BIO: Seneca G. SIMMONS, 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 291-295.
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  SIMMONS, COL. SENECA G., was born on December 27, 1808, in Windsor 
county, Vt. The son of Alfred Simmons and his wife Deborah Perkins.  He 
was brought up on his father's farm, receiving the limited education 
obtained at the country school.  At the age of fourteen he entered the 
military school of Capt. Alden Partridge, then located at Middletown, 
Conn., subsequently accompanying the school on its removal to 
Georgetown, in the District of Columbia.  In July, 1829, he entered 
West Point, by the appointment of President Jackson, from which 
institution he graduated with distinction, in 1834, and was assigned to 
the Seventh U. S. infantry, as brevet second lieutenant, July 1, 1834; 
promoted to second lieutenant on the 31st of December following. 
  Previous to joining his regiment he was assigned to topographical 
duty under Major Wm. G. McNeil, and assisted in the survey of the 
harbor of Apalachicola, Fla.  During the summers of 1835 and 1836 he 
was engaged, under Col. Stephen H. Long, upon surveys in the State of 
Maine; first on the coast and then on a contemplated line of railway 
between Belfast and Quebec, Canada.  He was promoted to first 
lieutenant January 19, 1837, when he joined his regiment, shortly after 
receiving his appointment as aid to Gen. Matthew Arbuckle, then in 
command of the department of the Southwest. He was also made assistant 
adjutant general, which position he held for several years, retaining 
it after General Taylor resumed command, and until relieved by Colonel 
Bliss, the General's son-in-law.  His regiment was then, the spring of 
1842, serving in Florida, and thither he immediately repaired.  At the 
conclusion of the Florida war his regiment was detailed for duty in 
garrisoning posts on the Gulf of Mexico, and he was stationed at Fort 
Pike, La., where he remained during the years 1842 and 1843, 
transacting, in addition to the duties of his position in his company, 
those of commissary and quartermaster to the post.  When his turn came 
for being detailed on recruiting service, he was ordered to Syracuse, 
N. Y., and was engaged in that duty until the breaking out of the war 
with Mexico.  On his arrival in the field, he was immediately assigned 
as assistant commissary and quartermaster at Matamoras.  During the 
year 1847 he remained at that point, but on receiving his commission as 
captain, to date from February 16, 1847, he rejoined his regiment, then 
under Scott, on the way to the Mexican capital, and distinguished 
himself at the battle of Haumantla, on October 9, that year.
  At the close of the war he was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., 
a portion of his regiment, including his own company, having been 
ordered to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., on special duty.  In 1849 and 1850 
he was sent to Florida, owing to the hostile attitude of the Seminole 
Indians.  In 1850 he was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, and while there 
received a severe injury, which for a time placed his life in a 
critical condition, and from the effects of which he never fully 
recovered.  Lame, and on crutches, he was, in the year 1851, ordered to 
Pottsville, Pa., on recruiting service. While stationed there he so far 
recovered as to attend to the duties of active service, and was sent to 
the command of Fort Arbuckle upon the frontier.  His regiment was soon 
afterwards ordered to Utah.  Here he remained four years.  During the 
years 1858 and 1859 he was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., and at 
Newport Barracks, Ky., but unable, through the disability referred to, 
to perform the active duties required of him, Captain Simmons sought 
and obtained a furlough, and joined his family at Harrisburg.
  He was here when the slaveholders' rebellion commenced; and when the 
first call was made for troops, Captain Simmons was made mustering 
officer for the Pennsylvania volunteers.  To him more is due than he 
has generally been given credit for - the organization, the discipline 
and the efficiency of that notable body of volunteers, the Pennsylvania 
reserves.  From April to June, 1861, notwithstanding the physical 
infirmity from which he suffered, he labored most assiduously, and such 
was the high appreciation in which he was held by the men of that brave 
organization, that he could have had the command of any one regiment.  
That of the Fifth was unanimously tendered him, although personally 
unknown to any of the officers of that body.  His commission as colonel 
bears date June 21, 1861. 
  Colonel Simmons' first service was to march, in connection with the 
celebrated "Bucktail" regiment and some artillery, to the support of 
General Wallace in West Virginia, and thence to Washington City, where 
he drilled his command and prepared it for service in the division 
(General McCall's.)  During the remainder of 1861 he continued at the 
National Capital, engaged in covering its approaches.
