A Brothers Story of the Civil War

The Civil War is often called “the brothers war” because of myriad incidents in which brothers found one another on opposite sides of the conflict. However, it was far more common for siblings to serve in the same regiment or company.

That was the case for the Brothers brothers (whose surname provided a convenient description of their relationship to one another). Frank, Cyrus, and George Washington Brothers all served in the 142nd Pennsylvania during the Civil War.

The oldest of eight siblings, Frank, was born in 1834 in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania to George and Sarah Brothers. His two brothers, Cyrus and George, followed in 1840 and 1844. The 1850 census simply listed Frank’s occupation as “laborer,” alongside his father.[1]

In 1862, with the Civil War’s end nowhere in sight, the three Brothers brothers enlisted in Company B of the 142nd Pennsylvania, captained by John G. Andrews—a fellow resident of Mount Pleasant. The two younger Brothers children, Daniel and Columbus, at ages 10 and 14, were still too young to enlist. Frank served as a wagoner in the regiment, while Cyrus and George (who went by his middle name Washington) enlisted as privates.[2]

The regiment saw its first action in the Fredericksburg campaign where it helped to successfully pierced Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederate lines. The battle was a costly one for the 142nd Pennsylvania. It lost nearly 220 out of 550 men, including Maj. John Bradley, who was mortally wounded during the charge.[3]

Seven months later, the Brothers found themselves engaged in a bloody battle once again, but this time in their home state. The 142nd Pennsylvania endured some of the deadliest fighting at Gettysburg. Deployed early in the fighting on July 1, the Pennsylvanians defended McPherson’s Ridge against a Confederate onslaught before withdrawing to the safety of Seminary Ridge, where they rallied behind a hastily built breastwork.[4]

Colonel Robert P. Cummins, a native of Somerset, Pennsylvania, tried desperately to maintain order in the regiment as his men dashed from one ridge to another. “Rally round the flag!” he cried, waving his sword around the regimental colors. His efforts were in vain, though, as he soon fell to the ground with multiple wounds.[5]

After a brave fight on Seminary Ridge, the sheer weight of the Confederate attack compelled the Pennsylvanians to fall back to the safety of Cemetery Hill with the rest of the Union forces. Only about 140 men made it back. Among them were, presumably, the Brothers brothers, who survived the bloodiest battle of the war and eventually returned to their home in Mount Pleasant. Cyrus was discharged by a surgeon’s certificate on December 24, 1864, while Frank and Washington Brothers served until the end of the war and were mustered out with Company B on May 29, 1865.

Cyrus Brothers did not live very long after his Civil War service. He died in 1869 at age 29, perhaps related to ailments that precipitated his surgeon’s discharge five years prior.[6] While Washington Brothers’s death is unknown, his oldest brother Frank died in 1906 at age 72. The three Brothers brothers were laid to rest in Mount Pleasant Cemetery just as they stood in the Civil War: side-by-side.

The Brothers’s story begs the question of how many other siblings fought together during the war, and how many of them made it out? It’s unfortunately a question we’ll likely never be able to answer.

Notes:

[1] Census Bureau, “1850 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry.com, accessed September 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8054/records/5541345?tid=157162820&pid=402361853538&ssrc=pt.

[2] Pennsylvania, U.S., Civil War Muster Rolls, 1860-1869. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com, accessed September 2026.

[3] Gerald H. Ankeny, The Civil War Sacrifice of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2025), 77.

[4] Ankeny, The Civil War Sacrifice of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, 99.

[5] Ankeny, The Civil War Sacrifice of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, 100.

[6] Card Records of Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, ca. 1879-ca. 1903, Record Group: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group Number: 92, Series Number: M1845, The National Archives at Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C.