E 527 
 .5 
 153d 
 
 M 
 
 Copy ^ 
 
 OWEN RICE 
 
 Captain and Acting Major, U. S. V. 
 
 1862.63 
 
1862 
 
 OWEN RICE 
 
 Captain Co. A, 1862-63, Acting Major, 1863 
 
 153d Regiment, 
 
 Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, 
 
 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 11th Corps. 
 
 Army of the Potomac. 
 
 1886 
 
OWEN RICE 
 
 (Christian, scholar and patriot 
 A Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Memoir 
 
 BY 
 
 ETHAN ALLEN WEAVER, C.E., M.Sc. 
 
 Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 
 Moravian Historical Society ; Pennsylvania-German 
 Society ; Society of Sons of the Revolution; Society 
 of American Wars; Society of the Army of the 
 Potomac (Second Class) ; Etc., Etc. 
 
 INSCRIBED TO 
 
 The Boys of Company A, 1 5 3d Pennsylvania Volunteers 
 
 Living and Departed 
 
b 
 
 
 , \f 
 
 ^^ 
 
 JUL 1»U 
 
Three Hundred Copies 
 Privately Printed and Issued by 
 
 GERMANTOWN. PA. 
 July 1. 1911 
 
OWEN RICE 
 
 CHRISTIAN. SCHOLAR AND PATRIOT 
 
 OWEN RICE (5th), the subject of this memoir, was on his 
 paternal side descended from ancient Welsh ancestry. 
 
 Sir Elider Dhu, of the time of Richard the First (11 57-1 199), 
 was the direct ancestor of the Rice family of Killymaenftwyd, 
 County Carmarthen, Wales. Lord Rhys (Rice) built part of 
 the castle of Dinevor and from this castle called his men to 
 meet the Normans. He called this castle his own, when he 
 confounded the Normans in their council and compelled them 
 to yield him the title of Lord of South Wales. From Dinevor, 
 Gruflfyd ap Rhys went forth to slay the three thousand Flemings 
 and French. Later came Sir Rice ap Thomas, who joined his 
 forces of three thousand men, comprising the flower and 
 chivalry of South Wales, with those of the Earl of Richmond, 
 and won the Battle of Bosworth (1485) in which Richard 
 the Third was slain and which terminated the "War of the 
 Roses." He was knighted on the field of battle, and the 
 splendid estate which belonged to the princes of South Wales 
 was bestowed upon him. Besides these honors he was made 
 Lieutenant of Wales and the Lord of Narberth. 
 
 His great-great-grandfather, the immigrant ancestor, REV. 
 OWEN RICE (1st) of Haverford West, Wales, came to America 
 with the "First Sea Congregation" of Moravians and landed 
 in Philadelphia June, 1742. He was an itinerant English 
 preacher in Philadelphia (1742), Bethlehem, Pa. (1744), 
 in the Swedish settlements on the Delaware River in New 
 Jersey (1746), Bethlehem (1747), was ordained in 1748, and was 
 the first settled Moravian pastor in New York City (1750-54). 
 During intervals he combined the practice of medicine and 
 surgery as assistant to the regular physician with his labor 
 in the gospel, having acquired considerable experience and 
 
 (5) 
 
skill in this resj^ect. He returned to England in 1754, and was 
 pastor at Kingswood, Leominster, Tytherton, England ; 
 Gracefield, Ireland; Plymouth and Gomcrsal, P^ngland, where 
 he died in 1785, his remains being removed to Fulneck, England, 
 in 1787. He was an eloquent, impressive and popular preacher 
 and pastor. He was twice married; first, in London, 1739, to 
 
 Elizabeth ; born in London, England, January 
 
 29, 1717; died at Wiltshire, England, 1756. In this marriage 
 were born his children Elizabeth and OWEN, 2nd. He married, 
 second, in 1757, Esther O'Neil, who died at Fulneck, June 23, 
 1797, without issue. 
 
 OWEN RICE (2nd), his great-grandfather, was born in New 
 York City, 1751, and died at Bethlehem, 1820. He was from 
 1784 to 1790 in charge of the inn and subsequently of the 
 store for the congregation at Nazareth, Pa., and afterwards 
 of the congregation store at Bethlehem; where he proved 
 himself faithful and efficient. He married, in 1781, Elizabeth 
 Eyerly of Nazareth, born 1760, died 1820. They had five 
 sons, Joseph, OWEN (3rd), Jacob, John and William. 
 
 OWEN RICE (3rd), his grandfather, was born at Nazareth 
 in 1787 and died at Bethlehem in 1856. His boyhood was 
 spent in the old diacony store at Bethlehem, succeeding his 
 father in the management of it. He subsequently engaged 
 in business for himself, but met with financial reverses in the 
 panic of 1842. He was prominent in congregational and edu- 
 cational affairs. In 1818 he was a deputy to the General 
 Synod which met at Herrnhut, Germany, and in 1836 was 
 elected the first President of the Bethlehem Public School 
 District. He married, first, in 1811, Maria Rosina Vierling, 
 born 1791, a teacher in the Moravian Seminary for Young 
 Ladies at Bethlehem and a daughter of Dr. Vierling of Salem, 
 N. C. She died in 1817 and had issue three sons, EDWARD, 
 the only one who survived, a son, name unknown, and Owen 
 (4th), who died two days after his mother; second, in 1819, 
 Ann Carohne Schropp, in Bethlehem, born 1793, a teacher in 
 the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies. She died at 
 Catasauqua in 1853 without issue. 
 
 DR. EDWARD RICE, his father, who was considered the 
 most learned man of his time in the Moravian Church in the 
 
United States, was born in Bethlehem in ISl.'i. He was 
 educated at Nazareth Hall, which he entered in 1X25, and 
 took the classical and theological courses in the Theological 
 Seminary, 1S27-29. Taking up the study of medicine, he 
 completed the course at the University of Pennsylvania in 
 1834, with distinction, and practiced as a physician at Lititz, 
 Pa., for a short time prior to 18.'^7. Further theological study 
 led to his ordination as a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, but after a short service in that denomination he 
 returned to the Moravian Church and was appointed a professor 
 in the TheologicalvSeminary, ISI^O to 1S49, and died in the latter 
 year. 
 
