Editor’s Note: This article was provided by David Welch (100th Pennsylvania Roundheads) and transcribed by Jackie Martin.
ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE AT OLD FORT STEDMAN
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Today, March 25, marks the forty-seventh anniversary of the battle of Fort Stedman, in which the One Hundredth Pennsylvania Veterans known as the Round Heads, were engaged, and also the capture and wounding of Philip Crowl, a well known war veteran, of Beaver Falls, and former Clerk of Courts.
The above picture is a good likeness of Mr. Crowl as he looks today. [SOPO Editor’s Note: Click on “Article Image” below this transcription to see the photo of Crowl.]
The battle of Fort Stedman occurred in the early morning, when the Rebels effected a break in the Union lines, between Fort Stedman and the Appomattox River, led by General John B. Gordon, and a large force was thrown behind, and at the same time the Rebels advanced along the line of works, occupied by the Round Heads, nearly to Fort Haskell, capturing and driving all before them.
Mr. Crowl was wounded and lay about one hundred feet within the Rebel lines. The Hundredth, with a few officers, men of the Third Maryland, Twenty-first Massachusetts, and the Fourteenth New York heavy artillery, made a charge down the line, recaptured Fort Stedman, and a number of prisoners, among the prisoners re-captured was Mr. Crowl. In this engagement, the regiment’s loss was 21 killed, 57 wounded and 30 to 40 prisoners, who were almost immediately paroled and returned to their companies.
Mr. Crowl was a member of Company F, and two brothers served in the same company with him.1
Source:
- “Anniversary of the Battle at Old Fort Stedman.” Beaver (PA) Daily Times. March 5, 1912, p. ? col. ? ↩