Born in Pennsylvania sometime around 1838, Henry J. Schlagle was a 22-year-old stone mason residing in Moorestown, Bushkill Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania with his 21-year-old wife, Sabina, in 1860.
CIVIL WAR MILITARY SERVICE
Henry J. Schlagle enrolled for Civil War Military service at Moorestown in Northampton County, Pennsylvania on 16 September 1862, and mustered in as a Private with Company H of the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on 10 October 1862. He mustered out on 28 February 1863.
On 24 February 1864, 26-year-old Henry J. Schlagle then enrolled and mustered in for a three-year term of military service at Easton in Northampton County, Pennsylvania as a Private with Company I of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
Muster rolls indicate that he joined up with his regiment from a recruiting depot on 18 September 1864, documenting that he served with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the pivotal 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign spearheaded by legendary Union General Philip H. Sheridan during the Fall of 1864.
By the next day, Private Henry Schagle was engaged with his regiment in the Battle of Opequan (19 September 1864) and then in the Battle of Fisher's Hill (21-22 September 1864). The Union Army's victories during these engagements are viewed by many historians today as having played a key role in helping President Abraham Lincoln to win a second term in office.
And then came the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia on 19 October 1864. It was bloody, it was ugly - but it was a decisive win for the Union. Helping General Sheridan achieve that win were Private Henry Schlagle and the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.
But it was a costly day for the Keystone State natives. The 47th Pennsylvania sustained more than a hundred casualties - the equivalent of two of its ten companies. Men were cut down immediately, mortally wounded, or disabled so severely that they would be released weeks or months later on Surgeons' Certificates of Disability.
Still others were carted from Virginia's battlfields off to Confederate prisons at Andersonville, Georgia, Richmond, Virginia and Salisbury, North Carolina. Of those captured by Confederate forces, only a handful survived.
CAPTURED BY THE CONFEDERATE ARMY AND HELD AS A PRISONER OF WAR (POW) UNTIL HIS DEATH
Among the unfortunates taken prisoner at Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864 was Private Henry J. Schlagle of the 47th Pennsylvania's I Company. Taken by forced march and train to North Carolina, he was interned at the Confederate Army's prison camp in Rowan County, near Salisbury.
His time at Salisbury was hard and short; he died there just over two months after his capture and three days after Christmas on 28 December 1864.
The "Roll of Honor No. XIV: Names of Soldiers Who in Defence of the American Union, Suffered Martyrdom in the Prison Pens throughout the South," published by the U.S. Quartermaster General’s Office on 20 February 1868 confirms this date of death, and indicates that Private Schlagle died from catarrh; however the entry for him in the Union Army’s Register of Deaths of Volunteer Soldiers indicates that he died on 27 December and notes that his cause of death was “not stated.”
Both sources spelled his name incorrectly – the Army Register listing him as “Leaghlefle, Henry,” and the Honor Roll as “Seahlegel, Henry.” His entry number on the Quartermaster’s POW Honor Roll is No. 2807.
The U.S. Adjutant General's Office, in an affidavit prepared for the Civil War Widow's Pension file for Henry's wife, stated that he died of "starvation," and spelled his name as "Henry J. Schlegel."
BURIAL
The precise location of Private Schlagle’s grave remains unknown. There were two cemeteries created for the Confederate Army’s prison camp near Salisbury in Rowan County, North Carolina. A small “Lutheran Cemetery," located roughly 150 yards northwest of the North Carolina Railroad’s depot held an estimated 100 bodies of Union soldiers. Initially interred haphazardly in unmarked graves by Confederate Army soldiers, these bodies were exhumed and reinterred by the U.S. government at the main Salisbury cemetery following the war.
The largest contingent of men were interred in Salisbury's primary burial ground. Located on a hill within one hundred yards of the North Carolina Railroad and roughly one half mile southwest of Salisbury, this POW cemetery was also largest in terms of its half-acre land mass. The 5,000 Union soldiers here – the equivalent of five regiments – were buried together, without coffins or identification - in 13 trenches.
As a result, although historian Samuel P. Bates, et. al. placed Private Schlagle’s burial date as 13 or 18 January 1865, based on information from surviving POWs which may or may not have been reliable, Private Henry Schlagle’s exact, individual grave location and date of burial will never be confirmed.
He was just 26 years old when he gave his life to preserve America's Union.
Sources:
1. Bates, Samuel P. "History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5." Harrisburg: 1869.
2. "Registers of Deaths of U.S. Volunteers," in Records of the U.S. Quartermaster General. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration: 1861-1865.
3. "Civil War Muster Rolls," in Records of the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs (Record Group 19, Series 19.11). Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
4. Civil War Veterans' Card File. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives, 1862-1864.
5. "Roll of Honor No. XIV: Names of Soldiers Who in Defence of the American Union, Suffered Martyrdom in the Prison Pens," in Records of the U.S. Office of the Quartermaster General. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 20 February 1868.