 Equipped with profound learning, warm piety and unselfish 
 devotion, he was a man of exemplary character, one of the most 
 amiable of men, free from pride and ostentation, yet dignified 
 and commanding general respect. Called into consultation by 
 physicians who held his medical skill in high regard, with re- 
 spect to certain cases of smallpox in Catasauqua, he answered 
 the call without hesitation, and while fearlessly and unsel- 
 fishly ministering to his patients contracted the dread disease, 
 to which he fell a victim in a few days, at the early age of 36 
 years. The inscription on his tombstone at Bethlehem bears 
 witness to his erudition and ])ersonal worth: " Liticranim 
 lumen, tcrrarum tcncbris abumbratum, nobis cripuit ct in qhriani 
 suam reccptiim salvmnjecit Dominus. " 
 
 He married, on August 7, 1833, Juliana Augusta Eberman, 
 born August 23, 181 5, a daughter of Rev. William Ebcrman and 
 his wife Caroline Elizabeth (maiden name Lembke), and who 
 before her marriage and during a part of her widowhood was 
 a teacher in Linden Hall Seminary, Lititz. In 1872 she re- 
 moved with her two daughters to Osborne, Kansas, where she 
 died September 19, 1873, aged 58 years. There were born in 
 this marriage three children — Caroline, who married Francis 
 R. Grugcr, OWEN (5th) and Louisa, who married A. W. 
 Fritchey, all now deceased. 
 
 OWEN RICE of the fifth generation bearing that name was 
 born at Lititz, October G, 183(), a son of Dr. Edward and Juli- 
 ana Augusta Eberman Rice. In 1849 he entered Nazareth Hall 
 as a pupil with a view to preparing for the ministry. In 1852 
 he entered the Theological Seminary, then in charge of Rev. 
 
Edward Rondthaler, located at Nazareth in the" Sisters' House," 
 now known as the "Castle." In 1855, when it was determined 
 that a college in connection with the Theological Seminary 
 should be established, the Rev. Edmund de Schweinitz, then 
 pastor of the Moravian Church, Philadelphia, was asked to 
 take charge of it, but not feeling at liberty to immediately give 
 up his work in Philadelphia, the theological class, consisting of 
 four members, removed to Philadelphia, taking up their resi- 
 dence at the parsonage, where three of them completed their 
 studies in July, 1850. These were Henry T. Bachman, after- 
 wards a bishop in the Moravian Church; Owen Rice (5th) and 
 Albert L. Oerter, pastor, professor and editor of Church publi- 
 cations, and who alone survives. 
 
 Samuel A. Huebner died in 185() just before completing the 
 course. 
 
 I\Ir. Rice graduated with honors from both institutions, 
 whereupon he returned to Nazareth Hall as a teacher, where 
 he remained until the close of 1863, except for the time he was 
 in military service. In 18G2, when military drill was intro- 
 duced at the Hall, he was chosen commandant of the corps of 
 cadets. 
 
 In all of these duties he displayed marked intelligence and 
 the ability to impart knowledge. He was popular with the 
 pupils, and though a strict disciplinarian was far from being a 
 martinet. 
 
 In the summer of 1862, when after repeated defeats of the 
 Union Army around Richmond and on the Peninsula, and the 
 war clouds were lowering, a Northern invasion was threatened 
 and a draft was imminent in order to meet the call of the Presi- 
 dent for fifty thousand men from Pennsylvania for nine months' 
 services, a vigorous movement was begun throughout old 
 Northampton County, Pa., to fill its quota of three hundred 
 men by volunteer enlistments, which resulted in the recruiting 
 of a full regiment wholly within the limits of the county. Meet- 
 ings were held in towns, villages and at country crossroads, 
 where the drum-beat brought together the old and young from 
 the school-houses, workshops, farms, stores and offices, and the 
 "Spirit of '76" was revived in the patriotic addresses delivered 
 by distinguished speakers from home and abroad. 
 
9 
 
 On July 28, 1862, a stirring meeting was held at Nazareth, 
 and among resolutions adopted were the following : 
 
 Resolved, By the people of the County of Northampton in Convention 
 assembled, that we declare our unalterable attachment to the glorious 
 Constitution framed and adopted by our fathers and of the Union of 
 the States which it established; that we look to it as the safeguard of our 
 liberties and the chief source of our prosperity and happiness as a people; 
 that united by its bonds this community of States have successfully 
 resisted and bid defiance to foes without, and that now, assailed by foes 
 within, the brethren of our household, we will, looking to the God of our 
 fathers for our iielp in time of trouble, solemnly devote all we have in 
 this world, if need be, to the preservation and perpetuation of an unchanged 
 Constitution and an unbroken Union. 
 
 Resolved, That Northampton County, having at the beginning and 
 through the continuance of this war manifested to the country and the 
 world by the presence of her gallant sons in large numbers in the armies 
 of the Republic that she would not be wanting in her duty, will not falter 
 now, but will respond heartily and promptly to the call made by the 
 President. 
 
 Resolved, That we have heard with feelings of admiration and pride of 
 the gallant conduct of the sons of old Northampton upon the various 
 battlefields in defence of the flag; and that they may be assured that 
 throughout this fearful conflict thousands of anxious hearts at home will 
 watch with deep solicitude the progress of the struggle and be filled with 
 thanksgiving and joy when the strong arms and stout hearts of them- 
 selves and their comrades in arms shall win for us a final triumph. 
 
 Provision was at once made for the collection by subscription 
 and otherwise of moneys for the payment of bounties and the 
 support of the families of those who should enter the service, 
 and these calls were liberally responded to. 
 
 Enlistments were at once begun; the quota of Nazareth 
 Borough was thirty-four men, but almost immediately fifty 
 had placed their names on the enlistment roll, which was supple- 
 mented by further additions, so that the Nazareth company 
 finally consisted of one hundred and two men, of whom thirty- 
 three are now living, and the regiment, which was designated as 
 the lo3rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, of nine hundred 
 and eighty-eight. 
 
