Many years ago, I came across a book at the Shamokin-Coal Township Public Library called "The Shamokin Guards." In this year which inaugurates the 150th anniversary of America's Civil War, it's worth discussing.
From what I can ascertain, this book, though without a copyright date, was published around 1946 and was written by Daniel F. Mowery Jr.
Back in the early 19th century, if you were a young or older man, the group to join when it came to a town's social life and activities was a militia group. These groups were strong about preserving the union and defending their liberty, and were the centerpiece of social activity. The best present-day counterpart I can think of that comes to my mind is a bunch of firefighters having a good time at a block party. Up until the Civil War, militias were thought of (by the militiamen themselves) as the backbone and first line of national defense. However, various wars in our nation's early history found these local groups usually wanting, militarily speaking. They were mostly ill-led, ill-equipped and ill-prepared when it came to actual fighting. However, most of the soldiers that formed the first volunteer
units in the Civil War came from these small town militia groups. If they were truly prepared for anything during civilian life it was drilling formations in homespun uniforms and having a good time at the annual Fourth of July celebration.
Formed in 1842
On April 12, 1842, a generation before the Civil War, Shamokin's first militia was formed, not long after the borough itself was settled in 1836. On July 4, 1842, at a celebration held at a tavern belonging to Franklin Clark on the corner of Sunbury and Washington streets, Clark proposed a toast to "The Shamokin Grays - may they ever be ready to protect their rights." This was followed by "six guns and six cheers." One would think the group of men in this tavern were Southerners bent on secession.
By 1854, this militia group had changed its name to the Shamokin Guards with S.M Kase elected as their captain. By the time the small militia band was mustered into the Union Army, Cyrus Strouse was their captain. Strouse, later a major, was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863 and is buried in the western portion of the Shamokin Cemetery. When the Shamokin Guards set out to fight in the Civil War on Sept. 4, 1861, there were 109 men in the unit, and by the end of the Battle of Gettysburg, only 39 of those who joined up less than two years earlier were present, the number having decreased through those who were killed, wounded, were prisoners or war or whose enlistments had expired, among other reasons. These men made up part of the 46th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Companies A and K.
Due to all the notice that the Battle of Gettysburg gets in the media as the penultimate Civil War battle, the 46th did not see much action at that battle, being stationed on Kulp's Hill to the extreme right of the line. Only one man in Company K, Lt. Darius Gilger, was wounded during the battle when he was shot through the left elbow on July 3, 1863. However, despite being relatively unscathed during the Battle of Gettysburg, the 46th Pennsylvania does have a monument on the battlefield, about 150 yards north of Spangler's Spring.
From Guards to G.A.R.
Of the 90 men who signed the original charter of the Shamokin Grays in 1842, it appears that none of them enlisted in the army during the war, perhaps due to age by that time. The most prominent member of the original signers was Kimber Cleaver, who was instrumental in laying out the streets of Shamokin and also owned the land that is now called Marion Heights. Cleaver died at the age of 44 in 1858 and is buried near the Soldier's Circle at the Shamokin Cemetery.
After the Civil War it does not appear that the Shamokin Guards reformed. By then, the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic - an organization similar to today's VFW) was the organization to join for Union Army veterans while old militia units, like the Grays and Guards, faded away.
(A special thanks to Thais Gardy, head librarian at the Shamokin-Coal Township Public Library, for her assistance with this story.)