By J. Bennett Nolan, Esq. of the Berks County Bar
Published under the auspices of the Historical Society of Berks County
Printed by F.A. Woerner, 32 N. Sixth St., Reading, PA
Part I - The Career of Company I
The transmission to posterity of the record of honorable achievement at a time of great crisis is a task which should commend itself to every citizen. The great war brought to us, as to all men, privation and woe. It left a path of blasted hopes, of young manhood maimed or sacrificed in a glorious cause. But it was not without its compensations. It showed us that the old time zeal of this martial county could, on the occasion, again burn high. It evoked in us qualities to which we had long been strangers. Our people displayed a spirit of unselfish sacrifice, a self abnegation, a devoted, united and tireless activity for the common weal which surprised ourselves and earned the admiration of our neighbors.
High traditions count for much whether in families or in bodies politic. The proud military record of fifteen centuries steeled the arm of a sensitive, high strung people, called upon to defend Verdun. And doubtless the Berks boys who fought in France in the trying summer of 1918 were conscious that they were maintaining the high standard set by their forefathers in the Revolution, in 1812, at Chapultepec and on the Rapidan.
It is both interesting and instructive in reviewing the history of our county in former wars to see how, at each new trial, the sterling worth of our citizenry has risen to meet the occasion. Then, as now, men of all ranks hastened to enroll with the colors. Those who felt themselves competent sought and won commissions; the elderly, and the women busied themselves in welfare work. To the men who successfully led the yeomanry of Berks in former wars, to the Hunters, the Muhlenbergs, the McKnights and the Greggs of other days, has succeeded a new generation of gallant officers. Their task led them far over seas under strange skies, amidst new conditions of warfare. But who shall say that they did not worthily uphold the great traditions to which they were born heir?
The war activities of Berks County were far-flung and manifold. Each deserves to be perpetuated, so far as is humanly possible, through the medium of history. But amongst all the Berks units which labored at home and abroad the record of the local Militia Companies is the most salient and appealing. Their members fought no more intensively than thousands of other Berks lads who accepted the great call. These, however, went and returned singly or in small groups. The Militia Companies were the only pecularily Berks County units which fought cohesively and continuously from the beginning of the American Intervention to Armistice Day. They marched out together through lanes of heart-sick, apprehensive townsmen, and they returned together, though with depleted ranks, to receive the deserved plaudits of those same townsmen.
The military system in Berks County has had a long, a checkered, and on the whole, an honorable career. Our local levies were formed along the careless, haphazard lines which characterized our National Defense from Colonial days. On paper, Washington was head of a formidable force, supposedly four hundred thousand men. Actually he never had more than twenty thousand available for command. Five Militia Companies from Berks were organized during the Revolutionary War, the first having been commanded by Captain Joseph Hiester. The Company commanded by Peter Nagle reported to General Washington at Cambridge as early as August 18th, 1775. The men fought well at the battle of Long Island and in the Yorktown Campaign. Discipline, however, does not seem to have been strict and the term of service was uncertain. As late as 1840 nine of these Revolutionary militia veterans were still living in Reading.
Passing the abortive Whiskey Insurrection of 1794, to the suppression of which Berks County supplied some levies, the next appearance of the local militia was in the War of 1812. The natural aptitude and bravery of the men were sacrificed to indecision and incapacity amongst the leaders. Vaunting patriotism seldom dwells on the cowardly surrender of Detroit and the burning of the National Capitol by a vastly inferior force, opposed by a militia four times its number, fighting under the eyes of the President. As many as ten companies were raised in Berks County during the war. One of them, the Washington Guards, was commanded by George De Benneville Keim. These companies appear never to have gotten far from home, and the part which they took in the actual fighting was insignificant.
Then ensued in our County annals, a period of military inaction. The piping hours of peace were punctuated only by Fourth of July Reviews and by Battalion days. The most notable of the Battalions was that of 1842 which was reviewed by General Winfield Scott, who came to Reading expressly for the purpose. The generation of soldiers which has returned from France to a land strangely changed and Puritanized may find it interesting to contrast their reception with that of the military heroes of 1842. The Berks and Schuylkill Journal of May 20th, of that year, in discussing the above affairs said:
"This glorious assemblage of heroes made their annual appearance yesterday at Reading. There was lots of fun, beauty and broomsticks, rum, flying-horses, fights with the guards, fancy military movements, fisticuffs, dances, dice and pitching pennies, and all the elegant amusements peculiar to the bill. The words of command were given with remarkable emphasis and cadence. The movements of the troops were, we are compelled to say, not quite so elaborate as we had anticipated from the known abilities of the commanders."
The part taken by Berks County Militia in the Mexican War was particularly active and heroic. The Reading Artillerists who had had a continuous career since 1794, departed for Pittsburg in 1846 under the captaincy of Thomas S. Leoser. They were engaged in heady and continuous fighting, terminating in the assault upon Chapultepec, at which Lieutenant Richards McMichael was cited for bravery.
The great Civil Conflict gave to our local militia the opportunity to write its name large on the pages of history. It was Berks County which furnished the first defenders. In a harassing crisis, Captain James McKnight and the Ringgold Light Artillery, were the first to respond to their country's call. The laconic telegram of the Secretary of War on April 16th, 1861: "Push forward your company by the first train," is at once an ample excuse and a fitting dedication for the thousands of brave Berks Militia men who served their country so well in the last one hundred and forty years. Eight companies, formed in various parts of the county, came crowding on the heels of the gallant Ringgolds. Their exploits are too well known to require further commentary here.
It was towards the close of the war, in 1864, that the present loosely constructed body, known as Pennsylvania State National Guard, came into existence. Of the two militia companies, whose career it is proposed to detail in the pages which shall follow, Company A has had the longest existence. It succeeded the venerable Reading Artillerists and was mustered into service in 1881 as Company G, Fourth Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania. The first captain was Robert H. Savage. The company numbered fifty-six men.
Company I came into existence during the stress of the Spanish-American War on June 8th, 1898. The first captain was Harry M. Phillippi. Both companies served creditably through the war. Company A took part in the expedition to Porto Rico and received its baptism of fire at the battle of Cahey Pass. Captain Samuel Willits, who commanded the company on this expedition, afterward entered the regular service and died far from his native county, amidst the rice fields of Mindanao.
Another period of comparative inaction, broken only by patrol duty during the coal strike of 1902, was terminated by the disturbance on the Mexican border in the spring of 1916. Both of the local companies were mobilized for service on June 22d, 1916, and departed for the border. They were formally mustered into the federal service and became a part of the regular United States Army on July 8th, 1916.
Submitted by: Nancy.
Last Modified