Names on the Wall

Jacob Huff Wolf was born 1 September 1836, son of David Wolf, in Union County, Pennsylvania. He married Louisa Scheway in 1859.

On 12 May 1864, he enlisted in Co. E, 184th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, which was quickly organized at Camp Curtin hear Harrisburg with only 500 enlisted men. They joined the Army of the Potomac in Virginia without any training on 28 May and were immediately engaged in brutal fighting. They participated in the Rapidan Campaign and fought at Cold Harbor 1-12 June where they suffered heavy losses, including 67 killed and 113 wounded. Another major battle was fought at Petersburg 16-22 June where the regiment lost 52 killed and wounded and 115 taken prisoners. In 25 days, the new regiment lost 347 men killed, wounded, or captured. Many of the wounded prisoners died at Petersburg, and most of the rest of the prisoners died at Andersonville, GA, Salisbury, NC, and Florence, SC prisons before the war ended. Private Wolf was one of the fortunate few who was not a casualty.

Those left for duty engaged in the siege of Petersburg, VA, for a few weeks, during which time and later more recruits were added. They fought several engagements near Petersburg. On 18 August, they participated in a major engagement in which the regiment lost 27 killed and wounded. On 25 August, while helping destroy a railroad track near Petersburg, Rebel troops attacked and drove them from the field with more losses.

More reinforcements arrived to join the regiment in October, and they continued with the siege of Petersburg until March 1865. The regiment joined the Appomattox Campaign 28 March and assisted with the defeat of General Robert E. Lee’s army on 9 April, the day Lee surrendered his army to Union general U.S. Grant. The surviving members

The surviving members of the 184th Pennsylvania Infantry marched to Washington D.C. in early May and participated in the Grand Review 23 May. They returned to Pennsylvania and were mustered out of federal service 14 July. Private Wolf returned to his family and farm where they remained until heading to Kansas in 1879.

They first settled in Kill Creek Township. Osborne County, where they were counted in the 1880 census. Jacob Wolf and his son-in-law Samuel B. Arnold filed homestead claims on adjoining quarter-sections 16 September 1881. In the 1885 Kansas census, Jacob, a widower who married again later that year, was living on the Kill Creek farm with four children. His oldest daughter, Ida Arnold and her family, lived next door.

Jacob, his third wife Maggie, and four children moved to Woodston in February 1887. They left in 1893 for “western Kansas” and returned to Woodston in 1895. He and Maggie remained there the rest of their lives. Jacob was active in the G.A.R. Maggie died 23 March 1924, and Jacob died 2 April 1929. Both are buried in the Woodston cemetery.

Jacob (1836-1929) and his first wife, Louisa (Scheway) (1841-1864) had two children: Sarah (1862-1863) and Eda Elizabeth (1863-1933) who married Samuel B. Arnold (1855-1938) in 1879.

He married Sarah Raisner/Reisner (1850-unknown death date) in 1868 and had four children with her: Mary (1869-1964) married Wiley N. Stivens (1867-1945) in 1890; Laura (1872-1949) married Charles M. Cool (1867-1898) in 1894, then married Arthur S. Gleave, Sr. (1875-1937) in 1898; John (1875-1944) married Effie Staley (1878-1920s— specific death date not known) on September 15, 1907; Carrie (1879-1959) married William Houston (1863-1940) in 1896.

Jacob married Margaret “Maggie” (England) Boyden (1846-1924) in 1885 and had no children with her.

Compiler’s Note: There are at least two different ways to spell Jacob’s second wife Sarah’s maiden name. Both are shown in different sources.