Sylvester F. Hildebrand and Isabelle Ament

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Husband Sylvester F. Hildebrand ¹

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            AKA: S. F. Hildegrand 2
           Born: 16 Apr 1847 - Apollo, Armstrong Co, PA 1
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         Father: George W. Hildebrand (      -Bef 1914) 1
         Mother: Elizabeth Ford (      -Bef 1914) 1

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       Marriage: 9 May 1874 - Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA 3

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Wife Isabelle Ament ³

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            AKA: Belle Ament 2
           Born:  - North Washington, Westmoreland Co, PA
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         Father: George Ament (      -1894) 4
         Mother: Hannah Hartman (      -1893) 2

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Children

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1 F Lizzie B. Hildebrand ³

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         Spouse: Chance Welsh (      -      ) 3

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2 M Boyd L. Hildebrand ³

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         Spouse: Stella McClaughlin (      -      ) 3

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3 F Retta F. Hildebrand ³

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         Spouse: Bruce Coulter (      -      ) 3

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4 M Edward W. Hildebrand ³

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5 M Cleason C. Hildebrand ³

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         Spouse: Irene Smith (      -      ) 3

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6 F Edith E. Hildebrand ³

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         Spouse: John Zimmerman (      -      ) 3

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General Notes: Husband - Sylvester F. Hildebrand

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He attended public school until his fifteenth year. When only fifteen years, four months old he enlisted, on Aug. 22, 1862, in Company E, 139th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. This company was recruited by a young clergyman, Rev. I. A. Pierce, but as it lacked the full quota it was consolidated with another company, also recruited by a clergyman, Rev. Jeremiah Sample, in Allegheny county. Company E left Apollo by canalboat. John Townsend, who owned and lived on the farm where the city of Vandergrift was later built, took them on his boat to Freeport, on the Pennsylvania canal, and promised that when the war was over he would invite all the boys on the boat to spend a day with him at his home and give them the best the old farm afforded. Three years later he kept his promise to the survivors. The companies mentioned were consolidated and with others organized into a regiment at Camp Howe which was mustered in as the 139th Pennsylvania Troops, with F. H. Collier, of Pittsburgh, as colonel. Mr. Hildebrand served with this command until his discharge. It was attached to the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 6th Army Corps (some time afterward the brigade was changed to 1st Brigade, 2d Division), and was kept continually at the front in that brigade until the close of the war, participating in many hard-fought engagements, and losing 145 killed in battle, besides those wounded and otherwise incapacitated. It was in twenty-four battles, took part in the grand review at Washington after peace was concluded, and was mustered out with an honorable record.
Mr. Hildebrand never missed a day's duty while in the service, or a roll call, and never reported at a sick call, but was always prepared to do his duty, whatever it was, when called upon and took part in every battle and skirmish in which the regiment was engaged, which included many of the most important engagements of the war, viz.: Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Winchester, Cedar Creek, and others. At the battle of Salem Church, near Fredericksburg, May 3, 1863, a soldier of Company K was killed at Mr. Hildebrand's left side and fell across in front of him, Mr. Hildebrand being obliged to step over him, as they were advancing rapidly in line of battle. On July 3, 1863, at Gettysburg, while they were lying down on the battle line, a sharpshooter in "Devil's den" shot over Mr. Hildebrand's body and killed Capt. Jeremiah M. Sample, of Allegheny City, who was in command of the company, the ball entering his left side and passing through his body. During the battle of the Wilderness, on May 5, 1864, Henderson Cochran, of Springchurch, Armstrong Co., Pa., was killed at Mr. Hildebrand's right side, and at his left at the same time another comrade was shot down, and a few minutes later C. S. Whitworth, of Apollo (for whom Whitworth Post, No. 89, was named), was severely wounded. In the battle of Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864, Mr. Hildebrand's leg was struck by a spent ball, which, however, did no damage. On May 18th, at break of day, while advancing through the woods, he captured a big six-foot North Carolinian of the Thirty-second North Carolina regiment, and turned him over to the provost guard. Another comrade of Mr. Hildebrand, Sergeant Alburger, was killed at his left at the battle of Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864. When Early made his celebrated raid in July, 1864, threatening Washington, in order to make General Grant raise the siege of Petersburg, Grant sent the Sixth Army Corps, to which Mr. Hildebrand's regiment was attached, to Washington by water. When they arrived General Early was at Fort Stevens, five miles from the capital, and the Sixth Corps prevented him from entering the city. Fort Stevens was occupied by citizens as well as soldiers, and a citizen was wounded just outside the fort. President Lincoln was there, the engagement which took place being the only battle of the war he witnessed. Mr. Hildebrand saw Lincoln at that time. At Fisher's Hill, Virginia, Sept. 22, 1864, Mr. Hildebrand had a very narrow escape, when a Minie ball struck the musket barrel directly in front of him, coming with such force that the barrel was bent and the bullet spread around it. On Thanksgiving Day, 1864, while engaged on forage duty near the Shenandoah as one of a small detachment, he was taken prisoner by Mosby's guerrillas, disguised as Federal soldiers, but the party was rescued by Union cavalry within an hour or so. Mr. Hildebrand had an interesting experience, a detailed account of which, written by him, together with a picture of Mr. Hildebrand taken during his service, appeared in the Washington (D. C.) Times of May 27, 1912. He carried a gun for two and a half years, until he was detailed as a mounted orderly on a brigadier general's staff, serving thus until the end of the war, at which time he was only eighteen years old.
Returning to Apollo at the close of his military service, Mr. Hildebrand found employment for a time in the rolling mills, and afterward bought the farm upon which he lived until 1907, devoting his active years to agriculture, in which he made a substantial success. He then made his home in Apollo, spending his years in comfortable ease.
Mr. Hildebrand was a Democrat and always took an active part in promoting the success of his party. One of the most prominent members of the Grand Army of the Republic in his part of Pennsylvania, he served a number of years as commander of Whitworth Post, No. 89, and held all the other offices in the order, for whose welfare he worked faithfully.

He and his wife were members of the First Lutheran Church at Apollo.

1 Editor, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 866.

2 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 425.

3 Editor, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 867.

4 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 424.