Civil War Memorial:

The first man from Sunbury to enlist in the army during the Civil War was Isaac Dunkelberger. He traveled to Washington on April 16, 1861 and eventually rose to the status of Brevet Colonel. On April 17 th a meeting was held in the Court House in Sunbury and a resolution was made to form a military association. The next morning J. P. S. Gobin journeyed to Harrisburg to offer the men’s services. Charles J. Bruner was elected Captain; J.P.S. Gobin, First Lieutenant; and Joseph H. McCarty, Second Lieutenant. The company was entitled the Sunbury Guards and became Company “F” of the 11 th Regiment. They were the first company from Northumberland County to leave for war.

After three months the company reorganized as Company C. 47 th Regiment with J.P. Shindel Gobin serving as Captain and in 1862 Company I of the 58 th Regiment was also organized. John Buyers was captain of this regiment.

Company D, 3 rd Regiment was organized in September, 1862 and Company F, 36 th Regiment was begun on July 4, 1863 with Simon P. Wolverton as captain. Both of these companies consisted of married men who did not wish to go to battle, but were willing to relieve other troops if the Pennsylvania Commonwealth was attacked. Neither proved necessary and both companies were discharged after a few weeks.

On September 14, 1861 the regimental band of the 45 th Pennsylvania Volunteers was begun in Sunbury with Thomas D. Grant serving as leader. The band was discharged one year later.

Out of the 800 men in Sunbury capable of bearing arms 325 volunteered and 168 offered to serve as emergency enlistments during the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg. One was named Brevet General, three were colonels, one was a major and seven were captains.

The men were not alone in their services. The women of the town organized what they called the Sanitary Aid Society of Sunbury. They supplied flannel shirts and needle books for the departing men and when trains passed through town they fed the soldiers ham, bread, and coffee. At least 40,000 soldiers were fed at the Sunbury train station during the war. Lastly, the women tended to the sick soldiers who returned from war, nursing them back to health and providing encouragement during bleak times. The upstairs of the old Court House was used as a hospital.

The corner stone for the Civil War memorial was laid on May 30, 1874 and the shaft was unveiled on July 4, 1879. On top of the shaft stands a statue of Colonel James Cameron, the first man from Northumberland County, the first officer from Pennsylvania, and the first officer of his rank in the Federal Army to die in battle during the Civil War. He was killed at the first battle of Bull Run. Twelve of the battles in which Sunbury troops participated are inscribed along the shaft. They include Petersburg, Williamsburg, Wilderness, Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Fair Oaks, Vicksburg, Winchester, Gettysburg, Antietam, and Appomattox.

In 1883 the Grand Army of the Republic, Post Number 235 was developed in Sunbury with William A. Bruner serving as Lieutenant. Every Memorial Day great services were held about the monument in Cameron Park and the Grand Army always stood in the foreground.

After the Civil War, William H. Heim organized a local military organization known as “The Boys in Blue”. By 1871 this company was established as Company E, a part of the 12 th Regiment, known as the National Guard of Pennsylvania. William H. Heim and Charles M. Clement served as captains. For twenty years it was the only company in Sunbury and it served in the Spanish-American War between April 28 th and October 30 th, 1898. After their efforts in the Spanish-American War Captain Heim enlisted a new company, Company C, which joined the 12 th Regiment as Company K at the end of the war. The 12 th Regiment was broken up in 1911 and Company E became Company E of the Pennsylvania Cavalry, while Company K became part of the 4 th Infantry battalion.