BIO: John White GEARY, Dauphin County, PA

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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 241-244.
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  GEARY, GOV. JOHN WHITE, the son of Richard Geary and Margaret White, 
was born December 30, 1819, near Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland county, 
Pa.  The father was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, a native of Franklin 
county, and a man of education, refined tastes and superior moral 
excellence.  His mother was born in Washington county, Md.  They 
removed to Westmoreland county soon after their marriage, where Richard 
Geary engaged at first in the manufacture of iron, which, proving 
unsuccessful, he resorted to teaching, a profession he pursued the 
remainder of his life.
  For a time his thoughts turned to commercial pursuits, but convinced 
by a short experience in a wholesale house in Pittsburgh that this 
would not prove to him a satisfactory sphere of life, he yielded to his 
natural predilections for mathematics, and applied himself to the study 
of civil engineering.  Having mastered the principles of that 
profession, he commenced the study of law, in the belief that it would 
increase the chances of a successful career, and was admitted to the 
bar, though intending to adopt engineering as his fixed vocation.  With 
this end in view he went to Kentucky, where he was engaged, partly in 
the employ of the Commonwealth and partly in that of the Green River 
Railroad Company, to make a survey of several important lines of public 
works.
  His successes in the Southwest opened the way to advancement in his 
native State, and he soon after became assistant superintendent and 
engineer of the Allegheny Portage railroad.  While occupied with the 
duties of this position, in the month of May, 1846, President Polk sent 
a message to Congress, informing that body that "war existed with this 
country by the act of Mexico," and asking for men and money to enable 
him to maintain the rights and vindicate the honor of the Government.  
The burst of enthusiasm was instantaneous and general, and Geary was 
among the first who responded to the call for volunteers, in a short 
time raising a company in Cambria county, to which he gave the name of 
American Highlanders.  At Pittsburgh his command was incorporated with 
the Second Pennsylvania regiment, commanded by Colonel Roberts, of 
which he was immediately elected lieutenant colonel.  The regiment 
joined the army of General Scott at Vera Cruz, and served with 
conspicuous gallantry in Quitman's division during the memorable 
advance upon the Mexican capital.  Lieutenant Colonel Geary's first 
experience of actual war was in the partial though spirited action of 
the Pass of La Hoya.  In the storming of Chapultepec he was wounded, 
and in the assault upon the immediate defenses of the city, at the 
Garita de Belen, he again led his regiment with so much judgment, 
coolness, and intrepidity that upon the capture he was assigned to the 
command of the great citadel, as a mark of Quitman's appreciation of 
his services.  From the time when the army entered the valley of Mexico 
Colonel Roberts was disqualified for duty by sickness and the command 
of the regiment devolved upon the lieutenant colonel.  Shortly after 
the surrender of the capital Colonel Roberts died and Lieutenant 
Colonel Geary was elected to succeed him.
  On January 22, 1849, President Polk, in grateful recognition of his 
services in the Mexican war, appointed Colonel Geary postmaster of San 
Francisco and mail agent for the Pacific Coast, with authority to 
create post-offices, appoint postmasters, establish mail routes, and 
make contracts for carrying the mails throughout California.  Having 
received his commission on February 1, in company with his wife and 
child, sailed from New York for the Pacific Coast.  On April 1 he 
landed safely at San Francisco, and entered at once upon the discharge 
of his duties.  For a time he was obliged to content himself with the 
rudest accommodations, and to perform his work under many 
disadvantages.  But here, as in all previous situations, his methodical 
turn and practical tact soon enabled him to improvise all needful 
facilities, and brought the labors of the office under an easy and 
expeditious management.
  The intelligent and obliging dispatch with which Colonel Geary had 
discharged his duties as postmaster and mail agent so won the 
confidence and esteem of the people of San Francisco, that when the 
time arrived for the election of town officers he was unanimously 
chosen first alcalde, though there were ten different tickets submitted 
to the choice of the voters.  Shortly afterwards this mark of 
appreciation on the part of the citizens was followed by another 
equally flattering on the part of the military governor of the 
Territory, Brigadier General Riley, who appointed him judge of first 
instance.  These offices were of Mexican origin, and they imposed 
onerous and important duties.  The alcalde was sheriff, probate judge, 
recorder, notary public and coroner.  The court of first instance 
exercised both civil and criminal jurisdiction throughout the city, and 
besides this adjudicated all those cases arising under the port 
regulations which usually fall within the cognizance of courts of 
admiralty.  At the close of his term he was re-elected, receiving all 
but four votes of the whole number cast, and continued in office until 
the Mexican institutions were superseded by the American forms of 
municipal government. 
