Editor’s Note: This article was provided by David Welch (100th Pennsylvania Roundheads) and transcribed by Jackie Martin.
Military training had been an important function since the earliest history of the village. Each year in the month of [illegible: March or May] there was a grand review when all of the military companies in the county met for a parade.
One hundred and seventy men from this small town and vicinity enlisted in Company A of the famous One Hundredth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry known as the “Roundhead” regiment. Their Captain William F. Templeton, was killed at Bull Run. Joseph Pentecost, another West Middletown boy was made captain in his place, and later made Lieutenant Colonel. While home on a furlough in March, 1865, he was attending a dance at Pleasant Hill Seminary when he received orders to return to the front at once. Regretfully leaving this gay company gathered in his honor, he hastened to Washington, Pa., through mud and storm. In a few days the news came that he had met death while leading a charge at Fort Steadman, Va., March 25, 1865.1
Source:
- No Title. West Middleton (PA) Press. May 27, 1934, p. ? col. ? ↩