Jacob Gellert Frick Sr. (January 23, 1825 – March 5, 1902) was a United States infantry officer who fought with several

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

regiments during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, including as lieutenant colonel of the

96th Pennsylvania Infantry The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Organization Henry L. Cake, who had commanded the 25th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, had received authority from th ...

and as colonel of the

129th Pennsylvania Infantry The 129th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 129th Pennsylvania Infantry was organized at Camp Curtin near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and mustered in A ...

. He received his nation's highest award for valor, the U.S.

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

, for his gallantry during the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Virginia. Grabbing the American flag from his regiment's color-bearer at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, he inspired his men to move forward "through a terrible fire of cannon and musketry"; at Chancellorsville, he personally engaged in hand-to-hand combat on May 3, 1863, to retrieve his regiment's flag which had been captured by the enemy. He was 67 years old when his Medal of Honor was conferred on June 7, 1892. In praising Frick, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin said:

Col. Frick is every inch a soldier, a rigid disciplinarian, an efficient and worthy officer. His conduct on the battlefields at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville was characterized by coolness and courage that plainly showed his capability to manage a large crowd.

Formative years and early military service

Frick was born in

Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Northumberland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,647. Its county seat is Sunbury. The county was formed in 1772 from parts of Lancas ...

, a fourth-generation descendant of

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immigrants. In June 1846, following the outbreak of the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, he was commissioned as a

Third Lieutenant Junior lieutenant is a junior officer rank in several countries, equivalent to Sub-lieutenant. Germany In the National People's Army, the rank of () was introduced in 1956. Eastern Europe In many Eastern European countries, the rank of junior l ...

in the 3rd Ohio Infantry Regiment. When the war ended, he received a regular army commission in the 11th US Infantry Regiment. He served as an instructor at

Fort McHenry Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack b ...

, and was a delegate to the

1860 Republican National Convention The 1860 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that met May 16-18 in Chicago, Illinois. It was held to nominate the Republican Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election. The conven ...

. Married to Pottsville native Catharine (Schuyler) Frick (1827–1864), he and his wife were the parents of: George Augustus (d. 1873), Sallie Schuyler (1856–1857), William Russell (1859–1939), and James Cameron (1860–1864).

American Civil War

Jacob G. Frick became one of the early responders to President Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers to help preserve his nation's union following the April 1861 fall of Fort Sumter to

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. On September 23 of that year, at the age of 36, he enrolled for Civil War military service in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and officially mustered in there that same day with the field and staff officers' corps of the

. Commissioned as a lieutenant colonel, he served as his regiment's second in command, and participated with his regiment in the

Seven Days Battles The Seven Days Battles were a series of seven battles over seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, command ...

from June 25—July 1, 1862, including the battles of Gaines's Mill (June 27),

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

(June 30) and

Malvern Hill Malvern Hill stands on the north bank of the James River in Henrico County, Virginia, USA, about eighteen miles southeast of Richmond. On 1 July 1862, it was the scene of the Battle of Malvern Hill, one of the Seven Days Battles of the American ...

(July 1). On July 29, 1862, Frick was honorably discharged in order to assume command of a new regiment, the

. Commissioned as a colonel, he re-enrolled and re-mustered for military service at

Camp Curtin Camp Curtin was a major Union Army training camp in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War. It was located north of Pennsylvania's state capitol building on 80 acres of what had previously been land used by the Dauphin County Ag ...

in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on August 15. Transported with his men to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, he and his regiment then made camp near

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

, on August 18. Assigned to guard duties there, two of his companies were then detached and assigned to build a bridge across Bull Run. The remainder of his men were then ordered to guard a Union ammunition train on August 30 near Centreville, where they came under brief, but heavy enemy artillery fire. Attached to the brigade commanded by Union General E. B. Tyler beginning September 3, he continued to drill his men at their encampments at Fairfax Seminary and Fort Richardson. He and his men experienced their first true exposure to combat in December during the

Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnsi ...

. According to historian Samuel Bates:

Shortly after noon of the 13th of December, the division crossed the Rappahannock, and proceeding through the town to a position in full view of the field, awaited the order to enter the fight. It was not long delayed ... advancing by a main road, the brigade halted in low, open ground, where the men were ordered to lie down.... e enemy opened a destructive fire from his batteries ounding many Union soldiers... Moving to the left of the road, the division was shortly after formed in line of battle on the crest of the hill, the brigade in two lines, the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth on the left front. In the hopeless and fruitless charge which followed, made under a ceaseless fire of musketry and artillery from the impregnable position which the enemy held, officers and men did everything that true soldiers could do, traversing in good order the lines of dead and wounded left in previous charges, and pressing forward in the gathering darkness until they attained position in advance of every previous charge, and from which it was impossible to go farther. In the brief space that it was in motion, the regiment lost one hundred and forty-two in killed and wounded. The caps of some were subsequently found close up to the famous stone-wall, and an officer and seven privates of company D were taken prisoners.

