Ralph Wheelock Pomeroy Allen

He enlisted as a Private in the Commonwealth Artillery on 24 April 1861 and mustered out on 8 August. He mustered into service as Captain, Company C, 106th Pennsylvania Infantry on 13 August 1861.

At Antietam on 17 September 1862:

Arriving at a fence, running at right angles to the Hagerstown pike across the open field north of the Dunker Church, an effort was made to rally and check the advance of the now elated enemy, who were emerging from the woods in large numbers. Here Sergeant Benjamin F. Sloanaker, of Company C, Color Sergeant, and with Sergeants Rose and Foy of Company H, planted the colors on the fence and called upon the Regiment to "rally on the colors". Captain Allen and Lieutenant Tyler rallied the other men, calling upon them to stand by their colors, and stand they did, detachments of other regiments joining them ...

He was discharged 9 January 1863 to accept the commission as Lieutenant Colonel of the 40th Regiment, Emergency Militia of 1863, and he was mustered out on 16 August 1863.

He was elected a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) in 1866. He was also member of the George G. Meade Post No. One, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in Philadelphia and was elected Commander in 1877. By 1880 he was a coal merchant in Philadelphia.

Basic information and the quote above from Ward.1 His service in the Emergency Militia from Bates.2 His veteran activity in the Register of the Commandery of the State of Pennsylvania (1887) and Ward's History of George G. Meade Post (1889). Further details from family genealogists. His gravesite is on Findagrave, source also of his picture, from a photograph in the collection of Don Andrew.

He married Frances Lillian Spooner (1858-1946) in 1883 and they had at least 3 children, including son Ralph Wheelock Pomeroy Allen, II (1886-1964).

08/22/1836; Pennypack Woods, PA

11/02/1927; Philadelphia, PA; burial in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA