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(from the Dally Record - April 18, 1898)
Wyoming Artillerists
A Military Organization Formed In Wilkes-Barre That Became Famous

The old Red Tavern, in Hanover Township, on the road leading to Nanticoke, was the early training ground. Here the young men assembled on the first Monday in May for inspection and drill.

Wilkes-Barre was divided into two companies, those south of Market street being known as the Bloody Eighth.


Lieut. Col. Kitchen in a neat little book giving the history of the Wyoming Artillery, says: "It numbered about 800 rank and speaking of the old militia file, and such a motley mass could have done no discredit to Fallstaff's famous regiment, yet it was only a type of the fighting material which this great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania annually paraded for the delight of little boys and as a huge joke for the public generally. The one redeeming feature was the gorgeous array in which the field officers displayed themselves, regardless of good sense or good taste; why, a circus of the present day was nothing to it. These trainings always happened after corn planting time, when the lads who had followed the furrow and swung the hoe had money to 'pay the fiddler, buy the girls cake and beer, and invest in the French bank or 'sweat,' and they were always arranged so as not to interfere with each other. This gave the fiddlers, gamblers, showmen and peddlers the benefit of a full harvest. The parade ground was a lot adjoining the church near by. In the tavern all the rooms were appropriated to dancing and drinking. In each was a platform, on which was perched a man with a fiddle and a boy with a tambourine, making screeching music while the lads and lassies caused the 'double shuffle' and 'pigeon wing' In 'straight fours' and 'French fours' to the tunes of 'Money Musk' and the 'Irish Washerwoman.' "


All this was preliminary to the organization of the famous Wyoming Artillerists, and in the light of subsequent events was just what was needed to develop the patriotism necessary for the formation of the company. Gen. Isaac Bowman, the father of Maj. F. L. Bowman and Col. Samuel Bowman, was the leading military spirit. He was not only an ardent friend to the volunteer system, but he had given his sons a thorough training and imbued them with something of his own enthusiasm. "Frank was especially ardent," says the same authority, "and in the spring of 1842 commenced organizing the Wyoming Artillerists, a company which has made its name famous from Vera Cruz to Petersburg."


Here Is the "Orderly's roll of the Wyoming Artillerists" when organized in 1842, and many of the names will be recognized:

Captain, Francis L. Bowman.
First lieutenant, Edmund L. Dana.
Second lieutenant, Martin Long.
Third lieutenant, Aaron Brown.
First sergeant, E. B. Colllngs.
Third sergeant, William Sharpe.
First corporal, William Dickover.
Second corporal, G. H. Davis.
Third corporal, John Wolf.
Fourth corporal, John Millhirsh.
Musicians, Gilbert Barnes, Peter Kropp, Thomas Hay.

Privates—Adam Behee, Jacob Bauer, John C. Frederick, William H. Jones, Daniel Wagner, I. M. Fritz, Con Tippenhauer, Andrew Kessler, J. H. Robins, Augustus Schlmpf, Conrad Kllpple, John B. Smith, William Hunter, J. S. Mlckley, J. F. Puterbaugh, Anthony Mowery, Francis Brown, S. A. Lynch, David Fry, Ed LeClerc, Valentine Flick, Samuel Bowman, William B. Maloy, Joseph Mowrey.


Additional names in another roll, July, 1842:

Ernest Roth, M. B. Hammer, B. R. Phillips, Charles Lehman, C. B. Price, W. H. Alexander, G. L. Jackson, Charles Westfield, Abram Moxby, E. P. Lynch.


Encampments were held then as now, and the authority quoted gives an interesting description of one which took place on the Kingston flats opposite Wilkes-Barre. In the autumn of 1843, and participated in by the military element of Columbia, Luzerne and Wyoming counties." But the Artillerists were the life and soul of the display. Gen. E. W. Sturdevant, Col. Charles Dorrance and Maj. George F. Slocum were the field officers, and Capt. Francis L. Bowman was elected Inspector with the rank of major." During the encampment the officers gave the country folks an illustration of military discipline. Private Conrad Tipplehauer was tried and convicted before a drum head court martial for stealing cheese and was sentenced to be shot. The news spread throughout the valley, and at the appointed hour for the execution an immense crowd had collected to witness it. Tippenhauer was placed in the centre of a hollow square and marched to the place of execution. "There was the wailing of the dead march," says the historian, "and the solemnly suggestive roll of muffled drums." The farce was made to appear so real that tender hearted maidens sobbed aloud, while stalwart countrymen swore it was a danged shame to shoot a poor feller jest fer stealin' a bit of cheese." Tippenhauer was shot, fell over and apparently dropped dead. Next day he appeared in the parade, however, and the people who had witnessed the affair realized that they had been duped.