Afterward Frick and his fellow Union officers were praised by Tyler as having "discharged their respective duties creditably and satisfactorily, their voices being frequently heard above the din of battle, urging on their men against the terrible shower of shot and shell, and the terrific musketry, as we approached the stone wall." Frick's actions that day were later cited as evidence of his fitness for designation as a U.S. Medal of Honor recipient. Assigned to guard and occupation duties within and outside of Frederick for the next several days, Frick and his men then participated in the " Mud March" under Major-General

Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

(January 1863). Afterward, Frick was "Cashiered by sentence of Court Martial 1-25-63 & recommissioned by order of War Dept", according to his entry in the Civil War Veterans' Card File at the Pennsylvania State Archives. Frick and his 129th Pennsylvanians then distinguished themselves in combat during the

Battle of Chancellorsville The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because h ...

(May 1–3, 1863), a fight in which the 129th Pennsylvania engaged again in intense hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Afterwards, Tyler praised Frick's men, noting that "no man ever saw cooler work on field drill than was done by this regiment", and adding, "Their firing was grand, by rank, by company, and by wing, in perfect order." Five members of the regiment were dead, 32 were wounded, and five were missing. Frick and his men were then honorably mustered out on May 18, 1863, and returned home to Pennsylvania. As with Fredericksburg, Frick's conduct at Chancellorsville was later cited as a reason that he was a worthy candidate for the U.S. Medal of Honor. At Chancellorsville, he had personally engaged in hand-to-hand combat in order to retake the colors of his regiment after they had fallen into enemy hands. After mustering out from the 96th Pennsylvania on May 18, 1863, Frick then re-enlisted with a third Pennsylvania unit. Re-enrolling at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg just over a month later on June 22, he was commissioned that same day as the colonel of the 27th Pennsylvania Militia (Emergency of 1863), one of multiple short-term units which were quickly raised during that summer to turn back Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army as it advanced into Pennsylvania. As the commanding officer of this regiment, Frick led the 27th Pennsylvania Emergency Militia during the Gettysburg Campaign. Among his regiment's successes, his men burned the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge to prevent its capture by the Confederate infantry led by

Brig. Gen. Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

John B. Gordon. Frick then mustered out with his regiment on July 31 when state leaders determined that the emergency had ended. The fourth year of the war proved to be another challenging one for Frick with the majority of those challenges occurring on the home front. On February 16, 1864, his wife died in childbirth. Their son, John C. Frick, who was born that day, then survived just five months before he died at the family's Pottsville home on August 12. Another of the Fricks' children, James Cameron, then died four days after Christmas that same year. In the midst of this, he was called upon to advise Col. Henry Pleasants regarding the placement of mines under Confederate entrenchments during the 1864

Siege of Petersburg The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a cla ...

, a process which culminated in the

Battle of the Crater The Battle of the Crater was a battle of the American Civil War, part of the siege of Petersburg. It took place on Saturday, July 30, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Union Arm ...

Post-war life

After the war, Frick returned to

Pottsville, Pennsylvania Pottsville is the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,346 at the 2020 census, and is the principal city of the Pottsville, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along the west bank of th ...

, where, during the 1880s, he served as a deputy collector for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Remarried, he and his second wife, Priscilla H. (McGinnes) Frick (1840–1891), a native of New York who was a daughter of Enoch William McGinnes and Elizabeth (Patten) McGinnes, welcomed the births of children: Mason Mitchell (1869–1901), Annie (born July 1870), Jacob Jr. (born July 1872), and Thomas Percy (1874–1874), who was just two months old when he died. Preceded in death by his wife in 1891, Jacob G. Frick, Sr. continued to reside in Pottsville with his civil engineer son, Mason, daughter Annie, and son, Jacob Jr., a coal office clerk. Frick, Sr. died in Pottsville on March 5, 1902. Following funeral services, he was buried in that city's Presbyterian Cemetery (also known as Bunker Hill Cemetery).

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Colonel, 129th Pennsylvania Infantry
Place and date: At Fredericksburg,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, December 13, 1862. At Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 1863.
Entered service at:

Born: January 23, 1838,

Date of issue: June 7, 1892. Citation: The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Colonel (Infantry) Jacob G. Frick, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 13 December 1862, while serving with 129th Pennsylvania Infantry, in action at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Colonel Frick seized the colors and led the command through a terrible fire of cannon and musketry. In a hand-to-hand fight at Chancellorsville, Virginia, on 3 May 1863, he recaptured the colors of his regiment.

Popular culture

''Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals'', was a fictional account of a soldier's life in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. First published in 1864, it presented "a thinly disguised attack on the character and military ability of General Andrew A. Humphreys", according to Frederick B. Arner, who wrote the commentary for the book's 1999 re-release. The book has been "ascribed by some to Col. Jacob G. Frick", according to the compilers of the U.S. War Department's ''Bibliography of State Participation in the Civil War 1861–1866'', which was published in 1913.

References

External links

*
Frick, Jacob G.: Correspondence
(letters from Frick to Eli Slifer regarding military peronnel and other matters). Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College, published online May 1, 2009. *
Jacob Gellert Frick
(memorial with photographs and gravesite information). Salt Lake City, Utah: Find A Grave, retrieved online October 14, 2008. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frick, Jacob G. 1825 births 1902 deaths Union Army officers United States Army officers American military personnel of the Mexican–American War United States Army Medal of Honor recipients People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War People from Northumberland County, Pennsylvania People from Pottsville, Pennsylvania American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor