Click on any of the pictures below for a full sized view.

 

Four Generations of Plattenbergers: Jacob Philip Plattenberger, Frank Jacob Plattenberger, Charles Henry Plattenberger, and William Franklin Plattenberger.

This pen and ink drawing is a card from Jacob Philip Plattenberger to his great grand son, William Franklin Plattenberger.

William Blessing (seated), his wife Susan Blottenberger Blessing (left), their son Marion and his wife Ida Knight Blessing.

Two pictures from the Analomink Methodist Cemetery, Analomink PA, just north of Stroudsburg. On the left is the gravestone of my great great grandparents, Samuel and Catharine (Ruster) Plattenburg. On the right is his brother Reuben Plattenburg. Both are Civil War Veterans. For some unknown reason Samuel left Pennsylvania for Iowa shortly before the war. He joined the 12th Iowa and saw battle at both Fort Donnelson and Shiloh. His unit was at the thick of one of the bloodiest battles of the war, an area known as "the Hornet's Nest". Samuel was shot in the ankle during the fighting, and either received the wound early in the day, or was separated from his unit since the bulk of the 12th Iowa was captured later in the day.

Reuben (and his younger brother Charles) saw action at Antietem and Fredericksburg. Most men of the 132nd were young (Reuben 21, and Charles 19) and had been drawn in by the promise of a short 9 month term. The 132nd PA received only a few short days of training before being sent to Maryland where action was imminent. During the fighting at Antietem, the 132nd PA was going through a farm yard with a long row of bee hives. A Southern artillery shot managed to miss the men but went on an almost perfect line straight through the row of hives. Between the bullets and the bees buzzing around, the green recruits had just about enough as they could take and would probably have left for home on the spot if it weren't for the quick intervention of the General and some of the experienced officers. (amongst other places this story is retold in Bruce Catton's "Army Of The Potomic") Shortly after Fredericksburg, cold rainy conditions set in and the infamous Mud March began. Reuben took cold and was sent first to a field hospital, and then to the main hospital in Washington. He died there of typoid fever.

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