4th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

Hartranft, later in the war

The 4th Pennsylvania was formed from the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division of the Pennsylvania State Militia, which was organized under the Militia Act of 1858. The latter included six companies based in Norristown, Pennsylvania. In response to President Abraham Lincoln's call for 75,000 men after Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, a mass meeting was held at the Odd Fellows Hall in Norristown on 16 April, during which resolutions promising assistance to the families of men who volunteered were passed.[2] The militia regiment volunteered for a three month term of service on the next day and was accepted by state Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin, who stipulated that the regiment report to the state capital of Harrisburg in four days.[3]

The officers of the militia regiment began enlisting recruits, and by 20 April there were about 600 men from Montgomery County in the regiment. Departing Norristown with a send-off from the people of the town after the presentation of flags sewn by women of the town, the regiment moved to Harrisburg by rail and entered Camp Curtin on the same day. The officers of the regiment initially planned to remain there until the regiment could be strengthened to the required ten companies from Montgomery County recruits, but due to the needs of the state for speedily formed units they were ordered to form the 4th Pennsylvania with the addition of companies that had arrived in Camp Curtin from other counties.[1] With this order, the regiment became a volunteer unit in federal service, and confirmed the militia officers in their positions in an election. John F. Hartranft remained colonel, Edward Schall lieutenant colonel, and Edwin Schall major.[3] When it was mustered in on that day, the regiment numbered 795 officers and men.[1]

The 4th Pennsylvania quickly received marching orders after finishing its organization, and departed for Philadelphia by rail on 21 April, where it was ordered by General Robert Patterson to report to Colonel Charles P. Dare of the 23rd Pennsylvania. With one company of the 23rd and the entire 4th, Dare moved by rail to Perryville, Maryland, to take control of the town and prevent a surprise Confederate attack. On the next day, Patterson ordered the regiment sent to Washington immediately. As the regiment could not pass through Baltimore at the time due to the unrest of the Baltimore riot, its officers requested Dare to obtain a steamer to bring the regiment to Annapolis, but the latter only allowed half of the regiment to depart as he felt wary of the risk of attack. Hartranft led the half of the regiment sent to Annapolis, where they were billeted in the buildings of the Naval Academy there. The other half of the regiment, under the command of Major Schall, was left at Perryville for a week before it rejoined the regiment at Annapolis.[3]

While at Annapolis, the 4th Pennsylvania received clothing that its men departed Camp Curtin without in their haste on 28 April. The regiment was intended to be fully clothed, armed, and equipped at the latter, but left without uniforms and equipment, carrying ammunition for their muskets in their pockets. However, these blouses and pants that they received were "made of damaged goods of inferior quality," as observed by industrialist Benjamin Haywood, dispatched by Curtin to investigate after widespread complaints.[5] The 4th Pennsylvania would not receive uniforms until June, after it arrived at the capital on 8 May, where it found accommodations in the Assembly Rooms on Louisiana Avenue and the nearby Trinity Church as it was unable to go into camp due to a lack of tents.[6] The resulting close quarters resulted in disease becoming rampant, and when the regiment received tents it encamped two miles from the city near Bladensburg. At the camp, it began regular drilling and inspections after receiving the necessary equipment.[3]

Situation on 18 July 1861

The 4th Pennsylvania was sent to Alexandria, Virginia, where it was encamped on Shuter's Hill, in readiness for a Confederate attack, on 24 June. At 02:00 on 30 June, three pickets of the regiment under the command of a second lieutenant from Company B on the Old Fairfax Road were attacked by a superior Confederate force that they repulsed, killing one Confederate. Three other pickets from Company E, attempting to rescue the original three, also engaged the Confederates, losing one killed and another severely wounded.[3]

