Alfred Day

The United States Army in the Civil War was nothing like the well-oiled fighting machine we know today. Its success relied entirely on the recruitment of men from the various states of the Union. Starting in colonial times, ordinary citizens joined volunteer militias to be ready when asked to respond in times of emergency. That’s what Pennsylvania’s governor asked Alfred Day to do, twice, during the Civil War.

He came from a farm family in the northern reaches of New York near the Canadian border. Leaving ten siblings behind, his adult life began in Rochester, New York, working in a law office. Eventually he passed the bar exam and would have pursued a career as a lawyer but war with Mexico was declared in 1846. Leaving his part of the world behind, he joined a New York battalion that summer.

He found himself in a foreign country with a very foreign climate, but at his discharge he held the rank of sergeant major. Alfred stayed on to do some work for the War Department in Mexico. The timing was right because he met a girl there, Elizabeth Edwards of Philadelphia. They married in 1848, moved to St. Louis, and had a daughter in 1849.

That was the year of the California Gold Rush, which presented a temptation he couldn’t resist. He sold his business, sent his family back east to her hometown while he went west to seek his fortune. He didn’t find any, and that reality brought him home promptly. The timing was right again because in June of 1850 Elizabeth died. This is her gravestone after she was moved to Mount Moriah many years later.

Elizabeth was 10 years older than him but he found a new wife and mother who was a dozen years younger. Sallie Elizabeth Campbell  married him in 1853. From that union came his own little regiment. Six boys were born, although none of them would ever see any military service. The one who died first was the only one of them that was buried here in the plot where Alfred and Sallie have their grave.

While he was courting his future bride he was campaigning for his future president in the 1852 election. Franklin Pierce won and Alfred was rewarded for his efforts when he was appointed as a navy agent in Philadelphia for the next four years.

He never did go back to a potential career as an attorney. He campaigned in 1856 for the next future president, James Buchanan, who was both a democrat and a fellow Pennsylvanian. One historian said, “he stumped the state with a good deal of success, and was considered one of the best campaign orators in the field.” 

When his federal appointment was over in 1857 he went right into city politics, with a seat in the Common Council for two years and was selected as president for one. At the same time he formed a partnership to sell coal that was known as Day, Huddell & Company. Alfred raised his profile higher when he was elected president of the Retail Coal Dealers Association in 1858.

Putting together his leadership skills and political experience, he was just getting warmed up for the 1860 presidential election season, when he was elected president of the National Democratic Association of Philadelphia. 

The race that year saw four major contenders, with democrats split between northern and southern factions. Alfred gave speeches and rallied support for John Breckinridge, who was the current vice president. Although he swept the South, Abraham Lincoln emerged the winner. Despite the disappointing election result, the ideological differences, and the conflict that followed, Alfred was patriotic in his support of an indivisible Union.

He wasted no time in calling men to prepare for service. In the summer of 1861, Captain Day was in charge of the Independent Home Guard of Southwark, a militia that began holding drill and target practice in case they would ever be needed. Several city militias were organized under the banner of a “reserve brigade,” and he was elected colonel of one regiment which, presumably, included his Southwark comrades. 

This newspaper clipping shows who commanded each of the four units, also known as the 8th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Emergency Militia of 1862. Later in that year, Colonel Peter Clarkson Ellmaker left to organize the 119th Pennsylvania Infantry for full-time service. Buried at Mount Moriah in 1890, his Notable life story can be found here.

Training the militias paid off when Governor Curtin called up the 2nd Regiment as guards at Harrisburg in September. Confederate forces were in Maryland, their first invasion of Union territory. Colonel Day’s men boarded trains on September 12th and 13th. The Confederates were sent into retreat at the Battle of Antietam on the 17th, but some of the reserves, including the 2nd, marched as far as Hagerstown, Maryland before returning to Philadelphia on the 24th.

General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia came north again the following summer, this time actually crossing the Mason-Dixon line. In response to the governor’s call for militias in June, the coal retailers in Philadelphia decided to recruit a regiment from among their employees, friends, and the general public. Posters were distributed, a portion of which is shown here, indicating that the coal dealers put up their own incentive to sign up in addition to the city’s $10 bounty.

Colonel Day left the Reserve Brigade to command this unit, officially known as the 40th Regiment of the Ninety Day Militia. Other groups, as many as 24 of them, were recruiting, including the Merchant League, the Baptists, Methodists, Irish Legion, and some just using the name of the colonel in charge. 

Alfred’s regiment of 1000 was complete within 24 hours and by the evening of July 2, 700 more were enlisted to form a second regiment. Like all the others, however, they didn’t know that the Battle of Gettysburg was over on July 3. But the 40th was called up because they were still needed. 

He and his men were dispatched and camped at Carlisle, Pennsylvania on the 8th. From there they were stationed at Williamsport, Maryland, guarding the Potomac River for three days while rebel troops remained on the opposite side. They returned home as described here. One of his men was the official Musician. John Baizley is buried here and has a notable life story as the owner of Baizley Iron Works. Plus, he later became a city councilman and the Grand Marshall of the Mummer’s Parade for 20 years.

Alfred put away his uniform and returned to business, but continued to help in recruiting. For the first half of 1864, he chaired a bounty fund committee from among his peers to motivate more men to join the 3rd Coal Exchange Regiement.

Their term of service was only for 100 days, like those in five other regiments that year, so they were also known as “hundred days men.” They joined what was officially known as the 197th Regiment, led by Col. John Haslett. He also was a Mexican War veteran, had previous militia experience, was buried at Mount Moriah, and his notable life story is here.

After the war, Day, Huddell & Company continued to prosper. Alfred was president of the Coal Exchange of Philadelphia, then joined the board of directors of the National Bank of the Republic. Other than joining the Municipal Reform Association, politics took a back seat to memberships in the Masons and Odd Fellows.

At the beginning of 1873 he and some others from the National Bank organized the Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company. A few months later, a fever confined him to bed and led to his death in May. The extent of his wealth, at least in terms of money, was reported to be about $150,000 ($4 million in today’s dollars) but the legacy he left was far richer.