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.