Zouaves on Central Virginia's Battlefields: 114th Pennsylvania Infantry (Collis' Zouaves)
- chiefadmin
- Mar 31
- 20 min read
"Follow Me" by artist Dan Nance depicts the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry Zouaves as they marched into battle on December 13, 1862, at the Slaughter Pen Farm portion of the Fredericksburg battlefield.
(Used with permission from Dan Nance)
Introduction
Among the colorful Zouave regiments that fought with the Army of the Potomac, some earned distinction for the conspicuous parts they played on the battlefields of central Virginia. The 114th Pennsylvania Infantry, known popularly as Collis’ Zouaves, was one such unit. This CVBT History Wire will examine their roles in the Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
What are Zouaves?
"Philadelphia Zouave Corps, Pennsylvania Volunteers"
by James Fuller Queen
This lithograph shows soldiers from the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry marching past Old City Hall, Independence Hall, and Congress Hall in Philadelphia. Note the female vivandiere depicted at the right front of the marching column.
(Library of Congress)
With their unique name, and often bright, colorful, and exotic-looking uniforms, Zouaves hold a special place among many Civil War enthusiasts. However, the history of Zouaves predates the American Civil War by at least three decades.
A blending of cultural influences from the French expeditionary colonial army and the people of their often-occupied lands in North Africa eventually produced troops with a distinctive look. In 1830, in an effort to bolster the French army’s dwindling manpower there, they accepted some local Zoudauas men into the ranks, who formed a Zouave corps. Over the next few years, the French colonial Zouave forces became increasingly populated by Europeans, while the North Africans formed other specialist roles like sharpshooters.
Zouave units later participated in the Crimean War and the wars for Italian unification, earning laurels for their courage and willingness to accept difficult assignments. Coverage of these events in the United States brought the flashy Zouaves to more Americans’ attention.
With the United States increasingly divided over sectional issues and as thoughts turned toward military preparedness, in 1860, a young Chicago attorney named Elmer Ellsworth formed an elite Zouave unit he named the U.S. Zouave Cadets. Ellsworth’s Zouaves toured northern cities, demonstrating difficult drill maneuvers and challenging local militia units. The press spread the word, further illuminating Zouave military fashion and influencing pre-war militia uniforms.
2nd Lt. Robert Constantine Kretschmar, Co. E, 114th Pennsylvania Infantry, is shown here wearing the regiment's Zouave garb, which featured red loose trousers, short blue jackets trimmed in red, turbans, and shoe gaiters. Collis's Zouaves stood out among many of the regiments they served with in the Army of the Potomac's Third Corps.
(Library of Congress)
Zouave Style
While Zouave unit uniforms varied significantly from regiment to regiment, they shared some basic similarities, too. Short dark blue jackets with colorful (often yellow or red) elaborate embroidered designs were extremely popular. Many Zouave units wore excessively baggy trousers, while others went for pants that were still roomy but less exaggerated. Canvas leg gaiters, and the leather jambiers above them, gathered the loose-fitting trousers just below the knees. Depending on the regiment, Zouave headgear consisted of an assortment of fezzes, turbans, and kepis.
A common myth among Civil War enthusiasts is that Zouave fashion fell out of favor with the soldiers in those Union regiments that wore them and that they were eventually replaced with standard uniforms. While some units did transition to basic uniforms, other regiments adopted them later in the war, while yet others continued to strongly prefer and wear their distinctive garb until the end of the conflict.
The 114th Pennsylvania Infantry and Its Background
There are few images of Charles H. T. Collis during the Civil War. He is shown here on the left later
in the war with a Capt. Dallas.
(Library of Congress)
Charles H. T. Collis immigrated to the United States as a teenager with his father from County Cork, Ireland, in 1853. He initially served in the 18th Pennsylvania Infantry (a three-month regiment) as its sergeant major. After the 18th Pennsylvania mustered out, Collis received permission to raise and captain an independent company called the Zouaves d’Afrique, who fought in the Shenandoah Valley, often serving as headquarters guards for Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Bank. Collis and his men distinguished themselves at Middletown on May 24, 1862, where they fought a rearguard action in attempt to delay Confederate pursuit.
