For Our Famine Slain: A Poem From March 1865

The following poem appeared in the Carlisle Herald And Expositor on March 10, 1865, eight days after the death of Samuel Hollinger in Richmond from disease and neglect while detained as a prisoner of war. It is not known when word of Samuel's death reached home but the appearance of this poem preceded the return of recently exchanged and furloughed soldiers from Samuel's regiment. News from the prison camps, both good and bad, arrived in Carlisle throughout March, 1865.
The author of the poem was not identified.

Poetical

for the Herald

IN MEMORIAM

He shall not die unsung, nor yet unavenged.

Within a Southern prison, where the heavy air was rank,

And the gloomy walls were mouldering, in the darkness damp and dank:

When famine gaunt and gloomy, sat brooding night and day,

And human beings huddled, like shivering beasts of prey,

Lay a pale-browed youthful soldier whose face so saintly bright,

Seemed to have caught its beauty from the far off land of light.
The heavy lids drooped lower, his cheek grew pale and wan,
And the light from out that kindling eye, forever more was gone.
And day by day more slowly his feeble pulse beat,
Till the angel of Death in pity came with lagging feet.
He murmured sweet and childish things, and repeated his infant prayer,
While a comrade whispered his mother's name and smoothed the dark waves of his hair.
Then over his pallid features passed a smile as sweetly bright
As a beam from the open portal of the radiant land of light.
Then gathered 'round him those pale, sad men, and chanted a funeral psalm,
While the deep despair of their captive hearts gave place to a holy calm.
The sternest spirits grew tearful and mild as they bowed their heads to pray,
And the gloom of the living charnel house grew bright with celestial day.
Oh for one fold of the dear old Flag to shroud him for his rest.
Oh for one star from out its host to lay upon his breast,
Oh for a mother's or sister's kiss to press on those lips of clay,
And a tender hand to hide those eyes afar from the light of day.
O'er his grave no friend may weep but the mocking bird will sing,
And the southern flowers wake to life, with the breath of coming spring.
And the crash of War will come to that spot accursed of God,
Whence the cries of our starving brothers have risen from every sod;
Swift as from out the murky sky, the livid lightnings spring,
Shall be heard 'midst the bloom of the orange bowers, the clang of the sabres' ring.
The stately Palmetto shall bow its head, while the storm is sweeping by,
And the light of many a burning home, shall gleam in the lurid sky.
But he will not wake, or start from his rest when the flying squadrons come,
Or at morn and evening list to hear the beat of the reveille drum;
The angel of Freedom shall watch when he sleeps and never a slave shall tread,
A spot of earth whose bosom bears, the graves of our patriot dead.
Strike man of the iron heart! strike man of the willing hand!
For the Union our Fathers gave us and an undivided land.
But wield ye a surer, deadlier blow when ye strike for our Famine slain,
Whose graves as the stars above them, are thick on the southern plain.
Strike for the living and the dead! to the traitor heart with your steel!
And pour the blaze of your murderous fire where his shattered columns reel;
Press to his lips the cup we have drained - the cup of crimson gore,
'Till the blood of our murdered brothers shall plead from the ground no more.
Carlisle, March 4th, 1865

Sarah Hollinger's Pension Claim

Sarah Hollinger filed for a Widow's Claim For Pension soon after Samuel's death in a Richmond hospital. Here is here claim that she placed on April 24th, 1865. One of the witnesses, Addison O'Donnel, may have been Sarah's brother. The pension was granted at a rate of $8.00 each month.

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This record is part of Samuel Hollinger's pension file and is available through the National Archives and Records Administration.

Samuel Hollinger's Military Records File

The following documents can be found in Samuel Hollinger's military record file. All Union military service records are held by the National Archives and Records Administration. For a fee, records can be obtained by mail-order.

