BIO: William Henry EGLE, Dauphin County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, 
Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the 
Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: 
J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, pages 338-340.
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  EGLE, WILLIAM HENRY, was born September 17, 1830, in Harrisburg, Pa., 
and the fifth in the line of descent from the original emigrant, Marcus 
Egle.  His ancestors settled in Pennsylvania prior to 1740, coming on 
the one side from the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, and on the other 
from Palatinate, Germany.  A great-great-grandfather served as an 
officer in the French and Indian wars; his paternal grand and great-
grandfathers served in the war of the Revolution, while his maternal 
grandfather served in the war of 1812-14.  His parents were John Egle 
and Elizabeth von Treupel, both natives of Pennsylvania.  The father 
dying when the son was four years of age, the latter made his home with 
his paternal grandmother.  He was educated in the public and private 
schools of Harrisburg, and at the Harrisburg Military Institute, under 
the famed Capt. Alden Partridge.  In 1848 he was tendered the 
appointment of midshipman in the United States navy, but declined the 
honor.  At the close of his school life he spent three years in the 
office of the Pennsylvania Telegraph, during most of which time he was 
foreman of the establishment, subsequently having charge of the State 
printing, which was done in the office.  In 1853 he undertook the 
editorship of the Literary Companion as well as the Daily Times; the 
latter afterwards merged into one of the newspaper ventures of 
Harrisburg.  In 1854 and the following year he was an assistant teacher 
in the boys' school, and part of the time mailing clerk in the 
postoffice, which latter position he held until the fall of 1857, when 
he resigned to enter the medical department of the University of 
Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated in March, 1859.  
The same year he established himself at Harrisburg, and was in the 
practice of his profession there, when, in 1862, after the battles of 
Chantilly and the second Bull Run, he went to Washington in response to 
a telegram from Adjutant General Russell, of Pennsylvania, to assist in 
the care of the wounded.  In September of that year he was commissioned 
assistant surgeon of the Ninety-sixth regiment, Pennsylvania 
volunteers, and arrived at his post on the eve of the battle of 
Antietam.  During the progress of that battle he was ordered to the 
field hospital for duty, where he remained several days.  In the summer 
of 1863, during the Gettysburg campaign, he was appointed surgeon of 
the Forty-seventh regiment, Pennsylvania volunteer militia.  At the 
close of service with the latter command, he resumed his profession, 
but, in August, 1864, accepted the appointment by President Lincoln of 
surgeon of volunteers, and was ordered to Camp Nelson, Ky., to examine 
the colored regiments then being raised in that State.  He was 
subsequently detailed with the battalion under Col. James S. Brisbin 
and Col. James F. Wade in the famous attempt by Gen. Burbridge to 
destroy the salt works in Southwestern Virginia.  Upon his return from 
that ill-fated expedition, he was ordered to the department of the 
James, under General Butler, as surgeon of the One Hundred and 
Sixteenth United States colored infantry.  Subsequently assigned to the 
Twenty-fourth army corps as executive medical officer, Gen. Wm. 
Birney's division; he accompanied that division during the Petersburg 
and Appomattox campaigns.  Upon the return from that duty he was 
ordered to Texas, with General Jackson's division, as chief medical 
officer and stationed at Roma, on the Rio Grande, until December, 1865, 
when he resigned the service and returned home, partly resuming the 
practice of his profession.  In 1867 Dr. Egle was appointed an examiner 
for pensions, a position he retained four years.  For twenty years he 
was annually elected physician to the Dauphin county prison, which he 
resigned in March, 1887, when Governor Beaver appointed him State 
librarian, the Senate promptly confirming the nomination.  Governor 
Pattison re-appointed him in 1891 and again in March, 1894, and he was 
confirmed by the Senate and commissioned by Governor Hastings.  The 
present effectiveness of the Pennsylvania State Library, in the front 
rank of the best libraries in America, is largely due to Dr. Egle's 
management and has been greatly appreciated by students at large.
  Upon the organization of the National Guard in 1870 Dr. Egle was 
appointed surgeon-in-chief of the Fifth division, with rank of 
lieutenant colonel, and subsequently, in the consolidation of the 
commands, was transferred to the Eighth regiment.  As a medical officer 
he was on duty during the so-called "Sawdust War" of 1871 and the 
railroad riots of 1877, as well as the Homestead fiasco of 1892.  In 
1885 Dr. Egle was commissioned surgeon-in-chief of the Third brigade, 
which military position he now holds.  He is the senior medical officer 
of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, having passed his twenty-sixth 
year of service with the Guard.
  Acquiring an early taste for historical research, during the 
relaxation from professional duties, when he returned from the army in 
December, 1865, he commenced the preparation of his History of 
Pennsylvania, published in 1876, a bi-centennial edition in 1883, and 
of which fifteen thousand copies were sold.  Principally among his 
historical publications are the Historical Register, two volumes (1883-
1884); History of the County of Lebanon (1883); Centennial County of 
Dauphin and City of Harrisburg (1886); Pennsylvania Genealogies, 
chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (1886, reprint 1896); Harrisburg-on-
the-Susquehanna (1892); Notes and Queries, historical, biographical and 
genealogical; relating to the interior of Pennsylvania; first and 
second series, two volumes (1878-1882, reprint two volumes 1894-1895); 
third series, two volumes (1887-1891, reprint 1895-1896, three 
volumes); fourth series, two volumes (1891-1895).  He has also written 
a large number of biographical sketches of prominent Pennsylvanians, at 
least two hundred of which were furnished Appleton's Encyclopedia of 
Biography, and also biographical sketches of the members of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1776, and of the delegates to the 
Pennsylvania convention to ratify the Constitution of the United 
States, published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History.  Dr. Egle 
was co-editor of the Pennsylvania Archives, second series, volumes I. 
to XII.; editor of the same series, volumes XIII. to XIX., and also of 
the third series, now passing through the press.  The most valuable of 
these are those relating to the services of the Pennsylvania Line of 
the Revolution.
  Lafayette College in 1878 conferred upon Dr. Egle the honorary degree 
of A. M., appreciative of his services in American history.  He has 
also been honored by election of a corresponding member of a number of 
historical societies of the United States as well as of several learned 
societies in France and England.  He was one of the founders and the 
first presiding officer of the Pennsylvania-German Society, and by 
virtue of his services in the Rebellion is a member of the military 
order of the Loyal Legion, the Society of the Army of the Potomac, and 
of the Grand Army of the Republic.  Through his eligibility from an 
original member of the Cincinnati, he is a member of the State Society 
of Pennsylvania, is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, a member 
of the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution, Society of the War 
of 1812-14, and of the Society of Foreign Wars.  In addition Dr. Egle 
preserves his membership with the Dauphin County Medical Society, State 
Medical Society, is a member of the Academy of Medicine at Harrisburg, 
and an active member of the Association of Military Surgeons of the 
United States.