HEADER
D.B. Coulter
D. B. COULTER, a Civil war veteran, of Apollo, was born Sept. 22, 1833, at
Elderton, in Armstrong county, Pa., and is now the oldest living native of
that town. He is a son of William and Sarah (Sutton) Coulter.William Coulter was born in Pennsylvania, as was his wife. His death
occurred in 1871, hers in 1873. They had a family of nine children, of whom D.
B. was the eighth in the order of birth.D. B. Coulter attended public school until his sixteenth year, and then
began clerking in a store, thus continuing until 1854. On Sept. 20, 1862, he
responded to his country�s call enlisting in Company M, 14th
Pennsylvania Cavalry, and entering the service as a private was promoted to
sergeant, then to second lieutenant. Still later he was made first lieutenant,
with which rank he was discharged. His regiment was recruited at Pittsburgh,
under the command of Col. J. M. Schoonmaker, and became one of the famous
regiments that went out from the Keystone State. It entered the field of war
at Harper’� Ferry, and from there was sent to participate in the West
Virginia campaign, under General Averill, 4th Separate Brigade,
during 1863. Participating in the battles of Huttonville and Rocky Gap, the
regiment was then placed in the 2d Brigade, 2d Division, Army of the
Shenandoah, at Newmarket. Mr. Coulter’s company then took a dismounted command
at Remount Camp, Pleasant Valley, Md. Later they rejoined the regiment, which
was under the command of General Hunter, and on June 5, 1864, participated in
the battle of Piedmont, defeating the enemy there under General Jones. In that
engagement the regiment showed exceptional bravery. In addition to the more
important battles, it was active in a number of skirmishes in the Shenandoah
valley. Later it fell back to Hagerstown, Md., and after Chambersburg was
burned helped to drive General McCauslin to Virginia, where they defeated and
captured him. The regiment then took part in the battle of Fisher�s Hill,
Sept. 19, 1864, and on Oct. 19th was in the battle of Cedar Creek,
and still later in the battle of Winchester, where it remained until the
capture of Richmond. Following the final surrender the regiment was sent to
Washington, where they participated in the grand review, the memory of which
will live with those who formed part of it as long as life endures. The
regiment was finally discharged July 31, 1865. No brief record such as this
can do justice to the work of these brave men. Not only were they in many
bloody engagements, but they took part in the forced marches, the weary
waiting, the exposure to all kinds of weather, and more than once were
insufficiently fed, owing to trouble with the source of supplies. That any
lived to reach even middle age is a marvel, considering the privations and
exposure to infection of all kinds, and the danger of southern fever to those
not acclimated, to say nothing of the death that threatened with every
discharge of the enemy�s guns. The soldiers of the sixties surely came of
sturdy, healthy stock, to live through all this and be able to round out long
and useful lives afterward.Returning to his home in Armstrong county after his discharge, arriving
Aug. 5, 1865, Mr. Coulter resumed farming operations, conducting his father�s
property. Until 1882 he remained on this farm, then moving to Elderton, Pa.,
and still later to Apollo, where he has since remained, being now retired from
business. He is a member of Charles Whitworth Post, No. 89, G. A. R., and
served seventeen times as adjutant of the post.Mr. Coulter was united in marriage with Rachel Smith, at Elderton, Pa., and
ten children were born of this marriage, nine of whom survive: H. W., born
Oct. 14, 1856; Sarah E., Sept. 10, 1857; William M., Dec. 5, 1861; Lida, May
8, 1866; John L., Aug. 31, 1867; Mary C., March 31, 1869; David A., Aug. 9,
1870; James E., May 24, 1872; Bruce E., Jan. 7, 1875.Source: Pages 931-932, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed October 1998 by Kathy Zagorac for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any presentation, without prior written permission.Return to the Beers Project
Â
Return to the
Armstrong County Genealogy ProjectÂ
Return to the
Armstrong County Genealogy Project
Return to the
Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(c) Armstrong County
Genealogy Project
About Author
