In looking for a title for this series of posts, I selected words penned by Col. John Beardsley in mid-September 1862. Beardsley, commanding the cavalry brigade attached to Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel’s First Corps, Army of Virginia, prefaced his campaign report by stating, on August 10, “my cavalry was sent out to patrol the different…
In August 1861, William Wintersteen left his widowed mother in New Jersey and made his way to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he enlisted in the 2nd New York Cavalry. [Originally envisioned as a regiment of U.S. Regular Cavalry, several companies came from states other than New York]. An officer officially mustered Wintersteen, (aka Winterstein and Winterstean)…
Built in 1770, Lamb’s Creek Episcopal Church, served as a headquarters for several regiments during the winter of 1862-63, including the 1st Maine, 2nd and 10th New York, the 1st New Jersey and 1st Pennsylvania. Lamb’s Creek Church, King George County The 2nd New York relieved the 1st Pennsylvania on December 28, 1862. The following…
Wilson Vanatta (aka Vannatta) was born in Steubenville, Ohio, just across Ohio River from, what is today, West Virginia, and only ten miles from the Pennsylvania line. Vanatta enlisted in the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry on August 26, 1861. He was a farmer, 22 years of age, five feet, ten inches tall, with a fair complexion and brown eyes and…
Small But Important Riots 