A Yankee Horseman in the Shenandoah Valley: The Civil War Letters of John H. Black, Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry

Chapter 2: 1862

Chapter 2 1862 On January 24, 1862, twenty-seven-year-old John Henry Black strode into a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recruiting station to enroll in the newly formed Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry. Black’s enlistment papers show that he was five feet seven inches tall, with brown hair and beard, blue eyes, and a light complexion. The recruit listed his occupation as teacher and gave his residence as Eldorado, Blair County.1 The origins of the Twelfth Cavalry, organized initially as the 113th Infantry and also known as the Curtin Hussars after Governor Andrew G. Curtin of Pennsylvania, dated from November 5, 1861. On that day William Frishmuth, owner of the Frishmuth Foundry in Philadelphia, received authorization to raise a new regiment for three years’ service. Throughout the winter of 1861– 62, the unit was organized and trained at Camp McReynolds in Philadelphia. The enlisted men of the Twelfth came from a number of southern and eastern Pennsylvania counties, with more The Civil War Letters of John H. Black 6 than four hundred hailing from Blair County. John Black was in Company G, composed primarily of men from Blair County. Adam Hartman served as Company G’s initial commander. On February 18, Black was appointed orderly sergeant. He remained with the Twelfth at Camp McReynolds until late March or early April, when he visited home on a brief furlough.2 In late April 1862, the Twelfth broke camp for Washington, D.C. The regiment’s commander at this time was Col. Lewis B. Pierce of Bradford County, Colonel Frishmuth having resigned his commission on April 20 after a number of controversies. The unit remained in Washington for about one month, providing guard duty for the city and continuing its training. While in Washington the unit finally received its weapons, although it still lacked horses.3 The regiment was sent next to Manassas, Virginia, scene of the Union defeat of the previous year. From late May through August, the men trained and guarded the Orange and Alexandria Railroad and the southern and western approaches to Washington . John Black and Company G were stationed primarily in the vicinity of Pope’s Head Run, about eight miles from Manassas . Not until July did the cavalrymen obtain their mounts. The troopers were able to receive only rudimentary horsemanship training before they found themselves in combat. A historian of the Twelfth noted that “little progress . . . [was] made in training and discipline before active operations commenced.”4 The men would shortly have their baptism of fire. * * * Camp McReynolds, April 9, 1862 Dear Jennie: According to promise and in order to be punctual and have duty attended to, I this evening will write you a letter and give you a full history of my travels and arrival in camp. On Monday after bidding you adieu I went home, and at 11 in the forenoon I went to Altoona with Martin and Alex and saw them off. I then went home and called on Sam & lady. I spent several hours with them and then made my way home and went to bed and as you are well aware I naturally would take a sound sleep, for certain reasons. 1862 7 Tuesday morning I rose early and took the 7 o’clock train and moved on towards Philadelphia. When I came within 8 miles of Harrisburg, I met Martin & Alex, and so I got off and went with them over the Susquehanna river to the town of Dauphin and took dinner, after which we paraded around through town and made quite a number of calls, among which we called at Mr. Winns’ and got acquainted with his two beautiful daughters who entertained us very nicely for several hours. We then bade the folks good by and went to the station and by 5 o’clock we got aboard the train and away we went for Philadelphia. We arrived in the city by 11 o’clock and put up for the night. This morning we came to camp and found all the boys in good spirits . Snow is as plenty here as at home. The boys were glad to see me [and] I in return to see them. This has been a very disagreeable day. Snowed and sleeted all day, and this evening it is stormy and sleeting at a great rate, but I hope that by morning the air will be calm and the day fair. So soon as I came...