Samuel A. Swiggett History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894 May be copied for non-profit purposes. USGENWEB Montana Archives Captain Samuel A. Swiggett, Register of the Land Office, Helena is a native of Maryland, born in Dorchester County, May 19, 1834.Captain Swiggett's ancestors were among the early emigrants to this country from England and were prominent factorsin the early development of the colonies and States. His maternal grandfather Samuel Hurst, fought for independenceon the Revolutionary battlefields. Samuel Hurst was also the grandfather of Bishop Hurst, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Grandfather Aaron Swiggett was a Major in the War of 1812. He was born in Delaware and was for many years oneof the prominent citizens of that state. His son, William H, the father of our subject, was born in Delaware in 1810 and for his wife married Hemetta Maria Hurst, a native of Maryland. They became the parents of seven children, of whom four sons are living. The mother died in her thirty- second year and the father lived to be sixty-five. Both were worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. William H. Swiggett had resided in his native state until his marriage then he removed to Maryland, and it was in the latter state that the subject of this sketch was born; theparents soon removed to Delaware, and reared their family there.Captain Swiggett, the first born in his father's family received a limited education in Delaware and Maryland, and after reaching his fourteenth year came West as far as Indiana and engaged in the merchant tailoring and clothing business. Subsequently he removed to Iowa and continued in the same business being thus occupied when the war of theRebellion burst upon the country. He enlisted in the ranks in September 1862 and became a member of the Thirty-sixth Iowa volunteers. He had been active in recruiting for this and other regiments and was elected Captain of his company. They were sent to the front in the Department of the Mississippi, their first engagements being at Helena and Little Rock Arkansas. In the spring they left Little Rock for Shreveport and while his brigade was guarding a train from Camden to Pine Bluffs, Arkansas theywere attacked by 9,000 mounted infantry and after a fight which lasted two and a half hours, the entire brigade waseither killed or captured. Seventy-three men in Captain Swiggett's company were killed and wounded, the rest, thirty- four were captured. The latter were taken as prisoners of war to Tyler Texas. The following August, Captain Swiggett with five other officers of the Thirty-sixth Iowa, bribed the guards and by that means they made their escape. They traveled by night, remained hidden in the woods during the day and in this way succeeded in covering adistance of 110 miles; but when they reached the vicinity of Boston Texas they were re-captured and were marched back to Tyler. When taken, most of the men were exhausted from exposure and want of food and the return to Tylerwas made under the most distressing circumstances. They were put in the stockades the last of September. On the 23rd of December, Captain Swiggett with two officers of the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio Infantry made a second attempt to escape and after traveling twenty-one nights they reached the river, 275 miles from Tyler and again he and the two officers were recaptured, this time being confined from time to time in different jails and finally landed in the stockade at Shreveport. While the other prisoners, members of his company and regiment were exchanged,Captain Swiggett, on account of his having tried to made his escape, was sent back on foot to Tyler, this being the third time he had been marched there as a prisoner. There he was kept until June 1865 when the war was over and the last prisoners in the stockade were exchanged, and as a matter of fact he was the last man out of the stockade. He then returned to Duval's Bluff Arkansas where he rejoined his regiment with them being honorably discharged and mustered out in October at Davenport Iowa.Upon his return to Iowa Captain Swiggett engaged in merchandising. Soon after this he was elected Sheriff of WapelloCounty. At the end of his first term he was reelected and served a second term. He continued his mercantile business there until 1887 when he came to Montana. Upon his arrival here, he purchased an interest in a quartzmine and has since been engaged in mining. After being a resident of Jefferson County Montana one year, he attendedthe Republican County convention. There were sixty-two members in the convention, only two of whom he knew; nevertheless, he was nominated by the convention on the Legislative ticket. He was elected to that office and served the last term of the Territorial Legislature of Montana after which he resumed his mining operations in Jefferson County. In 1890 he was appointed by President Harrison as Register of the United States Land Office atHelena. He had not been an applicant for this position and did not know of his appointment until he received a dispatch asking him to accept. He did so and is now performing the duties of this office.Captain Swiggett was married in 1856 toMiss Eliza H. Van Cleve, a native of Kentucky. There are two children living, a son and daughter--Levin V. and Gertrude, the latter being now the wife of Thomas S. Wilson, and three dead--Annie,Effing W and Lida. Mrs. Wilson is an elocutionist and she and her husband have a college at Spokane Washington. Mrs. Swiggett passed away on April 13, 1893, dying from the effects of a malignant tumor which caused her great suffering for eight months. Her remains were interred in the family lot in the cemetery in Ottunwa Iowa by the side of her children. USGenWeb Project NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format forprofit, nor for commercial presentation by any other organization. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must obtain express writtenpermission from the author, or the submitter and from the listed USGenWeb Project archivist.