 The recruits from Nazareth and vicinity perfected their organ- 
 ization in the engine-house of the Vigilant Fire Company on 
 North Main vStreet by selecting Owen Rice as their captain and 
 Benjamin F. Shaum and John L. Miller, who was supplanted 
 
10 
 
 by J. Clyde Millar, as lieutenants. Captain Rice with char- 
 acteristic magnanimity waived the right to select his non- 
 commissioned otTicers in favor of the men of his company, who 
 accordingly elected them. The men composing Captain Rice's 
 company, designated as Co. A, ranged in age from 15 to 45, 
 as follows: one of 15 years, eleven of 18, five of 19, seven of 20, 
 thirteen of 21, ten of 22, seven of 23, seven of 24, two of 25, 
 three of 20, five of 27, seven of 28, two of 29, one of 30, two of 3 1 , 
 two of 32, two of 33, one of 34, two of 35, two of 38, one of 39, 
 one of 41, two of 43, three of 44, one of 45, and two unknown — 
 an average age of about 20 years. The men of Company A 
 were above the average in physical and mental development. 
 They w'ere for the most part men who had enjoyed vigorous 
 physical exercise and had reaped the benefits of the public 
 school system and the superb advantages which the Moravian 
 schools afforded. Captain Rice's lieutenants were brave and 
 capable officers, Clyde Millar combining with these qualities 
 a popularity and high order of intelligence, as is evidenced in 
 his magnificent address at the dedication in 1889 of the regi- 
 mental monument on Barlow's Knoll on the battlefield of the 
 first day of Gettysburg. 
 
 Upon the organization of the company, daily drills were 
 held by Captain Rice in the public square at Nazareth from 
 September 8th to September 22nd, and it was from the outset 
 the best drilled company in the regiment. On September 
 22nd, the company departed for Easton, Pa., and there joined 
 the other companies of the regiment, departing thence on 
 September 25th for Harrisburg, Pa., where they were mustered 
 into service, October 7-1 1 , 1862. Before his departure, Captain 
 Rice was presented with a revolver by the corps of cadets of 
 Nazareth Hall. 
 
 In the various marches and in camp life, Captain Rice gave 
 his first thought to the comfort and welfare of his men. The 
 battle of Chancellorsville, Va., May 1-3, 1863, was the great 
 strategic battle of the Civil War and \Vas the last of a long 
 series of Confederate victories — in point of fact, it was the high 
 tide of their success. It was the fortune, or rather the mis- 
 fortune, of the 153rd Regiment to occupy as part of the 1st 
 Brigade, 1st Division, 1 1th Corps of the Army of the Potomac 
 
11 
 
 a conspicuous position, in that it occupied the exlrciue right 
 of Hooker's line of battle and where it received the full force 
 of "Stonewall' ' Jackson's attack in his historic ilank movement 
 which proved so disastrous to the Union Army in the defeat 
 it sustained and to the Confederate Army in its loss of Jackson, 
 who was mortally wounded near the line of the 11th Corps, 
 his wounding at the time being attributed to a member of the 
 iri3rd Regiment, but which, it is now accepted, was done by 
 his own men through a misunderstanding. Captain Rice in 
 this engagement performed distmguishcd services. 
 
 fust before beginning the march from the winter camp at 
 Potomac Creek Bridge near Brooke Station, nine miles north 
 of Fredericksburg, Va., to the battlefield of Chancellorsville, 
 Major Frueauff was detailed to the staff of Gen. Nathaniel 
 C. McLean and afterwards of Gen. Charles Devens, respectively 
 commanding the division, as acting assistant inspector- 
 general, and Captain Rice was appointed acting major, which 
 position he held until after the battle, when Frueauff rejoined 
 the regiment and in the absence of the colonel and lieutenant- 
 colonel commanded it. After the formation of the line of 
 battle a party of skirmishers selected from the various regiments 
 of the brigade was placed in command of Captain Rice for 
 the purpose of feeling the enemy, which was reported to be 
 advancing. Early in the afternoon of INIay 2nd the pickets 
 of the enemy were encountered and the advance of a large 
 force was no longer in doubt, whereupon Captain Rice sent the 
 following message: 
 
 On skinnisli lino on Culpeper l^oad. 2.4.") P. M. 
 Col. L. Von Gilsa, 
 
 Comd'g 1st Brig., 1st Div., 1 Itli Army Corps. 
 A large body of the enemy anias.sinjz; in my front. For Ciod's sake 
 
 make disposition.s to receive him. 
 
 OWKN RICE, 
 .\ct. Major 153rd P. V. 
 
 This message was promptly delivered by Colonel von Gilsa 
 to the corps connnander, and at the same time Captain Rice 
 received orders from von Gilsa to maintain his position to 
 extremity, but not to sacriiice his men, and engage the advance 
 vigorotisly in retreat. Scarcely had the skirmishers reached 
 
12 
 
 their commands (about 5 P. M.) when the enemy opened 
 fire upon the right of the line, pushing forward with all its 
 might. The men of the 158rd met the onslaught like tried 
 veterans, retreating only after firing several volleys which 
 Confederate prisoners reported to have fearfully mowed down 
 the ranks of the advancing 1st Virginia Brigade. The casualties 
 of Company A in this engagement were quite considerable; 
 Privates Daniel and Stocker were killed or burned to death 
 in the woods, which were set afire by exploding shells ; Captain 
 Rice was desperately wounded in the left arm by a fragment 
 of shell; Lieutenant Shaum, Sergeants Wm. M. Shultz and 
 W. Henry Weaver, Corporals Banner, Wunderly, Gross and 
 Nauman and Privates Etschman, Frankenfield, L. F. Gold, 
 Herman, A. Johnson, Martin, Senseman, C. Smith and Werkhei- 
 ser were captured and taken to Libby Prison. Captain Rice 
 was taken to the field hospital, where he positively forbade 
 the amputation of his arm, and as soon as possible was removed 
 to Washington, D. C, and thence to his home. He was in- 
 capacitated for further military service, and to the end of his 
 life suffered indirectly from his wound. The wounding of 
 Captain Rice, the capture of Lieutenant Shaum, and the 
 absence on detached duty of Lieutenant J. Clyde Millar left the 
 command of the company with First Sergeant Wm. R. Kiefer, 
 who rallied the scattered men of the company as soon as it 
 was possible to do so. 
 