During the summer of 1862, Collis recruited in Philadelphia, attempting to raise nine additional companies to make a full Zouave regiment. Succeeding rather quickly in doing so, the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry mustered in in August. Collis was now a colonel at 24 years old.
First serving at Fort Slocum in the Washington D.C. defenses, Collis and his regiment were assigned to the First Brigade, First Division of the Third Corps. Ordered to Fredericksburg, they arrived in Stafford County on November 22, 1862.
The three weeks leading up to the Battle of Fredericksburg were not easy on the Federal soldiers looking across the Rappahannock River at their enemies. An overtaxed and worn-out road system from Aquia Landing to the Union camps meant that receiving necessary items like food and other supplies was sporadic at best. With little left in the area to forage from, soldiers went without until they were resupplied. On November 24, one 114th soldier commented to his parents about the chances of supplementing his diet: “Their pigs, chickens, turkeys, etc. receive ‘marching orders’ soon after the first Brigade stack arms on their plantations—unless the Gen. posts his ‘provost guards’ in advance. He always posts them as soon as possible but sometimes the soldiers get in advance of them & roosters forget to crow, pullets to cackle & turkeys say ‘quit’ for the last time.” Some soldiers wrote letters home requesting that their loved ones send provision boxes.
Not yet receiving orders to build winter quarters, the cold weather irritated the soldiers. Snow and thaw made everything a sea of mud, which only increased their mounting frustrations.
This period lithograph shows Camp N. P. Banks, the training camp of Collis' Zouaves during the summer of 1862 near Germantown, Pennsylvania.
(Library of Congress)
The Battle of Fredericksburg
"The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862"
By Carl Rochling
This post-war painting depicts Col. Collis leading the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry Zouaves forward into battle at the south end of the Fredericksburg battlefield, now popularly known as the Slaughter Pen Farm. Note the tumbling Brig. Gen. John C. Robinson, whose horse was hit by a Confederate cannon ball.
(Public Domain)
On December 9, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside issued orders to make ready for battle. The commanders of the three grand divisions were to “give the necessary orders to enable them to place their commands in position at daybreak of the morning of the 11th instant. . . .” Officers and men were to be “provided with three days’ cooked rations. Forty rounds of ammunition must be carried in cartridge-boxes, and 20 rounds in pockets.” For most of the men in 114th Pennsylvania, it was almost time to “see the elephant” for the first time.
Following orders, Collis and the 114th left camp on November 11 and marched toward the Rappahannock River, hearing the bombardment of Fredericksburg as they went. The following day, they positioned themselves to move across at the lower crossing pontoon bridges. They finally crossed during the afternoon of December 13, marching to “Hail Columbia” played by their regimental band. The 114th moved toward the action occurring along the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad line in effort to stabilize a vulnerable area that had witnessed the repulse of the First Corps division of Brig. Gen. George G. Meade, a brigade in Brig. Gen. John Gibbon’s division to Mead’s right, and then Brig. Gen. John Hobart Ward’s Third Corps brigade. Moving from the river and passing Mannsfield, the opulent stone mansion of bachelor planter Arthur Bernard, the 114th and Robinson’s brigade headed toward the Richmond Stage Road, also known as the Bowling Green Road, and the field of fighting ahead.
Robinson’s brigade’s movement helped check a determined Confederate attack by Col. Edmund N. Atkinson’s brigade of Georgians and ultimately saved the 1st Rhode Island and 3rd U.S. Artillery batteries from capture. Meade, who attempted to rally his broken regiments and whose attention was probably drawn to their flashy uniforms, noted of the 114th, “they came up in good style—cheering as they passed me and calling out to my men . . . to come back with them, they were going in.” It was time to see the elephant.
Just as Gen. Robinson ordered the 114th to adjust their lines slightly, a Confederate cannonball eviscerated his horse, tumbling Robinson to the ground and throwing blood and bits of horse flesh into the air. Men began to fall, killed and wounded. Brigade bugler John McKay and two staff officers fell about the same time, hit by an exploding shell. Yet another soldier had his head taken off. For soldiers fighting their first real battle, it proved extremely demoralizing. As the enlisted men witnessed their baptism into the bedlam of combat, their enthusiasm plunged, and momentum slowed.