  On the 9th of September he was promoted major of the Fourth infantry, 
but preferred to remain with the volunteer troops.  He participated in 
the action at Drainesville, December 20, 1861, and until May of the 
year following his command was performing guard duty on the Orange and 
Alexandria railroad, the subsequent months on picket near 
Fredericksburg, Va.  In the Seven Days' fight before Richmond he took a 
decisive part, especially in the action at Mechanicsville and Gaines' 
Mill.  At Charles City X Roads, or as frequently termed, White Oak 
Swamp, on the 30th of June, 1862, while leading the First brigade with 
true Spartan valor, he fell in the thickest of the fight.  General 
McCall, who was captured on the evening of the battle just spoken of, 
while reconnoitering, sent to Mrs. Simmons the following account of her 
brave husband's death.
                       RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, 
               TOBACCO WAREHOUSE PRISON, 
                                       July 15, 1862. 
  My Dear Madam:  It is not to say that I mourn the loss of a friend 
that I write to you, although twenty years' knowledge of his worth and 
very many most estimable qualities, had truly endeared your husband to 
me; nor is it to attempt to offer consolation in your bereavement, 
which One above alone can give you.  I write to inform you that after 
Colonel Simmons, who, on the 30th of June, commanded the First brigade 
of my division, was wounded, he was captured by the enemy, carried to 
their hospital, and laid by the side of Captain Biddle, of 
Philadelphia, my assistant adjutant general, who was also severely 
wounded and a prisoner.  During the night of the 1st of July, as I am 
informed, the colonel sank under the effects of his wound, and calmly 
expired at Biddle's side.  This I have from Biddle himself, who is here 
in the hospital.
  I have only to add that the Colonel's body has been brought to this 
city and is interred here, where it may be conveyed to his friends at 
the proper time.
  Believe me, dear madam, very truly and sincerely, your friend and 
obedient servant, 
                            GEO. A. McCALL,
                            Brigadier General, U. S. A. 

  To Mrs. Seneca G. Simmons, Harrisburg, Pa.

  Twenty years after, in October, 1882, an officer in the Confederate 
service, Capt. R. L. Lewis, of Pickens county, S. C., wrote Mrs. 
Simmons, giving her the following reminiscence:
  "It was on the 30th of June, 1862, in one of the fights around 
Richmond, that our brigade was called on to make a charge on a battery 
of twelve pieces, supported by a brigade from Pennsylvania, commanded 
by Colonel Simmons, acting as brigadier general.  M. Jenkins was our 
colonel, of a South Carolina regiment, and was also acting as brigadier 
general.  Colonel Simmons' brigade was stationed in a field to the 
right of the battery, his right resting on or near a house.  The place 
was called Frazier's Farm, or Glendale.  Our brigade marched right 
across the field, with fixed bayonets, against his.  We did not fire a 
gun until we were within twenty or thirty paces.  When Colonel Simmons' 
brigade gave away or broke ranks, he sat on his horse trying to rally 
them until he received a fatal wound and fell from his horse.  We 
gained the field and took the battery, but suffered severely.  Our loss 
was heavy; I had twenty-five men wounded, six killed and one lieutenant 
wounded.  Some companies lost more.  After the fight I went to the 
battlefield to look after my men.  I found your husband lying where he 
had fallen from his horse.  He told me who he was, that he was badly 
wounded, and then asked me to help him.  I called some of our ambulance 
corps, and had him carried to a vacant house near by.  I took off his 
spurs and sword, which he gave to me, placed him upon a bed, and gave 
him all the help I could.  He asked me who was commanding the fight.  I 
told him Gen. Q. U. Anderson.  He said, "I know him.  I was with him in 
the Mexican war."  He then asked me to tell the General that he would 
like to see him.  I conveyed the message to General Anderson, but he 
said he could not see him.  The next day I called to see how Mr. 
Simmons was doing, but found him in a comatose state.  He could not 
communicate anything.  When I placed him upon the bed, I noticed he had 
on a watch, I think a guard or chain made of hair, but it was gone.  
Someone had taken it.  As I had to go out to the Malvern Hill fight, I 
saw no more of him, but made inquiries concerning him, and was told 
that he was carried to the field hospital, where he died.  Dr. Gaston, 
our brigade surgeon, took from his person three medals, one for 
services in the Mexican war, one from the State of Pennsylvania, and 
one from the United States for gallant services.  Colonel Sims, our 
adjutant general, said he took a pin from his shirt, marked with the 
letter "G".  I presumed it was a Masonic emblem.  I gave the Colonel's 
sword to Gen. M. Jenkins.  He was killed in the battle of the 
Wilderness on the 6th of May, 1864, and with it on.  I presume his 
family have it."
