Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania, Samuel P. Bates, 1876 - Part 2, Chapter 7, 628- 661 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja jbanja@msn.com and transcribed by Judy Banja, Judith Bookwalter, Cyndie Enfinger, Linda Horn, Margaret Long, Patricia Martz, Barbara Milhalcik, Leah Waring and Marjorie B. Winter Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ________________________________________________ MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA by SAMUEL P. BATES. PHILADELPHIA: T. H. DAVIS & CO., 1876. MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 628 Part II. BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER VII. JOHN WHITE GEARY, Colonel of the Twenty-eighth regiment, Brigadier and Major- General of volunteers, and Governor of Pennsylvania, was born on the 30th of December, 1819, near the little village of Mount Pleasant, in Westmoreland county, at the head of the Ohio valley, a region pronounced by the Duke of Carlisle to be the most picturesque and beautiful which the wide world affords. His father, Richard Geary, was a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and was a man of culture, and of singular uprightness and integrity of character. His mother, Margaret White, was a native of Washington county, Maryland, of an old slaveholding family, and, like her husband, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Soon after their marriage the parents removed to Westmoreland county, where the father engaged in the manufacture of iron, which owing to the depression in the market for that commodity, proved a losing venture, and he was obliged to abandon it, absorbing not only the capital he had invested but entailing debts which he was unable to liquidate. In this situation, doubly harassing from his delicate sense of honor, he resorted to teaching, for which he was well qualified; but soon sank to his grave, his declining hours embittered and doubtless hastened by the sense of his indebtedness. Many of the most gifted and successful of the public men of America have had an humble origin. Geary was no exception to this rule. A log cabin sheltered him in boyhood. There were four children, all boys. The first and third died young. The second, the Rev. Edward R., has for nearly twenty years prosecuted a faithful and consistent ministry in Oregon. The youngest, John W., after the usual preliminary course, entered Jefferson JOHN W. GEARY - 629 College; but owing to the death of his father he was obliged to leave before graduating. His mother had inherited a number of slaves, but, impelled by that strict sense of probity and justice which ever characterized her, she not only manumitted them but before doing so gave them all the rudiments of an education. That he might provide for that mother's immediate wants and make her comfortable, he taught school for a time, and by frugality was not only able to accomplish this filial duty but to complete his education. A short experience in a wholesale business house in Pittsburg convinced him that he was not born for a tradesman, and he prosecuted the study of civil engineering, for which he had early developed a fondness. He subsequently read law, and was admitted to practice. But, an opportunity opening for employment as an engineer in Kentucky, he went thither, and was engaged in the survey of several lines of public works, acting as the joint agent of the State and the Green River Railroad Company. With the income from this service, and the fortunate sale of a small land venture, he was enabled to return to his mother with sufficient means to discharge all his father's debts, which he did. He soon after became assistant superintendent and engineer of the Allegheny and Portage Railroad in his own State, an important and responsible position; but he had not been long thus engaged before the Mexican war opened, and he at once abandoned a lucrative place, and recruited a company in Cambria county which was called the American Highlanders. It was incorporated in the Second Pennsylvania regiment, Colonel Roberts, of which Geary was chosen Lieutenant- Colonel. It joined General Scott's army at Vera Cruz and became a part of Quitman's division. His first action was at the Pass of La Hoya, and in the storming of Chapultepec he received a wound. Upon entering the valley of Mexico, Colonel Roberts was disabled by sickness, and the active command devolved upon Geary. In the sharp action at Garita de Belen, he displayed such intrepidity that, upon the fall of the city, General Quitman assigned him to the command of the great citadel. Colonel Roberts died soon afterwards, and Geary was promoted to succeed him. The executive ability displayed in his Mexican service attracted MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 630 the attention of President Polk, who appointed him Postmaster of San Francisco, and general mail agent with authority to establish offices, routes, and appoint postmasters - being in effect a deputy Postmaster-General on the Pacific coast. It was a position of great labor; but his ability to systematize soon enabled him to bring order out of chaos, and to inaugurate a well-regulated plan. A new administration soon succeeded with altered politics, and with it a change of Postmasters, and Geary was superseded by Jacob B. Moore. But he was not long suffered to remain in retirement. The citizens of San Francisco elected him First Alcalde, and shortly after he was made Judge of First Instance by the Military Governor of the Territory, General Riley. These were Mexican offices, and involved nearly all the civil and criminal business of the city. He was almost unanimously re-elected Alcalde, and when, in the following year, the Mexican forms gave place to American, he was chosen the first Mayor of the city. A turbulent population was now rushing to the new El Dorado, and his task in maintaining order was difficult. In the meantime the question of a State Constitution was presenting itself for decision, and though not a member of the convention which framed that instrument, his voice is known to have been potential in devising and carrying through in the face of the fire-eaters of the South the clause which excluded slavery, and made it a free State. He had married, in 1843, Miss Margaret Ann, daughter of James R. Logan, of Westmoreland county. Her failing health decided him to return to the Atlantic States in hope of her restoration. Her death, soon after his arrival, caused him to abandon the purpose which he strongly cherished of going back to the Pacific coast and making it his permanent home. He accordingly devoted himself to improved stock-raising and farming, in his native county. Three years had scarcely elapsed, and his farming was just beginning to take the form which he had prefigured, when he was called to Washington by President Pierce, and asked to take the governorship of Utah. This he declined, feeling that there was no field here for the development of executive ability. But when, a short time afterwards, he was urged by the Chief Magistrate to take the helm on the troubled waters of Kansas, JOHN W. GEARY - 631 he recognized the opportunity for great usefulness, and promptly accepted it. The outlook before him was anything but promising. Governor Reeder had failed to carry out the views of the administration, and had been superseded by Shannon, who in turn was leaving with no better success than his predecessor. Governor Geary was a known Democrat when he left Pennsylvania. He therefore entered the Territory with no very strong sympathies for the abolitionists, nor on the other hand had he any sentiments in common with the border ruffians. He accordingly determined to pursue an upright and impartial course, let who would go down before it. In his first communication to Secretary Marcy he says: "The existing difficulties are of a far more complicated character than I had anticipated." But he was one of the most hopeful and resolute of men, and the greater the difficulty the more was he aroused to meet it. After giving a graphic picture of the condition of the Territory, where murder, arson, and crime were running riot, he concludes by saying: "Such is the condition of Kansas, faintly pictured. It can be no worse. Yet I feel assured that I shall be able ere long to restore it to peace and quiet." His previous political teachings and experience caused him to enter upon his duties with prejudices against the more violent of the abolitionists. Yet when he came face to face with the two parties, and understood the real designs and purposes of each - that one was bent on settlement, and the other on breaking up such settlement - he determined to allow no preconceived opinions to have weight, and he declared, in his first address to the people, "I have deliberately accepted the executive office, and as God may give me strength and ability, I will endeavor faithfully to discharge its varied requirements. . . . In my official action here, I will do justice at all hazards. Influenced by no other considerations than the welfare of the whole people of this Territory, I desire to know no party nor section, no North, no South, no East, no West - nothing but Kansas and my country." But this was not what the pro-slavery party wanted of a Governor, nor, as it subsequently appeared, what the administration at Washington designed. To break up free-soil emigration and settlement and make it a slave State was the only purpose. When, therefore, the Governor strove to stop MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 632 outrage and violence, and give every bona fide settler a fair chance, he incurred the mortal hatred of the fire-eaters, was thwarted by nearly every local officer and Federal appointee, was threatened with assassination, and was left alone to battle with the wrathful elements. "He no longer," says his biographer, "doubted his true position. He was alone in the