This article originally appeared in the pages of the Gettysburg Times, in April of 2025. It was penned by John Tuskan of the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania, in the hopes of sharing the work the Fellowship does.

This May the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania enters its ninth year of presenting the 100 Nights of Taps, Gettysburg program. 

Six years ago, we began a tradition of each evening honoring one specific soldier buried in Gettysburg National Cemetery. This year, we will honor 1st Sergeant Philip Rice Hamlin, Co. F, 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. His image appears on the 100 nights of Taps, Gettysburg 2025 commemorative coin, which will be presented to our buglers and other program participants. 

Sgt. Hamlin was born on May 24, 1839, in Warren County, Pennsylvania. He had three younger brothers and a sister. In 1855 his family moved to Minnesota, where farmland was plentiful and affordable. 

Hamlin held deep religious convictions and believed that the outbreak of war was God’s will. He enlisted in the 1st Minnesota in April,1861 and wrote that having “entered the service of my country from a sense of duty, and trusting in the All Merciful, I go forward without fear.”

He first entered combat on July 21, 1861 at the 1st Battle of Bull Run. Ending in a rout of Union forces, he wondered that “perhaps God designed by this defeat to touch us the necessity of trusting Him.”  Through other major battles, Hamlin began to struggle with his faith, but he stayed adamant that whatever his fate, it would be God’s will. 

The 1st Minnesota arrived in Gettysburg early on July 2nd 1863 and was initially held in reserve. But as the Union Third Corps collapsed in full retreat, General Hancock gave the famous order to the 1st Minnesota to “charge those lines!” Of the 262 soldiers who charged, 215 (82%) were killed, wounded, or missing – one of the most severe losses suffered by a Union regiment in a single engagement during the Civil War. 

Although not directly involved in the charge, Sergeant Hamlin was dispatched down the line to assess what happened. As nighttime descended and the roar of gunfire gave way to the cries from the wounded on the field, Hamlin completed his assignment.

The next day while repulsing Pickett’s Charge, the 1st Minnesota suffered 55 more casualties. While charging near the color bearer, Sgt. Hamlin was struck in the neck, leg, and chest, and died instantly. He was 24 years old.

The survivors of the 1st Minnesota first buried Hamlin near Taneytown Road. Later that fall, Hamlin’s remains were reinterred in the Soldiers National Cemetery, Minnesota Plot, Section A, Grave #10. 

A fellow soldier said of him: “Deprecating war, loving and praying for peace, he was fighting for his government as the performance of a sacred duty he owed to it and to God.”

The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania cordially invites you to attend 100 Nights of Taps, Gettysburg 2025 to hear the sounding of “Taps” and honor Sergeant Hamlin, and others buried in the Gettysburg National Cemetery. 

The program starts at 7 PM every evening, beginning on May 26th and ending on September 1st. This year the program will be presented in Gettysburg National Military Park, on Cemetery Ridge, at the Pennsylvania Monument.