Editing Allentown, Pennsylvania (section)

====American Civil War====
{{Further|Pennsylvania in the American Civil War}}
[[File:1920 - Allentown First Defenders Civil War Memorial in West Park.jpg|thumb|A 1920 postcard of West End Park on Linden Street featuring a statue of [[Ignatz Gresser]], a [[Union army]] soldier from Allentown who was awarded the [[Medal of Honor]] for acts of valor during the [[Battle of Antietam]]]]
[[File:1911 - First Defender Reunion at Center Square.jpg|thumb|The 50th reunion of Allentown's First Defenders, a Union army unit during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], in front of Soldiers and Sailors Monument at [[Hamilton Street|Hamilton]] and S. 7th streets in [[Center City Allentown|Center City]] on [[Memorial Day]] in 1911]]
On April 13, 1861, with tensions between the [[Union (American Civil War)|North]] and [[Confederate States of America|South]] intensifying following the [[Origins of the American Civil War|South's secession]], residents of Lehigh and Northampton counties called a public meeting in [[Easton, Pennsylvania|Easton]] to discuss steps that could be taken to support the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028854201 |publisher=Everts & Richards |date=1884 |first1=Alfred |last1=Mathews |first2=Austin N. |last2=Hungerford}}</ref> In the meeting, citizens voted to establish and equip the [[1st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment|1st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry]], a new military unit, and placed Captain Samuel Yohe of Easton and Thomas W. Lynn in charge of it, awarding them the respective ranks of colonel and major. Tilghman H. Good of [[South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania|South Whitehall Township]], previously captain of Allen Rifles, an Allentown-based militia, and commander of the [[4th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment]], was placed in charge of the 1st Pennsylvania's Company I, which included his former Allen Rifles subordinates and members of Jordan Artillerist, another Allentown-based militia.

In April 1861, following the Confederate [[Battle of Fort Sumter|bombardment of Fort Sumter]], these Allentown units were deployed in response to [[President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers|President Lincoln's call]] for 75,000 volunteers to defend the national capital of [[Washington, D.C.]] from Confederate attack.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A history of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, from the earliest settlements to the present time, including much valuable information for the use of schools, families, libraries |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoflehighc00hause |publisher=Allentown, Pa., Jacks, the printer |date=1902 |first=James Joseph |last=Hauser}}</ref> After protecting the nation's capital from April to July 1861, these volunteers were honorably discharged and returned home, though a significant number reenlisted to defend the Union as the Civil War escalated.<ref name="bicen" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Penn Germania ...: A Popular Journal of German History and Ideals in the United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SDFEAQAAMAAJ |publisher=P.C. Croll |date=1912 |first1=Philip Columbus |last1=Croll |first2=Henry Addison |last2=Schuler |first3=Howard Wiegner |last3=Kriebel}}</ref> After the Civil War's end, many of these soldiers were named [[Pennsylvania First Defenders]] in recognition of their role as one of the first five units to answer Lincoln's call for volunteers to defend the nation's capital. 

