A one-of-a-kind general
Galusha Pennypacker has a distinction shared by no other officer
in United States military history.
A one-of-a-kind general
Galusha Pennypacker has a distinction shared by no other officer in United States military history.
He was born into a Pennsylvania family that had contributed scholars and citizen-soldiers to the country. His grandfather had fought in the American Revolution and his father, the Mexican War.
Galusha’s mother died when he was three. His father placed him in the care of his own mother, who lavished love upon him. As he became old enough, she saw that he had a decent education. He also was taught to be kind in his dealings with others and to always do his duty.
When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Pennypacker rushed to the colors. He joined a unit enrolled for three months and performed so well that he earned a sergeant’s stripes by the time his enlistment ended.
Almost immediately he helped form a regiment to fight through the duration of the war. In the custom of that time, its members chose their officers and Pennypacker was commissioned a captain.
Because of his regard for the enlisted men, he established a bond that transcended military hierarchy. The men followed him unquestioningly wherever he led.
The regiment fought its way through Virginia when it seemed as though the South still could win the war. Pennypacker knew that combat meant casualties but also realized that true leadership meant setting examples. Soldiers under his command were reassured by the knowledge that he was always in the front line.
He was a colonel by May of 1864 when he was wounded so severely he was incapacitated for three months. When he returned to the troops, practically tied to his horse, the whole regiment cheered.
But his moment with destiny was still ahead. Fort Fisher, called the Gibraltar of the South, guarded the seaport of Wilmington, N.C., the only lifeline the South still had with the outside world, and supplies trickled through it to the crippled Confederacy.
The fort repulsed a Christmas Eve attack by the Union Army and Navy and the North grimly determined to try again. In January 1865, another attack was hurled at it.
Pennypacker was in the vanguard as murderous fire withered the ranks. When the color bearer fell, he seized the flag and planted it upon a slope to rally the troops. He was immediately cut down by enemy fire.
As the Union forces fought their way into the fort, he was carried to safety but it seemed at first that his wounds were mortal.
General Albert Terry maintained that the fort would not have been taken without him. Pennypacker was promoted to general in February, and in April, brevet (temporary) major general. The action also won him the Medal of Honor years later.
He remained in the Army, serving in the South and later on the Southwest frontier, until his injuries forced him to retire in 1881. He died in 1916.
It was not until six weeks after the war ended that Pennypacker turned 21, old enough to vote. No other American military officer, before or since, has matched his achievement of winning a general’s stars at age 20.
