My Genealogy Hound

ROBERT CLARK LAMBERTON. From the narrative of Abraham Lamberton it appears that he had a son named Robert Clark Lamberton. This son was born Feb. 28, 1842, on the Lamberton homestead in North Middleton, now Middlesex, township, and educated in the public schools and in Prof. Frank Gillellen’s Academy at Greason. His school days ended in March, 1861. As his father was county surveyor, and a practitioner of wide repute, he was away from home about half his time, and during his absence the duties of the farm devolved upon he son. Robert Lamberton consequently bore the cares and responsibilities of a full grown man from the time he was fourteen years of age.

When the war of the Rebellion broke upon the land every community was called upon to contribute its quota of young men to the army. A year of the great conflict had passed and the enemy had so nearly succeeded in invading Pennsylvania that it was painfully evident that yet more stupendous sacrifices were necessary if the Union was to be preserved and the nation live. After the battle of Antietam, in September, 1862, there enlisted from Middlesex township between thirty and forty men who felt it their duty to go to their country’s aid. Among these was Robert C. Lamberton, who then was a hearty, rugged, six-foot boy with powers of endurance equal to any of his comrades, as was subsequently tested and proven. They repaired to Harrisburg with the expectation of becoming a part of one of the Bucktail regiments which were forming in Camp Curtin, but upon reaching Harrisburg they found those regiments all full and had to look elsewhere for a place in the ranks. At Arlington Heights, Va., there was then lying the remnant of a regiment which had gone to the front in December, 1861, with full ranks, and through casualties in battle and sickness had been reduced until there were left only about seventy men who were fit for duty. This was the 84th Pennsylvania, and it was being recruited back to the required standard for further service. To this veteran regiment was assigned the devoted band of unseasoned men from Cumberland county. By the time they reached Arlington Heights they numbered between fifty and sixty men and were consequently able to control the organization of the company to which they were assigned — Company G. From their number they elected E. E. Platt captain, and J. P. Brindle, first lieutenant. The colonel was S. M. Bowman, a veteran who had been an officer of the regiment from its first organization. The regiment was assigned to Gen. Carroll’s brigade, and the brigade made a part of Gen. Whipple’s Independent Division.

Robert C. Laniberton did not long remain a private. On Nov. 1st he was promoted to sergeant, and on November 18th to orderly sergeant. As orderly sergeant he frequently performed the duties of his superior officers and did it so efficiently that he was soon regarded capable of higher duties. On July 21, 1864, he was promoted to second lieutenant, and on Oct. 4. 1864, he was commissioned captain. In December, 1864, what remained of the regiment was consolidated into four companies, and these were transferred to the 57th Regiment, Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry. Companies G and K were formed into one Company under the name of Company K, and Capt. Lamberton was retained as captain of the consolidated company, and so continued until mustered out of service at Harrisburg, on June 30, 1865. His father having been an officer in the State militia, and his grandfather a soldier in the war of the Revolution, he had inherited a martial spirit, and knew when he entered the army what would be required of him. He knew that implicit obedience was the paramount duty of a soldier and by observing that rule of conduct he gave to his country the full measure of a good soldier’s service.

Until the reorganized 84th joined the Army of the Potomac it was constantly drill, drill, drill. Thirty days after their enlistment they were in actual field service, and then it was a correspondingly constant round of march, picket and fight. With the exception of a few unimportant skirmishes their march from Arlington Heights to the Rappahannock was uneventful. The first general engagement in which they participated was the battle of Fredericksburg, on Dec. 13, 14 and 15. On the second day Gen. Griffin called for Carroll’s brigade. It was promptly ordered forward and moved up through the town under an incessant shower of shot and shell. Taking temporary refuge in a railroad cut, the officers dismounted. At the word of command, climbing the steep acclivity at double quick, the entire brigade rushed on and soon reached the front, two companies of the 84th reaching a point considerably in advance of the line of battle. During the following night the enemy approached stealthily, under cover of darkness, with the expectation of surprising part of the line where lay the 84th, but was handsomely repulsed. The regiment acquitted itself so creditably that Gen. Carroll in his official report specially commended its action. After the battle of Fredericksburg the brigade went into camp at Falmouth, where, with the exception of the Burnside-stick-in-the-mud episode, it remained till spring.

The winter the army lay among the Rappahannock Robert Lamberton suffered a severe attack of typhoid fever, induced by exposure and poor rations. He lay in the field hospital through the worst of his illness, but as soon as able went to his home on furlough to recuperate. Before the spring campaign opened he was able to rejoin his comrades, ready to share with them the hardships and dangers that lay immediately before them.

One of the incidents that occurred soon after Gen. Hooker assumed chief command, and to which Robert Lamberton frequently referred in after years, was President Lincoln’s visit to the army. The President wore his customary high-crowned silk hat, and in riding through the camp upon a small bay horse was compelled to frequently lift his feet out of the stirrups to avoid striking the stumps. He presented a ludicrous figure and was the cause of many a smile and jesting remark. The soldiers were all glad to see him, and though averse to grand reviews they cheerfully marched in review for his benefit.

At Chancellorsville the 84th probably made its greatest fight as a regiment. It was holding a position on the morning of May 3d, when the Confederates penetrated between it and the main body of the Union army, simultaneously attacking its flank and rear, almost annihilating its left. Of 391 officers and men engaged, 219 were killed, wounded and missing, and only five members of Company G were left to answer roll call. In this bloody engagement Robert Lamberton successfully eluded the musket and bayonet of the foe, but five bullets pierced his clothing, one destroying his entire stock of cartridges. He came through the awful ordeal unscathed, but many a poor comrade fell at his feet while he was unable to render any assistance.

