Cambria County Pioneers, 1910, by James L. Swank, Cambria County, PA - Colonel Jacob M. Campbell Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ________________________________________________ CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS HON. CYRUS L. PERSHING A Collection of Brief Biographical and other Sketches Relating to the Early History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. by JAMES M. SWANK PHILADELPHIA: No. 261 SOUTH FOURTH STREET, 1910. 108 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. COLONEL JACOB M. CAMPBELL. AN EDITORIAL IN THE JOHNSTOWN TRIBUNE OF FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1865, WITH ADDENDA. THE importance of the pending political campaign in this State, and the enthusiasm everywhere created among loyal men by the nomination of two distinguished soldiers for the only offices to be filled this year on the State ticket, naturally call for more than a brief reference to the antecedents and characteristics of our Republican standard-bearers. In another place we give such information as we possess concerning the civic and military record of Major General Hartranft, the candidate for auditor general, and in this article we propose to tell what we know about our friend and fellow-citizen, Colonel Campbell, the nominee for surveyor general. Jacob Miller Campbell is a native of that old Whig stronghold, Somerset county, where he was born forty-four years ago in Allegheny township on November 20, 1821. He was the son of John and Mary (Weyand) Campbell. When a mere youth his parents removed to Allegheny City, where he went to school until 1835. In that year, being fourteen years old, he became an apprentice in the office of the Somerset Whig, a Democratic newspaper, in which he remained until he had mastered as much of the printing business as could be learned in a country office of that day. In 1840 he left Somerset and worked for some time "at case" in the office of the Literary Examiner, a monthly magazine of considerable merit, published in Pittsburgh. From here our "your printer" found his way to New Orleans and to another printing office. But his active nature was not satisfied. The steamboat trade on the lower Mississippi presented in 1840, as does the oil business in 1865, tempting inducements to enterprising spirits who care less for hard knocks than for the substantial benefits which they COLONEL JACOB M. CAMPBELL. 109 sometimes produce. Laying down his composing stick the boy of nineteen became a steamboatman, and for several subsequent years he filled successively the positions of clerk, mate, and part owner of a steamboat, always, however, making Pennsylvania his home, which he frequently visited. In 1847 the iron business of our State attracted his attention and he embarked in it at Brady's Bend, working as a roller in a rolling mill. In the same year he married. In 1851 he followed the course of empire to California but did not long remain there, and in 1853 we find him in Johnstown assisting in the construction of our mammoth rolling mill. With this splendid enterprise he remained connected up to the breaking out of the war, holding all the time an important and responsible position. In April, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon and the call appeared for volunteers to "rally round the flag." At that time Mr. Campbell was first lieutenant of a volunteer company in Johnstown, and his company at once tendered its services to the Governor, who promptly accepted them. It was the first company to enter Camp Curtin. Upon the organization of the Third Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers for three months' service this company became known as Company G. Lieutenant Campbell was appointed quartermaster of the regiment, a position which he filled with great acceptance until the regiment was discharged. On the 28th of July he was mustered out of service, and on the 30th he was authorized to recruit a regiment for three years' service. In due time the regiment was completed and he was commissioned its colonel, the companies composing it having been largely recruited through his individual efforts. Eight of the ten companies were recruited in Cambria and Somerset counties and two in Lehigh and Northampton counties. The regiment when mustered into service was designated the Fifty-fourth. For two years this regiment performed the arduous duty of guarding sixty miles of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and while thus engaged it protected the Maryland and Pennsylvania border from Rebel invasion and from guerrilla outrages. It is a fact that may not be generally known to Pennsylvanians that to the Fifty-fourth Regiment they 110 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. owe much of the security they enjoyed in their persons and property during 1862 and 1863, the two most critical years of the war. The position of the Fifty- fourth was at all times an exceedingly dangerous one, requiring the exercise of the utmost vigilance and the soundest discretion. During its guardianship of the railroad it was frequently engaged in skirmishes with the enemy, and upon more than one occasion it gave timely and valuable information of his movements and designs. In addition to his ordinary duties as commander of the regiment Colonel Campbell was almost daily called upon to decide disputes between the Rebels and Unionists residing along the line of the railroad, and it is no exaggeration to say that in no instance was justice cheated or rascality rewarded. It is not an assertion merely, but the testimony of all who are cognizant of the facts, that the commander of the Fifty-fourth manifested on all occasions the possession of judicial qualities of a high order. Of his purely executive ability the successful and always satisfactory manner in which the regiment guarded those sixty miles of railroad in hostile territory is the only proof that we need to cite. We had almost omitted to mention that from March, 1863, until March, 1864, Colonel Campbell was in command of the Fourth Brigade, First Division, Eighth Army Corps, in which was included his own regiment. Early in 1864 General Sigel took command of the Department of West Virginia and moved with all his available troops to Martinsburg, preparatory to a movement up the Shenandoah valley. In a reorganization of the troops which then took place Colonel Campbell, at his own request, returned to the command of his regiment. At the battle of New Market, on May 15, 1864, the regiment suffered severely. It occupied the extreme left of the line and was the last to leave the field. Under General Hunter the Fifty-fourth Regiment took a prominent part in the battle of Piedmont, on June 5, 1864, again occupying the left of the line, and this time flanking the enemy's right and attacking him in the rear. After the battle Colonel Campbell was assigned to the command of a brigade and as a special favor his own regiment was trans- COLONEL JACOB M. CAMPBELL. 