 On October 7, 1885, Captain Rice read a paper before the 
 Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
 of the U. S., entitled "Afield with the Eleventh Army Corps 
 at Chancellors ville." In this address he defends the conduct 
 of the 11th Corps against the charges made that it was com- 
 posed of a disafTected foreign element, and shows conclusively 
 that only a little more than one-third was German or foreign 
 lineage, and these for the most part had become denationalized, 
 and who "at Gettysburg with its threefold baptism of fire, 
 and on every field from Lookout Mountain to the sea, wrote 
 the courage of their convictions in answer to the aspersions 
 of vaporing zealots, and overwhelmed with unfaltering devotion 
 those cavillers who demanded of them the impossible at Chan- 
 cellors ville." He furthermore graphically describes the march 
 
13 
 
 of the regiment from winter quarters to Kelly's I'^^rd on the 
 Rappahannock; its crossing there, and that of the Rapidan 
 at Germanna Ford; the march to the battlefield of Chancellors- 
 ville, and the events which followed to the close of the campaign 
 and the return of the regiment to its former winter quarters 
 at Potomac Creek. 
 
 This valuable contribution to the history of our Civil War 
 reflects to an eminent degree the ripe scholarship, knowledge 
 of military affairs and the descriptive powers of its author. 
 
 The serious disability of Captain Rice prevented his par- 
 ticipating in the battle of Gettysburg, but his papers disclose 
 the fact that he made a thorough study of that campaign, and 
 as is also evidenced in the correspondence which he had after 
 the war with commanding general officers who took part in it. 
 Lieutenant Shaum, having been exchanged, returned to the 
 regiment two days before the battle and assumed command 
 of the company until wounded in the knee, when the command 
 fell to Lieutenant J. Clyde Millar. 
 
 At Gettysburg, as in the battle of Chancellorsville, the 153rd 
 Regiment occupied conspicuous positions, and the important 
 part which it took in both campaigns is recorded in the history 
 of our great Civil War. 
 
 At Gettysburg, on the first day, the regiment engaged the 
 well-trained forces of General Early in the commands of 
 Generals Gordon and Hays, and it was here General Barlow, 
 commanding the division to which the regiment was attached, 
 was seriously wounded, at the time thought mortally so, but 
 survived to recent times to meet General Gordon and talk 
 ovter the events of that day. In the first day's engagement 
 occurred practically all of the casualties to the company. Re- 
 treating through the town, the company took position with the 
 regiment behind a low stone wall at the foot of East Cemetery 
 Hill, where on the evening of July 2nd occurred one of the most 
 sanguinary hand-to-hand conflicts of the Civil War; here 
 the regiment met and assisted in repulsing the famous "Loui- 
 siana Tigers," which up to this time had been a distinguished 
 fighting organization of the Confederacy, but which after this 
 day was never again heard of as an organization. 
 
14 
 
 The casualties of the company in this engagement were: 
 Killed: Privates Buss, W. Gold, J. Johnson and C. H. Miller; 
 Wounded: Lieutenant Shaum and Privates Beer, Koenig, Neu- 
 meyer, E. Ritter, J. Ritter, A. Ruth, W. H. Ruth, Schwab, 
 J. F. Smith, Straub and Transue; Captured: Sergeant Kiefer, 
 Corporal V. Heller, Privates W. H. Heller, Hoch, Kist, A. 
 Ruth, Werner and Wohlbach. The efficiency of the company 
 at no time during its enlistment reached the full number of 
 102 men by reason of transfers, deaths from disease and other 
 causes, so that the total casualties, as follows, for the year were 
 in excess of one-half of the men actually engaged. 
 
 Chancellors- ^, ,,„,,„ t^,„,. 
 
 ((ETTYSBURC. lOTAL. 
 VILLE. 
 
 Killed or died from mortal wounds 3 4 7 
 
 Wounded .. 4 12 16 
 
 Captvued 16 8 24 
 
 Died of disease. .. . 3 
 
 Total casualties ., 23 24 50 
 
 Those who died from disease were Corporal T. Edward 
 Frey, and Privates J. Kinkinger and SchafTer. 
 
 Captain Rice was mustered out wdth the regiment July 24, 
 18()3, and returned to Nazareth with the remnant of his com- 
 pany after ten months of severe service, during which time it 
 was conspicuously engaged in two of the greatest campaigns 
 of the war, both of which are considered types of military cam- 
 paigns and are studied as such by military students both in 
 this country and abroad. 
 
 The return of the remnant of Company A to the old town 
 of Nazareth was an event of mixed joy and sorrow to that 
 community. The reception badge worn upon this occasion 
 reflects this feeling in the following lines which it bore in 
 addition to the red crescent and names and dates of the two 
 engagements in which it participated: 
 
 "We hail the heroes' safe return 
 To home and friends again, 
 And mourn with tears of sympathy 
 The gallant patriots slain." 
 
 The writer recalls vividly the anxious moments of expecta- 
 tion of the return of his father, who was a sergeant in the com- 
 pany; the long line of vehicles which brought the veterans 
 
15 
 
 from Kaston; iheir welcome' as they alighted at Main and 
 Prospect Streets; their march through the town; the l)oiiniirul 
 collation prepared for them on tables erected on the green in 
 front of the new Moravian church, and finally the dispersing 
 to their respective homes. The scenes in the homes to which 
 there was no homecoming of loved ones, their absence having 
 been made i>ermanent through the fortunes of war, cannot 
 be described. 
 
