Pennypacker Pennsylvania Patriot or Genuine Boy General

Pennypacker, a Pennsylvania Patriot, was not only a Genuine Boy General, but also won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Several Civil War Union Officers have been labeled Boy Generals, however Galusha Pennypacker, still remains the youngest U.S. Army Brigadier General in history.

Galusha Pennypacker, was born in 1844, a native of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Pennypacker was an only child raised by his grandmother. The grandson of a Mennonite bishop, he was described as a Quaker.Pennypacker’s mother died when he was 3. His father, Joseph, served in the Mexican War, then went to California in the Gold Rush and never came back. Pennypacker entered the service in April, 1861, at the age of 16, he enlisted as a quartermaster sergeant in the 9th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, declining, on account of his youth, the appointment of first lieutenant. During his first three months of service, under Major-General Patterson, Pennypacker gained experience in the Shenandoah Valley.

In October 1861 he was appointed a major in the 97th Pennsylvania, for which he had helped recruit a company of men. The Ninety-seventh Regiment joined the Tenth Corps in the Department of the South, and during the years 1862 and 1863 participated in all the various engagements in which that corps took part, Forts Wagner and Gregg, James Island, Charleston and Fort Pulaski.

In April 1864, at age 19, Pennypacker was promoted to lieutenant colonel, replacing a sick officer. Two months later, he would be promoted again, to full colonel, in charge of the entire regiment. On May 20 he led his regiment in an assault upon the enemy’s lines at Green Plains, Bermuda Hundred, receiving three severe wounds, losing one hundred and seventy-five men killed and wounded, it would take Pennypacker 3 months to recover from his wounds.

Pennypacker returned to action in August at Petersburg and in September led his brigade in the successful assault upon Fort Harrison, where he was again wounded, and his horse shot from under him. In command of General Butler, Pennypacker participated in the failed Fort Fisher Expedition in December 1864.

In January 1865, under General Alfred Terry, Pennypacker made the successful assault upon Fort Fisher. He was again severely wounded and thought fatal. Pennypacker received six brevets or promotions as follows: Brevet brigadier-general U. S. . Volunteers, January 15, 1865; brigadier-general U.S. Volunteers, February 18, 1865; brevet major-general U.S. Volunteers, March 13, 1865; colonel Thirty-fourth Infantry U.S.A., July 28, 1866; brevet brigadier-general U.S.A., March 2, 1867, and brevet major-general U.S.A., March 2, 1867.

General Terry stated that Pennypacker and not himself was the real hero of Fort Fisher, and that his “great gallantry was only equaled by his modesty.” Major General Galusha Pennypacker was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery at Fort Fisher, on August 17, 1891, the citation reads, “Gallantly led the charge over a traverse and planted the colors of one of his regiments thereon, was severely wounded.”

Pennypacker was not only a Pennsylvania Patriot, but a Genuine Boy General, remaining  the only general too young to vote for the President who appointed him.

Bummer