...

That's a great book, isn't it? Husband gave it to me for Christmas years ago. Remember dinner being late that year, how do you not read it immediately?
 
The "Dirty Dutch"


While at Port Royal, the 100th Pennsylvania regiment received an order from its officers to find wood to build shacks to ward the cold, and wet away. The men went to the nearby town, and dismantled several buildings completely, taking the wood back to their camp for the shelters. When General Stevens learned of this, he was infuriated, and sent a provost guard to their camp.

The men of the 100th PA whooped, screamed and hollered, "like devils" remarked one private. The guard was scared off, and reported back to Stevens that "the Roundheads were in a state of mutiny", and no efforts to restore order, worked. Even the officers of the regiment sided with their men.

Stevens then ordered three regiments of infantry, the 50th PA as the main force, and a battery of artillery - four guns - plus two companies of cavalry to surround the regiment. Next he had all of the officers sword taken away as a punishment for the rebellion. There was a shout from the ranks of the 100th, to make a bayonet charge on "those dirty dutch", the 50th PA. The 100th, and the 50th, never really liked each other from the start. Now this escalated things.

From there, the situation calmed down, and the 50th fell back. However, the name, "Dirty Dutch" stuck, as do all bad nicknames. The bickering between the two regiments resulted in the transfer of the 100th to a different brigade. The regiment from there on, or at least those who served, were called the "dirty dutch" from there on after.
 
What's so odd is, while you see German names on the roles, Schuylkill County was like a microcosm of how this country was settled. Besides Germans, there was a good number of Swiss, Irish, Welsh, English- I forget, a few other countries of origin. That area for some reason still gets labeled " PA Dutch " and it's kinda not. Germans tended to be farmers, area's boom depended on anthracite coal and transportation , first the canals, then railroads. Slovak and Italian immigration added to what's a wonderful genetic soup, never get tired of seeing it.
 
On April 9th, 1865, the 50th PA were taking in surrendered Confederates, and sending them back home. The war was over. For some, however, the end of the war was only the beginning of a new problem. What now? Where do I go? Where are my family?

One such incident as recounted by the regimental chaplain, described a tear jerker incident, just for valentines day.:smile:

A poor woman with three children arrived at the regimental headquarters, asking for food for her starving kids. Her husband had been in the war, and they had not seen him for years. They suffered badly without him, as evidenced by their ragged condition. They were shoddily clothed, and hungry. As she was turning to leave, and unarmed rebel came out of the wood line with his hands up in surrender. The woman turned, and screamed, and ran towards the man, and threw her arms around him. It was her husband, just as thin and ragged as they, but he was as happy as any man in the known world. The battle hardened men of the 50th fought back many tears. Some were outright crying. It was a joyous thing to see a family come together, at the end of Americas bloodiest war.
 
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