Pickel family

Pickel, Adam H., d. 1863

Rank : Private

Regiment : 68th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. Co. G (1862-1865)

Service : 1862 August 26-1863 July 2

Adam H. Pickel, of Phoenixville, Pa., was apparently married at the time of his enlistment in the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry at Philadelphia in August, 1862. While not up to full strength and not yet fully armed, this regiment was rushed to northern Virginia to take part in the fall campaigns of 1862 in the Blue Ridge, arriving in the state in late September.

Upon the the replacement of McClellan with Burnside and the reorganization of Army of the Potomac, the 68th Pennsylvania was placed in the 1st Brigade, III Corps, under the command of General John C. Robinson. They were engaged at Fredericksburg, suffering a number of casualties while defending the 1st Rhode Island Artillery. After wintering in the mud at Falmouth, the regiment took part in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863. The 68th were caught in a bloodbath in the Peach Orchard on the second day of Gettysburg, where Pickel was reported killed.

From the guide to the Adam H. Pickel papers, Pickel, Adam, 1862-1863, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)