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Honor, Dishonor and a Widow's share
Even during antebellum times when the occupations of men were more simply defined; Pennsylvania was considered to be an industrial state. Lumber, coal and iron led the list of products but a newer industry centering around glass emerged and the south side of Pittsburgh was home to some of those early workers. Some had migrated from a place where glass was well established and some had entered the trade there. The Pittsburgh of now is not the Pittsburgh of then when the inhabitants led lives almost rural. Among the people who came from New Jersey to work the glass trade were a family named Beebe whose ancestral lines can be followed back to New Jersey, to New England and from there to the mother country where their forbearers had been with William the Conqueror in 1066. There also lived on the south side of Pittsburgh a family named Hartzell whose lineage leaves a trail through northern Europe all the way to the shores of the lake in Switzerland before recorded history defined a surname for the family or a name for the country. Fate thus decreed that Jonas Miles Hartzell would meet and marry Annie Beebe. A match which joined the stock of two hardy peoples who lived life with a simple philosophy of hard work and honesty. The need for containers for food and possessions made the discovery that glass formed into bottles, jars and vessels, a discovery that ranked in importance with the use of tools and weapons. Today we get our food and medicine in plastic which is thrown away or recycled when empty. In antebellum America, the glass bottle was the container most often used. Glass was obtained from deposits of sand suitable for the purpose and the skill of the glassblower was in demand. Freeform glass blowing was the method first used from antiquity and technology was even then developing with the use of molds of wood or iron. The introduction of bottle making machines consigned glassblowing to an obsolete craft practiced only by artists who continue to produce objects of beauty from sand. Glassblowing was a craft that exacted a heavy toll upon its practitioners. A glob of molten glass must be taken up on the end of a tube and formed by the breath of the craftsman while rotating the tube to produce the shape. The glass could be formed by expanding it inside a mold but even then, the force to produce the vessel was the breath of life exhaled to mundane purpose. Many glassblowers suffered from occupational hazards and a backdraft from molten glass could be fatal. Respiratory problems were an occupational hazard and it was not uncommon for the breadwinner of a family to lose the ability to make a living at the trade. War came to visit Pennsylvania. The causes were many but it was portrayed by politicians, both north and south, as the only solution for differences real and perceived. We do now, as some did then, dispute the solution. Civil war was a failure of government. A failure in lesser degree that persists even to this day; and, as then, compounded by political and financial interests, to say nothing of moral issues. Jonas was fifteen years old when he enlisted in the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry. Muster rolls show that he was assigned to the 6th R.I. battery (Randolphs) on what amounted to continuous duty. His name does not appear on the rolls of that battery. How he was taken prisoner is not known. On the 29th of August 1863, the 63rd moved with the Corp to the Second Bull Run Battlefield. Fighting was particularly fierce on that day and the next day, the regiment moved to the right to the support of the artillery 'a' . On that day, the 30th of August he was taken prisoner. He was paroled and reported to Camp Parole 'b' , Maryland. Being on parole, he was not able to fight until exchanged and he left the 63rd on a writ of habeas corpus. The legal ramifications of habeas corpus are many and often obscure. Habeas Corpus = Lat.'you have the body'. Prisoners often seek release by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. A writ of habeas corpus is a judicial mandate to a prison official ordering that an inmate be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that person is imprisoned lawfully and whether or not he should be released from custody. Prisoners have few legal rights but the most important is probably the right to seek release through a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, or a review by a judge, of the legality of their imprisonment. As we see here habeas corpus was often used as a convenience and for other purposes. President Lincoln first suspended the writ of habeas corpus April 27, 1861 soon after Fort Sumter was fired upon. There was a proclamation issued by President Lincoln on September 24, 1862 (General Orders No. 141). There was dissention as to whether or not that action was legal but on March 3, 1863, Congress, both House and Senate affirmed the right of the President to do so. Habeas corpus had been used for a variety of purposes including: Release of political prisoners, underage enlistees and enlistees in militias who were transferred against their wishes to regular units. It was also used by disloyal judges to effect the release of deserters who in many cases were induced to desert by organized groups such as the 'Knights of the Golden Circle' whose sympathies were with the South. Although habeas corpus was suspended, that suspension was not applied as a blanket policy but only on 'discretion' and we see here that habeas