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Week 12 –
Historical Event
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 marked the armistice of the hostilities between the Allies and Germany during World War I. November 11th thus became Armistice Day. The day has evolved from a day to remember the military dead of the First World War (referred to as Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom) to honoring all military personnel who have served (now called Veterans Day in the United States). Armistice Day 1938 was a fitting day to honor and remember a Revolutionary War Patriot in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
In 1761, a sixteen-year-old boy named John Patton, immigrated to Philadelphia from Sligo, Ireland. There is no question he was driven to success in America as he quickly made his way up the ladder of wealth and society. He became a prominent merchant and civil servant. On St. Patrick’s Day in 1771, John Patton became one of the original members of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, a charitable organization to aid immigrants from Ireland. In 1775, he was appointed to the Philadelphia Committee on Inspection and Observation at the outset of the Revolutionary War. He joined the Continental Army where he became a Major in Samuel Mile’s Regiment of Pennsylvania riflemen. Barely escaping capture at the Battle of Long Island (August 1776) he fought alongside General George Washington at the Battle of Trenton (December 1776). In May 1777, the Continental Congress authorized him to raise “Patton’s Additional Continental Regiment” and he was promoted to Colonel. His regiment fought at the battles of Brandywine (September 1777), Germantown (October 1777) and Monmouth (Jun 1778). As part of Scott’s Brigade, they were encamped at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777 and a monument stands erected at that place in commemoration. No one can question his allegiance to the new nation.
At the end of the war, John Patton and his friend Colonel Samuel Miles purchased 16,000 acres in Centre County, Pennsylvania and built the area’s first charcoal-fired iron furnace. Shortly thereafter Colonel Miles was elected Mayor of Philadelphia, so John Patton took his wife and children to Centre County where he became the ironmaster of Centre Furnace. He retired in 1798 to one of his farms near Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. On 9 September 1804, Colonel John Patton died and was buried on his land.
After the farm where John Patton was buried sold to Samuel Wasson, his grave had “been permitted to lapse into a profane condition in a cornfield where it was covered with stones and debris” as was reported in the court documents when, in 1938, a controversial legal battle ensued between two factions of his descendants and the Huntingdon VFW. Jane Patton, John’s widow, outlived him by almost thirty years and had moved to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania shortly after his death. In 1832, she died and was buried in Riverview Cemetery there. Alexander Anderson, a descendant in Huntingdon, in conjunction with the Standing Stone VFW, obtained permission from the Wasson family to re-inter Colonel Patton from their farm to Riverview Cemetery, next to his wife. Centre County descendants filed a suit to block the re-interment, and as late as November 3rd it appeared that their efforts were successful, but on November 8th, the court approved the re-interment of Colonel Patton.
Although the following newspaper article is lengthy (and I have omitted much), it is well-written in great detail to the point that you can almost feel yourself standing along Penn Street in Huntingdon at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1938 at an historical event that took place exactly twenty years after the historical event of the first Armistice Day.
The Daily News
(Huntingdon, Pennsylvania), November 12, 1938
Over 3,000
Persons Present at Armistice Day Ceremonies Here
Impressive
Services at Court house, Cemetery For Patriot are Well-attended
Thousands View
Cortege – Military Service at Grave
More than three thousand persons were
present at the ceremonies in Huntingdon yesterday afternoon to participate in a
patriotic service and a military burial for Col. John Patton, Revolutionary War
patriot, in Riverview cemetery, in a grave beside his wife, Jane (Davis)
Patton.
The ceremonies were most impressively
carried out and were a part of Huntingdon’s observance of Armistice day this
year.
The streets and sidewalks, yards and
porches in the vicinity of the court house were packed with patriotic citizens.
The Colonel’s remains rested in a beautiful two-tone bronze metallic casket,
donated through courtesy, by Carl F. Brown, local funeral director, to the
Veterans of Foreign Wars. The flag draped casket was brought from the National
Guard armory to the sidewalk in front of the court house steps shortly after 11
o’clock in the forenoon, under military escort, and there it remained under military
guard, until the services were completed and the cortege proceeded to the
cemetery. The floral pieces were beautiful.