 Captain Rice at once resumed his duties at Nazareth Hall, 
 in which he continued until the close of that year. In October, 
 1863, he was elected a Deputy to the Pennsylvania State 
 House of Representatives, and was a member of that bodv 
 during the sessions of 18G4-(i5. He served on a number of 
 important committees, notably those on Library, Railroads, 
 Education and New Counties and County Seats. 
 
 On July 20, IStio, Captain Rice addressed a letter to the Major- 
 General of the U. S. Army asking for information as to how to 
 proceed in order to exchange his pension certificate for a cap- 
 tain's commission in the Veteran Reserve Corps, in which he 
 stated that in the Chancellorsville campaign, he was severely 
 wounded in the left arm, which sympathetically affected his 
 whole frame and for the time incapacitated him for active ser- 
 .vice, and being thus disabled he had sent a substitute for three 
 years into the service. In endorsement of this application, 
 Colonel Glanz, who commanded the lo3rd Regiment, wrote: 
 
 Capt. Owen Rice has always been a faithful and brave officer and was 
 much respected for his gentlemanly deportment by officers and by his 
 regiment. He was a man of fine military talents and a strict disciplinarian. 
 
 To this Governor Curtin added the following: 
 
 Penna. Executive Mansion, 
 
 Harrlsburg, Pa., Aug. 4, 1S65. 
 General: 
 
 I have the honor to request that favorable consideration be given the 
 
 application of Owen Rice of Northampton Co. in this vState, late Capt. 
 
 in the 153rd Regt. P. V., who .seeks an appointment as Captain in the 
 
 Veteran Reserve Corps. Capt. Rice was badly womided at Chancellorsville 
 
 and is an intelligent, reliable gentleman whose appointment would secure 
 
 to the Corps a valuable officer. 
 
 I am, General, very Respty., 
 
 Vr. Oht. Svt., 
 
 Brig. Genl. .J. B. Fry, A (1 (TRTIN. 
 
 Pro. Mar. Genl. V. S., Govr. Pa. 
 
 Washington, I). C. 
 
IG 
 
 This was concurred in by Pyli Slifer, Secretary of the Common- 
 wealth, and A. L. Russell, Adjt. Genl. Penna. 
 
 In response to this request, Thos. M. Vincent, Asst. Adj. Genl. 
 U. S. A. forwarded a circular of information from the War 
 Department, dated March 17, 1865, giving the information 
 desired. In the absence of information, it is safe to assume 
 that his physical condition by reason of his wound disqualified 
 him. 
 
 In 180.3 Captain Rice remov^ed to Lancaster, Pa., where he 
 engaged with his brother-in-law, Francis R. Gruger, in the drug 
 business. This, however, proving uncongenial to him, the trend 
 of his mind being toward technical pursuits, he about 18(39 re- 
 moved to the West, first for some time engaging in the pro- 
 fession of civil engineer at Pittsburg, and afterwards with the 
 Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company in Indiana. Whilst 
 on the surveys of this railroad he married at Rome City, Ind., 
 May 4, 1871, a most estimable lady, Mrs. Eleanore Mendham, 
 a widow with five children, to all of whom he became very 
 much attached, proving himself a devoted husband and loving 
 father, which feeling of devotion and love w^as reciprocated by 
 them for him. 
 
 In 1873 he was appointed General Freight and Ticket Agent 
 of the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan Railway Company, 
 which position he occupied for fourteen years, the first five years 
 of which he was located at Wabash, Ind., when his office was 
 removed to Elkhart, Ind. During this time he became inter- 
 ested in the formation of an interstate commerce law, and pre- 
 sided at a meeting held in vSt. Louis, the first held tt) promul- 
 gate the establishment of such a law. In 1887 he removed to 
 Chicago to accept a position with another railroad, but was 
 almost immediately seized with paralysis. On January 24, 
 1890, his wife died, and his condition becoming more critical; 
 his stepchildren took him to their old home at Rome City, Ind., 
 where after a lingering illness, during which he was affection- 
 ately cared for by his stepdaughter. Miss Sallie Mendham Rice, 
 he died April 28, 1892, in the 56th year of his age. His remains 
 lie at rest in the cemetery at Rome City. 
 
 In his social relations. Captain Rice was a member of the 
 Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Com- 
 mandery of the State of Ohio, the vSociety of the Army of the 
 
17 
 
 Potomac, the Grand Army of the Repubhc, a warrant member 
 and the first secretary of Rome City Lodge, Free and Accepted 
 Masons, and warden of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church 
 of Elkhart, Ind. 
 
 The rector of the parish in which Captain Rice was the senior 
 warden paid the following tribute to his memory: 
 
 Major Rice was distinguished by traits of character which in all ages 
 have commanded the respect and admiration of men. He was loyal to a 
 cause, to a duty, to a creed, to a friend. He was incapable of a falsehood 
 and hardly comprehended deceit in others. He brought to the discharge 
 of every duty a brave and loyal spirit, a cultured and refined intellect, 
 a pure and devout soul — his maimers eminently were siiaviterin modo, 
 fortiter in re. 
 
 He was distinguiished for his well-breil courtesy anil generosity. He 
 kept up his interest in learning and literature, through the busiest por- 
 tions of his life, and a conversation with him upon almost any of the 
 leading topics of the day was a rare treat to a .serious and thoughtful 
 man. As profes.sor, soldier, patriot, legislator, student, busine.ss man, 
 churchman, father, friend, he was always distinguished by fidelity, earnest- 
 ness and devotion. Tho.se who never knew him will not miss him, those 
 who mourn him can never fill his place. 
 
 Captain Rice always maintained an afTectionate regard for 
 his old friends at Nazareth and an interest in the welfare of 
 his boys of Company A, as is evidenced in the following letter 
 written to Mr. Granville Henry of "Boulton " : 
 
 Elkh.\rt, In'd., March 0, 1S8.5. 
 Very Dear Friend: 
 
 Your most welcome favor forwarded me to-day, and subject to the 
 inces.sant interruptions incident to Rail practice. I detail a few moments 
 for reply. Recently when reviewing your photo, a sort of anticipation of 
 a possible letter overcame me. 
 