corpus was the vehicle used to effect the release of Jonas after he had been captured and paroled by the Confederate army. It is unclear who filed the writ but it is supposed that there was no objection to it even though it was filed some time after the suspension by the President, and possibly the procedure was more commonly used in such situations than supposed. After the parolee had been exchanged, he was free to reenlist and resume active participation in the hostilities. Reference to the papers at the National Archives find mention of a discharge certificate but having been released on a writ of habeas corpus, it is unclear whether such a certificate was actually provided, but the circumstances were eminently honorable for that period of service. On July 19, 1863 Jonas was mustered into Company C of the 193rd Independent Cavalry Battalion that date being the formation of that organization. The 193rd was one of the 'emergency troops of 1863' the need for which was occasioned by the entry of rebel troops into Pennsylvania. Jonas served until December of 1863 when he received an honorable discharge from that organization. According to a letter from the Adjutant General in response to a request by the pension board, on January 30, 1865 Jonas enlisted in Company E of the 8th Regiment, U.S. Infantry. He joined the company February 15, 1865. On April 9, 1865 Lee surrendered at Appomatox. Muster Roll of April 30, 1868 reports him dishonorably discharged April 8, 1866 after having deserted first in Baltimore and then from confinement. The letter from the Adjutant General says specifically the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment, U. S. infantry but according to Dyers Compendium, the 8th Pa. Regt. Infantry was a three months regiment that failed to complete organization. Another reference (Bates) gives the date of assembly of that regiment as 22nd April, 1861 and the mustering out date 29 July 1861 at Harrisburg. The conflict of dates would make Jonas' enlistment in the 8th Regt. Infantry impossible but there was also an 8th Regt. Cavalry which may have been the one meant. Jonas' name is not on their roster in Bates' History of Pennsylvania Volunteers. To our knowledge there is no family legend or story relating the circumstances surrounding Jonas' difficulties with the 8th Regt. Infantry/Cavalry but we quote from H.R. 5186 (an act of Congress) to which we will refer again: "It will be observed that the soldier volunteered and was mustered into service three times and that he rendered more than two years and four months faithful military service. Just why he voluntarily separated himself from his last contract of service will likely never be known, but it may very reasonably be assumed that he concluded he had done his full duty to his country and, as the war had ended, felt free to choose his own time to leave the service." Jonas enlisted four times: Sixty third Regt. Pennsylvania Vols. Aug.1, 1861 - Captured Aug. 30, 1862 and paroled Aug. 31, 1862 June 30, 1863 (habeas corpus) Militia of 1863, Ind. Cav. Batt. Co C. Captain Mathew C. Steel (emergency troops) July 1863 Dec. 1863 Captain Horsbach's Co. of 100 day men which became the 193rd Regt. July 16, 1864 Nov. 9, 1864 Eighth Pennsylvania Regt. Infantry Jan. 30, 1865 April 8, 1868 (dishonorable discharge) About the time the war was ended it was not uncommon for men to go home without the formality of being officially mustered out. In the Confederate armies large numbers of men left and went home without having been surrendered and some units of the Confederate army such as Mosby’s Rangers never did surrender. Considering the magnitude of the consequences of defeat and the following period of reconstruction, it is probably well that no concerted effort was made to require formal surrender in many cases and many Confederate soldiers felt free to leave at a time of their own choosing. Such was not the case for the Union soldier as we see from the experience of Jonas. It is unlikely that Jonas, secure in the knowledge of his own honor and accomplishment, ever felt regret for possession of a dishonorable discharge. He returned to Pittsburg, married, worked at the family trade becoming a glassblower and raised a large family of nine children. Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence. What sometimes befalls members of the armed forces is often less than pleasant, and that certainly was as true then as it is now. Government, a monolith which spends the lives of some members to preserve itself and the lives and welfare of all, must derive its laws and administration from it's members at large and those laws and the administration they conduct are often seriously flawed. Government sometimes forgets its moral obligations when the guns are silent and peace returns. Jonas, possessing at least two honorable discharges would not have been concerned about a dishonorable one earned by actions that he did not deem wrong in any sense of the word. But Jonas, a glassblower, died on January 17, 1891 of a respiratory illness and, Ah! We shall see how cruel and unjust government can be to its own. In 1891 there was no Social Security nor pension plans for glassblowers. There was no welfare nor food stamps. The well being of a family depended completely upon the breadwinner and should he die, life could become a hell on earth for the survivors. Large families were the rule rather than the exception and a widow with children was in a precarious position indeed. From the number of affidavits and letters in her behalf when Annie