Company I of the 78th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was recruited in Armstrong County by Robert D Elmwood and others, and was composed of men from Armstrong and adjoining counties, with an average age of about twenty two years. This Company was comprised of laborers, students, farmers, and mechanics, and came to Camp Orr on the 29th of August. It was organized with Robert D Elwood, captain; George W Black, 1st lieutenant; Samuel M Crosby, 2nd lieutenant, with Samuel H Kerr, William B Derr, William C Murphy, Daniel Bryson and John D Hall sergeants, and Aaron Hawk, Lewis T Hill, William Henry, Jr., John S McIlwain, Hezekiah V Ashbaugh, Joseph L Keer, and James Drummond, corporals. Captain Elwood was an enterprising young businessman of Apollo, Armstrong County; he was captain of a canal packet, and was unanimously chosen as a fitting leader for Company I.
By an order of the Secretary of War, Camp Orr, on the Northeastern bank of the Allegheny River about two miles above Kittanning, was authorized as a rendezvous for the organization of troops. Wealthy citizens of Kittanning furnished the money to sustain the encampment, located on the Fair Grounds and on a farm belonging to the Gilpin and Johnston heirs. William Sirwell was placed in command of the encampment, and afterwards became Colonel of the 78th Regiment. The time spent in Camp Orr was devoted to organization, drill and discipline.
On the 14th of October, 1861, the Regiment marched out of Camp Orr, bade farewell to the people of Kittanning, and was transported by the Allegheny Valley Railroad to Pittsburgh where they were encamped in Camp Wilkins on Penn Avenue below Lawrenceville. The Regiment remained there for four days, during which time a Brigade comprised of the 77th, 78th, and 79th Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteer Regiments, and a Battery of Light Artillery were organized under the command of Brigadier General James S Negley. On the 18th of October, 1861, these three Regiments, including the Battery marched through Pittsburgh to the Monongahela River, and embarked on five large steamboats for Louisville, KY.
Regimental Battles
The 78th Regiment took part in three great epoch-making battles; these were:
STONE RIVER - December, 1862-January, 1863In Stone River, Chickamauga and Atlanta Campaigns, there was hard fighting for many days, and even weeks, before the decisive battles were over; and we do not attempt here to enumerate all these engagements. The most prominent engagements in which the Regiment participated are as follows:
CHICKAMAUGA - September, 1863
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN AND MISSONARY RIDGE - November, 1863
Green River, Kentucky - December, 1861
Rogersville, Tennessee - May 1862
Lavergne, Tennessee - October 1, 1862
Neeley's Bend, Tennessee - October 19, 1862
Goodletsville, Tennessee
Franklin, Tennessee - December 5, 1862
Stone River - December 26, 1862 to January 3, 1863
Liberty Gap, Tennessee - January 24, 1863
Hoover's Gap Tennessee - January 26, 1863
McLemore Cove or Dug Gap - September 10-11, 1863
Chickamauga - September 10-23, 1863
Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge - November, 1863
Buzzard's Roost, Georgia - May 1864
Resacca, Georgia - May 21, 1864
New Hope church, Georgia - May 27, 1864
Kenesaw Mountain - June, 1864
Fight as Train Guard - June 27, 1864
Pulaski, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
The Regiment embarked at Nashville on the evening of the 18th of October, 1864, and returned to Pittsburgh by way of the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers. The citizens of Pittsburgh gave the veterans a very cordial reception; the villages and hamlets from Pittsburgh to Kittanning all vied with each other in their efforts to show their appreciation for their soldier friends. The Regiment was mustered out of the United States serice at Kittanning on the 4th day of Nevember, 1864.
Source: Hezikiah Valentine Ashbaugh's 1905 copy of his Regiment entitled: History of the Seventy-Eithth Pennsylvania volunteer Infantry, Edited by J. T. Gibson Under the Direction of the Historical Committee of Regimental Association 1905: Press of the Pittsburgh Printing Co., Pittsburgh, PA: Copy 1905 by Gibson.