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                      JAMES PATCHELL

        COLONEL PA 102ND REGIMENT

 

 

 

 

 

James Patchell was the son of Hugh and Martha Moore Patchell. James was born near Londonderry, Ireland, on 6th July 1833.
It is believed the family emigrated to America in about 1838, some years before the
Potato Famine of the mid-1840s which drove millions of Irish to cross the Atlantic. The family settled for a short time at Columbia, Pennsylvania, and then moved to Pittsburgh in 1847. Hugh Patchell became the foreman in an iron foundry and James became, initially, an errand boy, but later became an apprentice molder. Apparently, he was good at his trade, rose to become a journeyman and worked for a couple of firms making car wheels.  He married Mary Fairbourn in Pittsburgh.  The date of their marriage is unknown.

On 13th April 1861, the day after Fort Sumter was fired upon, James and several other molders left their work place, sent messages to their wives explaining what they were going to do, and walked to Harrisburg, where they enlisted on 17th April 1861. They joined the 13th Pennsylvania Infantry for 3 months, and were involved in a minor skirmish at Falling Waters before their term of service ended. By this time, James was a sergeant, and on 16th August 1861, he joined the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry, at which time he was appointed as 1st Lieutenant of Company D.  He took part in all the regiment's battles at this time - Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Seven Pines and the Seven Days, after which he was promoted to captain.  Family lore has it that he had in fact led Company D throughout these battles anyway because the captain commanding the company was ill much of the time, (apologies to any descendants of that captain if that was untrue!) so it was only fitting that James's efforts be rewarded formally with command of the company. He then participated in the action at Chantilly, covering the retreat after Second Bull Run, marched fruitlessly to and fro between Harper's Ferry and Antietam during the Maryland campaign and (perhaps fortuitously) missed the ghastly battle at Sharpsburg, and then witnessed the disaster at Fredericksburg as part of the VI Corps.  Needless to say, he was involved with the regiment's action in the bloody diversionary attack at Chancellorsville, in the vicious little battle at Salem Heights, was in a support position at Gettysburg and not heavily involved, was at Rappahannock Station, and in the regiment's bloodbath at the Wilderness. He also fought at Spotsylvania Court House, at the terrible battle at Cold Harbor, and in the trenches at Petersburg, before shipping north with the VI Corps to help repulse General Early's thrust at Washington at Fort Stevens.

He was subsequently wounded in the face at Winchester but remained with the regiment, and his bravery was rewarded by promotion to brevet colonel. He was in the battle of Fisher's Hill and on 19th October 1864 was wounded badly in the leg at the battle of Cedar Creek. He never properly recovered from this wound, and had bullet fragments in his leg until he died . Apparently they were in such a position as to render further surgery too dangerous. Despite this, he returned to the regiment at Petersburg, having been promoted in the space of 3 weeks from 16 November 1864 to Major and then Lieutenant Colonel and was involved in the final fighting there at the beginning of April 1865, where he was wounded again, apparently from a shell burst from which he suffered small shrapnel wounds in his hands and body. These were not serious enough for him to leave the regiment, however  and he took part in the pursuit of Lee from Richmond, was in the reserve position at the battle of Saylor's Creek and, we believe, was at Appomattox for the surrender on 9 April 1865. He brought the regiment back to Washington DC and was mustered out on 28 June 1865. As far as the family is concerned, he led the regiment from Cedar Creek onwards, due to the death in that battle of the regiment's Lieutenant Colonel.

After the war, James returned to Pittsburgh and went back to his job as a molder at the foundry he had left in 1861. However, in 1867, he left Pennsylvania and moved to Union City in Indiana, where he started his own foundry. In 1870 he was appointed as an inspector for the Bee Line Railroad Company and then in 1881 established another foundry. James's wife, Mary, died in August 1883, but we're unsure exactly when James died. It is  believed James died around 1910.
 

Dave Williams, Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force is a British descendant of Colonel  Patchell and has graciously provided this information. Colonel Patchell is Dave's great-great uncle.  Dave's mother is American, married to a Welshman, ( her maiden name was Patchell.