Philip J. Wintz, 112th. Illinois Infantry.

The following was taken from the 112th, Illiinois Infantry Regimental History.

At 1 o clock moved from Columbus and ran without change to Bellair on the Ohio river, arriving there at 6 o clock on the
morning of the 23d. Crossed the river, by ferry, to Benwood, West Virginia, and breakfasted, and at 10 :30 again took cars on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and at noon moved eats. The weather was extremely cold ; and the change from South ern Tennessee to a northern latitude told severely on the men. The cars were ordinary freight cars, and of course had no stoves. Necessity is frequently the cause of mischief, as well as the mother of invention. At Piedmont, in West Virginia, our train met a west bound freight train. The trains stopped but a few moments, but long enough for some of the boys of  Co. A, of the 112th Illinois, to confiscate a stove and its pipe in a box car on the freight train, and transfer it, unobserved, to their car. Philip J. Wintz got a wrench and loosened the nuts on the bolts that held the stove to the floor, and others stood ready to assist in removing it. In the meantime others were obtaining fuel. As soon as the train was under way a stove-pipe hole was cut through the car roof and a tire built. It is not known what was said by the conductor and brakes men of the freight train when they discovered their loss. If  they consigned the boys to a warm place, it was no more than they deserved, and had already obtained. Such enterprise etitled them to fire, and they had it.

Philip J. Winty ( Wintz ), Residence Annawan, Illinois, Enlisted August 12, 1862, Mustered in September 20, 1862.

Philip J. Wintz. Wounded in action at Knoxville, Tenn., Nov. 18,1863, and left on the field. Escaped through the enemy' s lines and rejoined the command in Knoxville.  Severely wounded in action at Kesaca, Ga., May 14, 1864. Severely injured in ankle near Kiiiston, N, C., while on his way to the regiment in Feb' y, 1865. Discharged at Beaufort, N. C., June 14, 1865. Address Annawan, Henry county, Illinois.