History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates.

868 SEVENTY-THIRD REGIMENT. 1864
general at its head, each Colonel in front of his regiment, and as it passed at
double-quick, on a left half wheel, the men in the pits cheered loudly. But unfortunately it was almost immediately repulsed, and came back in utter confusion,
about three hundred of its number taking shelter behind the rifle-pits with the
Seventy-third. Emboldened by this disaster, the enemy came out of his works,
charged down the hill, flanked the position, and captured nearly the entire party
at is base. Only about twenty-five of the regiment escaped. Eight officers
and eighty-nine men were taken prisoners. It entered the battle about three
hundred strong. Captain Schaeffer lost a leg. Captain Goeble, and Lieutenants Wild and Hess were wounded. Captains D. F. Kelly, John Kelly and
John Kennedy, and Lieutenants 3i'Niece M'Govern, Moore, Fontaine, and
Dieffenbach were captured. The captured party was hurried away to Atlanta
and thence to Bichmond, the officers being consigned to Libby, and the men
to Belle Isle. The flag, in the confusion of the surrender, was torn from the
staff, taken by Captain Kennedy, concealed about his person, and through the.
long months of his imprisonment was studiously preserved from rebel eyes, and
brought safely home upon his release. It now has a place among the tattered
ensigns in the archives of the State, an object of special interest to visitors at the
Capitol.
The few men who escaped capture, and the wounded and detached men who
afterwards returned to the ranks, marched with Sherman, after the battle, to
East Tennessee to the relief of Burnside, and endured great suffering on this
march, which was made without overcoats or blankets. On their return they
went into winter quarters near Chattanooga, and early in January the most of
them re-enlisted, receiving a veteran furlough. They returned to Philadelphia
under the charge of Major Charles C. Cresson, who had shortly before been
promoted from Captain. At the expiration of the furlough, with a number of
recruits, they returned to the front in time to join in the campaign to Atlanta.
Buschbeck's Brigade formed the Second of the Second Division, under General
Geary, of the Twentieth Corps, formed by the union of the Eleventh and
Twelfth Corps, and commanded by General Hooker.
In the fierce fighting of Sherman's advance in Georgia, where for a hundred
days the rattle of musketry and roar of artillery was hardly hushed for a single
hour, the regiment shared the fortunes of the White Star Division, and when
danger was to be met was with the' foremost of that veteran legion. In the
battle of Pine Knob Captain Henry Hess, a gallant officer, while in command
of the skirmish line, was mortally wounded.
Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Cresson the regiment marched
with the division to the sea, and north through the Carolinas to Raleigh, where
Sherman received the surrender of Johnston, and the war was substantially
closed. From Baleigh it marched to Alexandria, Virginia, where on the 14th
of July, 1865, it was mustered out of service.