Territory. He was not only not supported by a single officer sent there by the General Government, but every one of them was exerting his influence and power to oppose his efforts to do justice and secure the peace he had effected." In one of his addresses to an excited crowd at Topeka which seemed bent on doing him personal violence, the Governor said: "Gentlemen, I come not to treat with, but to govern you. There is now no other Governor in the Territory than myself. I will protect the lives and property of every peace-loving and law-abiding citizen with all the power I possess. I will punish every lawbreaker, whatever may be his position or pretensions. I will not for a moment tolerate any questioning of my authority. All who are in favor of restoring peace to this distracted Territory can range themselves under my banner; all others I will treat as bandits and robbers, and as such extirpate them at the point of the bayonet. Don't talk to me about slavery or freedom, free-state men or pro-slavery men, until we have restored the benign influences of peace to the country; until we have punished the murderer, and driven out the bandit and rabble, and returned the industrious citizens to their homes and claims. Do not, I pray you, attempt to embarrass me with your political disputations. You shall all, without distinction of party, be alike protected. This is no time to talk about party, when men, women and children are hourly being murdered at their own firesides or whilst sleeping in their beds or are being driven by merciless bands of marauders from their homes without money, food, or clothing. In God's name, rise for a moment above party, and contemplate yourselves as men and patriots. I am your friend - your fellow- citizen - moved by no other impulse than the welfare of the inhabitants of this Territory, and the protection of their honor, their lives and property. When peace is fairly restored, I will see that every man of you is secured in his political rights. JOHN W. GEARY - 633 Although himself a Democrat of the strictest sect, and the appointee of a pro- slavery administration, there was a sentiment ever uppermost in the heart of John W. Geary that would never allow him to stand unconcernedly by and see right and justice trampled in the dust, and iniquity prevail, however much his party might seem to be strengthened thereby. As a consequence, bloodshed, arson, and turbulence of every description were checked under his rule, and the tide of bona fide population set strongly and rapidly towards the new Territory. The pro-slavery men saw their darling projects withering in his hand, and set themselves vigorously to work to have him recalled. But in the meantime the administration of Pierce was at an end, and, moved by a desire to relieve the successor from any embarrassment on his account, he promptly placed his resignation in the hands of Mr. Buchanan on the day of his inauguration, and soon after issued his farewell address, in which he referred with honest pride to the pacification which had resulted from his rule, and the consequent prosperity and growth of the Territory, commending the interests of the infant State and the nation to the instincts of patriotism, and declared: "All true patriots, whether from the North or South, the East or West, should unite together for that which is and must be regarded as a common cause, the preservation of the Union; and he who shall whisper a desire for its dissolution, no matter what may be his pretensions, or to what faction or party he claims to belong, is unworthy of your confidence, deserves your strongest reprobation, and should be branded as a traitor to his country." On retiring from Kansas he resumed his agricultural operations, which had suffered in his absence. Four years of turmoil soon passed, in which the elements of discord which he found in Kansas, and which he strove to settle, were kept in constant agitation. On the morning after the attack upon Sumter, governor Geary, unconscious of what had transpired, drove his farm-wagon to the neighboring village, where he learned that the flag of his country had been insulted and pulled down in Charleston harbor. His resolution was immediately taken, and in less than one hour from that time he had an office open for recruits, and promptly tendered his services to the Government. He was MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 634 given authority to raise a regiment, and so great was the desire to serve with him that sixty-six companies sent applications to be taken into his command. In consequence of this he was permitted to have fifteen companies and a battery of six guns. As soon as officered and equipped, his command was assigned to the army of General Banks, and was posted at Harper's Ferry, where he had a front of twenty-one miles upon the river to guard. On the 16th of October, while a portion of his force was out gathering wheat from the enemy, he was attacked by a large body under Ashby and Evans with seven guns; but he succeeded in repulsing them and capturing one of their pieces, though sustaining some loss and himself being wounded. In the spring he was given the advance in the movement up the Valley, captured Leesburg, and uncovered, in succession, all the important passes through the Blue Ridge. Soon after this he was appointed Brigadier-General of volunteers, and assigned to the command of a brigade in the Second corps. In the hotly contested battle of Cedar Mountain, where Stonewall Jackson fought with his usual impetuosity and skill, General Geary, leading his brigade with remarkable courage and daring, was wounded, first in the foot and afterwards severely in the arm, to save which from amputation he was obliged to give himself unreservedly to surgical treatment. Upon the formation of the Twelfth corps, after the Maryland campaign, General Geary was assigned to the command of its Second or White Star division. This corps accompanied Hooker in his advance upon Chancellorsville, and was on the centre of the original line of battle. When disaster befell the right, and Hooker was obliged to fall back to a more defensible position, Geary was left upon the front to check the foe until the movement could be executed, and in finally withdrawing was fearfully exposed and suffered severely. He was himself struck over the heart with the fragment of a shell, and his division lost over one thousand men in killed, wounded, and missing. During the first day at Gettysburg the First and Eleventh corps and a division of cavalry were alone engaged. Just at the close of the day, when, broken and decimated, the remnants of those heroic corps were retreating through the village of Gettysburg, the fainting and JOHN W. GEARY - 635 dispirited soldiers descried far down the Baltimore pike a cloud of dust. Higher and higher it rose, and finally was revealed to their eager gaze the dim outline of the stars and stripes. It was the head of Geary's division advancing to the rescue, and soon his solid columns were deploying upon the field, bringing hope to their depressed and despondent minds. Its arrival was known to the enemy, who was deterred from attacking, since that gallant division was ready to be thrown upon any part where he might choose to assault. As the left of the line, in the direction of Little Round Top, was open and most liable to be turned, Geary was sent thither. On the following morning he was recalled and put upon Culp's Hill, which he fortified. Towards evening he was ordered over to the left with two of his brigades; but before he reached the point intended he returned to Culp's Hill. In his absence the enemy had attacked and nearly over-borne the brigade which he had left, and completely overrun his own works. To regain them the struggle was desperate, commencing at dawn and lasting till past ten o'clock. Assault after assault of the enemy was repulsed, and the ground was piled with the slain and wounded. Finally, seeing his antagonist weakened and beginning to waver, Geary charged and swept all before him, retaking his lost breastworks and inflicting fearful slaughter. This ended the last real advantage obtained by the enemy on this field, and was an important agency in finally gaining the victory. But perhaps the two most notable military exploits of General Geary's life, though by no means the ones in which his manhood was most severely tested, were those of Wauhatchie, and Lookout Mountain or the BATTLE ABOVE THE CLOUDS. Soon after the Gettysburg campaign closed, General Hooker, with the Eleventh and Twelfth corps, was sent to Chattanooga to the relief of Rosecrans, who was shut up in that out-of-the-way place, and in imminent peril of capture from the combined forces of Bragg and Longstreet, the latter, detached from Lee's army in Virginia, having reached this place in advance of Hooker. The Union forces were pushing forward to open the way to the starving army of Rosecrans, the main avenues to which were in possession of the enemy. On the 27th of October, Geary, with a portion of MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 636 his division, had reached a point opposite Lookout Mountain, where the Kelly's Ferry road intersects the railroad near the banks of Lookout Creek. His force numbered but 1463, and no Union troops were within several miles. It was an important position, as it commanded the roads necessary to be kept open for the passage of supplies, a result which the enemy was eager to defeat. It lies immediately beneath the shadow of Lookout Mountain, upon whose serene summit a number of rebel generals, among whom were Longstreet, Breckenridge and Hood, were watching the toilsome progress of the Union troops. Seeing this little force of Geary encamping with no supports they determined to surprise it by a night attack, and crush it utterly. Geary was not aware when he formed his camp that any hostile forces were near him. But it was a marked characteristic