Philadelphia and the Civil War: Arsenal of the Union by Anthony Waskie & Edwin C. Bearss

Author:Anthony Waskie & Edwin C. Bearss
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: ME, State & Local, NJ, MA, MD, VT), DE, History, United States, NY, PA), Philadelphia and the Civil War: Arsenal of the Union, Middle Atlantic (DC, New England (CT, Civil War Period (1850-1877), RI, NH
ISBN: 9781609490119
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-04-01T03:00:00+00:00

Camp Stanton, 19th P.V. Cavalry. A sketch of the training camp of the 19th PV Cavalry Regiment raised in Philadelphia. The camp was named for the secretary of war. The organizer of the unit and its first commander was General Alfred Cummings. GAR Museum Collection.

The volunteer regiments recruited for the cavalry were designated upon muster into Federal service by their numerical order in the Pennsylvania line but were always better known and generally called by their sequential order in the cavalry branch.

The Philadelphia-based cavalry units included the 59th PV or 2nd Pennsylvania Cavalry.280

The 60th PV or 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry was also known as “Young’s Kentucky Cavalry.” The most famous and fearless officer in this regiment was Captain Walter S. Newhall, of the famous Germantown family of sportsmen. He was admired by every cavalryman. In the opening months of the war, he served as an officer under Major Zagonyi in the western army. At the date of his death, he was adjutant general on his brigade’s staff. On starting to join his brother, Captain Frederick C. Newhall, of General Pleasonton’s staff, on a visit home, he was drowned by his horse falling upon him at a fording place of the raging Rappahannock River. Ever afterward, the Newhall memorial flag was carried with the regimental colors at the head of the regiment. He is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery.281

The 65th PV or 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry, also known as “Cameron Dragoons,” was recruited in Philadelphia,282 as was the famed 70th PV, 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry or “Rush’s Lancers.” Army commander George B. McClellan expressed the wish that this command should be armed with lances in the European tradition, a weapon not before used by American troops. This suggestion was adopted by the officers. The lances were provided and were carried by the 6th PV Cavalry at the presentation of state flags on December 4, 1861, in which five infantry regiments also participated, and in a street parade on December 6, long remembered as one of the most imposing military displays ever seen in Philadelphia. Thereafter, the regiment was called “Rush’s Lancers.” It was completely uniformed, equipped and mounted by the Federal government before being ordered into active service.

The unit served with the Reserve Brigade Cavalry Corps, U.S. Regulars (the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry served with the Regular Army Cavalry units and was called the 6th U.S. Regulars by the division commander, General Buford). The first commander, Colonel Richard Henry Rush, was born in England; his father was at the time United States ambassador to the Court of St. James. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1846 and served with the army in Mexico. After his discharge from the colonelcy of the 6th Cavalry, he became commander of the army’s Veteran Reserve Corps. He is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

The lance of Rush’s Lancers was a weapon nine feet long, with an eleven-inch, three-edged blade. The staff was of Norway fir, with a ferrule and counterpoint at the heel. Each lance bore a scarlet swallow-tailed pennant.

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