Major Joseph Anthony, a Civil War veteran and prominent figure in the southern end of Pennsylvania’s Coal Region, passed away in 1885 due to complications from a wound received 22 years earlier.
As previously explored here on the blog, Major Anthony served bravely with both the 96th and the 129th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry regiments during the Civil War, enduring a severe wound to the chest on the battlefield of Chancellorsville in May 1863 that ended his military career and would claim his life two decades later.
Beyond his military contributions, Anthony’s leadership extended into the anthracite mining industry, shaping operations at the Williamstown and Short Mountain Collieries in Dauphin County in the years after the Civil War.
In this poignant obituary and remembrance of the Irish immigrant, originally published shortly after his death, Anthony’s contemporaries reflected warmly on his resilience, bravery, and remarkable survival despite critical battlefield injuries.
The piece, written by a war-time colleague, underscores Anthony’s profound influence, not only as a respected officer during the Civil War but also as a beloved superintendent and community figure in Schuylkill County and in my hometown of Williamstown.
This remembrance offers a compelling window into the profound respect and admiration Major Anthony earned in life and continues to receive in historical reflection.
From the Pottsville Republican, February 26, 1885:
THE ARMY RECORD OF AN HEROIC SOLDIER AND FORMER RESIDENT OF POTTSVILLE.
Dr. R. H. Hayes contributes the following sketch of the late Major Joseph Anthony to a Harrisburg paper, which will be read with interest in Schuylkill county where deceased was widely and favorably known: –
“Upon a sultry day in June, 1862, on a rising ground in front of wood and swamp, whereon had been fought a few days previous the battles of Fair Oaks and Seven Pines, the writer first met Joseph Anthony, then captain in the 96th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Cake.
My own regiment, the 72nd Pennsylvania Volunteers, (Baxter’s Fire Zouaves) had just come out of that conflict with the loss of many brave men. Noted among those who fell in my regiment was Captain Megonigle, a leader of the Weccacoe Fire Company in Philadelphia, a man who in frame, brawn and sinew was the counterpart of Adjutant Anthony, of the 96th, to whom I had just been, introduced by Dr. Bland, the surgeon of the regiment.
Looking upon the stalwart frame of Adjutant Anthony after the recent tragic death of Captain Megonigle, the parallism of fate in the deadly conflict then, impending, and likely to continue, seemed, to be imminent.
In all our early conflicts, the soldiers both on the Union and rebel sides aimed too high, and it was a common saying in army circles that ‘ten pound of lead were wasted, while one ounce did execution.’ To this error in firing, Captain Megonigle, six feet three in his stocking feet, owed his death wound from a rebel ballet that crushed through his brain in the centre of the forehead.
The ordinary sized soldier in the early conflicts of the rebellion generally escaped un scratched in many conflicts only, however to meet a glorious death when this error in firing at long range was canvassed and corrected.
So my introduction to Adjutant Joseph Anthony in 1862, in the camps before Richmond – in his perfect manhood representing the stalwart of frames upon a pedestal six feet four in height – prejudged for him a fate like that which befell Captain Megonigle of the 72nd.
At this first introduction I told him his possible fate, but with the bravery and grandeur of character that has always characterized the life of Major Anthony, he replied jovially, ‘in any engagements in the future I will stoop a little.’
Time sped with its onward wings even in the – deadly conflict of arms, and Adjutant Joseph Anthony became major of his regiment [129th] of Pennsylvania volunteers, and on the battlefield of Chancellorsville the major received his death wound.
Upon this noted battlefield Major Anthony was shot diagonally through both lungs and has lived more than 20 years as a sufferer from an injury that ordinarily is fatal when received.
Accredited in the reports as killed in action upon this eventful battlefield, we are only summoned today to attend his funeral. This surcease from sudden death upon the battlefield only shows what great vitality of life possessed the gallant fame of Major Joseph. Anthony.
For six long weeks in 1863 the battle between life and death was fought in the hospitals of the city of Washington, and Major Anthony survived to engage in the pursuits of peaceful life surrounded by all the domestic felicities so consonant to his genial nature.
Major Joseph Anthony goes to his grave full of years and full of honors. ‘After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.’
The old Romans would make his epitaph ‘Ecce homo, O, vir fortis atque amicus.’ ‘Behold the man, so strong, and such a friend.’
Strong ties knit this man to the earth – stronger ties are his eternity if our religion be true.
At any rate his death and burial is a happy culmination of a glorious life and the inevitable fate that meets us all in our journey, in his case is not premature, not covered with regrets.
May his ashes rest in peace.”
Read previous stories about Civil War veterans and the Coal Region
Major Joseph Anthony | Civil War veteran and mining superintendent
Dauphin County’s oldest Civil War veteran | Henry Maurer
How Schuylkill County Civil War Veterans Opposed Confederate Monuments in 1903
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