Brig. Gen. John C. Robinson praised his 114th and 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry regiments
for their performance at Fredericksburg.
(Library of Congress)
Leadership is key in such desperate times. Riding forward to the regiment’s color bearer, Col. Collis grabbed the United States flag and yelled, “Remember the stone wall at Middletown!” While only one company had been on hand for that event back in May 1862, the other companies now serving in the 114th probably had heard about it. But even those who had not were inspired by their commander’s courage and executed the order, moving into line. Collis received the Medal of Honor in 1893 for his heroic act. His citation reads: “Gallantly led his regiment in battle at a critical moment.”
As the 114th formed their battle line and the 63rd Pennsylvania moved to align on their left, calls came from the artillerists in their front for help. The Georgians were bearing down on the prized guns. Sgt. Alexander W. Given, a 114th soldier, wrote that “the Rebels had got to within 20 paces of [the battery] and were just on the point of taking it.” The support provided by the 114th gave the cannoneers confidence and time to throw several rounds of canister through the Georgians' ranks. “The order was given to up and at them; the battery ceased firing, and we charged past it and down to the brow of the hill,” wrote Sgt. Given. Lt. Edward Williams wrote to his family, “We poured in a volley and gave one yell and rushed at them. They turned tail and run and we poured it into them until they reached the woods.”
Gen. Robinson gave credit to the 114th in his report of the battle written two days later. Writing about checking the Georgians and saving the cannons, Robinson explained, “The regiments, the One hundred and fourteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers (Collis’ Zouaves) and the Sixty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, advanced beautifully, delivered a galling fire into the face of the enemy, and, charging at double-quick, drove him in confusion back to his works.”
The Slaughter Pen Farm battlefield as it appears today. CVBT donated $1,000,000 to help save it from development.
(Tim Talbott)
Near the edge of the woods, the 114th and 63rd, and soon joined by the rest of the brigade, lay down in the sopping wet field. While Col. Collis did not file a report about the battle, Maj. John Danks of the 63rd did. Danks explained that “The infantry line, lying down kept up a straggling fire upon the enemy, who occasionally showed himself at the woods.” Robinson ordered Collis and Danks to send companies of skirmishers forward about 200 yards and occupy a ditch and “hold it against those of the enemy at all hazards.” Gen. Robinson noted that while there they “captured in it 1 colonel [E. N. Atkinson], 1 captain, and 60 non-commissioned officers and privates of a Georgia regiment. This capture was made by Captain [Frank] El[l]iot, of the One hundred and fourteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers.”
Except for some scattered skirmish fire, shooting died out as darkness enveloped the battlefield. Collis’ Zouaves remained in position. Lt. Edward Williams felt for the wounded, who groaned throughout the night as temperatures fell, “Poor fellows, we could not help them.” The time on the field offered an opportunity for reflection. Lt. Williams noted, “Oh Mother if ever a Mortal offered up a sincere prayer of thanks I did it that night. I can only attribute my escape to Providence and Mothers prayers. Men who have been all through this war say we came in under the hottest fire they had ever seen. . . . God grant that we may never go into another Battle. I dont mind it while I am in [it] but going in and coming out is hard to bear.”
Not receiving orders to withdraw, the 114th remained on the field until the morning of Monday, December 15. During that interval, they were exposed to Confederate skirmish fire. Lt. Williams shared an incident with his wife in a letter home less than a week later: “One of our Lieut was laying alongside of a man who lay with his head on his arm. The enemies sharpshooters began firing on them pretty sharp. The Lieut kept ordering him to lie closer down but he would not mind so he took hold of him and found he was dead.”
Pulled back to the Richmond Stage Road, Collis’ Zouaves remained there until after dark and then recrossed the river into Stafford County.
Marie Tepe
Marie "French Mary" Tepe served as the 114th Pennsylvania's vivandiere. Tepe was wounded in the ankle while helping the regiment's wounded during the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Note Tepe's Kearny Cross medal, which she was awarded following Chancellorsville.
(Library of Congress)
Despite Gen. Robinson calling his brigade’s participation in the Battle of Fredericksburg “this brief engagement,” Collis’ Zouaves endured more casualties than any other regiment in the brigade. They lost eight killed, 27 wounded, and 17 captured or missing for a total of 52. The next closest regiment, the 105th Pennsylvania, lost 21 fewer men. One of the regiment’s casualties that was probably not among their official count of 52 was Marie Tepe, who served as the regiment’s vivandiere, and known as “French Mary.” Tepe received a wound in the ankle at Fredericksburg while bringing water and caring for the wounded. Her battlefield heroism would reappear in a few months at Chancellorsville.
Third Corps commander, Maj. Gen. George Stoneman praised the 114th in a December 19 letter printed in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Inquirer on January 2, 1863. Stoneman stated that the Zouaves and Col. Collis “was conspicuous both in dress and gallantry in the action on the 13th inst., and I take great pleasure in testifying to the fact to which I can testify from my own personal observation.” Stoneman added that the 114th and 63rd “charged and held the crest in advance and on the right, most notably, and under a very galling fire, both of artillery and infantry. . . .” To those regiments, he offered his “warmest thanks.”
Between Battles
The 114th Pennsylvania Band
Shown here at Brandy Station later in the war, the regiment's band and their instruments were captured at Fredericksburg.
(Library of Congress)
While the defeat at Fredericksburg stung, Collis’ Zouaves’ spirits were somewhat buoyed by their good showing under fire. Some of their enthusiasm left when they returned to their pre-battle campsite, only to find some Eleventh Corps regiments inhabiting their former space. With the current possessors of the spot winning out, the Zouaves had to find another place to camp, and since many of the men lost their shelter tents and blankets on the battlefield, their wait during winter for new issues was particularly trying.
Some men and officers quickly fell into despondency over their battlefield loss and the current state of the army’s administration. Writing to his wife on December 18, Lt. Williams complained about how ill-treated the army was by not receiving pay and enduring a lack of supplies. He summed things up: “This is a gloomy letter, but if you could see us crouched around a smoky fire trying to keep warm and our eyes nearly smoked out of our head you would not wonder at it.”
Normally able to provide a lift of inspiration during difficult times, the 114th’s regimental band was unable to do so as most of them had been captured on Dec. 16. After slumbering in a ditch near the battlefield the night before, they did not receive notice to cross the river. They awoke as prisoners and were sent to Libby Prison, the Confederates confiscating their fine instruments.
Building winter quarters over the next several weeks kept the soldiers’ minds occupied on other things, and their finished products helped provide better shelter. However, sickness and disease kept many men from duty and killed others.
Among the units who participated in the infamous “Mud March” in January 1863, the 114th found themselves floundering in a sea of liquid dirt as they trod west. Sergeant Isaac Fox wrote his brother on January 27, “They had all the Zoo-Zoos pulling at the [pontoon] Boats like the other jack asses.” George Murray had similar thoughts in a letter to his mother: “The Zoos were pulling at the Boats from daylight . . . until about 12 O’Clock when we were relived by another Regiment of Blue Legs, but they could not pull like the Red Boys.” Ordered back to camp the “Mud March” was mercifully over.
A change in the Army of the Potomac’s command came soon after as Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker replaced Burnside. Improvements came with the new leader. Supplies, pay, and furloughs increased. In addition, some variety entered their monotonous diets, and a dash of pride appeared with corps badges. The First Division of the Third Corps wore a red lozenge (diamond shape) badge.
Soldiers understood that the arrival of spring meant a new campaign season would soon be upon them. On April 28, 1863, the 114th left their camp, and overloaded with eight days of rations, trudged south of Fredericksburg in support of a movement by the First and Sixth Corps. However, instead of crossing near their old December 13 battleground, they moved back upriver and, joined by Col. Collis, who had been on leave, camped near US Ford on April 30. They crossed the Rappahannock River on May 1. It was time for yet another fight.
With Gen. Robinson’s promotion and transfer to the First Corps at the end of December 1862, Brig. Gen. Charles K. Graham eventually came to command the brigade the following spring. It consisted of the 57th, 63rd, 68th, 105th, 114th (Collis’ Zouaves), and 141st Pennsylvania regiments.
The Battle of Chancellorsville
Along with other Third Corps regiments, Collis' Zouaves pursued Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's marching flank force to the vicinity of Catherine Furnace before receiving orders to return to Hazel Grove.
(Tim Talbott)
Upon reaching the Chancellor House on May 1, Gen. Graham received orders to take his regiments west on the Orange Turnpike and picket at Dowdall’s Tavern. Finding Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard’s Eleventh Corps was already there and picketing the area, Graham awaited further orders that finally instructed him to return to Chancellorsville. While near the Chancellor House, Collis reported losing a soldier to shelling from the Confederates. That man, Pvt. George W. Young, had his leg “fearfully mangled” and endured two amputations on it before he later died.
On the morning of May 2, 1863, the 114th was ordered forward to support a battery that was shelling the wagon train of Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s flank force. The regiment joined much of the division in pursuit until they reached the Welford House near Catherine Furnace and the unfinished railroad. Here, they received an order to return. Back in the Hazel Grove area, after some maneuvering, Collis was able to rest his men for the night. But, sleep came fitfully. A soldier in the 57th Pennsylvania (also in Graham’s brigade) wrote, “We lay down to sleep with the enemy on three sides of us. It seemed as if nobody knew where the enemy was or from which side he would be likely to attack.”
Much of Collis' Zouaves' May 3, 1863 fighting at Chancellorsville occurred in the woods
in the background of this photograph.
(Tim Talbott)
Still in position at Hazel Grove, morning brought “a murderous fire [that] was poured upon us from the front and both flanks by the enemy, secreted in the woods,” Collis reported. As Graham’s brigade was ordered by division commander Brig. Gen. David Bell Birney to fall back toward the Fairview clearing, Collis stated that he “lost several men during this movement.” Indeed, their withdrawal encouraged a Confederate assault by Brig. Gen. James Archer’s Alabamians and Tennesseans that sped the retreat of Graham’s brigade and turned it into confusion. Collis blamed the disorder on other Union troops crashing through his lines, cutting the Zouaves and the 105th Pennsylvania “completely off from the rest of the brigade.”
The distinctive red-legged Zouaves of the 114th stood out and received unfavorable comments from Brig. Gen. Joseph Knipe and others in the Twelfth Corps. Knipe reported that he “endeavored to arrest the fugitives” but “This, however, I could not accomplish.” However, Knipe attributed the Zouaves’ retreat to “the giving way of General Berry’s line” and some of his own corps. The 5th New Jersey’s Alfred Bellard said that the officers of the 114th asked Bellard and his comrades to shoot the Zouaves, but “We did not obey the order."
Once the 114th and Graham’s brigade finally reorganized near Fairview, Collis explained they received orders “to move forward, and [take] position in the edge of the woods . . . re-enforcing part of [Brig. Gen. Thomas] Ruger’s [Twelfth Corps] brigade, which was then engaging the enemy behind his abatis of fallen timber.” Forming a battleline, with the 105th on the brigade’s left, then the 114th, 68th, 57th, 63rd, and finally the 141st on the right, they moved forward to take a line of breastworks.
Holding a small rise of ground and thus somewhat exposed, Collis reported: “Feeling that we were suffering a severe loss without gaining any good results, I ordered my regiment to fix bayonets and charge, which it did gallantly and with enthusiasm, driving the enemy in confusion from his works.” Despite being pushed back, the Confederates continued to put up a determined resistance. The Zouaves took heavy casualties, particularly in the officer ranks. Corp. Robert Kenderdine commented, “The brave boys [fell] like leaves to the autumn blast.” Capt. [George] Schwartz was probably severely wounded at this point in the fight. Schwartz, who Collis maintained, “there is no better or truer soldier in the service,” was eventually discharged for his disabling injury.
