Vandergrift, Lewis R.
Rank:	Private; Corporal (1863 May 1); Sergeant (1863 November 1)
Regiment:	118th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. Co. B (1862-1865)
Service:	1862 August 13-1865 June 1

Sharp, Joseph Hill
Rank:	Private
Regiment:	23rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. Co. B (1862-1864)
Service:	1861 August 9-1864 September 4

Background note:

William R. Vandergrift of Bristol, Bucks Co., Pa., delayed entering military service during the Civil War long enough to make himself vulnerable to being drafted. Late in July, 1863, his number came up, but Vandergrift, loath to serve for unstated reasons, purchased a substitute and remained at home, presumably safe and sound. Meanwhile, his brother, Lewis, was serving creditably in the army, rising through the ranks to 1st Sergeant of Co. B, 118th Pennsylvania Infantry, and his cousin, Joseph Hill Sharp, served as a private of Co. B of Birney's Zouaves, the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry, until his wounding at Cold Harbor and discharge for disability three months later.

Scope and contents:

The Vandergrift Papers includes a small number of Civil War-related items retained by William R. Vandergrift of Bristol, Pa. Three of these items concern Vandergrift's status with his local draft board, including notification of his eligibility for the draft, notification that he had been drafted, and a certificate that he had purchased a substitute.

The other three items in the collections are letters from soldiers. Two of these letters are from William's brother, Lewis R. Vandergrift, serving in the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry, and provide an ironic, though surely unintended commentary on the troubles with draft substitutes in the ranks. The other letter, from his cousin Joseph Hill Sharp, a member of Company B, 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry, contains an excellent first-person account of the battle of Fair Oaks and the carnage and pillage that followed.

References:

Wray, William James. History of the Twenty-third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry... (Philadelphia, 1904).

History of the 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Corn Exchange Regiment... (Philadelphia, 1905).

M-1898
Recat. 11/97 rsc

Link to subject index to the William R. Vandergrift Papers

Alphabetic index to the Schoff Civil War Collections

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