11th History

History of the "Bloody" 11th

Sitting on Oak Ridge, near the Eternal Peace Light, the 11^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (P.V.I.) Monument sits on the same ground the unit defended on July 1, 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg. The granite base includes two bronze statues: crowning the top is an ever watchful soldier preparing to fire, near the bottom is a small dog curled up as if about to sleep.

As a three-month regiment, the 11^th was mustered in April 26, 1861, answering President Lincoln’s call for volunteers, becoming a “first defender” unit in the cause to save the Union. During this enlistment, the 11^th P.V.I. fought and defeated the enemy, including Colonel Thomas Jackson, later to become “Stonewall,” at Falling Waters, its first engagement. Winning distinction for meritorious service the unit earned the nickname “The Bloody Eleventh”.

Reorganized late in 1861 for a three-year term, the regiment participated in many major engagements in the Eastern Campaigns including 2^nd Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.

Richard Coulter, a lawyer from Greensburg and a Mexican War veteran,was recommended to command and commissioned Colonel. Wounded at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Spotsylvania, he was reported among the slain more than once. His distinguished war record earned him promotion to Brevet Brigadier General, August 1, 1864, ending the War as Brevet Major General. His contemporaries described him as courageous, public-spirited, honest, forceful in character, honorable, and charitable with a generous spirit.

Westmoreland County sent five companies of her sons to help fill the ranks of the Regiment: Company C, recruited in Latrobe, Jacob Brierer, a carpenter, commissioned as Captain; Company E, recruited in Latrobe and Ligonier, Jacob McCurdy , a farmer, commissioned as Captain; Company F, recruited in Salem, David Cooke, a farmer, commissioned as Captain; Company I, recruited in Greensburg, George Cribbs, a farmer, commissioned as Captain; Company K, recruited in Youngstown, John Keenan, a hotel proprietor, commissioned as Captain.

At 2^nd Bull Run, Captains Brierer and Cribbs were wounded, Cribbs dying later as a result. Keenan was wounded at Thoroughfare Gap, and promoted to regimental Major, September, 1, 1862. On September 8, 1864, during the opening of the Spotsylvania Court House Campaign, Major Keenan, paid the supreme price for his convictions, when cheering the men forward while at the head of the Regiment, he was shot dead.

At the end of the three-year enlistment term, enough men reenlisted to make the 11^th a veteran volunteer unit for campaigns including the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Petersburg, and Five Forks. Over 2000 names can be found on the muster rolls, but by the time it followed Lee’s Army to Appomatox Court House, the Regiment was a “mere shadow of itself.”

History of the “Bloody Eleventh”

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