Galusha Pennypacker was born on June 1, 1844 in Schuylkill Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of Joseph J. and Tamson Amelia (Workizer) Pennypacker and the nephew of Elijah Funk Pennypacker. His first American ancestor was Heinrich (or Hendrick) Pannebäcker who emigrated to Pennsylvania before 1699. His grandfather had fought in the Revolution, and his father was an officer in the War with Mexico. When Galusha was still in his fourth year, his mother, a French Canadian, died, and his father went to California leaving the boy in care of his grandmother, Elizabeth Funk Pennypacker.
Education
Galusha Pennypacker was educated in the private schools of Phoenixville and Schuylkill Township. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted for three months in the 9th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers serving as quartermaster-sergeant.
Career
On the expiration of his term of enlistment, Galusha Pennypacker returned home and recruited Company A, 97th Pennsylvania Volunteers, of which he was elected captain on August 22, 1861. He was promoted rapidly and attained the rank of colonel by August 15, 1864. On February 18, 1865, he was appointed brigadier-general of Volunteers, the youngest officer of that rank in the war, and less than a month later was made major-general. He served with distinction at Fort Wagner, Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Green Plains, and Fort Fisher, being wounded seven times in eight months. At Fort Fisher, on January 15, 1865, Pennypacker led his brigade in a charge across a traverse of the work and planted the colors of one of his regiments on the parapet where he fell seriously wounded.
Galusha Pennypacker resigned from the service on April 30, 1866, but the following July he was appointed colonel in the regular army and assigned to the 34th Infantry. He was again brevetted brigadier and major-general for his conduct at Fort Fisher and for his services during the war, and on March 15, 1869, Pennypacker was transferred to the 16th Infantry which he commanded until his retirement in 1883. From 1869 to 1877 his regiment was established in the South with headquarters at Nashville, Tenn. , and was engaged in assisting the civil authorities in carrying out the Reconstruction Act of Congress.
Pennypacker exercised endless patience and tact in executing this very delicate mission and, without departing from his duty, he won the respect and affection of the Southern people and did much to reconcile them to the Federal government. After 1877 he did frontier duty in the Indian country of the West. He was finally retired for disability as the result of his wounds. Urged to be a candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 1872 he declined on the ground that he had no taste for politics.
Galusha Pennypacker died on October 1, 1916, and was buried with the simple rites of the Society of Friends in the Philadelphia National Cemetery.
Achievements
Galusha Pennypacker was a distinguished Civil War Union Brigadier General. He was a Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient.
Membership
Galusha Pennypacker was a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati.
Connections
Galusha Pennypacker never married but spent the last years of his life in lonely retirement at his home in Philadelphia.
