A South Brunswick Soldier in the Civil War
Part three of a three-part column.
The 32nd Regiment was mainly comprised of Pennsylvania residents, though detachments were received from several neighboring states.
They were organized at Camp William Penn which was a camp created mainly for colored troops. The regiment was ordered into duty and sent to Hilton Head in April 1864.
The 32nd was paired with a brigade of colored troops, including the 1st Michigan and 9th U.S. Private Aaron Hush and regiment would spend a year in and out of battles throughout the southland.
Under the command of General J.P. Hatch they encountered a rebel force at Honey Hill, which General Hatch immediately attacked pushing his forces forward into the rebel forces.
He was compelled to pull back after sustaining heavy losses, nine killed and forty-two wounded. The 32nd spent three weeks in engagements in April 1865 at Sumpterville, Wateree and Stateboro South Carolina skirmishing daily.
Eventually the flag of truce was received with the news of the surrender of General Lee, but joy turned to sorrow with word of the assassination of President Lincoln.
Private Hush and his fellow soldiers waged war through a major historic moment. The regiment sustained losses of 2 officers and 35 enlisted men killed, 113 enlisted men died of disease totaling 150.
August 22, the 32nd was mustered out of service. The Hush grave reads: Hush, Aaron, d. Jan. 20, 1916, aged 70 years, “A Civil War Veteran."