of him to be ever watchful, and fortunately he was that night especially vigilant. He sent Colonel Rickards, with the Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania, to picket all the roads, with injunctions to throw the guards well out, and in double strength. Colonel Rickards was a shrewd officer, and, when his men were posted, went to the house of a magistrate near by, under pretence of having some bread baked, and in response to a question apparently casually put to one of the women of the household he learned that the enemy had that very day been upon the ground. This was startling intelligence. Could it be that the foe in force was upon his track and no part of the Union army in supporting distance? The magistrate was brought to General Geary's tent and quickly made to disclose the whole truth - that the enemy in heavy battalions, at least four times his own, was at that moment lying at the head of the bridge leading across the creek, not a mile and a quarter away, ready to advance and give battle. The situation was critical; but General Geary was determined, if attacked, to sell his command dearly, and accordingly made every disposition. At a little past midnight, as he had anticipated, the attack came; and now was seen the advantage of strong picket lines well out; for they made a good fight, falling back slowly, and contesting every inch stubbornly, so that, by the time they had reached the main body, it was in readiness to receive the oncoming foe. Charge after charge was made and the incessant JOHN W. GEARY - 637 flashes of the guns lighted up the whole heavens. But firmly this handful of men held their ground, and dealt fearful destruction. Thirty-five out of forty- eight artillery horses in Knap's battery were killed. General Geary's son, Edward R., a gallant young officer, was instantly cut off while sighting his gun. Until four o'clock the struggle was maintained. The sixty rounds of ammunition were exhausted, and the dead and wounded were searched for a supply. The Union guns were ably handled and produced terrible effect. Finally, one of the pieces was dragged to a position where it enfiladed a rebel force which had taken shelter behind a railroad embankment, the fire from which caused his line to waver. Taking advantage of this sign of weakness, Geary ordered a charge, which drove everything before it. At this moment a pack of frightened mules broke away, and with their traces dangling at their sides rushed in a body in the same direction, producing the impression that the Union Cavalry was charging, and causing a stampede - the confident midnight assault of the enemy ending in inglorious rout. One hundred and fifty-seven of the enemy's dead were left on the field, and one hundred and thirty-five severely wounded. When Generals Grant and Hooker arrived, and witnessed the evidences of the intensity of that struggle, they expressed their surprise and gratification that so small a body of men had made so gallant a fight. General Slocum wrote: "I wish you and your command to know that I feel deeply grateful for their gallant conduct, and for the new laurels they have brought to our corps." Badeau in his life of Grant says: "Mr. Jefferson Davis had visited Lookout Mountain only a week before, and feasted his eyes with the sight of the National army shut up among the hills, like an animal ready for slaughter; and now, at a single stroke, the prey had been snatched from his grasp. The door for relief was opened, and, from a besieged and isolated army, the force in Chattanooga had suddenly become the assailant. . . . The army felt as if it had been miraculously relieved. Its spirit revived at once, the depression of Chickamauga was shaken off, and the unshackled giant stood erect." "For almost three hours," says General Hooker in his official report of this battle, "without assistance he [Geary] repelled the repeated attacks of vastly superior numbers, MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 638 and in the end drove them ingloriously from the field. At one time they had enveloped him on three sides, under circumstances that would have dismayed any officer except one endowed with an iron will, and the most exalted courage. Such is the character of General Geary." No words could more veritably portray his character, and the victory achieved "In the dead waste and middle of the night," against numbers many fold his own acting upon a preconcerted and well-matured plan, was gained by that iron will and most exalted courage. Scarcely a month had elapsed before he divulged to General Hooker an ingenious plan for sweeping the enemy from the seemingly impregnable heights of Lookout Mountain. At a distance of half or two-thirds up the side of this bold chain rises a perpendicular, and in some parts overhanging, face of rock which reaches to a great height. His device was to cause a close column to hug this palisade - where it would be sheltered from the fire of the troops above - which should turn the flank of any body of soldiers that might be encountered on the lower slope of the mountain, like the point of a ploughshare, and follow this up closely by a heavy force three lines deep and well supported, which like the moulding-board of the plough should overwhelm and scatter every opposing force. His plan was adopted and he was given a strong column. A dense fog on the morning of the 24th of November served to screen his preliminary movements, and before the enemy were aware of it that resistless ploughshare was running along under the shadow of the towering rock. Stubborn resistance was made; but taken unawares and in the reverse direction from that in which they were fortified to fight, they were swept along by this novel and swiftly moving force. Still, taking advantage of the little ravines by which the face of the mountain is seamed, and the loose rocks everywhere covering the ground, desperate fighting at every turn was kept up. But nothing could stay the onward progress of Geary. Mists hung low on the breast of the mountain, and the combatants were shut out from the view of the distant observer; yet the progress of the fight could be discerned by the flashes of JOHN W. GEARY - 639 the musketry. Grant, and Thomas, and Sherman, and Hooker, with their troops a hundred thousand strong, from their several positions were watching with the deepest solicitude the progress of the contest. As Geary fought his way on he gradually wound upwards, and finally, having swept all before him, emerged into the bright sunlight far above the black clouds that still hung on the breast of the mountain, and planted the White Star flag upon the lofty summit. As the Union army beheld that beautiful emblem floating upon the serene air, and knew that the victory was won, peals of rejoicing rung out from every valley and hillside, and the distant mountains repeated the glad shout. It was the noted BATTLE ABOVE THE CLOUDS, which the imagination has allied to the fiery contests of angels upon heaven's battlements, as pictured by the prolific fancy of Milton. The battle of Missionary Ridge followed on the next day, when Sherman stood upon the left, Thomas upon the centre, and Hooker upon the right. Geary was sent to turn the extreme right of the rebel column, and gaining the rear of that flank dashed on in triumphal course. His progress here, as described by himself, was the most exciting and inspiring of any in the whole course of his military life. Early in the spring of 1864, Sherman commenced his campaign on Atlanta, where, for a hundred days, was one almost continuous battle, in which General Geary never for one moment left his post. At Peachtree Creek, where the enemy, under Hood - the new rebel Commander-in-chief - attacked with unwonted power, he stood unmoved, and finally beat back the foe, gaining a complete triumph. In the March to the Sea he led his division with unbroken success, and when arrived at Savannah, and that stronghold had fallen with its outlying forts, he was selected to be Military Governor of the city. With the march northward through the Carolinas, and the surrender of Johnson, the war virtually ended, and the armies were disbanded. General Geary now returned to private life, and, in 1866, was nominated and elected Governor of Pennsylvania for a term of three years. At its close he was re-elected for a second term. In his administration of civil affairs he showed himself, if possible, more gifted than in the field. His messages abound in recommendations for MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 640 correcting abuses in legislating and in administering affairs. To this end the veto power was freely used, and a most careful and scrutinizing personal supervision was given to the entire working of the Government. During the six years of his administration the State debt was diminished by the sum of $10,992,662.54. In January, 1873, his gubernatorial labors closed. Without allowing himself any time for relaxation, he at once entered upon extensive business projects, which he was preparing to carry forward with his usual unrelenting hand; but on the morning of Saturday, the 8th of February, while seated at the breakfast table in the midst of his family, his head dropped upon his breast, and without a struggle he expired. An examination disclosed no apparent signs of disease. But a microscopical inspection by an expert proved that death was caused by fatty degeneration of the heart and kidneys. His brain weighed fifty-six and a half ounces, one of the largest on record. The suddenness of his death, coupled with his having so recently laid aside the gubernatorial dignity, created a marked sensation at the capital and throughout the State. A public funeral was accorded. The Governor and heads of departments, members of both houses of the Legislature, military and civic societies, united in paying the last sad rites, which were rendered unusually solemn and impressive. By his