OUR MILITARY OFFICERS AND NCO'S

Dennis Dewalt - Captain

Scott Debo - 1st Lieutenant

Ronald F. Fulmer - 1st Sergeant

Greg Kline - Corporal

Ronald D. Fulmer - Corporal

Steve Slaybaugh - Corporal

Carole Schlegel

Mark Schlegel

James Hykes

Scott Hixson

Janice Hixson

Scott Debo

Diane Debo

Ashley Debo

Lyndsay Debo

Dennis Dewalt

Jonathan Foote

Joseph Foote

Alyssa Green

Katelyn Green

Greg Kline

Lee Schlegel

Sandy Wilk

Steve Slaybaugh

Charlene Slaybaugh

Ryan Guyer

Ronald F. Fulmer

Trina Early

Ronald D. Fulmer

Theresa Seabridge

Brendan Hawley

Brian Burns

Dale Guyer

Dakota Shultz

Ben Burns

Roy Burns

Rosemary Guyer

Sharon Metzger

Kyle Speer

Jeffrey Ouellette

Laura Contestable

The men of Mount Jackson have earned an honored place in American Civil War history.

An informal Meeting was held at the Mount Jackson United Methodist Church on April 22, 1861 to discuss starting a company of local men to answer the call of Pennsylvania.

On April 28, 1861 the Mount Jackson Guards, was created. Recruited by Capt. Henry T. Danforth. A veteran of the Mexican Wars, Danforth, a county resident, saw to it that his men were trained and that each had a uniform, blanket and overcoat before marching away from home.

On June 8,1861, 38 recruits marched nine miles from the former Mount Jackson Methodist Church to the train station in Enon Valley. There they boarded a train which took them to Camp Wright, near present-day Irwin, Pa.The Methodist church, where the unit signed up and formed up before marching off to war, originally stood on a knoll overlooking modern day Route 108. The church It burned down and the site was replaced by a cemetery. A monument to the unit was erected in 1912 near the site where the church once stood. 

New Castle and Mahoningtown did not have railroad stations until after the Civil War.

Although recruited by Danforth, the unit is best known as Battery B or Cooper’s Battery for its leader,  Capt. James H. Cooper, who Major Gen. John F. Reynolds called the “bravest man in the army,” after he and his men stood fast with the 37th New York Regiment, saving the Union line at the Battle of Fredericksburg, a Confederate victory.

Danforth turned down a promotion to lieutenant colonel, which would have resulted in him being assigned to another unit. He chose to remain with Battery B, resigning his commission and re-enlisting as a private. He was killed near Richmond in 1862. Cooper took over as captain.

The unit served throughout the war participating in 27 engagements including Chancellorsville, Antietam and Gettysburg. There, the men of Battery B held five positions during the three days of fighting on July 1, 2 and 3, 1863. Battery B was the only light artillery unit to have participated in all three days of fighting.

Three monuments and a marker on the Gettysburg National Military Park battlefield recognize the valor of the men of the unit. Battery B also is recognized as the unit that sustained the highest number of battle-related deaths of all federal light artillery batteries. Three members of the unit, James McCleary, Alexander Alcorn and Peter Hoagland are buried in Gettysburg cemeteries.

Many descendants of those who served in the unit still live in the North Beaver Township area.

For 61 years, veterans of Battery B held annual reunions at Nesbit Woods, now known as Jackson Knolls. The reunions began in 1869 and stopped in 1930 following the death of the last local veteran, David Needler of Edinburg.

Information for this was provided through “Cannoneers, To Your Post,” by Frank Piatek, “Mark the Lines of Your Weary Marches,” by Keith Foote, and the archives of The New Castle News.