Capt. Frank Elliot was among Collis' Zouaves killed on May 3, 1863. He had previously received praise from Brig. Gen. John C. Robinson for his courage in capturing several Confederates at Fredericksburg.
(From Music on the March, 1862-'65, With the Army of the Potomac, 114th Regt. P.V. Collis' Zouaves by Frank Rauscher, published 1892)
Collis stated that “It was here the gallant Major [Joseph] Chandler fell, while trying to secure the rebel colors. Here Captain [Frank] Eliot was killed, while resisting an overwhelming charge with this trusty company. Here Lieutenant [George] Cullen was shot dead, while displaying his well-known coolness and courage.” The May 18 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer claimed a somewhat different yet still inspiring story about Chandler and Elliot: “The Rebels had placed their colors on the breastworks, defiantly, and, when the Zouaves charged, Major Chandler and Captain Elliot . . . outvied each other in an effort to capture them. Poor fellows! they both fell, a noble sacrifice to the glorious cause.” Sgt. Issac Fox, wounded in the head, wrote home from a Washington Hospital on May 9: “We stood our ground like men while the shot and shell flew thick among us. Many of my poor companions on that never to be forgotten Sunday fell to rise no more among the number.”
Holding the position for a while longer, along with the 27th Indiana from Ruger’s brigade, Graham’s brigade became flanked on the right when Confederates there surged forward. With no immediate reinforcements coming to their aid, Graham was forced to withdraw his brigade a short distance to the rise where they had started. There he ordered the men to about face, cease firing, and lay down. Collis attempted to set an example for his regiment. “I planted my colors, placed my guides, and appealed to the men to reform, which . . . they did willingly,” the young colonel reported.
The Collis' Zouaves' monument at Chancellorsville honors soldiers from the regiment who were killed or mortally wounded in the battle. Although incorrectly placed in terms of the location of their fighting on May 3, 1863, it serves as a poignant reminder of the regiment's service and sacrifice.
(Tim Talbott)
About that time, Capt. Fitzhugh Birney, the half-brother of division commander Brig. Gen. David Bell Birney, spurred up to Col. Collis and shouted, “It is no use now. We are outflanked.” Still taking casualties, and with the enemy about 50 yards away, Collis ordered his men to withdraw. During the movement to the rear, Gen. Graham reported, “considerable confusion occurred.”
Chaos was everywhere near the Chancellor House. There, Third Corps commander, Maj Gen. Daniel Sickles ordered Collis’ remnant to support Randolph’s Battery. A few minutes later, a staff officer ordered them away. Sickles, apparently seeing them move off, “seemed much annoyed and ordered me back,” Collis explained. Moments later, Gen. Birney ordered the 114th to the rear, but when Collis told him about Sickles’ direct order, Collis was allowed to stay put. Finally, at about 9:00 am, the Zouaves fell back “to another [position] in the woods, where for nearly two hours we lay under the most severe fire of artillery I have ever experienced,” and "losing two more officers,” Collis claimed. Another rear movement occurred at about 5:00 pm., apparently during which, according to Collis, he “was carried off the field insensible, suffering from exhaustion.”
Apparently suffering from the early effects of typhoid fever, Collis was unable to maintain his leadership at that late point in the fight and had turned command over to Lt. Col. Frederico Cavada. Capt. Francis Adams Donaldson of the 118th Pennsylvania (Fifth Corps) noted in his diary seeing Collis being carried off on a stretcher. A fellow captain asked who it was. When informed it was Collis, the captain asked if Collis was shot. “Shot in the neck,” one stretcher bearer replied, implying Collis was drunk. Putting the stretcher down, Collis got up, and Col. Charles Prevost of the 118th asked Collis where his regiment was. “Just ahead, Sir, heavily engaged but I being sick was obliged to turn over command . . . and go to the rear,” Collis replied. Collis displayed his sword scabbard, “much bent, as having been struck by a bullet,” wrote Donaldson. Despite the evidence of hard fighting, Capt. Donaldson believed Collis’ “whole appearance and manner at this time denoted fear of the most abject kind.”