first marriage he had three sons, one of whom died in infancy, another was killed at Wauhatchie, and a third was a recent graduate at West Point. Mrs. Geary died in 1853. In 1858, he was married to Mrs. Mary C. Henderson, daughter of Robert R. Church, of Cumberland county. The issue of this marriage was three daughters and one son. In person Governor Geary was six feet four inches in height, and well proportioned. In manners he was courteous, and at the same time affable and cordial. He was endowed with a deep sense of religious obligation, and was hence preserved from those vices which have dragged down many of the most exalted intellects. He had much of the iron in his nature, and consequently was exacting and imperious, not only towards others but also towards himself. He was careful of the public welfare. Few men have been more successful. Though cut off in middle life, he had been much in the public eye, and had filled numerous CHARLES J. BIDDLE - 641 stations of great responsibility - a soldier in two wars, and practically Governor in three States. What to most men would have been regarded a short life to him was long and full; for "We live in deeds, not years; in thought, not breath; In feelings, not in figures on the dial. We should count time by heart-throbs when they beat For God, for man, for duty. He most lives Who thinks most, feels noblest, acts the best; And he but dead who lives the coward life." CHARLES JOHN BIDDLE, Colonel of the Bucktail regiment, was born on the 30th of April, 1819, in the city of Philadelphia. He was the son of Nicholas, and Jane Margaret (Craig) Biddle. He was educated at Princeton College, and read law in his native city, where he was admitted to the bar. He volunteered in the militia for the suppression of the riots in 1844, and at the breaking out of the Mexican War recruited a company - of which he was made Captain - for service in one of the new regiments just then ordered for the regular army, in which Joseph E. Johnston was Lieutenant-Colonel. He participated in all the battles fought in the Valley of Mexico, and received honorable mention in the reports of his superiors, General Scott designating him as "among the first in the assault" at Chapultepec, and his regimental commander saying, "Captain Biddle behaved with his accustomed bravery; he joined us in the morning from a sick-bed, against my wish and orders." He was brevetted Major for "gallant and meritorious" conduct, and was selected as Aide-de-camp by General Kearny. Upon his return from Mexico he resumed the practice of the law, and in 1853 was married to Miss Emma Mather. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he was appointed a member of the Committee of Public Safety for the city, and was active in drilling troops. He was commissioned by Governor Curtin, Colonel of the Bucktail regiment, and upon his arrival in Harrisburg was placed in command of Camp Curtin, then crowded with new levies, where his superior discipline had a happy effect. In June, 1861, on an occasion of alarm for the safety of the southern border of the State, Colonel Biddle was sent thither with his own, the Fifth regiment, and a section of MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 642 artillery, where he displayed, says McClellan, in his official report, "great activity and intelligence." After the defeat of the Union army at Bull Run, his position was for a time perilous; but he maintained it until the advance of the army under General Banks in the Shenandoah Valley brought relief. In that army the command of a brigade of five regiments and a battery -on the departure of General George H. Thomas to the western army - was given to Colonel Biddle. In September he was ordered with his regiment to join the Pennsylvania Reserves before Washington. In the meantime, at a special election held in Philadelphia, Colonel Biddle had been elected a member of Congress. He did not take his seat at the called session in July, as he was then facing the enemy; but at the opening of the regular session in December, being in camp, with no immediate prospect of hostilities, he resigned his position as Colonel and was installed in that body. His political views at this period are illustrated by a single paragraph from his reply to the address of his constituents: "The Government that embraces the great, rich, and populous States of the North must sink to no humble, no degraded place among the nations. National prosperity is too nearly allied to national dignity to suffer us to stand in the relation of the vanquished to those who never can secede from geographical connection; with whom close relations, warlike or amicable, must continue always." At the close of his congressional term he returned to Philadelphia. In the emergency, in the fall of 1862, he volunteered as a private in the militia, and was among the first to cross the border into Maryland. When arrived in close proximity to the enemy, and there was a prospect of a collision, he was assigned to duty as an officer. Again, in 1863, he was active in encouraging enlistments and in raising troops, until the victory at Gettysburg put an end to hostile invasion. In 1865 he was nominated for City Solicitor, but was defeated. He had in the meantime become editor of a daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and one of its proprietors. In this capacity he continued to labor with marked skill and ability until the day of his death, which occurred suddenly on the 28th of September, 1873. "He was," says John Cadwalader, in his memoir, "of a frail body but great soul. The body, in his own language, he ALEXANDER SCHEMMELFINNIG - 643 regarded as a 'hack-horse to be urged on by the soul to the journey's end, though the galled jade should fall on the road.' His rule of conduct was, in his own words, always to seek 'practical and active employment; for without it,' he said, 'even if our time is spent in the most arduous study, there is danger that the character may be sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, and lose its vigor and aptitude for the contests of life.' He added that he had found 'nothing which so nearly approached happiness as the self-satisfaction arising from the exact fulfillment of prescribed duties.'" "I should say," says Peter McCall, of the Philadelphia bar, "he was a man for an emergency. If an enemy were at the gates, he was the man under whom I would have liked to serve. . . He was a man of the highest probity, a true patriot, a lover of his country and of its institutions. . . . He was a scholar, a ripe scholar, and a thorough gentleman. His scholarship was more than ordinary. He was a graduate of Nassau Hall, and that was my first bond of union with him, and mark me, Nassau Hall will set him down among her distinguished children." ALEXANDER SCHEMMELFINNIG, Colonel of the Seventy-fourth regiment, and Brigadier- General of volunteers, was born in Germany, in 1824. In the Hungarian War he was a soldier with Kossuth, and upon its unfortunate termination came to America. In 1854 he published a work entitled "The War between Russia and Turkey." He was commissioned Colonel of the Seventy-fourth, on the 23d of July, 1861. He was of the column which marched, in inclement weather and across swollen streams, to the support of Fremont in West Virginia, and had scarcely reached his destination before, with Fremont, he returned to the assistance of Banks in the Shenandoah Valley. He was afterwards in the corps of Siegel, and with it fought in Pope's campaign, distinguishing himself in the battle of Bull Run, for which he was made Brigadier-General. In the battle of Chancellorsville he commanded a brigade in the Third division of the Eleventh corps, and when the First division, commanded by Devens, gave way before the attack of Jackson, he faced to meet the disaster and, with Buschbeck's brigade of the Second, held the enemy in check under fierce assaults for nearly an hour. MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 644 The indiscriminate denunciation heaped upon the corps for its conduct called forth the vigorous protest of this intrepid soldier. In a letter to General Schurz he says: "For the surprise on the flanks and the rear in broad daylight, by a force outnumbering us four to one, the responsibility falls not on the Third division, holding the centre, but upon the First division, which held the right wing, and upon those whose duty it was to anticipate such a contingency, and to prepare for it. General, I am an old soldier. Up to this time I have been proud of commanding the brave men of this brigade; but I am convinced that if the infamous lies uttered about us are not retracted and satisfaction given, their good-will and soldierly spirit will be broken, and I shall no longer see myself at the head of the same brave men whom I have heretofore had the honor to lead." General Schemmelfinnig commanded the Third division in the battle of Gettysburg, where he did effective service when hard pressed by the Louisiana Tigers. Early in the year 1864, he was transferred to the Department of the South, and had command of the forces on St. John's Island. Upon the fall of Charleston, on the 18th of February, 1865, his forces were the first to enter the city, and to take possession of Forts Sumter and Moultrie. He died at Minersville, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of September, 1865. JOHN CLARK, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Third Reserve regiment, was born in Philadelphia on the 30th of November, 1822. He was the son of George and Ann (Kearney) Clark, of Irish descent. He received a good common-school education, but no military training previous to the Rebellion. He entered the service of the United States on the 31st of May, 1861, as Captain of Company E, in the Third Reserve. No officer of his command was more attentive to duty nor more constant than he. He was with the corps throughout the