Summary Of Shultzer's Hill

On the morning of May 22, 1865, a band of Union soldiers left their encampment at a place called Shultzer’s Hill. This informal detachment was not acting upon the orders of an officers or an informal foraging party in search of foodstuffs. They left camp with a mission they had given themselves. The night before had brought a heavy rain, but the veterans of many a long march were undaunted by the prospect of traipsing through mud. With rifle-muskets in hand, they walked the nearly two miles to their destination: a fine plantation with a large brick house and an impressive peach orchard. On a previous visit to the orchard, soldiers discovered a kennel of “bloodhounds,” ferocious animals trained for the pursuit of enslaved people. A man named Butler, the owner of the orchard and the dogs, had threatened these peach-seeking soldiers with the animals. The soldiers visiting Butler on that wet May morning

The tallest of the four men at just over six feet, John Yarick had mustered in as Company E’s 1st corporal, he rose through the ranks rather swiftly becoming 3rd sergeant in the aftermath of the Siege of Vicksburg. He suffered a minor wound at the battle of Fisher’s Hill in September of 1864, but returned to the regiment in time to participate in the battle of Cedar Creek less than a month later. Alexander Moreland, one of three Pennsylvania-born farmers with that surname in Company E, was the company’s third corporal. After fighting through the Vicksburg and Red River Campaigns, he was wounded in the leg at the battle of Third Winchester in 1864. His description in the company book was arguably the most glowing of any man in Company E. Not only was he “worthy of the name of soldier and an honor to the Co., always performing his duty,” but uniquely described as “indubitable and