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Joseph Penrose Ash (July 4, 1839 – May 8, 1864) was a United States Army cavalry officer during the American Civil War. He was promoted multiple times for bravery before he was killed at the Battle of Todd's Tavern.

Early life
Joseph Ash was born on July 4, 1839 to Caleb Lownes Ash and Bella Maria Ash (née Ashmead) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a descendant of the Penrose family of early Philadelphia. His father was a lawyer who took his business to California during the Gold Rush of 1849, where he contracted yellow fever and died in 1850.

On June 6, 1859, at age 19, Ash joined the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry— the oldest mounted unit in the United States Army.

Civil War
Following the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Ash enlisted as a corporal in Cassius M. Clay's Washington Guards— a volunteer unit dedicated to protecting Washington, D.C. from Confederate attack until the Union Army could muster an adequate defense force. Upon arrival, he volunteered to undertake a dangerous reconnaissance mission across the Potomac River and behind enemy lines: the action was successful, and before the end of the month Ash was promoted by President Abraham Lincoln to the rank of second lieutenant in the Regular Army, attached to the U.S. 2nd Cavalry.

Lieutenant Ash served with the 2nd Cavalry at the First Battle of Bull Run (in the 2nd Division, 1st Brigade under Major Innis Palmer-- see order of battle). On August 3, 1861, he was transferred to the reorganized U.S. 5th Cavalry, Company H.

On January 15, 1862, Ash was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, commanding the 5th Cavalry, Company E.

The 5th Cavalry joined General George McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, where Ash survived the shattered cavalry charge mounted to protect Union artillery at Gaines' Mill in June 1862.

His unit was later engaged at Antietam in September 1862, and aggressively attacked enemy cavalry near Smithfield, Virginia on October 15.

Ash was heavily involved in a cavalry skirmish at Little Washington near Warrenton, Virginia on November 8, 1862, where he was severely wounded, receiving at least three cuts from a Confederate cavalryman's saber and one bullet wound—in total, sustaining as many as six wounds based on varying accounts. He was mentioned for his brave actions in the official report of Cavalry Division commander Brigadier General Alfred Pleasonton, who stated, "Lieutenant Ash showed great daring, but the results of his charge did not compensate for his loss."

Following the action, Ash was brevetted to the rank of major for "conspicuous gallantry". Nevertheless, the severity of his wounds removed him from action for the remainder of 1862 and most of 1863.

Ash served as a mustering officer for the 5th Cavalry in Trenton, New Jersey from June 3 until September 23, 1863, when he was promoted to the rank of captain and assumed command of the 5th Cavalry, Company A.

In March 1864, Captain Ash submitted an article about cavalry equipment which was published in the United States Service Magazine.

Death
In May 1864, the 5th Cavalry joined the Overland Campaign in reserve of the 1st Division, Cavalry Corps.

On May 7, 1864, Union cavalry under Major General Philip Sheridan engaged Confederate cavalry under Major General J.E.B. Stuart at Todd's Tavern near Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia. The resulting battle continued into the following day and, on the morning of May 8, Ash was killed in action while trying to rally a Union infantry regiment. The commander of his division described Ash as "a heroic, patriotic, intrepid cavalry officer, a noble martyr in his country’s service."

Ash was promoted posthumously to the rank of brevet lieutenant colonel.

Legacy
In the years following his death, his younger sister Annie Lehman Ash wrote many letters regarding her late brother on behalf of their mother, Bella— first, asking General Ulysses S. Grant to facilitate the location and return of Ash's body from its battlefield grave near Todd's Tavern to his hometown of Philadelphia (this was accomplished successfully), and later requesting military pension benefits for her widowed mother from President Andrew Johnson. She received a letter of condolence from President Lincoln shortly after Ash was killed.

In 1866, the 5th Cavalry honored Ash by renaming their Nashville, Tennessee post as "Ash Barracks".

In 1868, a granite cross was erected in Ash's memory in Philadelphia.

Bella Ash died in 1895. Annie Lehman Ash, who spent the rest of her life in mourning and seclusion following her brother's death, died in 1900.

An Endicott Era coast artillery battery at Fort Worden was named after Ash in 1904.