entire Seven Days' battle upon the Peninsula, and at its close was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel for meritorious services. At Antietam he was wounded in the hand, but refused to leave the field, and did not go to a hospital, though the wound resulted in the permanent injury of one of the fingers. He was here in command of the regiment, as also at South Mountain and Antietam, where he was in the JOHN CLARK - JOSEPH ROBERTS - 645 thickest of the fight and acquitted himself with distinction. Soon after the battle of Fredericksburg, Colonel Clark was detailed for special duty in the engineer corps. It was at a time when the Government was carrying on stupendous campaigns reaching over almost the entire breadth of the continent, and the building and repair of railroads for the transfer of troops and supplies was not among the least of its labors. Colonel Clark had, in early life, acquired great familiarity with the practical part of railroad construction, and his services were invaluable. At the close of his term he was mustered out, and was subsequently chosen a member of the City Council of Philadelphia, and a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, of which body he was elected Speaker. He died at his residence in Philadelphia, on the 30th of May, 1872. JOSEPH ROBERTS, Colonel of the Third artillery, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born on the 30th of December, 1814, at Middletown, Delaware. His father, Joseph Roberts, was a native of Delaware, but has for many years been a resident of Philadelphia, where, at the advanced age of eighty-eight, he still lives. His mother was Elizabeth Booth, also a native of Delaware. The greater portion of his early years was spent in New Castle, where he received his preliminary educational training. At the age of sixteen he entered the sophomore class of the University of Pennsylvania, where he remained one year; but in 1831, having received an appointment to the Military Academy, he left the University and became a cadet at West Point. He graduated in 1835, standing the eighth in the class of fifty-six, and was promoted to Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Fourth United States artillery. He was, at successive periods, advanced through the several grades to that of Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment. For a year after entering the service he was in garrison at Fort Hamilton, New York harbor. In 1836, he was on active duty in the Creek Nation, in Georgia and Alabama. From September to November of this year he was Captain of a body of mounted Creek Indian volunteers, who were employed in the Florida War. At the opening of the academic year of 1837, Captain Roberts MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 646 was transferred from field duty in Florida to civil duty at West Point; and for a period of twelve years was Assistant Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at the United States Military Academy, where he had under his instruction Grant, McClellan, Stonewall Jackson, Longstreet, and many others who have since become famous in either army during the great Civil War. Little did Professor Roberts think, while he was quietly but earnestly engaged in teaching these boys the elements of the sciences, that they would eventually use the knowledge thus acquired in leading armed hosts of their own countrymen against each other in mortal conflict, and that these then nameless youths would be world-wide known, and chief in the eye of fame. But so it proved, and their later eminence bears ample testimony to the excellence of their early military instruction. In 1849 he was again ordered to the field, having the year before been promoted to Captain in his regiment, and was engaged in active duty against the Seminole Indians in Florida. After a year's service here he was employed in garrison duty at Key West, Florida, in 1850; Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania, in 1850-'53; Ringgold barracks, Texas, in 1853-'55; Fort Wood, New York, in 1855; Ringgold barracks, Texas, in 1856; and Forts McRae, Jupiter and Capron, Florida, in 1856-'59. At this period he took the field, and was again engaged in hostilities against the Seminole Indians, in that seemingly endless Florida War. After a brief period of duty he was transferred to the frontier at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and in 1858 to Platte Bridge, Nebraska. In 1859 he was detailed upon recruiting service, and in 1859-'60-'61, was in garrison at Fortress Monroe, employed in the Artillery School of Practice, and as a member of the board to arrange the programme of instruction for that institution. Soon after the Rebellion broke out he was placed in command at Fortress Monroe, and promoted to the rank of Major in the regular army. On the 13th of September, 1862, he was selected for Chief of Artillery in the Seventh army corps, which position he continued to fill until the 19th of March, 1863. In the meantime the Third Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery - One Hundred and Fifty- second of the line - had been recruited, and an experienced officer was desired to lead it. Major Roberts was selected SULLIVAN A. MEREDITH - 647 for this purpose and commissioned Colonel. He was assigned to the command of Fortress Monroe, and his regiment to duty at this point and with the Army of the James. From June 10th, 1863, until November 9th, 1865, he continued to exercise this important trust, having in the meantime been brevetted Brigadier-General in the volunteer service, and Colonel and Brigadier General in the United States Army, "for meritorious and distinguished services during the Rebellion." He was subsequently for a short time in command of Fort McHenry, near Baltimore; but was, in November, 1866, called to court martial duty, where he was retained until April, 1867, when he was made Inspector-General of the Department of Washington. His merit as an instructor had been tested by a long service early in his career, and in March, 1868, he was assigned to duty as Superintendent of Instruction in the Artillery School at Fortress Monroe, where he has continued to serve with great credit until the present time. General Roberts was married on the 4th of October, 1860, at Fortress Monroe, to Miss Adeline C. Dimick, third daughter of General Justin Dimick, of the United States Army. In person he is below the medium height, but of powerful make, with the air and carriage of a soldier. He is the author of a "Hand-book of Artillery," published in 1861, and revised in 1863, which has given him a deserved reputation as a writer and a tactician. SULLIVAN AMORY MEREDITH, Colonel of the Fifty-sixth regiment, and Brigadier- General of volunteers, was born in Philadelphia on the 5th of July, 1816. He was the son of the late William Meredith, an eminent lawyer of that city, and a brother of the Hon. William M. Meredith. He was educated at St. Mary's College, Baltimore. In 1835 he went to the Southwest, and resided at Natchez, Mississippi, for a period of three years, when, owing to the great commercial revulsion of 1837, he returned to Philadelphia. In 1840 he sailed for the west coast of South America, and after visiting the principal cities along the Pacific shore, returned and took up his residence in the city of New York, where he remained in business until 1849. Gold had then just been discovered in California, and he joined a com MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 648 pany who proceeded thither by the way of Mexico. It numbered a hundred strong, and sailed from New York to Vera Cruz. Here he organized a squadron of ten picked men, who elected him their Captain, and having purchased horses, proceeded across the country to San Blas, on the Pacific shore, by the way of Jalapa, Puebla, City of Mexico, Guadalaxara, and Tepic. This was the first company that reached California by that route. After two years he again returned to New York. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he was in business in Philadelphia, and at the first call for men by President Lincoln tendered his services to Governor Curtin, and was elected and commissioned Colonel of the Tenth Pennsylvania regiment, called for a term of three months, which he led in Patterson's campaign in Northern Virginia. Upon his return at the close of this service he was appointed, by the Governor, Colonel commanding at Camp Curtin, near Harrisburg, where he superintended the drill and forwarding to the seat of war of more than 40,000 men. He organized and was made Colonel of the Fifty-sixth regiment, enlisted to serve during the war. In the winter of 1861-'62 he garrisoned Fort Albany. In April following he was ordered to the lower Potomac, and after reaching Fredericksburg was assigned to McDowell's corps. With this he served during the entire campaign, up to the Second battle of Bull Run, when on the 31st of August, 1862, he was severely wounded. His immediate commanding officer at this period says in a letter in which he refers to Colonel Meredith: "None is better fitted to command than he, and his conduct in battle has always excited my highest admiration." He was held in high esteem by his men. For his gallantry in this engagement he was promoted to Brigadier-General, his commission bearing date of August 29th, 1862. When so far recovered from the effect of his wounds as to attend to business, he was appointed commissioner for the exchange of prisoners, and in the spring of 1863 proceeded to Fortress Monroe, where he remained until late in that year, performing the delicate duties of his office to the entire satisfaction of the Government. Early in 1864, he was ordered to report to General William S. Rosecrans at St. Louis, Missouri, under whose command he served until the close of the war. He was ALGERNON S. M. MORGAN - 649 honorably discharged on the 24th of August, 1865, having been in the service