John Reese Haslett

During the Civil war, a soldier could rise through the ranks as a line officer and become a colonel through a series of promotions, or he could begin his military life as a colonel after receiving authority to recruit men to form a regiment. When the call for more troops was made, each state’s governor would try to fill their quota by choosing prominent men (with or without military backgrounds) who could recruit ten companies of 100 soldiers each. The recruiter’s rank as colonel was dependent on meeting that goal within a set timeframe, after which he received his commission.

That’s how John became an colonel in 1864, but his military story begins much earlier. A newspaper account says he was in the Mexican War of 1846-48. His motivation may have come from hearing about his mother’s father who was killed during the War of 1812. 

John grew up in Philadelphia with a knack for painting houses. In 1853 he married Margaret, the daughter of a farm family in Philly named Fraley. By 1860 they were prosperous enough to employ a domestic servant after Margaret gave birth to two girls. The younger one died in 1862, then John Howard Haslett arrived in 1864. He died in 1876, five years after Margaret lost her battle with tuberculosis. 

John put down his paintbrush and picked up a gun when “the war of the rebellion” began in 1861. He signed up as captain of Company B, 66th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment in July. Unlike other enlistments just after the war began, this one was not a mere three month enlistment. 

The unit didn’t receive approval  from the War Department for several weeks because there was a shortage of blue cloth for uniforms (although there was plenty of gray). Eventually a patriotic business owner offered to properly outfit the entire regiment.

They held positions along the Potomac in the fall and went into winter quarters at Frederick, Maryland. After being merged into the 73rd Infantry, the men were on duty in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Over half of them were casualties in the Second Battle of Bull Run in August so the remainder were withdrawn and assigned to the defense of the nation’s capital. After fighting in Fredericksburg in December, John resigned, effective January 2, 1863. 

Why he left wasn’t stated but it wasn’t due to a disability, and he came back to serve again six months later. He gathered a company for an emergency militia called by Pennsylvania’s governor prior to the Confederate intrusion into Union territory at Gettysburg. He was captain of Company A (the first one organized), part of the 51st Volunteer Militia.  

The regular army forced the rebels into retreat, never again to set foot on Union soil. They were assisted by a number of militia regiments that were previously organized and arrived in late June. More than 30 were formed that summer from across the state; some remained in their home counties and others were ordered to various locations. The men of the 51st went to Gettysburg July 10 to perform their assigned duties until they were discharged September 2.

After each tour of service John returned to his painting business. This time there was a notation in his records of “mitral insufficiency,” a heart valve disorder where the mitral valve doesn’t close properly as the heart is pumping blood. It’s significant that this was diagnosed at this point in his life because it’s what was listed as his cause of death 44 years later.

The Civil War dragged on into its third year in 1864, making it more difficult to recruit enough soldiers. Ohio’s governor had an idea to enlist short-term militias in non-combat roles such as guards and laborers, allowing more of the better-trained troops to be more effectively used in combat duty. He thought it might be possible to see an end to the war in 100 days if more battle-trained soldiers were doing what they were trained for, on the battlefield. 

 Other states endorsed the idea and the War Department approved. Six such regiments of “Hundred Days Men” were organized in Pennsylvania. John became the colonel of the last of them, the 197th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in July. 

It was known as the 3rd Coal Exchange Regiment because the city’s Coal Exchange (association of coal retailers) had generously funded a financial bonus for each recruit as they had done twice before. The first regiment sponsored by the coal trade was in 1863, commanded by an actual coal dealer who gave generously to the 1864 bounty fund. Col. Alfred Day is also buried here and, like John, was in the Mexican War and had previous militia experience. Read his notable life story here.

This clipping from July 30 shows the 197th went to Maryland for two weeks. They boarded trains for Illinois on August 14, the very same day that John Howard Haslett was born. Their assignment was guarding Confederate prisoners of war at Rock Island, Illinois. They were outnumbered 12 to 1 by the prison population but their service was uneventful, other than losing six men to disease. They returned after their 100 days were over in early November.

John met his new son, and rejuvenated his painting business. By 1870 he moved his family to Camden but Margaret died in 1871. Two years later he married Kate McMunn, who gave birth to John Alexander Haslett in 1875, the year before John Howard died. After daughter Emily married in 1880, they moved to Kate’s hometown of New Rochelle, New York where they spent their remaining years. 

The heart valve problems remained, however, and John was admitted to the New York State Soldiers and Sailors Home for a few months in 1903 and 1904. That same condition prompted his admittance to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Hampton, Virginia in 1907. 

He died there on October 20, and was brought to Philadelphia where the funeral was held at his daughter’s house. Kate’s resting place beside him was in 1936. Unfortunately, no photo of him or  his gravestone has been found.