Unclaimed Valor

In August 1862, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania quickly responded to President Lincoln’s request for more troops. An overwhelming response of volunteers would provide the Union with eighteen infantry regiments that would serve for a period of nine months. Individual motivations to enlist were as varied as were the volunteers themselves. Many wanted the attractive recruiting bounties, and others sought the adventure. The majority in the recruiting lines were there with the sentiments of “right” and “duty”, a symbol of their honor and manhood. These devoted groups of mostly central Pennsylvanians, rendezvoused at Camp Simmons, Pennsylvania in mid-August 1862, were to become the soldiers of the 130th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, who, with no military experience and little training would face hardened Confederate veterans at “Bloody Lane” at the Battle of Antietam and the stonewall at “Marye’s Heights” during the Battle of Fredericksburg; They would do their best to halt the stampede of the fleeing Eleventh Corps soldiers and “hold the line,” stopping Confederate “Stonewall” Jackson’s advancing troops at the Battle of Chancellorsville. After their terms had expired, most would re-enlist, serving their country until the war’s end. One of the regiment’s later commanders would join the U. S. Congress. In this book, through their diaries, letters, memoirs, and personal accounts, the men tell their heroic story.

Author Biography

Terrence W. Beltz, born in Canton, Ohio, a resident of Earlysville, Virginia, completed his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Bowling Green State University in 1972 and his Master of Arts (History) at the University of Richmond in 2004. He retired from the Virginia Housing Development Authority in Richmond, Virginia, and is a retired U. S. Army Colonel. Since his youth, he had an ardent interest in 19th-century American history, particularly the Civil War, often dragging his parents to Civil War battlefields during summer vacations. He is the paternal great-grandson of Private William H. Seifert of York, Pennsylvania, who served in Company C of the 130th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. In his spare time, he works on family genealogy and is a volunteer with “Find-A-Grave”. He is a member of the Sons of Union Veterans (SUV) and the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and is married to Patricia Beville Beltz; together, they have two daughters.