Dog Jack

Civil War soldiers often sought ways to bring pieces of home to war with them as reminders of more pleasant times and to gain a sense of normalcy. They did so sometimes by adopting a pet mascot. Common animals like dogs and cats became the boon companions of hundreds of men in companies and regiments, both Union and Confederate. Some fighting units preferred more novel mascots. A Mississippi regiment kept a camel named “Old Douglas.” “Old Abe” was the eagle mascot of the 8^th Wisconsin Infantry. Some men caught and tamed raccoons or other wildlife for their mascots. However, dogs seemed to be preferred and were the most common Civil War mascots.

Several dogs, like Sallie of the 11^th Pennsylvania, and Jack of the 102^nd Pennsylvania Infantry became famous in the Union’s Army of the Potomac. Sallie, sadly killed in the Battle of Hatcher’s Run during the Petersburg Campaign was so prized the 11^th Pennsylvania immortalized her on their monument on the Gettysburg battlefield. Jack’s image appeared in different photographs during the war, one of these images, a carte de visite, is in the collections at Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier.

Jack’s career as a mascot began even before the conflict. He appeared one day at the Niagara Volunteer Firehouse in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and was quickly adopted by the firemen. When many of the men went off to fight in the Civil War they took Jack, too, as a good luck charm.

The 102^nd Pennsylvania served in the Army of the Potomac’s IV Corps early in the war. They saw action during the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days’ Battles—where Jack received a wound at Malvern Hill, and the Antietam Campaign. It was reported that Jack was very intelligent and even understood bugle calls. In the fall of 1862, the 102^nd transferred to the VI Corps and experienced fighting around Fredericksburg. In combat at Salem Church, just outside of Fredericksburg, Jack became a prisoner of war. Apparently, about six months later, he returned to the 102^nd, formally exchanged in a prisoner swap.

The 102^nd Pennsylvania fought through the severe Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864 and in the Petersburg Campaign. It was during the VI Corps’ detached service from the Army of the Potomac, helping protect Washington D.C. in the fall, summer, and winter of 1864 that Jack went missing at Frederick, Maryland. Some of the regiment’s soldiers believed he was taken for his expensive silver collar. Jack was never heard from again. The 102^nd mustered out of Union service in June of 1865 but remembered Jack by having his portrait made from one of his famous photographs. Such were the strong bonds between some soldiers and their mascots.