The 93rd PA at the Battle of Fair Oaks
A BLOG in honor of the 150th Anniversary of the Most Notable Day in the History of Clan McCarter
“Stranger, go tell it throughout America that we fell in defense of her laws, in the vindication of the right, for the integrity of the Republic!”
On 31 May 1862 the 93rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment known as the Lebanon Guards was ordered to cross the Chickahominy River into the midst of what was to be known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or the Battle of Seven Pines. The 93rd PA of Couch's Division and several other Divisions were the furthest point of Union advance of McClellan's entire ill fated Peninsula Campaign. The 93rd fought to the very gates of Richmond.
Outnumbered and counter attacked on three sides the Union soldiers fought and fell and finally retreated in good order back to Union lines. The 93rd PA fought until they were completely out of ammunition and retreated with nothing but bayonets to defend themselves. To their credit the withdrawal was described as orderly and disciplined. The 93rd suffered losses of 20 killed, 84 wounded, and 22 missing.
The regiment's commanding officer, Col. James Mayland McCarter, was severely wounded having two horses shot from under him and laying unconscious for several hours. His brother, Capt Samuel McCarter commanding Company E, was also wounded. A third brother, 1st Lieut Marshal J McCarter of Company G was declared missing and later found to have been captured and sent to prison camp in Richmond, VA. Their fourth brother, John, was the only one unscathed that day although all four brothers must have suffered gravely together for the loss of their friends and comrades and the devastation of the regiment that James had begun with the sure conviction of an abolitionist Methodist Episcopal parson.
Col. W. F. Fox, in his “Regimental Losses” says, "The 93rd Regiment was in the hottest of the fight at Fair Oaks, where it displayed remarkable steadiness under fire." The regiment which had left Lebanon November 20th, 1861, with 1,020 men, had been reduced down to the low figure of three hundred and sixty-men. Some of these were unwell — fatigue, exposure and diarrhea playing sad havoc in the ranks of what was once as fine a regiment in numerical strength as any in the service.
The Lebanon Courier of June 12, 1862, paid tribute to the courageous native sons: "In the severely contested battle of Saturday a week, at Chickahominy, in front of Richmond, our gallant 93rd was in the thickest of the fight, and many a good fellow has sealed his devotion to his country with his blood. The regiment has truly been baptized in fire. The men of the 93rd, including many very young men in years, from among some of our most respected families, did honor to our country, and won for themselves great commendation from different parts of the country."
The following tribute was published in the Lebanon Advertiser of July 16th, 1862:
Respectfully Inscribed to the Pennsylvania 93rd, May 31st, 1862.
Noblest of heroes! ye who stood
That fearful thirty-first of May,
Beside the river's raging flood;
Whose swollen waters barred your way,-
Who fought as only freeman could,
And kept the foe at bay.
Onward ye came in fearless haste,
Nor danger reeked above, below;
Plunging in water to the waist;
Nor feared to breast Its surging flow, —
Up the opposing bank ye faced.
To meet the coming foe.
Then crashing deep the forest through,
The volleyed thunders went and came;
The leaden hall. In lightning flew.
Riding on wings of living flame;
Bearing a hundred deaths to you,
A thousand deaths to them.
But vainly onward now ye press;
Now foes appear, before concealed;
Your weaker numbers you confess.
Yet Inch by inch, contest the field;
Your little band grows less and less.
But know not how to yield.
He was a noble mark I ween.
In that fierce battle's fiercest tide.
Among the foremost foemen seen;
His heart the traitor marksmen tried
In vain — his Bible lay between.
And turned the death aside.
But holier tears for those who lay.
After the labors of the fight;
To wounds and raging thirst a prey
Through all the horrors of the night, —
Upturned your dying eyes for day.
And vainly prayed for light.
No! Not in vain! — to you then came.
Amid that wreck of broken guns.
From out the night a purer flame;
Ye saw the patriot, sainted ones.
Bend earthward — call you name by name.
And hail you, younger sons!