 Of myself, as you desire, I can best .summarize by saying that for seven- 
 teen years I have been employed in various departments of Western 
 Rail practice, as Engineer, Auditor, and during the last ten. on this line, in 
 charge of the Foreign traffic relations, my thoughts gravitating between 
 seaboard and .seaboard, my telegrams and letters covering one-quarter 
 of the continent, and my person traversing a large part of the West. A 
 most contentious occupation truly — one in which both physical and 
 mental exhaustion is the constant penalty of continuance, and one which 
 leaves me little time for study or social amenities and little for enjoyment 
 with my family. 
 
 Residing here, I often have need to go to Chicago — not for recreation, 
 but to patch up the enlenir mrdial with one or the other of the thirteen 
 
18 
 
 Trunk Lines which we cross. Like the man trying to pay court to thirteen 
 girls at once, I am often made to feel 
 
 " Happy with either 
 Were t'other dear charmer away." 
 
 The semi-abandon of the Middle West, after the rough u.sage of the 
 war and politic.s, have not aged me very perceptibly, and of all employ- 
 ments I prefer "The .strong, champagny-brandy-punchy feeling" of rail- 
 way turmoil. 
 
 It pays moderatelj^ well, with almo.st indefinite free transportation, 
 but its requirements leave little for future use. 
 
 Outside of business I cultivate only my Wardenship of St. John's Epis- 
 copal Church, and my Companionship in the Loyal Legion (the modern 
 Cincinnati) and an occasional trip across the Lakes, thro' Colorado or 
 some other Lotus land. 
 
 Please say to J. Meyers, to give his attorney my address and on receipt 
 of his papers I will make proper affidavit. 
 
 Kindly write me any or all matters within call, regarding Nazareth. 
 
 Are all of my boys of Co. A. reasonably prosperous? 
 
 With very cordial regards to all at Boulton, 
 
 In haste, but faithfully, 
 
 OWEN RICE. 
 
 The high regard in which Captain Rice was held by the officers 
 and men of the regiment and his company is shown by the 
 following extracts and letters from several of the few who are 
 still living: 
 
 Dr. A. Stout, assistant surgeon of the regiment, says: 
 
 He was a good captain, a good engineer, a good scholar and a mighty 
 good fellow. 
 
 From his first lieutenant: 
 
 T.\RKio, Mo., April 2.5, 1911. 
 Mr. E. A. Weaver, Philadelphia, Penna. 
 
 De.\r .Sir: — In reply to your recent favor concerning Capt. Owen 
 Rice I will say that my personal acquaintance with him dates from the 
 first recruiting, which was sometime in July, 1862, when he was after- 
 wards chosen Captain of the Company and I the First Lieutenant. 
 
 As a man and officer, he was one of the finest and was admired and 
 looked up to by those, not only in his own Company, but by the whole 
 Regiment and even the Brigade. 
 
 He and I were never thrown together much because he was nearly 
 always on Staff or detached duty and I had charge of the Company. 
 
 I have always thought that the battle of Chancellorsville would have 
 resulted differently if attention had been paid to some of the advice 
 offered by him concerning the battle. 
 
 While he was on outpost duty he saw the enemy approaching and 
 reported the fact, but no attention was paid to his reports. 
 
19 
 
 In the battle of Chancellorsville he was wounded, and 1 was taken 
 prisoner and sent to Libby prison, where I remained until jiaroled and 
 exchanged two days before the battle of Gettysburg. 
 
 In (hat battle I was severely wounded and never saw C'apt. Rice again 
 until he called on me after the nuistering out at Harrisburg. 
 
 The above is the best of my remembrance of ('apt. Rice. 
 
 It has been a long time ago and very difficult to recall. 
 
 Trusting it may be of service to you, I am, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 B. F. SH.'M'M. 
 
 Sergeant William M. Shultz: 
 
 In regard to Captain Rice I always found him to be a perfect gentleman 
 in all that constitutes the nauie, an apt scholar, a strict disciplinarian, 
 thoroughly posted in military tactics and a brave soldier. He abhorred 
 everything that was vile in speech or action. 
 
 From a private of Company A: 
 
 My early recollections of Capt. Rice are of the kindliest nat\ire. I 
 knew him very well as a young man, and think he was not only a brainy 
 and highly intellectual man, but also a good citizen and brave soldier. 
 The only thing I had against him was his being a Democrat, and well 
 remember how hard he tried to explain to me the iniquity of a tariff 
 system. But he was a loyal Democrat, which is more than can be said 
 of many others of that period. As a .soldier he was brave, quick, lenient 
 to his men, and therefore popular and well liked, never loud or overbearing. 
 
 He was certainly a more than ordinarily gifted man. 
 
 Robert H. Wilson, the fifteen-year-old drummer-boy of 
 Company A, over whotn Captain Rice exercised a parental 
 care, writes as follows: 
 
 200 E.\ST 16th Street, 
 Los Angeles, Cal., June 11, 1911. 
 Mr. E. A. Weaver, Germantown , Pa. 
 
 De.^r Sir:— Yours of the 2d inst. received yesterday A. M., having 
 been delayed in delivery, on account of no street number. You ask for 
 my personal recollections of the late Captain Owen Rice, to add to the 
 biographical sketch. I shall be happy to contribute a word of praise in 
 behalf of my most estimable, brave, and courageous Captain and friend- 
 yes friend; he watched over me during those stormy days of the rebellion 
 as a father would over his son, and we lived together in the little tent 
 house furnisheil by I'ncle Sam. 1 always bunked with him when we were 
 in camp. .\s young as I was — a mere stripling — I often thought that 
 a star or two would be more fitting than the four bars he wore. He was 
 a man above reproach, always tender and thoughtful for others and 
 loved by all with whom he came in contact. 
 
20 
 
 After he was wounded at Chancellorsville and lay in the hospital, he 
 used to send for me to read to him. I would read until I thought he was 
 asleep, then I would take a sneak. Well, I haven't gotten over being 
 sorry yet for being so disrespectful to this worthy man. When he would 
 awaken, he immediately sent for me to come back, and read some more. 
 Oh, well, I was only a boy, and didn't know any better. 
 