four years and six months. ALGERNON SIDNEY MOUNTAIN MORGAN, Colonel of the Sixty-third regiment. The science of surgery made great gains during the late war, though at a fearful expense of life and limb. In many cases it was matter of astonishment how small an injury would produce death, while in others, what would seem almost certain to prove mortal, resulted in complete recovery. The subject of this sketch was of the latter class, and though wounded in a ghastly manner, was almost miraculously restored. He was born on the 9th of May, 1831, at Morgansa, Washington county, Pennsylvania. His father was James B. Morgan, and when a youth of only sixteen, shouldered his musket, and with a company raised in the county marched across the mountains to meet the British, who, after burning the Capitol and President's House at Washington, were moving on Baltimore. His grandfather, General John Morgan, entered the army as an ensign at an early age, and served as aid to General Butler, at St. Clair's defeat. His great-grandfather, Colonel George Morgan, was in the service during the entire war of the Revolution. His mother was Susan S., daughter of James Mountain, a lawyer of Pittsburg. The year after his birth his parents removed to that city, where he was educated, graduating in the class of 1849 at the Western University. Following the example of an illustrious line of ancestry, he enlisted in the First regiment, and served in the three months' campaign. Active in raising the Sixty-third regiment for three years, he was elected Lieutenant-Colonel, being associated with that sterling soldier, Alexander Hays, who was its Colonel. Morgan was very assiduous in drilling the regiment, though never having had any military education, and under the direction of Hays, who was a graduate of West Point, became an excellent drill-master. With the army of McClellan he went to the Peninsula, and at Fair Oaks was terribly wounded. The battle had been for a long time in progress before the division of Kearny, to which this regiment belonged, was ordered up. When the command was at length given, it marched at double- MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 650 quick, and went into position in a wood, a part of which was already filled with masses of the foe. Nearly every tree concealed a sharpshooter. The action was of the most determined and desperate nature, and until after nightfall the crash of musketry was incessant. The Sixty-third sustained severe losses - the dead and wounded covering all that blood-washed ground. In the midst of the fight, Colonel Morgan was struck by a musket ball in the left hip, just above the joint, which went tearing through, and issued, from the right hip at almost the exact corresponding place. He was immediately carried off the field, and was transported to Philadelphia, where he was attended by Dr. George W. Morris, among the most eminent of his profession. His case was regarded as a remarkable one, and attracted the attention of many surgeons. He was afterwards removed to his home in Pittsburg, and for a year was helpless. He then began gradually to regain his strength. He finally recovered the use of his limbs, but with a broken constitution and greatly impaired health. All hope of ever being able to rejoin his regiment having been given up, he was, in April, 1863, mustered out of service. In December of that year, he was appointed military storekeeper, Ordnance Department of the Allegheny arsenal, near Pittsburg, which position he still holds. OWEN JONES, Colonel of the First cavalry, Fourteenth Reserve regiment, was born on the 29th of December, 1819, in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and read law with the Hon. William M. Meredith, of Philadelphia. After his admission to the bar he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits with a genuine zest. He was a member of the Board of Revenue Commissioners on the part of Montgomery and Bucks counties, and represented the fifth Pennsylvania district - comprising Montgomery county and part of Philadelphia city - in Congress, during a portion of Mr. Buchanan's administration. He entered the army as a Captain in the First Pennsylvania cavalry, on the 1st of August, 1861, was promoted to Major, August 5th, and to Lieutenant-Colonel in the October following. He was with this regiment at Dranesville, and when Stonewall Jackson made his appearance OWEN JONES - WILLIAM D. DIXON - 651 in the Shenandoah Valley, creating consternation and horror by the superiority of his numbers, and his tireless energy, the First cavalry was sent thither. By forced marches it reached the valley in time to follow and engage the rebel rear-guard. For more than a week the action of the cavalry was almost constant, and at Harrisonburg, Port Republic, and Cross Keys, sharp encounters occurred. When the rebel army, after the close of the Peninsula campaign, began to press upon Pope's front, the cavalry was thrust out in all directions to hold him in check, and be informed of his movements. At the opening of May, 1862, Jones was promoted to Colonel, and now had the entire command of the regiment. At Cedar Mountain, in all the preliminaries to Bull Run, and throughout the trying battles at Groveton and Chantilly, he was where duty called, and rendered a service which must ever command the respect and gratitude of his countrymen. He was here under the immediate command of those heroic soldiers, General Reynolds and Bayard, and won their hearty approval. In the battle of Fredericksburg he had the advance of Franklin's grand division, and with his regiment opened that bloody contest. He afterwards had command of the cavalry on the left of the line. Upon the accession of General Hooker to the head of the Army of the Potomac, he resigned, and has since been exclusively employed with his private affairs. WILLIAM DUNLAP DIXON, Colonel of the Sixth Reserve regiment, and Brevet Brigadier-General of volunteers, was born at St. Thomas, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of December, 1833. He was the son of David and Catharine (Jeffery) Dixon, natives of that county, of Scotch-Irish descent. His ancestors on both sides served in the Revolutionary war, his grandfather, William Dixon, having been also a soldier in the French and Indian war, and his maternal grandfather, Benjamin Jeffery, having received a severe wound at the battle of the Brandywine, where he was captured and for over a year endured the horrors of British imprisonment. He was employed in early life in the varied occupations of the farm, where his frame was well developed by exercise, and the vigor imparted by much exposure to sunlight and pure air. He was educated at MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 652 the public schools then just being inaugurated throughout the State, and at Millwood Academy, Shade Gap, where he obtained a good English and classical training. For three years before the breaking out of the war he had been a member of a militia company. Among the first to respond to the call for troops to suppress the Rebellion, he was, on the 18th of April, 1861, mustered into service for three months, and upon the expiration of this term recruited a company in his native county, for the Reserve corps, which became Company D of the Sixth regiment. In the battle of South Mountain, on the 14th of September, the Reserves rendered signal service in turning the left flank of the enemy, and gaining possession of the mountain pass which insured a speedy advance upon his main body. Captain Dixon led his company with marked skill and ability, carrying one after another a series of strong defensive positions occupied by the enemy, and finally emerging upon the summit forced him to retire. For his gallantry in this engagement, and in that which followed two days after at Antietam, he was promoted to the rank of Major. At Fredericksburg, on the 13th of December, 1862, where the Reserves led the main assault of Franklin's column, and achieved a temporary success, as brilliant as it was dearly bought, Major Dixon's regiment was on the advance line of the brigade, leading the way with a heroism unsurpassed, bearing down all before it, but suffering most grievous losses. His valor in this charge won for him the commission of Lieutenant-Colonel, to date from the day of the action. In the battle of Gettysburg he was engaged with his command on the left, where he was brought to the assistance of Sickles' hard-pressed troops and won lasting honor. He received a slight wound in this engagement and was brevetted Colonel. In consequence of great losses sustained by the Tenth Reserve regiment in the Wilderness, Colonel Dixon was ordered by General Crawford to take command of it, which he did, and continued to lead it until the close of its service. At Spottsylvania Court House, in the Wilderness campaign of 1864, he was again conspicuous for nerve and daring, which won for him ready recognition and the brevet of Brigadier-General. On the last day of his service, he fought with his division at Bethesda JOHN F. BALLIER - 653 Church, and received two wounds, but fortunately slight. On the following day, the three years for which the Reserves had enlisted expired, and with the corps, after having shared their fortunes with singular steadfastness and fidelity, he was mustered out of service. General Dixon is in person six feet in height, muscular, of robust health, and in disposition quiet and taciturn. He held the office of Postmaster in his native town under the administration of President Buchanan. He was married on the 14th of June, 1856, to Miss Martha Gillan. JOHN FREDERICK BALLIER, Colonel of the Ninety-eight regiment, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born on the 28th of August, 1815, in Wurtemberg, Germany. He received a good education in his native tongue in the place of his birth, and during the years 1833-'34 was a student in a military school in