Samuel Hollinger's Volunteer Enlistment Paper

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Samuel's Prisoner of War Memorandum

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Samuel's Discharge Papers

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Samuel Hollinger's Death in a Civil War POW Camp

Abram K. Hollinger's father, Samuel, died while in the service of the Grand Army of the Republic near the end of the Civil War.
The Hollinger family resided southeast of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Daniel Hollinger was a German Baptist Brethern or Dunker minister. When Daniel's wife, Catherine, gave birth to their third son on November 20, 1822, they named him Samuel. Samuel married Sarah O'Donnel on August 7, 1844. He was, by trade, a carpenter and a maker of wagons. [1][2]

In September of 1864, Samuel put aside his carpentry tools and enlisted for one year of army service. He was 42 years of age. Described on his enlistment papers, Samuel stood 5'8" tall with grey eyes, black hair, and a dark complexion. At Camp Curtin, he was assigned to Company F of the 209th PA regiment. His was among the very last companies formed of Cumberland County volunteers. [2]

The 209th was deployed to the battle lines at Bermuda Hundred, VA. On November 17th, while on picket duty and along with eighteen other privates and three officers, Samuel was captured. He was held in Richmond until, on December 4th, he was transferred to Salisbury, North Carolina. [2][3]
Samuel very nearly survived the horrors of a civil war prisoner of war camp. Malnourished and deprived of proper medical treatment,  he suffered from chronic diarrhea. But he was still alive when a prisoner trade was negotiated. All Salisbury prisoners were to be returned. The camp was emptied and closed by the end of February, 1865. The healthiest prisoners were promptly released into Union custody, but those too infirm for rapid transit were brought to Richmond before release. Samuel, among the sickest of the prisoners, died in a Richmond hospital on March 2nd, 1865. [2] Samuel may have been among the many anonymously and hastily interred in Richmond. No record of his burial has yet been recovered.

 

In 1867, the citizens of Carlisle erected a monument called Soldier's Memorial in the town square. All Cumberland County soldiers who died in service are listed by regiment and company. Samuel's name appears on the south side of the memorial.

Sources:
1. The Hollinger Genealogical File at the Cumberland County Historical Society
2. Military File from the National Archives and Records Administration
3. Bates, Samuel; History of PA Volunteers, 1861-5

The Death of Elmer Miller

The following article appeared in Harrisburg's The Patriot on December 19, 1914.

After nearly a year's illness, Elmer E. Miller, aged 53 years, of 1108 Plum street, died suddenly shortly before noon yesterday. Death was due to Bright's disease from which he has suffered for several years. He is the father of Eugene E. Miller, for four years the greatest quarterback in American college ranks.

Mr . Miller's death came suddenly after he had been laughing and talking with his wife.

Mr. Miller was born in Center Square, Cumberland county, in 1861. He attended the Cumberland Valley Institute and later worked for several years in his home town. In 1886, he was married to Susan Ann Ellinger, at Bowmansdale. He came to this city in 1903 and has since worked as a wire splicer for the Harrisburg Light, Heat and Power Company.

One son, Eugene, is employed at Bawlff, Alberta, Canada, and will be unable to arrive home in time for his father's funeral. No funeral arrangements will be made until some communication is received from him.

Surviving Mr. Miller are the following sisters: Mrs. John B. Mohler, Mechanicsburg; Mrs. Ida Hair, York; Mrs. Albert Swartz, Mechanicsburg; Mrs. Grant Westhaver, Mechanicsburg; Mrs. Miller and seven children: Mrs. David C. Byers, Greencastle; Eugene E., Canada; Mrs. Lena J. Dunlap, Mary E., Charlotte G., Harry Grove, and Zella C., all of this city.

Although Mr. Miller never participated in athletics his son won country-wide fame. He was an all-around athlete and one of the cleanest players in any game. He was a star athlete while at Central High and later when he entered State College made the varsity in his freshman year. He played all four years and missed only one game in that time. He was captain in his senior year and was the choice of many for All-American honors.

Mrs. Lena Dunlap was a member of the Central High Girls' basketball team. In her junior year she acted as captain and in her senior year was manager.

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NOTES:

-Center Square, referred to as Elmer's place of birth, was near the intersection of Gettysburg Road and Lisburn Road. The 1872 map of Upper Allen Township shows that George H. Miller owned the house on the southwestern corner of this intersection.

-Mrs. John B. Mohler was Elmer's sister, Matilda.

-Mrs. Albert Swartz was Elmer's sister, Sarah Hellen.

-Mrs. Grant Westhaver was not Elmer's sister. She was his neice, Naomi, the daughter of Elmer's deceased sister, Susanetta.

-Mrs. David C. Byers was Elmer's daughter, Laura.