Hon. Warren B. Simpson, of Huntingdon,
presided at the ceremonies, which were opened at 2 o’clock with a prayer by the
Rev. Frank Sharp, pastor of the First Baptist Church. Mr. Simpson then gave a
brief summary of the life of Col. John Patton.
He opened his remarks by saying, “We have
met here today to pay the last military honors to Col. John Patton, veteran of
the Revolutionary war – a patriotic citizen who was ready and willing to
sacrifice his life for the protection of humanity.” He then told the huge
assemblage of citizens that Col. Patton was of Scotch-Irish heritage, born in
Sligo, Ireland, and at the age 20 came to America. At the age of 31 he entered
the military service of his country, thus 160 years have passed since he became
a popular figure as a defender of America.
John Patton became a Major in the famous
Miles’ rifle regiment, which was composed of men especially trained in using
rifles – men who did not shoot often and hit their mark occasionally, but men
who came from the frontier and were the real fighters. Later he was given the
rank of Colonel and served until the close of the war. After the war ended he
became a major general in a Pennsylvania militia regiment and at the age of 58
passed away in 1804. Mr. Simpson then called attention to the two descendants
of Col. Patton living in Huntingdon, Mr. Alexander A. Anderson and Miss Anna
Fisher.
“It is quite fitting that the remains of
Col. Patton be laid to rest in beautiful Riverview cemetery beside his wife, “Mr.
Simpson stated, “and we are here today to pay the patriotic and military honor
to him which was not given him at the time of death.”
Mr. Simpson then presented the speaker of
the occasion, Major Harry Nelson Bassler, of Harrisburg, a chaplain of the
Mexican border and World war and a prominent minister of the Reformed church.
“It is a great privilege to mingle with so
large a crowd to do honor to one to whom honor is justly due,” Major Bassler
remarked. “Patton’s life was a life well lived, his service was freely given,
he carried his work to completion – and we honor him today,” the speaker
commented in his opening remarks.
The coming together on this occasion, he
added, is one of deepest significance and should mean much to our national life
for we meet in memory of one who in the early days of American history gave his
life in service and sacrifice in order that democracy, freedom of thought and mind should be established in
the new land this side of the Atlantic. The shadow of Col. Patton’s life
falling upon the years that followed has tended to fill every generation with
the spirit and desire that democracy should not fail…
In closing his remarks Major Bassler
referred to Col. Patton as a friend of Washington, a servant of God and
humanity – a man who gave his life that we might live. “Peace to his ashes,
rest to his soul – his life was a blessing to the cause of democracy.”
The Huntingdon firemen’s band then played,
“The Star Spangled Banner,” after which the ceremonies were turned over to the
local National Guard, who planned the military honors to be accorded the
veteran.
All long the route from the court house to
the cemetery – Penn to Fifth, Fifth to Moore, Moore to the cemetery – the
streets were lined with persons anxious to view the procession as it moved
slowly to the music furnished by the high school and firemen’s bands and the
American Legion drum and bugle corps.
The cortege was led by uniformed state
motor police in an auto. Next in line was the massed colors, then the firemen’s
band. Following the band was the caisson
bearing the remains of Col. Patton, which was drawn by four large horses, each
horse led by a uniformed National Guardsman. On either side of the caisson and
in the rear uniformed National Guardsmen marched double file.
Some distance in the ear of the caisson
was a large bay horse, led by a member of the National Guard. The horse was
covered with black satin and was saddled. The boots were reversed in the
stirrup, an indication that an officer had died…
From the time the cortege left the court
house until it arrived at the cemetery, bells on the court house, Episcopal
Church, engine house, and the Presbyterian and First Methodist churches were
tolled.
Upon arrival at the cemetery, the bearers
of the massed colors took position near the grave. The veterans formed in
columns, and the casket of Col. Patton was taken off the caisson and the guard
of soldiers escorted it through the open columns formed by the veterans to the
grave, where the military ritualistic ceremony of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
as outlined for non-members was carried out in detail.
A firing squad from the Huntingdon
National Guard Unit, Company A, 103rd Quartermaster Regiment, fired
the salute and Taps was sounded by a lone bugler.
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