Last to Leave the Field: The Life and Letters of First Sergeant Ambrose Henry Hayward, 28th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Chapter 10: “The White Starr Shines in Philadelphia”

Chapter 10 “TheWhiteStarrShinesinPhiladelphia” VETERAN FURLOUGH, JANUARY 10–MAY 3, 1864 Hayward journeyed to North Bridgewater in late January. Unfortunately, little information is known about his journey. Hayward returned to Philadelphia on February 14 and he took temporary lodging with his friend William Murry Hall, a veteran from the 71st Pennsylvania. During this time, Hayward attempted to obtain an officer’s commission, but in so doing he suffered disappointment . He had been serving as Company D’s acting orderly sergeant for the past nine months, and he believed he had earned the right to a promotion, not merely to orderly sergeant but to second lieutenant. Orderly Sergeant Barnes had still not recovered from his leg wound, and Company D possessed only two of its three authorized officers: First Lieutenant James Devine and Second Lieutenant Aaron Lazarus. While on furlough, Devine and Lazarus applied for commissions as captain and first lieutenant, respectively. Barnes, many supposed, planned to accept a lieutenancy in the Veteran Reserve Corps. This left the second lieutenant and orderly sergeant positions vacant. Many in Company D supposed that Hayward would assume the second lieutenancy. As Private William Roberts wrote of Hayward to his sister on January 22, “I expect he’ll go back as 2d Lieut.”1 However, another soldier attempted to thwart Hayward’s promotion. Third Sergeant John Oppell Foering began the war as Company D’s sixth corporal. Due to friction with Company D’s original captain, George Hammar, Foering had been passed over for promotion several times. Using his father’s influence with three prominent Philadelphia politicians, Foering schemed to assume Company D’s second lieutenancy ahead of Hayward. State 204 The Life and Letters of First Sergeant Ambrose Henry Hayward Treasurer Henry Dunning Moore sent a recommendation to the adjutant general’s office at Harrisburg endorsing Foering. Captain Charles Borbridge, the officer who helped Hayward rescue Hector Tyndale at Antietam, saw this recommendation when it arrived at Harrisburg and did his best to arrest Foering’s scheme. Hayward wrote to his father that “it is true that Foering has been trying to get a commission over me, but I think he has failed. . . . my case has been cared for by my owne good friends out of pure motives of Justice while I was absent.”2 In mid-February, Hayward received a promotion to orderly sergeant, backdated to January 1, 1864. Company D’s second lieutenancy remained vacant, perhaps to placate the politically connected Foering. This affair distressed Hayward, who on February 26 sent his father a carte-de-visite taken wearing his new orderly sergeant’s chevrons. He remarked: “I send you a Photograph of the would be 2d Lieut if he could.”3 After spending a week in Philadelphia, Hayward rendezvoused with his company at Chester Barracks. The soldiers despised their treatment at this facility; many believed that the sentinels treated them as prisoners. Although a few of his colleagues ran the guard, Hayward refused to violate orders, and he gamely stuck it out inside “this Coop of misery.” After five days in the barracks, Hayward boarded railroad cars with seven other members of Company D and commenced his long return trip to the front. After seven days of railroad travel, Hayward rejoined the other members of the 28th Pennsylvania—those who had not reenlisted—at Bridgeport, Alabama, on March 8.4 The remaining eight veterans of Company D arrived at Bridgeport within the next week. Company D also received several new recruits—both fresh volunteers and substitutes. Hayward remarked that the quality of soldiers had steadily diminished since the war began. One man, Private Hugh Nawn, in Hayward’s words, was “simple and crazy.” Hayward wrote his sister that “he is the strangest man I ever saw. he will do anything the boys tell him. he is the victim of many a serious joke during the day. the boys often fill his pipe with powder and place a little tobbaco on the surface and after he smokes a few minutes it explodes.” Hayward did his best to keep order in his company. He continued, “I have found quarters for him a little ways from the camp so that he may have some peace.”5 For seven weeks, the 28th Pennsylvania drilled and prepared for the coming campaign. Once again, command of the regiment 205 “The White Starr Shines in Philadelphia” fell to newly promoted Colonel John Flynn. On March 18, after...