the city of Stuttgard. On leaving this he came to America, and settled in Philadelphia, where, from 1839 to 1845, he was a member of the Washington Guard, a volunteer militia company. For the Mexican War he volunteered as a private in the First Pennsylvania, in which he was made First Lieutenant of Company E. On his return from Mexico, he again joined the volunteer force, and became Captain and Major. From 1853 to the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861, he was employed in the United States Mint at Philadelphia. He was commissioned Colonel of the Twenty-first regiment for three months' service, which he had been active in recruiting, and which had received the designation of the First Rifle regiment. With this he served in the Shenandoah Valley, and after being mustered out at the expiration of the term, was authorized to recruit the Ninety-eight regiment for three years, and was made its Colonel. He was with McClellan upon the Peninsula, was on the advance guard from Williamsburg to Richmond, and until arrived at Malvern Hill participated in all the actions of the campaign. At Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and that entire series of actions from the Rapidan to Petersburg, and in the siege of that place, down to the surrender at Appomattox Court House, including the brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, which was an episode to the regular MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 654 season's work, the Ninety-eighth bore an important and honorable part. In the action of Salem Heights, where the Sixth corps was saved from annihilation by the steady valor of this, together with the One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania, Colonel Ballier received a painful wound which completely incapacitated him for duty. In the action at Fort Stevens, before Washington, in July, 1864, where the rebel General Early sought by a sudden dash with his corps to capture the Capital, he was again wounded. He was, in this battle, in command of the First brigade Second division. The last wound proved serious, causing a rupture and permanent disability. He was promoted to Brevet Brigadier-General for meritorious services. After the close of the war he was employed as Inspector in the United States Custom House at Philadelphia, until 1867, when he was made City Commissioner, in which capacity he served until 1871. JAMES STARR, Major of the Sixth cavalry, was born at Philadelphia, on the 19th of July, 1837. He was the second son of Isaac and Lydia Starr, and was educated at Harvard University, where he graduated in 1857. He served as a private in Company F, Seventeenth regiment, in the three months' campaign, and at its close recruited Company I of the Sixth cavalry, of which he was commissioned Captain. At the First Fredericksburg he served as Aide-de-camp to General Franklin, commander of the left Grand Division. He was with the head-quarters of General Hooker at Chancellorsville, and aid to General Meade at Gettysburg. In March, 1864, he was promoted to Major, and took command of his regiment in the spring campaign. In the action of Todd's Tavern, on the 7th of May, he received a gunshot wound in the face, by which he was for a time disabled for field duty; but returned to his command, then before Petersburg, on the 12th of July. He led his regiment in Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, and was mustered out at the expiration of his term of service in October. He was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel "for highly gallant conduct at the battle of Todd's Tavern," and Colonel "for meritorious services during the campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, and while in command of the Remount Camp at Pleasant Valley, Maryland. JAMES STARR - DE WITT C. McCOY - 655 DE WITT CLINTON McCOY, Colonel of the Eighty-third regiment, was born January 18th, 1824, near the town of Mercer, Pennsylvania. He was the son of John and Elizabeth (Mourer) McCoy. Until the age of sixteen he was employed upon such work as he was able to perform in his father's shop, which was that of a wheelwright. He was then apprenticed for a term of three years to learn the business of chair-making. His opportunities for early education were, consequently, very limited, not having had the advantage of more than twelve months' instruction, and this of a few weeks at a time, at long intervals between the ages of nine and fifteen. But being endowed by nature with a good degree of mental activity he acquired a large stock of useful information, as many another has done, without the aid of teachers. After serving faithfully his apprenticeship, he commenced business on his own account in the village of Sheakleyville, Mercer county. In 1850, he was elected a Justice of the Peace for a period of five years. In the following year he sold out his interest in the chair factory, and procuring the necessary books commenced in earnest the study of the law, which he designed to make his permanent business, and in which he found employment congenial to his tastes. This he diligently prosecuted in the intervals of his official business until 1853, when he was admitted to practice in the courts of Crawford county. In the following year he resigned the office of Justice, and removed to Meadville, where he commenced the practice of his profession. In 1859 he was elected District Attorney for a term of three years. But when the cry was heard for troops to crush rebellion, he left a lucrative and honorable office, and buckling on his sword, went to the field as Captain of Company F of the Eighty-third regiment, commanded by John W. McLane. Upon the Peninsula, Captain McCoy led his company in the siege of Yorktown, in the battles of Hanover Court House and Gaines' Mill. In the latter, when the fighting was of the most desperate character, he was wounded. Returning, after a brief absence, he was engaged at Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. In the latter battle the brigade of Vincent, in which was the Eighty-third, performed prodigies of valor, preserving to the Union com- MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 656 mander Little Round Top - the key point of the whole Gettysburg field - when attacked by the impetuous General Hood leading on a powerful body of the foe, fully intent on possessing it. The company of Captain McCoy occupied a prominent place on the very breast of the little mount, looking toward the Devil's Den; but fortunately being shielded by rocks and small trees, was able to inflict grievous slaughter, without being itself greatly injured. Early in the year 1864, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. On the first day in the battle of the Wilderness, the leader of the Eighty- third, Colonel Woodward, was severely wounded and the command devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel McCoy. It was at a moment of great peril in the fortunes of the day, but ably did he execute the trust, pushing forward with unflinching valor and sweeping the enemy far back through the thickets of that gory field. Through all the battles of this terribly wasting and bloody campaign, from the Rapidan to the opening of the siege of Petersburg, he continued to have the leadership of the Eighty-third, manoeuvring his command in the face of the enemy with the skill of a veteran officer. As an instance of this, the following, given by Mr. Greeley, in his History of the American Conflict, may be cited. The regiment had just crossed the North Anna, and was hastening to the relief of imperiled troops. "In making this advance," says Greeley, "the Eighty-third Pennsylvania, Lieutenant-Colonel McCoy, swept closely past the flank of Brown's (rebel) column, when McCoy instantly wheeled his forward companies into line, and gave a volley, which, delivered at close quarters on the flank and rear of the rebel column, threw it into utter disorder and rout, one of McCoy's men seizing Brown by the collar and dragging him into our lines, while nearly a thousand of his men were gathered up as prisoners." At the expiration of his term, on the 14th of October, 1864, he was mustered out of service. On the 25th of April, 1865, he was brevetted Colonel, to date from August 1st, 1864, by the President, "for gallant and distinguished services at the battles of Spottsylvania and the North Anna." Upon his retirement from the army he resumed the practice of his profession, and JAMES A. BEAVER - 657 became associated with Joshua Douglass, the firm, under the title of Douglass and McCoy, attaining a rank as one of the most eminent and successful in the State. In person Colonel McCoy is above the medium stature, deep-chested and powerfully made, and of a grave and dignified bearing. In military dress, which his grey locks set off to admirable advantage, he has the look and bearing of the ideal soldier. He was married on the 17th of April, 1846, to Miss N. J. Nelson. JAMES ADDAMS BEAVER, Brevet Brigadier-General, was born on the 21st day of October, 1837, at Millerstown, Perry county, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Jacob and Eliza (Addams) Beaver. He was educated at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, where he graduated in August, 1856. Subsequently he studied law and was admitted to practice at Bellefone, Centre county, in January, 1859. He was for some time Lieutenant of the Bellefonte Fencibles, a volunteer company of which Andrew G. Curtin - since Governor of the Commonwealth - was Captain, and acquired some knowledge of elementary tactics. When the echoes of rebel guns turned upon Fort Sumter aroused the loyal North, few troops were more prompt to rally to the national standard than the Bellefonte Fencibles. It was the third company to arrive at the camp of rendezvous at Harrisburg, and of this he was chosen Second Lieutenant. It became Company H of the Second regiment, and he was soon after