111 ferred to it, that it might remain under its old commander. The brigade suffered heavily in an attack on the Rebel entrenchments at Lynchburg and covered the retreat of the army when the attack failed. On July 24 the brigade participated in the battle of Winchester and upon the fall of Colonel Mulligan Colonel Campbell took command of his division. He continued in command until its consolidation into a brigade, consequent upon its many losses in killed and wounded, and he afterwards commanded the brigade. After General Sheridan came to the head of the department the brigade participated in the engagements in the Shenandoah valley under that renowned commander. Colonel Campbell was mustered out of service nearly two months after the expiration of his three years' term of enlistment. His total period of service, including the three months' campaign, covered nearly three and a half years. Colonel Campbell's early record as a politician will bear examination. Reared in the school of Jacksonian Democracy he voted in 1844 for Polk and Dallas. In 1848, however, he abandoned the party which he had become convinced was the champion of slavery extension, and the foe to Pennsylvania's best interests, and voted for the Free Soil candidates, Van Buren and Adams. His residence in the South had shown him the evils of slavery and he therefore gave his vote against the party which sought its extension. In 1852 he voted again for the Free Soil nominees, Hale and Julian. In 1856 he was the delegate from Cambria county to the Fremont Convention, which met at Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia. During that year he took an active part in advocating Republican principles in his own county, and at once took rank with the people of the county as a politician of fairness, ability, and zeal. His influence in county politics continued to be felt during the succeeding years. In 1859 he was the choice of the Republicans of Cambria county for the Senatorial nomination in the district composed of Cambria, Blair, and Clearfield counties, and a little more than a month ago he was again unanimously selected as the choice of the Union party of his county for Senator from the district composed of Cambria, Indiana, and Jefferson counties. That he was not nominated on 112 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. either occasion by the district conference was not owing to a want of appreciation of his worth and services, but was due to the supposed superior claims of the county which was honored with the nominee. Such is the private and public record of our candidate for surveyor general. Colonel Campbell is a shrewd business man, a public spirited citizen, a good worker, and an honest man. Without having enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education he is, nevertheless, one of the best read men in the State. He is a clear thinker and remarkably cool and cautious in judgment. In a long acquaintance we have rarely known him to err in his estimate of public men or in the wisdom of public measures. He is a man of marked sagacity. His social characteristics are of that class which never fails to create the warmest friendships and to command the respect of all. That he is worthy of the office for which he has been nominated is conceded by those who know the man. That he and his gallant colleague, General Hartranft, will be elected by overwhelming majorities is a foregone conclusion. ----- The foregoing sketch of Colonel Campbell was written when he was the Republican candidate for surveyor general in 1865. He was elected to that office for the term of three years on the ticket with General Hartranft for auditor general. In 1868 both gentlemen were re-elected to the same offices, each serving another term of three years. In 1876 Colonel Campbell was elected a Republican Representative to the 45th Congress from the 17th district of Pennsylvania, composed of the counties of Bedford, Blair, Cambria, and Somerset, receiving a majority of 520 votes over John Reilly, his Democratic opponent. In 1878 he was a candidate for re-election but was defeated by A. H. Coffroth by a majority of 305. In 1880 he was elected to the 47th Congress by a majority of 1,436 over A. H. Coffroth, and in 1882 he was elected to the 48th Congress by a majority of 551 over the same opponent. He was elected to the 49th Congress by a majority of 3,564 over Americus Enfield. It will be seen that Colonel Campbell represented his district in Congress for the exceptionally long period of eight years, a fact which forcibly testifies to his popularity and ability. COLONEL JACOB M. CAMPBELL. 113 An incident in the life of Colonel Campbell, illustrating his patriotism, should not go unrecorded. When in the service of Wood, Morrell & Co. he worked under a tonnage contract for several years, employing his own helpers. This contract was profitable. When the civil war came and it was necessary for Pennsylvania to borrow a large sum of money to make preparation to assist the Government at Washington in resisting rebellion Colonel Campbell promptly subscribed $30,000 to the State loan, which represented virtually all his savings. At the time this subscription was made the risk of payment of both interest and principal was very great, as all who passed through those trying times will well remember. More than one friend of Colonel Campbell said that he would never see his money again. On April 28, 1847, Colonel Campbell was married to Mary Rankin Campbell (no relative) at Brady's Bend. He died at Johnstown on September 27, 1888, aged nearly 67 years. His wife and several children survived him.