 I remember well your good father, Sergeant Weaver, and he was in 
 my estimation another fine man and brave soldier. 
 
 I shall endeavor to communicate with my comrades, Ricksecker and 
 Millar, in the near future. It is a thin blue line now, all that is left of that 
 vast Army of the Potomac. 
 
 I am enjoying perfect health, and am just as young as I used to be; 
 do a full day's work, every day in the week. Next Thursday, June 15th, 
 1 will celebrate my Ooth birthday, and feel as tho I were only forty. 
 
 I shall be greatly pleased with a copy of the reprint of which you spoke. 
 
 Trusting my feeble efforts to contribute to the sketch will be worthy 
 a place in same, and may not reach you too late, I remain, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 R. H. WILSON. 
 
 An estimate of Captain Rice's personal qualities as pupil 
 and teacher can best be made from the following letters from 
 several who were thus associated with him at Nazareth Hall 
 and in the Theological Seminary. 
 
 One of Captain Rice's instructors at Nazareth Hall in writing 
 of him says: 
 
 He was very studious — a young man of more than usual ability, and, 
 as his father before him, very thorough in everything he undertook, 
 despising everything superficial; a painstaking, hard-working student— 
 probably the most efficient in his class at Nazareth Hall. As an instructor 
 in Nazareth Hall he displayed these same traits — thoroughness — not 
 afraid of hard work — doing his utmost to "go to the bottom" and not 
 merely skim along the surface; and this he endeavored to impress upon his 
 pupils. He was a good linguist and an excellent mathematician; in short, 
 a very able man. He was generally reserved, caring little for society, 
 but prizing men of intelligence as his friends. For some time he had been 
 drill master of the Nazareth Hall Cadets, and succeeded in advancing 
 this part of the educational work of the School. W^hen the country needed 
 men at the beginning of the Civil War, he was one of the first to offer 
 his services, and succeeded in raising a company of volunteers from this 
 town (Nazareth) and neighborhood; very few of these men remain — 
 but all held him in high esteem, greatly superior as he was to many others 
 who became officers in the army. His men appeared to honor and love him. 
 
 One of his associate teachers writes : 
 
21 
 
 My relations witli him were limited to one yoar, lS.')C)-'>7. wlien we were 
 teachers together in Nazareth Hall. He was a man of brilliant intellectual 
 attainments, well read in and enthusiastic for classical and the best modern 
 literature, and. po.sses,sed of a delicate artistic taste, his works of both 
 pencil and brush were excellent and much admirefl; to which I wovdd 
 add a ready knack at caricature. 
 
 It is from personal experience that I tell you of ("a|)t. Rice's love of 
 good literature, for 1 have a jileasant remembrance of our sitting together 
 in the beautiful woods adjacent to the school, or at night in a vacant 
 school room, taking turns at reading aloud our favorite authors. I nuist 
 say, also, that I found in Owen Hice always a kind friend and a good 
 companion. 
 
 From the last surviving graduate of his class in the Theo- 
 logical Seminary : 
 
 He was a bright and ready scholar, engaging easily in the various tasks 
 of the curriculum of tho.se days, and standing high in his recitations, espe- 
 cially in mathematics, deometry and algebra, trigonometry and sur- 
 veying he mastered without difficulty, standing at the head of his class, 
 often successfully demonstrating some difficult problem, while his class- 
 mates looked on with admiration at the facility with which he did the 
 work. Thus he was well qualified for the task — which at the request of 
 the town officials of Nazareth he undertook later, while he was a teacher 
 at the Hall — of grading the streets of Nazareth, which until then had 
 remained in their pristine condition. The writer can still .see him starting 
 out or returning across the campu.s — in tho.se days called the .square — in 
 front of the Hall, with his leveling instrument on his shoulder. 
 
 The writer does not remember that Owen had any special musical talent, 
 or performed on any instrument, but he had decided artistic ability, as 
 evidenced by some little sketches and ornamental lettering done while he 
 was a boy at the Hall and still in the writer's po.s.session, and still more 
 by the proficiency which he aciiuired in painting with water-colors and in 
 oil. 
 
 Altliough con.scientious in the performance of liis scholastic duties, he 
 was a boy of an active and cheerfid di.sposition, and popular among his 
 schoolmates, with whom he never, to the writer's recollection, had any of 
 those physical encounters that sometimes mar the peace of academic 
 scenes. In both the classical and theological departments of the Theo- 
 logical Seminary he continued to approve himself a stvidious and interested 
 scholar, successfully wiiming and holditig the affection and esteem of 
 classmates and profe.s.sors, attending faithfully to his duties and at the 
 same time availing himself of all proper opportunities for mental and 
 physical recreation. The onlj' .serious illness the writer remembers him 
 to have suffereil from was an attack of iiiHanunatory rheumatism which 
 detained him awhile at Nazareth when the theological class was moved 
 to Philadelphia, but did not prevent him from replying in a jocular vein 
 to a letter llic wiilcr hail sent him. 
 
22 
 
 As a teacher, loo, at Nazareth Hall from 1856 to 1862 he was successful 
 in winning the respect and attachment of the boys in his charge, and in 
 interesting them in theirstiidies. Without resorting to any drastic methods 
 for the enforcement of the necessary discipline, he seemed to have no 
 difficulty in maintaining it. To memorize or copy a few columns of the 
 dictionary was enough to subdue those who required treatment. There 
 seemed to be a mutual understanding between teacher and scholars that 
 the only thing to do was to do the right thing, and thus avoid all unneces- 
 sary friction. In ISGl or '62 when the scholars at the Hall were organized 
 in a uniformed company, and military drill introduced — although the 
 military .system was not as fully developed as it now is — Mr. Rice was 
 the teacher who was .specially interested and active in this new departure, 
 and in introducing the cadets to the mysteries and niameuvres of the 
 parade ground. 
 