M. applied for a civil war pension it is apparent that the family was well known and liked. The first letter about her pension claim was dated June 27, 1890. It was an affidavit of the clerk of courts of Pennsylvania stating that Annie had appeared before him with her marriage certificate and confirms the date of her marriage to Jonas. Subsequent letters, arranged in chronological order, number eighty three. Those letters are only the ones that are available in the pension records at the National Archives and it is reasonable to believe that they represent only a part of the total. From the time of her application to the time when a special act of congress was passed on her behalf, thirty four years passed. The children grew up, literally in a state of poverty and the family was held together only by a loyalty to each other, and the lack of alternatives, while the pension bureau took affidavit after affidavit attesting to her circumstances, lack of income and property, ages of children, proofs that Jonas had never been previously married and that she had not remarried and on and on. Many letters passed back and forth establishing the correct date of her marriage and the spelling of the children's names. At one point the bureau questioned the credibility of the witnesses whose affidavits they had received. Finally the bureau ruled in 1895 that since the second section of the Pension act of June 27, 1890 required that the discharge given 'after the termination of the whole period of service' be honorable they rejected the claim. An appeal was made and their decision was upheld. From that time until about 1911 there are occasional letters which are of little consequence but in 1911 efforts were redoubled to secure the pension. By that time, the children were older and some had left by reason of marriage, or employment. Here the letters take on a repetitive character and many of the affidavits that had been submitted previously were requested by the bureau again. Along the way, a woman lawyer in Washington, D.C. had apparently contracted to pursue the claim. She did not, and lost the honorable discharge certificates sent to her. After much correspondence the bureau sent a special examiner to her place of business. Her affidavit stated that she did not answer the previous requests for the certificates because she could not find them, and that she had neither the time nor energy to search the mass of papers she possessed to find them. For one who had lost part of a family's heritage she seemed strangely callous and unrepentant. Then came the inevitable problem of getting duplicates. The lawyer's name was Bella Lockwood 'c' whose name is given today as a shining heroine predating the 'womans liberation movement'. On August 25, 1922, replying to an inquiry by Congressman Wyant of Pennsylvania, the bureau informed him that the only recourse was a special act of Congress and Congressman Wyant followed up on that and succeeded in having a Special Act of Congress passed. Anna M. Hartzell died on September 20, 1924. The Special Act of Congress passed on December 23, 1924. The first check of Annie's pension was cancelled because of her death. The above story is more than a story, it is a true recounting of a man’s experiences with the Union army during the Civil War and thirty four years of government stonewalling, as accurately as remaining documents portray it. The Civil War is a long time past and our country has since been engaged in other wars for which men volunteered to place themselves in harm's way for love of country. All of those wars resulted in men who were, in one way or another, denied normal lives. Mustard gas, shell shock, Agent Orange, Gulf War Syndrome or economic problems, no matter the immediate cause, denial of government to adequately care for or compensate their own people in the aftermath of conflict can only be consided a blot on the honor of the country which asked those men to serve. Fully as much a crime as the crimes committed by the principals who decreed that differences should be solved by internecine war. In the case of Jonas, the committee appointed to investigate the merit of Annie's claim for the Act of Congress, said in part: "In the opinion of this committee the proposed beneficiary was clearly entitled to pension at the bureau under existing law. Having been denied that relief under what the committee thinks an erroneous ruling, and in consideration of the soldier's long and meritorious service, it is recommended this claimant's name be placed upon the pension roll and that she be granted a pension" No act of Congress can reclaim or change the thirty four years Anna Beebe lived in poverty while raising the children of a man who honorably served a country which saw fit to deny their moral obligation to him or his family in the aftermath of the war.. 'd' a. No. AUGUST 16-SEPTEMBER 2, 1862.--Campaign in Northern Virginia. 53.--Report of Brig. Gen. Philip Kearny, U. S. Army, commanding First Division, of the battles of Groveton and Bull Run. Randolph's battery of light 12s was worked with boldness and address. Though narrowly watched by three long-reaching enfilading batteries of the enemy, it constantly silenced one of theirs in its front and shelled and ricochetted its shot into the re-enforcements moving from the enemy's heights down into the woods. On the 27th, with two sections and Robinson's First Brigade, Captain Randolph had powerfully contributed to General Hooker's success at Bristoe Station. b. CAMP PAROLE, Annapolis, Md., August 5, 1862. Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON. SIR: The order which was recently published by the War Department requiring that all paroled prisoners belonging to the New England and Middle States should report at once at the Camp of Instruction at Annapolis, Md., has been complied with by a large number from these sections, and they are now anxiously waiting the further action of Government, and are desirous of learning as quickly as possible what disposition is to be made of paroled prisoners generally. At the time this order was issued it was supposed that every necessary preparation had been made for the proper accommodations of all who should report at this camp, and accordingly many left home with such an impression, and came here expecting to find a state of affairs different from those now existing in reality. It is deemed advisable, sir, to call your serious attention to the highly important tact that there are now a great many here who have not yet entirely recovered from the effects of the hardships which were suffered while in Southern prisons, and who will prove only a burden to the Government if continued in the service, while there are a great many also whose constitutions have become completely undermined and who are now no longer capable of enduring the privations incident to the line of a soldier. All such have a right to demand their unconditional release, and it is asked in common humanity that a more through and faithful examination than that which was recently made may be instituted for the purpose, and that all thus unqualified may be at once mustered out of the service. In conclusion, sir, allow us to say that it is the earnest wish of all paroled prisoners that they might either be exchanged at once so that they can join their respective regiments, or else that they may be discharged from the service altogether, thus affording them the opportunity of re-enlisting whenever an exchange shall be made, so as to <ar117_346> render it practicable for them to do so. The undersigned have been authorized by the members of the regiments with which they are connected to forward this communication to the Secretary of the War Department in behalf of all paroled prisoners assembled at this station: John H. Cunningham, Ninth Maine, Charles C. Drew, Third Maine, representing paroled prisoners from Maine; Robert F. Wallin, Seventy-first Pennsylvania, Charles Brandt, representing Pennsylvania; George W. Bliss, Fourteenth New York State Militia, Brooklyn, John O'Brien, New York, representingNew York; David C. Bradford, sergeant, New Jersey volunteers, Cornelius A. Lowe, New Jersey volunteers, representingNew Jersey; John R. Fisher, Henry A. Page, representing Connecticut regiments; G. W. Fay, John Hogan, representing Vermont; J. L. Fitts, Charles J. Kelly, representing New Hampshire; Joshua W. Brown, William J. Crossley, representing Rhode Island; Charles T. Carroll, James E. Selly, representing Maryland; Samuel E. Hodgkins, William Duffie, representing Massachusetts volunteers. Any response to this communication will be forwarded to William Duffie, Second Massachusetts, company of paroled prisoners, Annapolis, Md. CAMP PAROLE, Annapolis, Md., November 6, 1862. Colonel SANGSTER, Commanding Paroled Prisoners. SIR: Permit me to call your attention to the inhuman practice of sending paroled prisoners to this camp while in a state of extreme <ar117_692> debility, wounded, weakened by hard work, confinement in Southern prisons and diseases incidental to the parts they have come from. Some of them arrive in a moribund condition and are as it were carted here to be buried. These men you are aware arrive from all parts, are hurried out of the various hospitals in large numbers (and as the men say themselves "just to get quit of us") to report to this camp. I wish you to have this matter represented to the parties having authority and have it stopped. I am, colonel, yours, respectfully, JAS. NORVAL. Surgeon Seventy-ninth New York State Militia, CAMP PAROLE, Annapolis, Md., November 18, 1862. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War: Cannot something be done to lessen the perpetration of crime by the paroled soldiers kept at Annapolis? Drunkenness, fighting, burglary, robbery, gambling, &c., are witnessed by us daily, and even murder is not of unfrequent occurrence. A person is not safe to step out to meeting or anywhere else after dark. There are probably fifty gambling stands in full blast every day. A great deal of liquor is smuggled into camp and its disgraceful effects are daily seen. If we are not soon to be exchanged--and it is still thought to be an injury to the Union cause to allow paroled soldiers to return to their homes--there ought to be something done to put down the reign of rowdyism here, and I believe that you only need to become acquainted with the condition of things here to do something in this matter. Respectfully, yours, M. SHAW, Company D, Forty-fourth Regiment New York Volunteers c. Bella Lockwood was, in her time, a controversial figure whose personal history was turbulent. Although women's rights were indeed repressed, she received support to practice as a lawyer from public figures up to and including President Grant. d. Pension amounts varied, but the amount an enlisted man received , while not enough to fully support a family of ten persons, would at least have eased some of the difficulties. © Darrell N. Middleton, May 2008 - Permission is granted to reprint the above without changes affecting context. |
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