While Gen. Graham forwarded Collis’ battle report “as a matter of duty,” he also felt his responsibility to call it “a complete romance from beginning to end.” Despite his direct negative expressions of thought, Graham’s and Collis’ reports match quite remarkably well when quoted here. Collis was placed under arrest by Gen. Birney for leaving his command without permission when Collis claimed being “insensible, suffering from exhaustion.” A court martial trial that lasted until June 1, and in which Collis defended himself, ultimately acquitted Collis of charges of “misbehavior before the enemy.”
Out of the six corps in the Army of the Potomac that fought at Chancellorsville proper, the Third Corps suffered the most casualties. Of the three divisions of the Third Corps, the First Division endured the most casualties. And out of the nine brigades of the Third Corps, Graham’s Brigade suffered the most casualties. Collis’ Zouaves lost the second greatest number of men among the six regiments of Graham’s Brigade, suffering 20 killed, 123 wounded, and 38 captured or missing for a total of 181, a loss of over 40 percent of their effective force.
Additionally, Gen. Birney released a list of names two weeks after the battle of those who had earned the Kearny Cross, a decoration "in honor of our old leader," Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny, and issued by officers in the First Division of the Third Corps. Collis' Zouaves included 25 non-commissioned officers and privates as recipients.
Another Kearny Cross recipient, the regiment's vivandiere, Marie Tepe, was on the battlefield, too. Regimental band musician Frank Rauscher noted in his post-war memoir, "Her skirts were riddled by bullets at the Battle of Chancellorsville."
Conclusion
Unidentified 114th Pennsylvania Infantry Soldier
This hand-tinted photograph shows the colorful and distinctive uniforms of Collis' Zouaves.
(Library of Congress)
The reduced numbers of the 114th Pennsylvania caused by Chancellorsville did not prevent it from finding its way into the fight again at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, where it lost over 150 more men. However, Col. Collis was not with the regiment as he was still battling his typhoid illness. The Zouaves continued to serve in the Third Corps until leadership reorganized the Army of the Potomac and dissolved the corps in the spring of 1864. The 114th served much of the remainder of 1864 in provost duty and as headquarters guard for army commander Maj. Gen. Meade. At Petersburg, the 114th largely watched over and transported prisoners, guarded headquarters at City Point, and occasionally served in the trenches when called upon. Col. Collis received a brevet promotion to brigadier general in the fall of 1864. He oversaw operations at City Point and served on court martial duty there.
A final opportunity for battle came for Collis’ Zouaves on April 2, 1865, when as operating as part of the Ninth Corps, Collis led a brigade that included his old 114th against entrenched Confederates south of Petersburg. During the fighting—only a week away from Lee’s surrender at Appomattox—the 114th lost six killed and 27 wounded, including a number of veterans who had been with the original Zouaves d’Afrique company that Collis had first captained. Survivors from this last fight participated in the Grand Review at Washington and then mustered out of service on May 29, 1865. They returned to Philadelphia on June 1 to begin the rest of their lives.
Col. Collis returned to practicing law following the war, living in both Philadelphia and New York City. Collis became involved in the efforts to create the national park at Gettysburg and built a house on the battlefield. He came back to Chancellorsville in 1899 for the regiment’s monument dedication, although his comrades complained it was in the wrong location. Collis died in 1902 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, at age 64 and was buried at Gettysburg.
Some Sources and Suggested Reading
Earl J. Coats, Michael J. McAfee, and Don Troiani. Don Troiani’s Regiments and Uniforms of the Civil War. Stackpole Books, 2002.
Edward H. Hagerty. Collis’ Zouaves: The 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War. Louisiana State University Press, 1997.
Frank Rauscher. Music on the March, 1862-'65, With the Army of the Potomac, 114th Regt. P.V. Collis' Zouaves. William F. Fell & Company, 1892.
Parting Shot
This Alfred Waud sketch is labeled to show the various colors of the 114th Pennsylvania uniform. They wore them throughout their Civil War enlistment.
(Library of Congress)
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