Civil War's impact on area explored by teacher
Bradley Pflugh has vast expertise on the Civil War and has written books on the conflict between the North and South in the 1860s.
Pflugh, who is the chairman of the social studies department at South Butler County School District, is duly impressed by the great heroes of that important war, but Pflugh stresses that many Civil War soldiers who lay in graves throughout the county were simple folks who answered the country's call and performed important tasks during their service.
Take John N. Burtner, who served with Company D, 6th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery in 1864 and '65.
The Jefferson Township farmer did not see battle, Pflugh said, but performed the vital task of guarding the railroad tracks near Washington, D.C., and in the Shenandoah Valley, which were used by the union to reinforce regiments with supplies and ammunition.Burtner and his fellow soldiers worked hard and rode for hundreds of miles to prevent the Confederacy from tearing the tracks apart to keep life-saving supplies from reaching the fighting forces.“He was an average guy, a simple farmer,” Pflugh said. “I think there's a story for guys like him, who didn't fight but did important things.”According to Burtner's tombstone at Summit Presbyterian Church off Saxonburg-Butler Road, he died in 1932 at the age of 89.Another southeastern Butler County family that did their part to end slavery and save the Republic were the Alwines, according to Fred Caesar of the Saxonburg Historical Society.
Caesar said Francis and Catherine (Lawrence) Alwine moved to Jefferson Township in 1853 with their eight children.Four sons served in Pennsylvania regiments during the Civil War as their parents, three sisters and one brother worried at home and waited for letters.Francis and Lewis Alwine served together in the 78th Infantry, Dominick in the 7th Heavy Artillery and Sylvester in the 6th Heavy Artillery.Historical documents note that Francis Alwine, who went by “Frank,” was the oldest son and first to enlist in the Union Army at age 19.His regiment fought in several battles in Tennessee and participated in the defense of Nashville.In December 1862, Frank's regiment fought in the Battle of Murfreesboro, which dragged on for several days and listed the highest casualty rate of the war, with both the North and South losing about one-third of their men.Frank's regiment also fought in the last important Confederate victory of the war at Chickamauga, Ga., on Sept. 19th and 20th.His regiment was forced to retreat to Chattanooga before Ulysses S. Grant took over command of the 78th.Under Grant, the 78th fought in several major battles, including the Battle of Chattanooga in November 1863 and the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in June 1864.Frank finally made it back to the bosom of his family in Jefferson Township after mustering out in Kittanning on Nov. 4, 1864.“A History of Butler County, 1883” lists Frank Alwine as having married Mary Hinchberger and raising three children in Saxonburg.He owned a grist mill on Sarver Run with his neighbor Gottfried Reinhold, according to the book. The mill was on the present-day Alwine Road in Jefferson Township.Frank applied for and received a veteran's pension in 1906 of $12 per month, owing to the injuries he suffered during his service.He died in August 1912 at age 73 and is buried with Mary at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Summit Township.Frank's brothers, twins Sylvester and Lewis, were about 16 years old at the outbreak of the Civil War, and enlisted together for a nine-month term of service with the 134th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers in Butler on Aug. 11, 1862.The Confederate Army was advancing toward Washington at the time, and troops were badly needed.Sylvester and Lewis marched to both Bull Run and Antietam, but the fighting was over at both battlefields upon their regiment's arrival.Their outfit did see battle at both Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, however.The twins mustered out of service on May 26, 1863 in Harrisburg.While Sylvester returned to Jefferson Township and worked as a miller in Beaver and Butler counties while married to Mary (Sarver) Alwine, Lewis' whereabouts after the war and death date or location are unknown.Dominick Alwine, the youngest of the four brothers, enlisted in the 212th Regiment, Union Army on Sept. 3, 1864, when he was 16 years old.He was assigned to the 7th artillery, Battery B and moved to Washington D.C. There, his unit helped defend the capital.Dominick then moved with the 212th to guard a portion of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad between Alexandria and Manassas.His regiment eventually returned to the forts surrounding Washington, D.C., to defend them.The regiment mustered out on June 13, 1865, meaning Dominick served for less than one year.Dominick married Julia Humm in New Brighton, Beaver County about 1870. He worked as a shoemaker most of his life, according to historical records.The 1880 Census showed Dominick and Julia had three young sons and a daughter, and three more children were born in the next few years.Pflugh said as the war dragged on, county residents became panicked when Confederate forces pushed northward, particularly in June 1862, when a Confederate regiment entered Youngstown, Ohio, just across the Pennsylvania border.“All the communities got militias together,” he said. “It didn't amount to anything.He said militias in Saxonburg and Slippery Rock — then known as Centerville — met and practiced drilling in case the Rebellion would enter their communities.The Saxonburg Light Artillery militia met at the historic white church at the end of Main Street to drill with their single cannon.Most militias had one cannon, Pflugh said.“Those in the militia served 30 to 40 days,” Pflugh said. “They stood at the ready in the area in case something went wrong.”
