Benjamin F. Johns and Mary Glessner

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Husband Benjamin F. Johns ^{1 2}

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           Born: 1 Jun 1839 - Cumberland Co, PA 1 2
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1905
         Buried: 

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         Father: Samuel Johns (1800-1869) 3 4
         Mother: Elizabeth Carson (1807-1883) 4

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       Marriage: 15 Aug 1867 or 1868 1 5

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Wife Mary Glessner ^{1 5}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: John Glessner (      -      ) 5
         Mother: 

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Children

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General Notes: Husband - Benjamin F. Johns

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He was educated in the public schools of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and of Southampton township, Franklin County. He remained on his father's farm until he was twenty years old, when he apprenticed himself to the plastering trade, at which he worked until the outbreak of the Civil war. Then his ardent patriotism led him to become one of the first soldiers of the Union, He enlisted in Company I, 49th Regiment, P. V., Sept. 16, 1861, and was transferred to Company A, Jan. 1, 1863. He was promoted to be a corporal of his company March 1, 1865, and mustered out as a veteran, July 16, 1865. From the siege of Yorktown, which began April 16th, and lasted until May 4, 1862, to the action at Sailor's Creek, Va., April 6, 1865, he took part in seventeen battles and five skirmishes, making a total of twenty-two engagements. In 1862 he participated in nine battles: The siege of Yorktown, which lasted eighteen days; Williamsburg, Va., May 5th; Gannett's Hill, Va., June 27th; Golding's Farm, Va., June 28th; Savage Station, Va., June 29th; White Oak Swamp, Va., June 30th; Malvern Hill, Va., July 1st; Antietam, Md., Sept. 17th; and Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13th. In 1863 he was in six battles: Fredericksburg, Va., April 29th; Gettysburg, Pa., July 2d and 3d; Funkstown, Md., July 12th; Rappahannock Station, Va., Nov. 7th; Locust Grove, Va., Nov. 27th; and Mine Run, Va., Nov. 28th, 29th and 30th. It is worthy of remark that although the battle of Gettysburg is generally supposed to have ended on July 3d, 1863, Company A, of the 49th Regiment, P. V., in which Corporal Johns was serving, was sent out to skirmish at dawn on the 4th, and lay all day near the Devil's Den, in front of Round Top. In 1864 he took part in five of the hardest fought battles of the war: The Wilderness, May 5th-10th; Spottsylvania, Va., May 12th; Cold Harbor, Va., June 1st-12th; Weldon Railroad, Va., June 30th; and Petersburg, Va., June 22d and 23d. In 1865 he was in the assault at Petersburg, April 2d, and in the final action with the Confederates at Little Sailor's Creek, Va., April 6th, in which Ewell's Corps was routed and Gen. Ewell taken prisoner. At this battle Mr. Johns was taken prisoner, and while he was with the Rebels was asked by Gen. Ewell where the Union men were and who they were. Mr. Johns answered that the troops consisted of the 6th Corps and Sheridan's Cavalry and that they were all around him. The General said, "It looks very much like it," and he wrote a note which he dispatched by a carrier. In a short time eight of his general officers reported to him, and Mr. Johns was asked the same question, giving the same answer. The old general walked back and forth for a while, and then turning to his men said, "It looks very much like it, and I think we had better throw up the sponge and save life on both sides." The flag of truce was accordingly sent into the Union lines, and Mr. Johns' regiment, the 49th Pa., was detailed to take the prisoners back to Burksville Station, about fifteen miles. On the way back our subject heard Gen. Ewell tell his colonel that but for information given him by a Yankee he (Ewell) would have made another charge, which would undoubtedly have resulted in the useless slaughter of two or three hundred men. Mr. Johns also had the distinction of being an advisory member of a Rebel council of war. In his long and arduous service of four years, including the most sanguinary battles of the war, Corporal Johns escaped without a wound. Returning to civil life he became a resident of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where he worked at his trade as a journeyman for a year and a half. He then lived in Pittsburgh and in Somerset County until 1877, when he returned to Chambersburg. In
1877 he began business as a contracting plasterer, and always had plenty of work, employing seven or eight hands. He did both plain and ornamental plastering.
He built a handsome residence in which he lived, in Second street, in 1883.
In politics Mr. Johns was a Republican; he served as judge of elections in his ward, and was twice a member of the Chambersburg town council. The second time he was elected a councilman as a Republican in a Democratic ward. He was also chosen Justice of the Peace for the 3d ward, Chambersburg, but declined to serve.
He was a member of the Red Men, Pocahontas Council, and of the Shepherds of Bethlehem. He was always one of the most active and enthusiastic members of Housum Post, No. 309, G. A. R., and he was also an honorary member of the Ladies Circle, G. A. R.
In his youth his educational advantages were meager, his entire attendance at school covering a period of not more than eighteen months, but he was always a student, and was a good penman and a fair scholar. He wrote well and was the author of a number of essays reminiscent of the Civil war, which appeared in the National Tribune, and some of which attracted wide attention and were the subjects of inquiry from old Confederate soldiers.

1 Editor, History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887), Pg 654.

2 Editor, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 551.

3 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 507.

4 Editor, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 550.

5 Editor, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 552.