promoted to First Lieutenant. He served in this capacity to the close of his term, and after being mustered out was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-fifth regiment. With this organization he proceeded to South Carolina, and was stationed in command of a battalion of five companies, at Fort Walker, occupying the fortifications commanding the entrance to Port Royal Bay. For several months he was engaged in active duty upon the sea islands before Charleston, for the most part having an independent command, and frequently meeting the enemy, by day and by night, in hostile encounters. Towards the close of July, 1862, the regiment returned north, and, near the beginning of September, Lieutenant-Colonel Beaver was promoted to Colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth, MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 658 one of a number of new three year regiments then being recruited. The Antietam campaign was just opening when he assumed command, and he was ordered to guard a portion of the Northern Central Railway most exposed to incursions by the enemy, and one of the main lines of supply for the Capital and the army. Upon the eve of the battle of Fredericksburg, he was ordered up, but was not put into the fight. At Chancellorsville, Colonel Beaver, while leading his command and while at close quarters with the enemy, was shot through the body and carried off the field. He was removed to a hospital in Washington, where he received the most skilful medical aid and attendance. It was near the middle of July before he was sufficiently recovered to return to his regiment. In the meantime the battle of Gettysburg had been fought and won, and the army was again advancing into Virginia. At Bristoe Station, and at Mine Run, he was actively engaged, at the former place the enemy being handsomely repulsed. At Po River, on the fourth day after the opening of the spring campaign of 1864, Colonel Beaver led his command in a determined fight, holding his ground in the most intrepid manner. At Spottsylvania, the North Anna, and Tolopotomy, the struggle on the part of the two armies was no less desperate, but still indecisive. In the first of these, Colonel Beaver was struck by a Minie ball, but fortunately was shielded from its full effect by a memorandum book, in the thick cover and leaves of which its deadly power was spent. In the charge delivered at Cold Harbor by the division to which he was attached, the most desperate resistance was met, and upon the fall of the leader of the brigade, Colonel Beaver succeeded to its command. Here, too, he was again struck, but not disabled. In the first assault upon the works before Petersburg, on the evening of the 16th of June, while gallantly leading his brigade amid the crash of musketry, and a terrific fire of artillery, he received a serious wound from the fragment of a shell, inflicting internal injuries, and cutting a ghastly gash in the side. Again was he confined to the hospital for weary weeks. Eager to be with his men at the front, he left it before he had entirely recovered. He chanced to reach the field just as his division LANGHORNE WISTER - 659 was preparing to go into battle at Reams' Station, and at once assumed command of his brigade. The fighting here was of unparalleled severity. Round shot and shell ploughed the field. Assault followed assault without decided advantage, and neither party was disposed to yield. In their desperation the combatants came hand to hand, and the crossing of bayonets and deadly thrusts were of frequent occurrence. In the midst of this terrible strife, as though some demon was its guide, he was again struck by the fatal missile, and so shattered was his right limb that amputation above the knee had to be resorted to. Possessed of temperate habits, he was able to withstand the shock, and soon recovered his accustomed health and vitality. On the 1st of August, 1864, he received the brevet rank of Brigadier-General, as a recognition of valuable services rendered while commanding his brigade at Cold Harbor. After the close of the war he returned to his home at Bellefonte, and resumed the practice of the law. He was married, on the 26th of December, 1865, to Mary A. McAllister, daughter of H. N. McAllister, of Bellefonte. In person he is five feet ten inches in height, and previous to entering the military service was of a delicate organization, but became more robust and healthy while in the field - a vigor which he still retains. Sincerely devoted to the interests of his country, he displayed remarkable tenacity of purpose in the discharge of his duty, and though singularly unfortunate in having been often the mark for the shafts of the foe, was enabled to render signal service at a period when the most desperate and continued fighting of the whole war was in progress. LANGHORNE WISTER, Colonel of the One Hundred and Fiftieth regiment, and Brevet Brigadier-General of volunteers, was born at Germantown, Philadelphia, on the 20th of September, 1834. He was the son of William and Sarah Logan (Fisher) Wister. His boyhood was spent in the country, where a natural fondness for out- door life had full play. He was educated at the Germantown Academy, which he left at the age of eighteen to engage in business. He received no military education, but on the 19th of April, MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 660 scarcely a week from the firing upon Fort Sumter, entered the service. He was successful in recruiting, and when the noted Bucktail regiment was formed he joined it with a company of which he was elected Captain. At Dranesville, where he first met the enemy in close combat, he stood with his company in a position where he was the object of the severest fire experienced by any of the Union troops on that field, and received the warm commendations of the commander of the regiment. His single company had two killed and four wounded. Six companies of the Bucktails, including Captain Wister's, under Major Stone, were sent to join McClellan on the Peninsula, and reached him in time to take the advance in the movement upon Mechanicsville. They were the first to meet the enemy as he came out to offer battle, and with wonderful skill and daring held him in check, skirmishing gallantly until the main line of battle was formed behind Beaver Dam Creek, and rifle pits completed. In the engagement which ensued, and in the subsequent retreat to Gaines' Mill, no troops could have acted with greater steadiness, or have rendered more efficient service. To the Bucktails was given the difficult and dangerous duty of skirmishing with the enemy, on the morning of the 27th, while the main body fell back. In all these manoeuvres and hard fighting Captain Wister was among the most reliable and trusted of a battalion that was a special object of regard throughout the whole army. In the battle of the 27th, he received a severe contusion of the right ankle, but was able to keep the field, and at Charles City Cross Roads, where the Reserve corps for a third time in the Seven Days' fight was put at the fore- front, and made to bear the brunt of the battle, sustained his part with the same unflinching valor as on the preceding fields. Soon after the retirement of McClellan's army from the Peninsula, the formation of a Bucktail Brigade was ordered, and Captain Wister was selected to head one of the regiments - the One Hundred and Fiftieth. The reputation which he had gained as a leader of one of the old Bucktail companies inspired confidence, and made it from the outset almost the equal of a veteran regiment. He was stationed a while at Washington, whence he was ordered to the Army of the Potomac, then lying about Falmouth. LANGHORNE WISTER - 661 In the preliminary movements to the battle of Chancellorsville, this brigade performed a leading part, marching to Port Conway, for a feint, afterwards operating with the First corps to which it belonged at the lower crossing before Fredericksburg, and finally joining the main army in the great battle itself, occupying the right of the line, and meeting every advance of the enemy with cool courage. At Gettysburg Colonel Wister led his regiment upon the field at a little before noon of the first day, where the gallant Buford had presented a bold front and had held the enemy in check, covering the town until the infantry should come up. His position was upon a slight ridge, a little in rear of that held by Buford, and in advance of Seminary Ridge. Here, exposed to a fierce artillery fire, and the frequent assaults of the enemy's infantry, he held his men, changing front to meet every advance, until Colonel Stone, who commanded the brigade, was badly wounded and borne from the field, when he assumed control, turning over the regiment to Lieutenant-Colonel Huidekoper. The situation was every moment becoming more and more critical, as the enemy, having already brought up the main body of his forces, began to close in on all sides and to press heavily in front. With remarkable skill Colonel Wister manoeuvred his small body of men to meet the masses brought against him, when he also was wounded, a Minie ball striking him in the face and shattering the jaw. "Colonel Wister," says Colonel Stone, in his official report, "though badly wounded in the mouth, while commanding the brigade, and unable to speak, remained in the front of the battle." In recognition of his gallantry, General Doubleday made honorable mention of him in his report, and recommended him for promotion to Brevet Brigadier- General, which rank was conferred by the President and confirmed by the Senate. He resigned his commission in February, 1864, and resumed the business which he had left on entering the army - that of manufacturer of iron at Duncannon. A resolute purpose and undaunted heroism characterized him from his first entrance to military life, and the Bucktail corps had no more worthy or valiant representative.