Joseph Getz, from a family of shoemakers, was the son and youngest child of Henry and Eve Catherine Specht Getz.
Military Service: Joseph served briefly (mustered in between 6-18 Jul and discharged on 2 Sep 1863) in Capt. David Mitchell's Independent Company of Infantry, eventually under the Department of the Susquehanna as part of the Pennsylvania Emergency Militia of 1863.
Joseph's primary service, and combat experience, was from 30 Jan 1864-3 Jun 1864 as a Private in Co. E, 53rd Pennsylvania Vol. Inf.; 3rd Bde and later the 4th Bde, 1st Div, II Corps, Army of the Potomac. [He appears in the Company Rolls as "Getts"].
With his regiment, Joseph participated in the Battle of the Wilderness and in the assault by the II Corps against the "Mule Shoe" salient at Spotsylvania on 12 May 1864 in the action at the "Bloody Angle".
[The "Bloody Angle" was remembered by the veterans as the most violent close-quarter combat in the Civil War (possibly in the history of the Western Hemisphere). It consisted of a 22 hour point-blank hand-to-hand firefight in a driving rain storm by ~22,000 men. A 14 inch oak tree on the line was cut down by muzzle-loading rifle fire...remember, they weren't aiming at the tree!]
He was wounded at Cold Harbor, Virginia on June 3, 1864 (shot through the hand). And was listed in the muster roll as "Not present at muster out."
[Note: The birth date of "1842" on the grave marker is wrong. Successive census show 1843 for the date. Plus, 1842 would only leave 3 months between Joseph and his next brother.]
Military Service: Joseph served briefly (mustered in between 6-18 Jul and discharged on 2 Sep 1863) in Capt. David Mitchell's Independent Company of Infantry, eventually under the Department of the Susquehanna as part of the Pennsylvania Emergency Militia of 1863.
Joseph's primary service, and combat experience, was from 30 Jan 1864-3 Jun 1864 as a Private in Co. E, 53rd Pennsylvania Vol. Inf.; 3rd Bde and later the 4th Bde, 1st Div, II Corps, Army of the Potomac. [He appears in the Company Rolls as "Getts"].
With his regiment, Joseph participated in the Battle of the Wilderness and in the assault by the II Corps against the "Mule Shoe" salient at Spotsylvania on 12 May 1864 in the action at the "Bloody Angle".
[The "Bloody Angle" was remembered by the veterans as the most violent close-quarter combat in the Civil War (possibly in the history of the Western Hemisphere). It consisted of a 22 hour point-blank hand-to-hand firefight in a driving rain storm by ~22,000 men. A 14 inch oak tree on the line was cut down by muzzle-loading rifle fire...remember, they weren't aiming at the tree!]
He was wounded at Cold Harbor, Virginia on June 3, 1864 (shot through the hand). And was listed in the muster roll as "Not present at muster out."
[Note: The birth date of "1842" on the grave marker is wrong. Successive census show 1843 for the date. Plus, 1842 would only leave 3 months between Joseph and his next brother.]
Joseph Getz, from a family of shoemakers, was the son and youngest child of Henry and Eve Catherine Specht Getz.
Military Service: Joseph served briefly (mustered in between 6-18 Jul and discharged on 2 Sep 1863) in Capt. David Mitchell's Independent Company of Infantry, eventually under the Department of the Susquehanna as part of the Pennsylvania Emergency Militia of 1863.
Joseph's primary service, and combat experience, was from 30 Jan 1864-3 Jun 1864 as a Private in Co. E, 53rd Pennsylvania Vol. Inf.; 3rd Bde and later the 4th Bde, 1st Div, II Corps, Army of the Potomac. [He appears in the Company Rolls as "Getts"].
With his regiment, Joseph participated in the Battle of the Wilderness and in the assault by the II Corps against the "Mule Shoe" salient at Spotsylvania on 12 May 1864 in the action at the "Bloody Angle".
[The "Bloody Angle" was remembered by the veterans as the most violent close-quarter combat in the Civil War (possibly in the history of the Western Hemisphere). It consisted of a 22 hour point-blank hand-to-hand firefight in a driving rain storm by ~22,000 men. A 14 inch oak tree on the line was cut down by muzzle-loading rifle fire...remember, they weren't aiming at the tree!]
He was wounded at Cold Harbor, Virginia on June 3, 1864 (shot through the hand). And was listed in the muster roll as "Not present at muster out."
[Note: The birth date of "1842" on the grave marker is wrong. Successive census show 1843 for the date. Plus, 1842 would only leave 3 months between Joseph and his next brother.]
Military Service: Joseph served briefly (mustered in between 6-18 Jul and discharged on 2 Sep 1863) in Capt. David Mitchell's Independent Company of Infantry, eventually under the Department of the Susquehanna as part of the Pennsylvania Emergency Militia of 1863.
Joseph's primary service, and combat experience, was from 30 Jan 1864-3 Jun 1864 as a Private in Co. E, 53rd Pennsylvania Vol. Inf.; 3rd Bde and later the 4th Bde, 1st Div, II Corps, Army of the Potomac. [He appears in the Company Rolls as "Getts"].
With his regiment, Joseph participated in the Battle of the Wilderness and in the assault by the II Corps against the "Mule Shoe" salient at Spotsylvania on 12 May 1864 in the action at the "Bloody Angle".
[The "Bloody Angle" was remembered by the veterans as the most violent close-quarter combat in the Civil War (possibly in the history of the Western Hemisphere). It consisted of a 22 hour point-blank hand-to-hand firefight in a driving rain storm by ~22,000 men. A 14 inch oak tree on the line was cut down by muzzle-loading rifle fire...remember, they weren't aiming at the tree!]
He was wounded at Cold Harbor, Virginia on June 3, 1864 (shot through the hand). And was listed in the muster roll as "Not present at muster out."
[Note: The birth date of "1842" on the grave marker is wrong. Successive census show 1843 for the date. Plus, 1842 would only leave 3 months between Joseph and his next brother.]
Inscription
FATHER
JOSEPH GETZ
NOV. 30, 1842 [sic]
MAR. 4, 1913
Co. E, 53 Penn. Vol. Inf.
Gravesite Details
Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Marker
Family Members
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