A bad Ass Yankee

1,716 Views | 3 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by Cen-Tex
BQ78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG


Tobias Yoder was a coal miner from Somerset County in Central Pennsylvania. If you think about the guy in the song Big Bad John, well Tobias was the real deal. Tobias was a strong barrel-chested man with lots of lean muscle; the undefeated wrestling champion of Somerset County before the Civil War, who took on all comers. He escaped death the first time in the mines when after a cave-in, he was buried under an avalanche of earth and rocks with his trusty dog, who always accompanied him to the mine. Tobias dug himself out with his bare hands, the dog wasn't so lucky. A second brush with death occurred when a rail car ran over him but only broke six ribs.


A company of the Pennsylvania Reserve

Tobias enlisted in the 39th Pennsylvania in May 1861 and the regiment was made a part of the Pennsylvania Reserve or 10th Pennsylvania Reserves. He left behind a wife and two children. Tobias was already 33 years old but his patriotism was as strong as his body. He saw his first action in the small Battle of Dranesville in December 1861. His third brush with death would occur just over six months later during the Seven Days Battles at Glendale on June 30, 1862.


Modern depiction of the Battle of Glendale

The 39th fought hard that day. Under attack from the beginning of the battle, the regiment completely exhausted their ammunition and pulled back to a wood lot to replenish it. Tobias had his kepi buckle shot away and sported several holes in his coattails, but so far so good. With their ammunition replenished, the regiment started back for the firing line but the Confederates had penetrated the line so that the 39th maneuvered into an ambush with Confederates on both flanks. Caught in a hellish crossfire, many of his comrades fell to the ground shrieking in pain. Tobias was struck too. But not just once, he was hit with seven rounds. With the Army of the Potomac is a hasty retreat, Tobias was left for dead, bleeding from his mouth and twelve bullet holes. At first, the Confederates only evacuated their wounded and left the Federals to manage on their own. Many hours later they picked him up and unceremoniously threw him into a wagon and hauled him away.


Belle Isle Prison Camp

Confederate surgeons looked at his wounds and declared them fatal and he was sent to Libby Prison (the prison for officers) to die. Libby was a former Tobacco Warehouse so Tobias used residual tobacco to plug his wounds and the bleeding stopped. When the surprised Confederates found him alive a few days later they transferred him to the enlisted man's prison on Belle Isle. In midAugust the Confederates thinking he was still about to die, just released him to the Federals. Sent to a hospital in Chester, PA the surgeons there said he was hopeless and would be dead in 48 hours so he should not be treated. But they were as wrong as the Confederate surgeons.


A soldier who also survived one of the seven wounds suffered by Yoder

Since he was getting no treatment, Yoder went home and survived just nicely, thank you very much! The doctors were fascinated by this medical miracle and he was given close scrutiny by them after he lived. Two smoothbore balls had pierced his lungs and passed through his body, two more had gone completely through other parts of his torso and one had broken his shoulder blade. The other two probably would have been fatal except they passed through his rolled up gum blanket before entering his side but not exiting. One was lodged just under his hip bone and the other next to his spine. He carried the two rounds in his body the rest of his life.


Monument to the 39th Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, look at the last name of Company A

Most people would think that Tobias had done his duty and was done for the war but not Tobias. He made it back to the camp with his comrades near Washington DC by the spring of 1863 just after the debacle at Chancellorsville. The doctors scoffed at him and told him to go home but he ignored them and rejoined the regiment. Soon they were on the march to a town in his home state, Gettysburg. They entered action on July 2 to relieve Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the 20th Maine on Little Round Top. Tobias like his comrades entered combat with 40 rounds in his cartridge box, 20 in his pockets but he had two more in his body. After the battle the doctors finally convinced Tobias he had to give up the active army and join the Veteran Reserve Corps or as it was first known the Invalid Corps, where he served until he mustered out in May 1864.


Soldiers of the 187th Pennsylvania

But Tobias didn't go home. Instead he went and enlisted with a new regiment the 187th Pennsylvania. The doctors told him to go home again but after jumping up and clicking his heels the doctors relented and let him back in as a sergeant. Tobias participated in the bloody Overland Campaign and the Petersburg Campaign unscathed, despite his regiment taking heavy casualties in the initial assault on Petersburg and defending the Weldon Railroad penetration in September 1864. Tobias was present at Appomattox when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant.


Members of the 187th Pennsylvania serving as escorts of Lincoln's funeral procession in Philadelphia

Tobias took his greatest pride in his service as an escort for Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession in Philadelphia, where he escorted the body from the train station to Independence Hall where Lincoln lay in state, before escorting the body back to the train station. This ended Tobias' Civil War service.


Tobias' Grave in Somerset County, PA's Husband Cemetery

Tobias returned to his wife and children and after the war they had nine more children. He died at age 69 in Iowa but his body was shipped home to Somerset County and he is buried in the Husband Cemetery there.


The Somerset County Courthouse and the county's monument to its Civil War soldiers. When the granite monument was erected in 1891, Tobias Yoder was the soldier depicted. Somerset County was and still is one of the poorest counties in the nation.
oldarmy76
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Thanks for sharing
wildcat08
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Wow! Bad ass, indeed.
P.H. Dexippus
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Hopefully that statue stands for a long time
Cen-Tex
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Always liked Troiani's 'Southern Cross' painting of the Pennsylvania Reserves trying to take back their cannon.



Refresh
Page 1 of 1
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.