Be yours the brightest memory
That yet the ear of Fame has heard;
Through earth, the children of the free.
Shall bless the gallant Ninety- third;
And to our sons each name shall be
A cherished household word.
And they, the loved, to whom ye were
Beloved sons or brothers dear, —
The mother — may it comfort her —
May it assuage the father's tear;
To see all earth, one worshiper,
Beside each honored bier!
Like perfumes, which the early spring,
Borrowed from the vernal flowers.
And sheds them from her dewy wing,
Around our steps in odorous showers;
So sweet a balm shall memory bring
To soothe their loss and ours.
A notable line in the poem above refers to the remarkable event of a man saved by his bible. Capt. Dougherty was struck in the chest by a ball shattering his pocket watch and passing nearly through his bible making its last mark at this verse, “I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom, preach the word.”
A correspondent of the New York Tribune, in speaking of the battle, says: "Take, also, the case of the 93rd Pennsylvania, Col. McCarter. Sent to support Casey immediately after the attack on his men was made, this thoroughly trained body of troops, conscientiously looked after for half a year by a commander once distinguished for his zeal as a Methodist preacher, fought furiously for an hour; were driven back from their position, but not broken; halted at the word of command, loaded, wheeled and fired — retreated, halted, loaded and fired again and again, and came off the ground in perfect order, with their two colors flying, and presenting to the whole army, a striking proof that the success of battles is in the discipline of troops, and the excellence of soldiers Is wholly derived from the conscientiousness and thoroughness of their officers."
While the McCarter brothers never recovered, the 93rd fought until the end of the war again gaining great credit for breaking up the Confederate attack at Little Round Top, Gettysburg. Col. James McCarter was semi-paralyzed from the wound to his hip and taking morphine into the autumn. One morning he was accused of being drunk on duty when another officer found him incoherent at formation. He was courtmartialed and dismissed from service. Soon after, Marshall, Samuel, and John all resigned in what could only have been a family protest at the injustice done to a gallant and wounded officer and brother.
Later in the winter of '62-'63 the regiment was described as in a state of disarray due to the ungracious loss of a beloved leader. By the spring of '63 the morale must have been so bad that despite his court martial Col McCarter was asked to rejoin the regiment. He was still too incapacitated to lead (his wounds troubled him until his death) but he rejoined the regiment as a sort of commanding officer emeritus. He was with the regiment at Gettysburg where both he and the entire regiment were undoubtedly redeemed. Col. McCarter was soon after allowed to be discharged honorably and the regiment, morale restored, fought on as one of the most notable regiments in the union.
James McCarter went back to his ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His final parish being the Bethesda Methodist Church in Preston, Caroline County, Maryland, the home of his wife Elizabeth (nee Kelley), where he was buried in 1900. John, Samuel, and Marshall all returned home to Norristown, PA where their oldest brother Arthur also lived. All were machinists in various mills. There must have been quite a few McCarters in town at one time with 16 children between the four brothers and several other McCarter families in town as well! Some were recent immigrants from County Antrim in Ireland where the Clan McCarter originated.
Samuel (brother #4) and Marshall (brother #5) worked together for the rest of their lives. Samuel was the superintendent of the Washington Mills in Norristown and Marshall was his foreman. Later, Samuel's son, Louis Newbold McCarter, took over as superintendent of the mill and also the Newbold family's Eagle Iron Works next door. Eventually (1920?), the mill became the McCarter Iron Works and a notable Norristown industry for many more years.
The descendants of Marshall J McCarter were Arthur Barrett McCarter (b. 1861) and Henry Bainbridge McCarter (b 1864). Henry is known as a relatively famous American painter and illustrator with works in many museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Academy of the Arts, and the Phillips Gallery in Washington DC. AB I was succeeded by AB II who is known as the scion of our little corner of Clan McCarter. While we've never known any other McCarter relatives since Henry never married and AB II's brother Walt had no male children, it's clear that there are many McCarter cousins out there in PA and MD descended from Arthur/James/John/Samuel/Marshall and their many children.