  In a vote upon the first city charter and for officers to serve 
thereunder, May 1, 1850, Judge Geary was elected first mayor of San 
Francisco by a large majority.  As mayor he rendered valuable service 
in perfecting the municipal organization, in restraining the tendency 
to extravagant expenditure of the public funds, sustaining the city's 
credit by judicious management of its finances, and by an honest 
disposal of the public property saved to the corporation many millions 
of dollars. 
  Owing to the failing health of his wife, Colonel Geary, on February 
1, 1852, sailed from San Francisco, intending to go back and remain 
permanently in California, but the death of the former and other 
circumstances unforeseen caused him to change his purpose, and gave a 
new direction to his whole course of life.  After having spent about 
three years in retirement, and had in a measure brought the condition 
of his farm into conformity with his own ideal of what such an estate 
should be, President Pierce invited him to Washington for the purpose 
of tendering to him the governorship of Utah, which, after due 
acknowledgement of the compliment, he respectfully declined.
  Not the government of Utah but of Kansas was the great problem of Mr. 
Pierce's administration.  A bloody civil strife was being waged in that 
Territory, and the political state of the whole country was convulsed 
on the subject of its affairs.  One governor had been removed for 
refusing to conform strictly to the Federal policy in regard to 
slavery, and another was preparing to flee from the Territory through 
fear of assassination.  In view of the pressing exigency, the thoughts 
of the President reverted to Colonel Geary, and after consultation in 
July he was appointed governor of Kansas, and proceeded immediately to 
his new field of labor, arriving at Fort Leavenworth on September 9, 
1856.  His administration extended only from that date to March, 1857.
  Governor Geary was at his farm in Westmoreland when the sound of the 
Rebellion's first gun broke upon the ear of the Nation.  Early on the 
morning following the eventful day he drove his farm wagon to the 
neighboring village, and there first heard the news of the assault upon 
Fort Sumter.  In less than an hour after reading the telegram he had 
opened an office for the enlistment of volunteers.  As soon as he could 
communicate with the President he tendered his services, and was 
immediately commissioned colonel, with authority to raise a regiment 
for the defense of the Union.  In the course of a few weeks he received 
applications from sixty-six companies, soliciting permission to join 
his command.  On account of the numerous and urgent appeals he was 
permitted to increase his regiment to sixteen companies, with one 
battery of six guns, making the full complement to consist of fifteen 
hundred and fifty-one officers and men.  The artillery company was that 
which subsequently became so celebrated as Knapp's battery.
  Colonel Geary, on the 8th of March, 1862, captured Leesburg, and led 
the van of the column which subsequently obliged the Confederate forces 
to evacuate all the towns north of the Rappahannock, and abandon their 
strongholds at Snicker's, Ashby's, Manassas and Chester Gaps, in the 
Blue mountains.  These operations were effected while "Stonewall" 
Jackson was within striking distance near Winchester; and for his share 
in them Colonel Geary was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, 
his commission bearing date of April 25, 1862.  On the 9th of August, 
Banks' troops had a severe engagement with Stonewall Jackson's at Cedar 
mountain.  The day was oppressively hot, and the Union troops suffered 
much from exhaustion, but still more from the fierce and well-directed 
assaults of that great commander.  General Geary was wounded slightly 
in the left foot, and severely in the right arm.  The battle was 
gallantly contested, but the results were adverse to the Union arms.  
The wound in the arm proved so serious that, to save the limb from 
amputation, he was ordered home for treatment.  Subsequently General 
Geary was promoted to the command of the Second division of the Twelfth 
corps.  At Chancellorsville General Geary was wounded in the breast by 
a fragment of shell.  At the battle of Gettysburg the troops of Geary's 
division were among the first of the corps to arrive at the scene of 
action.  On the 1st, General Geary suggesting the importance of 
possessing Round Top, was directed to occupy it with a portion of his 
command.  Early on the morning of the 2d he was ordered to Culp's Hill, 
the extreme right of the Union line, with instruction to hold his 
position at every hazard.  During the afternoon of that day he was 
remanded in the direction of Round Top, with a part of his division, to 
strengthen the left center of Meade's line, which, being hard pressed, 
was in danger of giving way.  As soon as the relief he brought could be 
spared, he hastened back to Culp's Hill, and on his arrival, at about 
nine o'clock at night, he found that in his absence the enemy had 
carried a part of his line, and flanked the position which he had 
received orders to hold.  Suitable dispositions were made during the 
night to meet the emergency, and at three o'clock on the morning of the 
3d, placing himself at the head of his division, he charged the enemy, 
recovered the ground that had been lost, hastily strengthened his line 
of breastworks, and waited the return of Ewell's veterans.  The 
maintenance of the position was of the utmost moment, for it commanded 
the Baltimore turnpike, on which the supply and ammunition trains of 
the army were parked, and had it been lost, these would have been 
captured, the rest of Meade's center would have been gained, and 
general defeat must have inevitably followed.  Hence the furious 
assaults that were made upon it with the hope of seizing the last 
chance of victory.  During seven hours the enemy shelled Geary's lines 
almost incessantly, and under cover of his batteries made repeated 
attempts to carry the hill at the point of the bayonet.