In preparation for an advance, baggage deemed unnecessary was sent to the rear, along with knapsacks and overcoats. The regiment became part of the Colonel William B. Franklin's 1st Brigade of Samuel P. Heintzelman's 3rd Division of the Army of Northeast Virginia, which was commanded by Brigadier General Irvin McDowell. The other regiments of the brigade, supported by Rickett's Battery, were the 5th Massachusetts, the 11th Massachusetts, and the 1st Minnesota. In the preliminary movements of the Manassas campaign, the division left camp on the Old Fairfax Road, arriving at Sangster's Station late on 18 July. That day they heard firing from the Battle of Blackburn's Ford, and on the next day the regiment encamped with McDowell's army at Centreville.[3]

As the 4th Pennsylvania's three month term of enlistment expired on 20 July, the soldiers of the regiment spent that day discussing whether they should remain with the army or return to Pennsylvania. McDowell sought to keep the regiment with the army for the upcoming battle, promising that the regiment would not have to serve more than two more weeks, but also stated that those who did not wish to continue their service would be sent to the rear. The appeals of McDowell and Hartranft to patriotic duty fell on deaf ears: many in the regiment were willing to stay, but others wanted to muster out as scheduled due to their previous negative experiences with lack of equipment, and they believed that they were entitled to a rest as they planned to reenlist in new three years' units, which regimental officers were preparing to organize following the expiry of the three-month term. Preferring not to send the 4th Pennsylvania into battle understrength with only the men who wished to remain, McDowell, who considered the repulse at Blackburn's Ford the cause of the discord,[8] decided to send the entire regiment to be mustered out. Hartranft and Captain Walter H. Cooke of Company K stayed with the army, serving on the staffs of Franklin's brigade and David Hunter's division, respectively.[3] Cooke, after finding that only a half dozen of his men stepped forward to fight in response to his question, left in disgust and initially started for the camp of the New York Fire Zouaves to serve as a private before being told he could be more useful with the staff of a unit.[9] Both distinguished themselves during the Battle of Bull Run and were awarded the Medal of Honor in the late 1880s.[10][11]

On 21 July, as the Battle of Bull Run began, the 4th Pennsylvania remained in the rear; it and Varian's New York Battery of the 8th New York Infantry were the only three-month units to refuse to fight in the battle. Later that day, the regiment struck camp and marched back to Fairfax Court House under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Schall, its departure witnessed by numerous reports who ensured that its actions would be widely denounced. They passed Ambrose Burnside's brigade and fleeing civilians on their way to the rear, who derided them. The 4th Pennsylvania was not in unanimous agreement on departing, with Corporal Joseph K. Corson of Company K later recounting that he was ashamed of marching away from the sound of the guns, and others felt similarly. Journalist William H. Russell acknowledged that "perhaps the Fourth Pennsylvania were right, but let us hear no more of the excellence of three months' service volunteers."[11] After arriving at Washington, the regiment proceeded to Harrisburg via rail for its mustering out,[3] which soon followed on 27 July.[12]

• Auge, Moses (1879). Lives of the Eminent Dead: And Biographical Notices of Prominent Living Citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. Norristown. OCLC 22035820.
• Bates, Samuel P. (1869a). History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5. I. Harrisburg: State Printer. OCLC 16043577.
• Bates, Samuel P. (1869b). History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5. II. Harrisburg: State Printer. OCLC 16043577.
• Davis, William C. (1981) [1977]. Battle at Bull Run: A History of the First Major Campaign of the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807108673.
• Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines: Dyer Publishing Company. OCLC 8697590.
• Field, Ron (2013). Lincoln's 90-Day Volunteers 1861. Men-at-Arms 489. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 9781780969183.
• Heitman, Francis B. (1903). Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army. I. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. OCLC 1200947.
• Longacre, Edward G. (2014). The Early Morning of War: Bull Run, 1861. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806147611.
• Russell, William H. (1861). The Battle of Bull Run. New York: Rudd & Carleton. OCLC 24099974.
• Sauers, Richard A. (1987). Advance the Colors!: Pennsylvania Civil War Battle Flags. 1. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee. ISBN 9780818200908.
• Sauers, Richard A. (2013). "Hartranft, John Frederick". In Tucker, Spencer C. (ed.). American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. III. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 876–877. ISBN 9781851096824.