=====47th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry=====
{{Main|47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment}}
On August 5, 1861, [[Andrew Gregg Curtin]], the Civil War-era [[Governor of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania governor]], granted Tilghman H. Good authority to create the [[47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment]], a new unit commonly known as the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.<ref>[https://47thpennsylvaniavolunteers.com/officers/roster-field-and-staff-officers-47th-pennsylvania-volunteers/colonel-tilghman-h-good/ "Colonel Tilghman H. Good,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705073151/https://47thpennsylvaniavolunteers.com/officers/roster-field-and-staff-officers-47th-pennsylvania-volunteers/colonel-tilghman-h-good/ |date=July 5, 2022 }} ''47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story'', 2014.</ref> Good secured the assistance of William H. Gausler of Allentown, who was commissioned as a major with the regiment's central command staff, and [[John P. S. Gobin|John Peter Shindel Gobin]], a senior officer with Sunbury Guards in [[Northumberland County, Pennsylvania|Northumberland County]], who was repeatedly cited for valor and was promoted to colonel and ultimately as commanding officer of the regiment.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates. |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ABY3439.0001.001/1172?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=1150 |website=quod.lib.umich.edu |access-date=January 22, 2016 |archive-date=January 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127141334/http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ABY3439.0001.001/1172?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=1150 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>"[https://47thpennsylvaniavolunteers.com/officers/roster-field-and-staff-officers-47th-pennsylvania-volunteers/the-honorable-john-peter-shindel-gobin/ The Honorable John Peter Shindel Gobin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112070013/https://47thpennsylvaniavolunteers.com/officers/roster-field-and-staff-officers-47th-pennsylvania-volunteers/the-honorable-john-peter-shindel-gobin/ |date=January 12, 2023 }}," in ''47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story'', 2015.</ref> Companies A and E of the regiment were recruited primarily from Easton and Northampton County; Companies B, G, I, and K were largely recruited from Allentown; Company C was recruited from Northumberland and [[Juniata County, Pennsylvania|Juniata]] counties; Company F was primarily composed of men from the Allentown suburb of [[Catasauqua, Pennsylvania|Catasaqua]]; and Companies D and H were recruited from [[Perry County, Pennsylvania|Perry County]]. The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers achieved Union victories at the [[Battle of St. Johns Bluff]] in Florida (October 1–3, 1862) before suffering a costly defeat in the [[Second Battle of Pocotaligo]] in South Carolina (October 21–23, 1862). They were the only Pennsylvania regiment to fight in the [[Union army]]'s [[Red River campaign]] across [[Louisiana]] in 1864.<ref>"[https://47thpennsylvaniavolunteers.com/2016/04/09/red-river-campaign-louisiana-march-to-may-1864/ Red River Campaign (Louisiana, March to June 1864)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112070018/https://47thpennsylvaniavolunteers.com/2016/04/09/red-river-campaign-louisiana-march-to-may-1864/ |date=January 12, 2023 }}," in ''47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story'', 2014.</ref>

While sustaining numerous casualties during the Red River campaign, the 47th Pennsylvania helped [[Turning point of the American Civil War|turn the Civil War]] in the Union's favor, contributing to influential military victories in [[Philip Sheridan|General Sheridan's]] [[Valley campaigns of 1864|1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign]] across Virginia, including in the Battles of [[Battle of Berryville|Berryville]], [[Third Battle of Winchester|Opequan]], [[Battle of Fisher's Hill|Fisher's Hill]], and [[Battle of Cedar Creek|Cedar Creek]], and then again contributing to the nation's defense following [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln's assassination]] on April 15, 1865.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=About the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers |url=https://47thpennsylvania.wordpress.com/about/ |website=47th Pennsylvania Volunteers |access-date=January 22, 2016 |language=en-US |date=May 25, 2014 |archive-date=January 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127040008/https://47thpennsylvania.wordpress.com/about/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=A Civil War history of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers: the wrong place at the wrong time |publisher=L.G. Schmidt |date=1986 |location=Allentown |first=Lewis G |last=Schmidt |oclc=15166408}}</ref> Other known Union military units from Allentown included the 5th, 41st, [[128th Pennsylvania Infantry|128th]], and 176th Pennsylvania Infantries.<ref name="bicen" /><ref name="LCHS1" />

On October 19, 1899, Allentown erected and dedicated Soldiers and Sailors Monument, at Hamilton and S. 7th streets in [[Center City Allentown|Center City]], where it still stands,  in honor of these Union soldiers from Allentown and local Lehigh Valley towns and boroughs who were killed in defense of the Union during the Civil War.<ref name="bicen"/><ref name="LCHS1"/><ref>[http://www.wfmz.com/features/historys-headlines/soldiers-and-sailors-monument-saluting-lehigh-county-veterans-for-over-100-years/16493218 "Soldiers and Sailors Monument Saluting Lehigh County for over 100 years," WFMZ, July 12, 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111005836/http://www.wfmz.com/features/historys-headlines/soldiers-and-sailors-monument-saluting-lehigh-county-veterans-for-over-100-years/16493218 |date=January 11, 2017 }}, retrieved January 10, 2016.</ref>