Galusha A. Pennypacker (June 1, 1842[1] – October 1, 1916) was the only child born to Joseph J. and Tamson Amelia Workizer Pennypacker. Married on May 7, 1839, his parents resided in Schuylkill Township where Joseph ran the Valley Forge Temperance House from 1843 to 1844 before moving to Philadelphia. While living there, Tamson died of a severe case of smallpox in January 1846 at the age of twenty-two.  After transferring property back to his father-in-law to cover his debts, Joseph left young Galusha under the care of the Pennypacker family and went to join the Mexican War as a volunteer aid-de-camp and wagon-master.  Following the war, he was a wagon-master for two years with John Audubon’s expeditions through Mexico and California and stayed in California for the remainder of his life, never returning to Pennsylvania.  He became a printer, establishing the Petulma Argus[2], and was married to Mary Coley, his third wife, in 1857.  They had one daughter that lived to adulthood, Lizzie; Galusha’s half-sister.

            Galusha, who volunteered with the Fame Fire Company, had been employed with the Chester County Times for little more than a year when war broke out between the States in 1861.  He initially served for three months as a Quartermaster Sergeant with the 9^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and then was mustered in for a three year enlistment on August 22, 1861, as Captain of Co. A., 97^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.  On October 7, 1861, he was promoted to Major.  His regiment became part of the 10^th Corps in the Department of the South and they saw action on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. He also participated in court martial proceedings and trained officers at the school of instruction at Fernandina, FL.

            On April 3, 1864, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.  He saw action at Swift Creek on May 9; Drewry’s Bluff, May 16; Chester’s Station, May 18; and at Green Plains, Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, were he was wounded three times in the right arm.[3]  In June 1864, he was promoted to Colonel and returned to duty assuming command of the regiment upon the resignation of Col. H.R. Guss in August of 1864.  He was immediately immersed back into battle at Deep Bottom, Weirbottom Church, and Petersburg.  On the 29^th of September he was wounded in the right ankle by a shell fragment and had his horse shot out from under him as he led an assault on FortGilmer.

            After engagements at Chaffins Farm and Darbytown Road, (October 7^th and 29^th, respectively), Galusha received his most severe wounds at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, on January 15, 1865.  There, as he placed the regimental flag of the 97^th PA Volunteers on the third traverse of the fortifications, he was shot in the right side and hip. The minie ball fractured the upper portion of the pelvic bone.[4]  Sergeant Jeptha Clark, of the 124^th Regiment, tended Galusha on the beach at Fort Fisher and remained with him on shipboard until they reached Chesapeake Hospital.[5]  Galusha was promptly promoted to Brevet Brigadier-General.  By March 1867 six additional brevets earned him the title of Brevet Major-General of the US Army.  He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on August 17, 1891, for his actions and injuries at Fort Fisher. His appointment to Brigadier-General was made on April 23, 1904.[6]

            After the war, he practiced law in West Chester before assuming the role of Colonelcy for the State of Pennsylvania in the 34^th Infantry US Army in 1867.  He was stationed in Mississippi until the dissolution of the 34^th Infantry.  In March 1869 he was assigned to the 16^th Infantry as part of the Department of Louisiana. During this time he wrote to Mr. Townsend and informed him of having survived a Mississippi Central Railroad train wreck which had gone off a trestle.  He mentioned that he “was bruised all over, and had my wounded shoulder almost dislocated.  I have suffered miserably, since.  ‘My time’ hadn’t come yet!  I wonder when it will?”[7]

            Galusha served until the end of 1871 when he was granted a leave of absence for a year.  He visited Europe and participated in ceremonies given by the American Minister in Berlin at a meeting of the Emperors of Russia, Austria and Germany.  Local papers reported on the events of his visit. It was said that he met Kaiser Wilhelm who greeted Galusha “to the youngest general from the oldest.”  Galusha brought paintings back with him, but these were lost in a fire in February 1900.[8]

            Upon his return to the US, he visited Canada and then assumed command of troops stationed at Nashville.  In 1876 he was given command of the Military Department of the South and was posted at Ft. Riley, Kansas and Forts Davis, McKavett and Concho in Texas.  He retired from the Army in 1883 “on account of wounds received in battle”[9] and resided at 300 South 10^th Street, in Philadelphia for the remainder of his life.

            He returned to West Chester in 1887 for the unveiling of the 97^th Regiment monument and visited with veterans and friends throughout his retirement.  Therapy treatments for the ongoing pain from his injuries were taken at Hot Springs, Arkansas.

            Galusha died October 1, 1916, at his home and was interred in the NationalCemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  A National Guard camp was named after him in 1909 and a memorial statue, designed by Charles Grafly and sculpted by Albert Laessle, was unveiled at 18^th and Vine Streets, Philadelphia, on May 13, 1934.

            In conclusion, Isaiah Price records Galusha not only as the youngest general, but as “the first officer mustered in and the last of the original officers to leave the service” during the Civil War.  He served continuously over five years.[10]