 It was therefore not strange that when the bombardment of Fort Sum- 
 ter sent a thrill through all hearts, Mr. Rice should be fired with the 
 patriotic impulse to rai.se a company of volunteers who .should hasten to 
 join the ranks of the Union army. In the town-square at Nazareth he 
 made an impassioned appeal to the citizens to enlist for the pre.servation 
 of the Union, and succeeded in raising a company which was incorporated 
 with the 153rd Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. 
 
 My personal recollections of Captain Rice are those of a 
 boy of eight to twelve years of age, when I frequently saw him 
 whilst visiting my grandparents on the "Hall Square," in 
 whose hotisehold he was well and favorably known. I often 
 saw him engaged in reading and study, or in drilling his corps 
 of Nazareth Hall cadets. 
 
 Captain Rice spent the Sunday preceding the departure of 
 Company A for the front in my home, which visit I distinctly 
 remember. His regard for my father is evidenced in the cor- 
 dial inscription on his photograph which he gave him, and also 
 in a letter which I quote as follows: 
 
 Elkhart, Ind., July 10, 1885. 
 E. A. Weaver, Esq., Phila. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Your 7th inst. has reached me amidst manifold duties. A 
 very true respect for your father will command compliance with your 
 wishes at greater convenience. 
 
 As Acting Major of the 153rd Pa. it fell to me to "lead in" the attack, 
 on the right, at Chancellorsville. When Dachrodt retired wounded and 
 Glanz had been captured, the command devolved on me. Hence I have 
 been designated by our Commandery of the Loyal Legion to prepare a 
 historical paper on Chancellorsville. The unique part filled by the 153rd — 
 fighting Jackson, single handed — will not be forgotten. 
 
 Very truly 
 
 OWEN RICE, 
 Late Acting Major la3rd P. V. 
 
23 
 
 On July 4, IcSSG, whilst a remnant of the regiment was dedi- 
 cating its tablet at the foot of East Cemetery Hill, Gettys- 
 burg, Sergeants Shultz and Weaver, who together had enlisted 
 and were prisoners in "Libby, " visited the battlefield of Chan- 
 cellorsville, in company with myself, and stood on the very spot 
 where the regiment was lined in battle twenty-three years 
 before, and upon this occasion these comrades and admirers 
 of Captain Rice wrote him postal cards which were mailed to 
 him from the historic Spottsylvania Court House, in the yard 
 of which they had spent their first night as prisoners after their 
 capture on the morning of May 3, 1863. 
 
 Captain Rice and Sergeant Weaver were mustered out of 
 life's service within a year of each other, 1892-93, and "passed 
 over the river to rest in the shade of the trees." 
 
 " The muffled drum's sad roll has beat 
 
 The soldier's last tattoo; 
 No more on life's parade shall meet 
 
 That brave and fallen few. 
 On Fame's eternal camping ground, 
 
 Their silent tents are spread. 
 And glory guards, with solenm round, 
 
 The bivouac of the dead. 
 
 " Rest on, eml)ahned and sainted dead, 
 
 Dear as tlie blood ye gave; 
 No impious footsteps here .shall tread 
 
 The herbage of your grave; 
 Nor shall your glory be forgot 
 
 While fame her reconl keeps, 
 Or honor points the hallowed spot 
 
 Where valor proudly sleeps." 
 
 Whilst Captain Owen Rice Camp, Sons of Veterans, preserves 
 in its name the memory of this gallant soldier, it would be 
 eminently fitting for the friends of Captain Rice, fellow-citizens 
 of Nazareth, the survivors of his company and the descendants 
 of those of his comrades who have passed over the "Great 
 Divide" to erect in the coming year, the semi-centennial of his 
 departure for the war, at Nazareth Hall (his Alma Mater which 
 he so dearly loved), in its chapel where he so often worshiped, 
 a mural tablet in brass or marble to commemorate his distin- 
 guished services and testify to his Christian character, scholarly 
 attainments and patriotic devotion. 
 
24 
 
 The fi)llo\ving lines were wiiiteii liy Caj)Uiin Owen Rice, and 
 are contained in a manuscript note-book now in possession of 
 a stepdaughter: 
 
 Inscribed [o tlic ].YAd Peniui. Vols.: 
 
 Ilo, coniriide of the Wiir-spent field, tlefeiidcr of the rif^ht, 
 
 What cheer is thine, since laid we down the panoply of night, 
 
 Which bore the flag on honored fields — the flag our fathers bore — 
 
 And bade us hold 'gainst Treason's wrath puissant as of yore? 
 
 Pledge once again the merry cup to days of Auld Lang .Syne, 
 
 Tlie comradeship of camp and watch, and scars of strife divine! 
 
 Ah, how the bugles wake to-night the memories of the time 
 
 When "fall in" woke the startled land to ecstasy sublime! 
 
 Ah, how the bells of Memory's chimes ring out this holy night. 
 
 What griefs were ours, what manly tears, what surfeit of delight! 
 
 The bivouac's cheer, the vigil stern, the sentry's wild alarm, 
 
 The forest's glare, when opened up their throats our men at arms, 
 
 The swelling Hush of Victory's tide, the thrill of battle won, 
 
 The silence of the sad retreat, the sobbing miiuite-gun. 
 
 .\long Potomac's bristling shores, 'midst Rappahannock's shades. 
 
 By Shenandoah's sunny fields and Pennsylvania's glades: 
 
 Pledge high to those who stemmed the tide, bore down the traitor's spite, 
 
 In silence pledge the bravest hearts, who sleep in death to-night, 
 
 The sleep which you and I, old friend, sought with them 'neath the skies 
 
 Which blessed us thro' the fight, but bade their conquering .spirits ri.se 
 
 To wear the wreath of glory, win the Father's proud acclaim. 
 
 And peoples voice in sadness their thank.s — a deathle.ss name. 
 
 -Ml, well we mind the .Vutumn days, grown bent in age and sere. 
 
 In '62 when throiigh the land rang out, "The foe is near! " 
 
JUL i>a 1911 
 
 LIBRf^RY OF CONGRESS 
 001 019 926 8 m