The first shooting of Frank McLaughlin could not have been more pointless. In 1859, various local newspapers in Chambersburg and Gettysburg broke a salacious story: a plasterer from Gettysburg had been shot in the neck near a house of “bad repute” in Chambersburg. The wound was grave, and writers believed the man would die, though they hoped he would not. The house in question was owned by a questionable character named “Mr. Kobler,” and the details were curious. Frank McLaughlin had visited the house a couple of times. On the night in question, he asked a friend, William Glenn, to join him and bring a pistol because a group of men had allegedly harassed and tried to rob McLaughlin before. McLaughlin and Glenn took up with a prostitute named Till Mellinger; together, the three left the house to head into town together. McLaughlin’s antagonists followed, words were exchanged, rocks were thrown, Glenn opened fire, McLaughlin took a bullet to the neck and later claimed his assailants had fired it. In all, it was a salacious story of sex, violence, and bad luck—a perfect nineteenth-century morality tale.

Who was Frank McLaughlin, the man who was shot and who hovered near death for days on end? David Francis McLaughlin (often called Frank McLaughlin) was born in Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, circa 1831. According to local accounts he was a plasterer by trade. In June 1859 the Chambersburg Valley Spirit reported that “McLaughlin, a plasterer by trade, and a native of Gettysburg, Adams County” had been shot in a local brothel. The article notes he was “about 28 years of age” and that after being wounded he was carried to Kyler’s Hotel for treatment. (The report hoped he would recover.) This incident likely explains why newspapers sometimes called him “Frank” or “Francis” McLaughlin; in fact his full name in later military records is given as David Francis McLoughlin (variant spelling) but local reports used his nickname and original surname spelling.

Family and Genealogy

McLaughlin was one of at least five children born to Harry and Mary McLaughlin of Gettysburg. His known siblings were James P., Jacob, Caroline, and Samuel. (His brother James P. McLaughlin later served as a sergeant in the 1st Pennsylvania Reserves during the Civil War.) Beyond this, little is published about the McLaughlin family. Contemporary press and genealogical records identify David Francis McLaughlin as a Gettysburg native from an Irish-American family in Adams County. No further descendants are recorded for him (he was unmarried at his death).

Civil War Service

In August 1862 McLaughlin enlisted as a private in Company A, 126th Pennsylvania Infantry (often spelled “McLoughlin” in the rolls), making him another in a long list of soldiers from Gettysburg. The 126th PA was a nine-month regiment raised mainly from central Pennsylvania counties; it was mustered into service at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, between August 6–10, 1862. The unit marched to northern Virginia and was assigned to Brig. Gen. Erastus B. Tyler’s 1st Brigade, 3rd Division of the V Corps in the Army of the Potomac. (It arrived too late to fight at Antietam.)

The regiment’s first combat came at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. The 126th PA was part of Tyler’s brigade (with the 91st, 129th and 134th PA) in Maj. Gen. George G. Meade’s division. Tyler’s official report describes marching from camp on Dec. 13 with about 2,100 men in brigade (including 606 men in the 126th). The brigade advanced through the streets of Fredericksburg toward Marye’s Heights. Contemporary accounts say they formed “a double line of battle” near the foot of the ridge and then charged up the hill under heavy fire. Tyler notes that as they advanced they encountered “a body of officers and men lying… in front of the brick house” at the base of the heights, and as soon as they came within “a very short distance of the enemy’s line… a terrible fire” was opened on them. (The “brick house” mentioned is a landmark at the foot of Marye’s Hill; above it Confederate troops were dug in behind a stone wall and artillery.) Another source vividly describes Marye’s Heights: Burnside’s successive Union assaults pressed “forward up the hill for the stone wall,” but the stone wall at Marye’s Heights was the Confederates’ “coigne of vantage” behind which they could sweep the advancing troops with fire.

The 126th Pennsylvania suffered heavy losses at Fredericksburg. Regimental histories report 27 killed and 50 wounded in that battle (out of roughly 600 engaged). McLaughlin was among those killed in action on December 13, 1862, during the assault on Marye’s Heights (he became part of a tragic fraternity of other Gettysburg or local casualties, like George Washington Shriver, Mark Kerns, and Keller Culp). (His name appears on casualty lists with the variant spelling “McLoughlin.”) Tyler’s report for the brigade shows a total of 50 killed and 323 wounded/missing for all regiments; the 126th’s share was among the 27 killed noted in the state history.

After Fredericksburg the 126th PA remained with the Army of the Potomac (serving at Chancellorsville in May 1863, where it again saw action) and was mustered out on May 20, 1863. By that time McLaughlin was already dead; his personal file records him killed at Fredericksburg (no grave is known, as he fell on the battlefield).

Engagement at Fredericksburg (Marye’s Heights)

As noted, McLaughlin’s regiment led one of the doomed charges on Marye’s Heights. Historical accounts emphasize that the stone wall and ridge above Fredericksburg were held by well-entrenched Confederates. Lt. Col. D. Watson Rowe of the 126th later wrote that “Marye’s Hill was the focus of the strife” and described Union troops surging up the hill “toward the stone wall and the crest above,” under a hail of fire. Tyler’s brigade in particular is reported to have formed at the foot of the heights (near the town canal and a brick house), then moved forward; his report vividly describes men being halted by fire and falling back after a few volleys. In all, the brigade (including McLaughlin’s 126th PA) lost dozens killed and hundreds wounded. McLaughlin himself was killed during this assault on the Confederate positions on Marye’s Heights. His sacrifice is recorded in the Pennsylvania losses for that battle, and his name appears in official rosters (spelled McLoughlin) among the killed of the 126th.