6. U.S. Census: 1860.
Born in Pennsylvania sometime around 1838, Henry J. Schlagle was a 22-year-old stone mason residing in Moorestown, Bushkill Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania with his 21-year-old wife, Sabina, in 1860.
CIVIL WAR MILITARY SERVICE
Henry J. Schlagle enrolled for Civil War Military service at Moorestown in Northampton County, Pennsylvania on 16 September 1862, and mustered in as a Private with Company H of the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on 10 October 1862. He mustered out on 28 February 1863.
On 24 February 1864, 26-year-old Henry J. Schlagle then enrolled and mustered in for a three-year term of military service at Easton in Northampton County, Pennsylvania as a Private with Company I of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
Muster rolls indicate that he joined up with his regiment from a recruiting depot on 18 September 1864, documenting that he served with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the pivotal 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign spearheaded by legendary Union General Philip H. Sheridan during the Fall of 1864.
By the next day, Private Henry Schagle was engaged with his regiment in the Battle of Opequan (19 September 1864) and then in the Battle of Fisher's Hill (21-22 September 1864). The Union Army's victories during these engagements are viewed by many historians today as having played a key role in helping President Abraham Lincoln to win a second term in office.
And then came the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia on 19 October 1864. It was bloody, it was ugly - but it was a decisive win for the Union. Helping General Sheridan achieve that win were Private Henry Schlagle and the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.
But it was a costly day for the Keystone State natives. The 47th Pennsylvania sustained more than a hundred casualties - the equivalent of two of its ten companies. Men were cut down immediately, mortally wounded, or disabled so severely that they would be released weeks or months later on Surgeons' Certificates of Disability.
Still others were carted from Virginia's battlfields off to Confederate prisons at Andersonville, Georgia, Richmond, Virginia and Salisbury, North Carolina. Of those captured by Confederate forces, only a handful survived.
CAPTURED BY THE CONFEDERATE ARMY AND HELD AS A PRISONER OF WAR (POW) UNTIL HIS DEATH
Among the unfortunates taken prisoner at Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864 was Private Henry J. Schlagle of the 47th Pennsylvania's I Company. Taken by forced march and train to North Carolina, he was interned at the Confederate Army's prison camp in Rowan County, near Salisbury.
His time at Salisbury was hard and short; he died there just over two months after his capture and three days after Christmas on 28 December 1864.
The "Roll of Honor No. XIV: Names of Soldiers Who in Defence of the American Union, Suffered Martyrdom in the Prison Pens throughout the South," published by the U.S. Quartermaster General’s Office on 20 February 1868 confirms this date of death, and indicates that Private Schlagle died from catarrh; however the entry for him in the Union Army’s Register of Deaths of Volunteer Soldiers indicates that he died on 27 December and notes that his cause of death was “not stated.”
Both sources spelled his name incorrectly – the Army Register listing him as “Leaghlefle, Henry,” and the Honor Roll as “Seahlegel, Henry.” His entry number on the Quartermaster’s POW Honor Roll is No. 2807.
The U.S. Adjutant General's Office, in an affidavit prepared for the Civil War Widow's Pension file for Henry's wife, stated that he died of "starvation," and spelled his name as "Henry J. Schlegel."
BURIAL
The precise location of Private Schlagle’s grave remains unknown. There were two cemeteries created for the Confederate Army’s prison camp near Salisbury in Rowan County, North Carolina. A small “Lutheran Cemetery," located roughly 150 yards northwest of the North Carolina Railroad’s depot held an estimated 100 bodies of Union soldiers. Initially interred haphazardly in unmarked graves by Confederate Army soldiers, these bodies were exhumed and reinterred by the U.S. government at the main Salisbury cemetery following the war.
The largest contingent of men were interred in Salisbury's primary burial ground. Located on a hill within one hundred yards of the North Carolina Railroad and roughly one half mile southwest of Salisbury, this POW cemetery was also largest in terms of its half-acre land mass. The 5,000 Union soldiers here – the equivalent of five regiments – were buried together, without coffins or identification - in 13 trenches.
As a result, although historian Samuel P. Bates, et. al. placed Private Schlagle’s burial date as 13 or 18 January 1865, based on information from surviving POWs which may or may not have been reliable, Private Henry Schlagle’s exact, individual grave location and date of burial will never be confirmed.
He was just 26 years old when he gave his life to preserve America's Union.
Sources:
1. Bates, Samuel P. "History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5." Harrisburg: 1869.
2. "Registers of Deaths of U.S. Volunteers," in Records of the U.S. Quartermaster General. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration: 1861-1865.
3. "Civil War Muster Rolls," in Records of the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs (Record Group 19, Series 19.11). Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
4. Civil War Veterans' Card File. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives, 1862-1864.
5. "Roll of Honor No. XIV: Names of Soldiers Who in Defence of the American Union, Suffered Martyrdom in the Prison Pens," in Records of the U.S. Office of the Quartermaster General. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 20 February 1868.
6. U.S. Census: 1860.
Gravesite Details
No known grave marker exists for Henry.
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