Simeon Burd & Virginia Carbis

Simeon K Burd was reared in Derry Township where he attended the common schools and afterwards pursued studies in a select school at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was 17 years old and working on his father’s farm.

In April of 1861, in response to President Lincoln’s first call for volunteers, he enlisted in Company G, 14th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. He went to Hagerstown, then to Sharpsburg, Maryland. From there he was sent to Falling Waters, and Martinsburg, West Virginia. The regiment was involved in a small skirmish in Charlestown on July 21 and moved to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, the same day. From there he was sent to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. On August 6, 1861, he was mustered out at the end of his 90-day enlistment term.

One year later in August 1862 he re-enlisted, this time for a nine-month term in Co. G, 135 Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers Infantry. The regiment was assigned provost duty at Washington, D. C., and Georgetown until February 1863. On February 9, 1863, Simeon was promoted from private to corporal.

Late in February or early March, the regiment was at Belle Plain Landing, Virginia. Here the men spent three days in a snowstorm without any kind of shelter other than the uniforms they were wearing.

In April 1863, the army was on the move, commanded by Major General Joseph Hooker. The 135th Pennsylvania was involved with the operations at Pollock’s Mill Creek and Fitzhugh’s Crossing, across the river from Fredericksburg at the beginning of the Chancellorsville Campaign. But the Union General’s plan to outflank Robert E. Lee and his confederate forces backfired at Chancellorsville. Hooker’s army suffered an embarrassing defeat; Lee had stolen the initiative and forced Hooker into a corner. On May 2, the 135th Pennsylvania was called to cross the Rappahannock River as the U. S. Ford and cover the west flank of the army. After two or three days of confused fighting, the army of the Potomac retreated back across the Rappahannock River and returned to Washington, D.C.

Morale was low. For six months the soldiers had fought snow, rain and mud, only to lose a fight they should have won. During the battle the soldiers were forced to drink water covered with a green scum and many were feeling ill. As for Simeon Burd, his nine-month enlistment had expired. On May 29, 1863, he was discharged and returned to Pennsylvania.

He remained at home for more than a year. Then, once again, on August 25, 1864, Simeon re-enlisted in the army in Pittsburgh. Two weeks later, still in Pittsburgh, he married Virginia Louise Carbis, the daughter of a river boat mate.

Simeon was sent south with the 5th Regiment, Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. They were on duty along the Manassas Gap Railroad, protecting supplies for General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and they were constantly engaged with Colonel Mosby’s guerrillas. On October 4, 1864, they were involved in the action at Salem, Virginia, and at Rectortown on October 7. On October 11, at White Plains, Virginia, the Union supplies were cut off by the Confederates. The soldiers had to forage for food. Their chief diet was corn and pumpkins. They also had no clothing or shelter but their fatigue suits. Later that month, and on into November, the Regiment was ordered to destroy Manassas Gap Railroad.

During the winter of 1864-1865 the 5th Regiment Heavy Artillery was placed in the defenses of Washington; the 1st Battalion at Prospect Hill, 2nd Battalion at Vienna, and 3rd Battalion at Fairfax Courthouse. On January 23, 1865, Simeon was again promoted to corporal.

In the spring of 1865, with the war in its last days, the men were sent to Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia, to bury the nearly 2,000 dead whom had fallen there almost three years earlier. Simeon Burd was discharged from the army on June 30, 1865 at Vienna, Virginia, just outside Washington, D. C.

Returning to Pennsylvania, Simeon became a carpenter for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He later became a building contractor and invented a type of adze and a type of auger for use in carpentry work. He also spent a few years in or near Titusville, Pennsylvania, as a half partner in an oil well venture. However, when an attempt was made to buy the well, the partners refused to sell on the first offer. Afterwards the well went dry and Simeon and his partner were left with nothing.

By 1880, Simeon and his family had moved to Blairsville. In 1883, he purchased a farm in Derry. He then built a house in the shape of a “T” and modeled it after the southern homes he had seen during the war. This farm would become known as Burds Crossing, and the southern-style house would later be remembered for the difficulty of keeping it heated in the Pennsylvania winters.

Following Simeon’s death at age 65 in 1908, Virginia was awarded a Civil War Widow’s pension of $12 per month. She died in 1913.