  After Gettysburg came Chickamauga.  The defeat of Rosecranz in that 
battle made it necessary to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland, and 
for that purpose the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, under General Hooker, 
were detached from the Army of the Potomac.  Geary's division went with 
the Twelfth Corps.  Besides these troops others were hurried forward to 
the scene of the late disaster, and Grant, having laid Vicksburg in the 
dust and reopened the Mississippi, now, by order of the President, 
hastened to the mountains of the Tennessee and assumed command.  He 
immediately initiated a series of movements designed to dislodge Bragg 
from the formidable position which he had gained.  In pursuance of his 
masterly plan a battle was fought at Wauhatchie on October 28, 1863; 
another at Lookout mountain on November 24; one at Mission Ridge on 
November 25, and a fourth on November 27 at Ringgold, in the State of 
Georgia.  These battles, fought and won in rapid succession, were the 
principal achievements of Grant's Chattanooga campaign, in the course 
of which the disasters of Chickamauga were gloriously retrieved, and 
Bragg, hurled from heights which he had deemed inaccessible, was driven 
across the Tennessee line. 
  In the spring of 1864 the Army of the Southwest was reorganized, and 
Grant having been invested with the rank of lieutenant general and 
appointed commander-in-chief, Sherman assumed command of all the forces 
designed to operate in the Southwestern and Southern States.  Among 
other changes which he ordered, the Eleventh Corps (Howard's) and the 
Twelfth (Slocum's) were consolidated, becoming in this form the 
Twentieth Corps, with General Hooker in command.  General Geary was 
continued at the head of his old division, with the addition of a 
brigade from the Eleventh Corps.  The two great campaigns of this 
memorable year were opened on the same day.  On May 4 Grant moved from 
the Rapidan to encounter Lee, and Sherman from Chattanooga to encounter 
Johnston.  Sherman's army was complete in all its appointments, and 
about seventy thousand strong.  The events that followed can but 
briefly be referred to here.  At the head of the division to which he 
was endeared and which was endeared to him by so long a companionship 
in perils, hardships, sacrifices and sufferings, Geary participated in 
the battles of Mill Creek, May 8; Resaca, May 15; New Hope Church, 
commencing May 26 and continuing with but little intermission eight 
consecutive days; Pine Hill, June 15; Muddy Creek, June 17; Noses 
Creek, June 19; Kolb's Farm, June 22; Kenesaw, June 27; Marietta, July 
3; Peach-Tree Creek, July 20, and the siege of Atlanta, lasting twenty-
eight days and ending in the capture of the city on September 2.  To 
use General Geary's own language, "The campaign from the opening till 
the fall of Atlanta was really a hundred days' fight, and may be termed 
a continuous battle, crowned with constant victory."
  When, in the spring of 1866, the Republican leaders began to consider 
the important question of selecting a candidate for the chief 
magistracy of the State, it soon became apparent that the name of 
General Geary was everywhere received with favor.  His ripe experience 
in the conduct of civil affairs and his distinguished services in the 
field commended him alike to the gratitude of the popular heart and the 
sanction of the popular judgment.  After a very spirited canvass he was 
elected over his competitor, Hiester Clymer, by a majority of over 
seventeen thousand votes, and was inaugurated on January 15, 1867.
  Governor Geary was elected to a second term, which he filled with 
acknowledged ability.  A few weeks after his successor in office was 
inaugurated he died suddenly while sitting at the breakfast table.  The 
entire city and State were shocked by the unexpected event.  The 
Legislature, then in session, at once adopted measures for the funeral 
obsequies at the State's expense.  To no former executive had ever such 
a distinction been accorded, and every respect that could be shown was 
paid to his memory.  He was buried at Harrisburg, and over his grave 
the State he loved so well and served so faithfully erected a monument 
of bronze creditable to the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
  Governor Geary married, on the 12th of February, 1843, Margaret Ann 
Logan, daughter of James R. Logan, of Westmoreland county.  Three sons 
were the issue of this marriage, one of whom died in infancy, another, 
Edward R., killed in the battle of Wauhatchie, and the other, William, 
a graduate of West Point and lieutenant in the United States army.  
Mrs. Geary died on the 28th of February, 1853, and in November, 1858, 
Governor Geary was married to Mrs. Mary C. Henderson, daughter of 
Robert R. Church, of Cumberland county.  After Governor Geary's death 
his widow married Dr. H. Earnest Goodman, of Philadelphia.