Soon after Gen. Lee started on his march to Pennsylvania the Army of the Potomac broke camp and followed, and the forced marches of that campaign taxed the endurance of the Union soldiers more severely than it had been taxed since the war began. All the night before the 84th crossed the Potomac it rained, making progress exceedingly difficult, yet the command marched for twenty hours without so much as once halting to make a cup of coffee. At two o’clock in the afternoon it bivouacked on the tow-path and all of Company G then present was the captain, one sergeant and Robert Lamberton. By sunrise the next morning nearly all of the exhausted men had come up and the long march was resumed. On approaching Gettysburg the regiment was detailed to guard the division supply train, some miles in the rear of the army, which duty required great vigilance and much swift marching, but was not as dangerous as actual participation in that deadly conflict. After the war, when the battlefield of Gettysburg was marked, the 84th was accorded a place on the line of battle with other regiments, and its monument is erected there, although that is not the position it occupied.

During the army’s return to Virginia the heat was intense and many men fell by the way side from sunstroke. The marching was so continuous that the soldiers had not the time to change or clean their clothing, and thousands waded into convenient streams, and, taking off their flannel shirts, would wash them, wring them dry, then put them on again and continue their march. Robert Lamberton was one of the soldiers who did this, but he never perceived any evil effects therefrom. After again reaching Virginia the 84th repeatedly came in contact with the enemy, but participated in no general engagement until in the following May.

In the winter of 1863-64 the army was camped at Brandy Station, and there our subject again fell seriously sick. His ailment threatening his life he was furloughed home as soon as it was safe to move him, and careful nursing and rest brought back his health and strength. By May he was again fit for duty and joined his regiment at the opening of one of the hardest and bloodiest campaigns of the war. On the second day’s fight in the Wilderness the 84th was in the thickest of the fray and lost many brave men, among them its lieutenant colonel. At Spottsylvania it participated in Hancock’s charge and again suffered heavy loss. At North Anna Robert Lamberton was in an extremely dangerous situation, and two men were killed close by his side in less time than it takes to tell of it. From now on till the army reached Petersburg it was one continuous series of engagements and the 84th was under fire day in and day out. Reaching Petersburg in the night, it was marched into an old clearing and placed in line of battle, in which position the men lay down and slept till morning. Robert Lamberton was the first to arise from his slumbers. He had built a fire and was cooking his breakfast when from a grove in their front a Confederate battery opened directly upon his fire. The first shell killed one man and wounded Lieut. Wingate and several others. The men flew to arms and began to throw up earthworks, but the enemy continued shelling until silenced by the Union artillery. For more than a week they fought and dug and dug and fought until their line of battle was fully established. The siege of Petersburg was now on and the 84th had its full share in that desperate and bloody struggle. Being in Hancock’s corps it participated in all the various movements made by that famous general’s command and served gallantly until the last gun of the war was fired. Robert Lamberton was one of the few men of the regiment that lived to return to his home. He had rendered to his country faithful and efficient service, and written his name on the scroll of fame, for he had participated in all of the following engagements: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the march to Gettysburg, Wapping Heights, Thoroughfare Gap, Freeman’s Ford, Bristoe Station, Kelly’s Ford, Locust Grove, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Hancock’s charge at Spottsylvania, North Anna, Pleasant Hill, Cold Harbor, the siege of Petersburg, Deep Bottom (on July 27 and again on Aug. 15 and 16), Poplar Grove Church, Hatcher’s Run (on Oct. 27, 1864, and again on Feb. 6 and on March 25, 1865), High Bridge (on April 6), and near High Bridge (on April 7).

After the war Robert Lamberton had charge of the ancestral farm until the spring of 1874. Soon after his return to his home he was elected justice of the peace, succeeding his father in the title of “Squire.” Later he was also elected school director, and continued to fill both offices while he remained in the township. In the spring of 1874 he and John Elliott entered the clothing, boot and shoe business, on North Hanover street, Carlisle, under the firm name of Elliott & Lamberton. In 1876 Mr. Elliott withdrew and went to the West, and the business was continued by Mr. Lamberton. About this time he was appointed county surveyor, to fill a vacancy caused by resignation. Subsequently he was elected to the position and held it until 1878, when he resigned, sold out his business and also removed to the West. He settled at Humboldt, Neb., where he engaged in business and resided until 1890 when he returned to his former home in Carlisle with health seriously impaired. In May, 1893, he was employed by the lumber firm of H. G. Beetem & Co., as secretary, and continued as such until that firm became merged into the Beetem Lumber & Manufacturing Company. He was then made secretary and treasurer of the new organization, which position he filled until the day of his death. He died on May 12, 1904, of bronchial catarrh, a disease against which he struggled bravely and patiently for many years. His remains were interred in the family burying plot in Ashland cemetery, by the side of those of his wife. He was a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, the church of his parents, with which he had united early in life, was a member of its board of trustees, and secretary of the board up to the time of his death.

Robert Clark Lamberton was married, on Jan. 9, 1873, to Sarah Rebecca Diven, daughter of Samuel Nelson Diven and Sarah Ann Clark, his wife, formerly of the city of Harrisburg. His wife died Dec. 28, 1896, having been an invalid for many years. To them were born the following children: Robert Clark, Sarah Margaret Clark and Jennie Diven, all of whom died in infancy; and Clark Diven. Clark Diven Lamberton graduated from Dickinson College in 1902, with the A. B. degree. Since his graduation he has taught a year in the Preparatory Department of Dickinson College, and is now a member of Princeton Theological Seminary, and of the Graduate School of Princeton University.