  On the 3d of May, 1882, Dr. O. M. Doyle, of Toccoa, Ga., in a letter 
to Mrs. Simmons, gives the following interesting information:  . . .  
"At the time of the battle referred to, I was regimental surgeon, and 
with others of the brigade, in charge of the field hospital.  I was 
told that Colonel Simmons fell in front of our part of the line, and as 
our line advanced he was taken up and brought to the field hospital by 
my ambulance corps.  He was wounded by a minie ball, through the liver 
and lung, and died, I think, the second day.  I treated him in the best 
manner possible under the circumstances, and had him buried as decently 
as could be done there at such a time.  He was reported by our officers 
as acting conspicuously brave on that sanguinary field, as being the 
cause, in their opinion, of that part of the Federal line standing as 
long as it did.  That report did much toward stimulating a greater 
desire on our part to do all that was possible for a brave but fallen 
foe.  Before death he thanked us sincerely for our attentions.  He gave 
to some one of our party (I do not recollect in whose hand he placed 
them) a gold watch, a picture of his wife, and I think $60 in gold 
coin, with the request that the watch and picture (I do not think he 
included the coin) be sent to his wife.  I have one knowledge or 
recollection of a Masonic pin or badge.  If I had seen one, I am sure I 
would recollect it from my association with the order.  These articles 
were placed in possession of Dr. Gaston, our brigade surgeon (now 
dead), with the request made by Colonel Simmons (coin and all).  A few 
days after this occurrence there was a Federal surgeon at our quarters, 
temporarily in our lines.  We were all together, this surgeon, Dr. 
Gaston and myself.  Dr. Gaston told me that he had turned those 
articles of Colonel Simmons over to this surgeon, to be sent to his 
widow.  I suppose I heard the name of the Federal surgeon when I met 
him, but I have no recollection of what it was.  Such is a hasty 
account of what I know of your husband's death." .  .  .
  The foregoing is all the information gained concerning that intrepid 
officer.  No braver man drew a sword in defense of the Union.  No 
nobler life was sacrificed in that fratricidal strife.  Strict in 
discipline, amounting to sternness, he had a generous spirit.  His face 
presented ordinarily a calm and benevolent expression, but when excited 
every feature seemed to flash fire.  He had a big heart, and was a 
grandly lenient as he was severely rigid.  In person he was nearly six 
feet in height, of strong and robust frame, florid complexion, brown 
hair, heavy beard and light blue eyes.
  Colonel Simmons was married at Harrisburg, Pa., in 1834, to Elmira 
A., daughter of Caleb and Content (Le Barron) Simmons, early residents 
of Harrisburg, whose earthly remains are interred in the Harrisburg 
cemetery.  Colonel and Mrs. Simmons had four children:  Charles F., 
born in Augusta, Me., December 21, 1835, he was a civil engineer in the 
service of the Reading Railroad Company, and died at Pottsville, Pa., 
March 16, 1856; Frederick Douglass, born at Fort Gibson, Indian 
Territory, also a civil engineer in the service of the Reading Railroad 
Company, and died at Harrisburg, Edward Courtney, born in Indian 
Territory, and died at Governor's Island, Fort Columbus, New York 
Harbor; Elmira Adelaide, wife of Daniel J. Attick, born at Fort Pike, 
La., December 27, 1842.
  Mrs. Simmons was born January 2, 1808, and died February 6, 1886.  As 
wife and mother, she had few superiors.  Those who know her best, 
appreciated her goodness and nobleness of heart.  She was a member of 
St. Stephen's Protestant Episcopal church.  Her funeral services were 
conducted by her rector, Rev. R. J. Keeling, D.D., who paid a loving 
tribute to her life and services.  Her remains were taken to 
Pottsville, Pa., for interment, Post No. 116, G.A.R., acting as a 
military escort, and many distinguished citizens of Harrisburg 
attending as pallbearers and as mourners.  At the grave the impressive 
burial service of the Episcopal Church was followed by that of the 
Grand Army of the Republic; and floral tributes of affection and 
respect were laid upon her casket by the comrades, they delighting to 
honor one who, among her many endearing benevolent traits, had always 
shown herself the constant and devoted friend of the soldier.
  Daniel J. Attick, of the firm of Attick & Bros., manufacturers and 
dealers in lime and stone, was born in Swatara township, Dauphin 
county, Pa., in May, 1856.  He is a son of Daniel and the late Mary A. 
(Mepford) Attick.  He grew up on his father's farm, receiving a public 
school education in his native township.  He was a farmer, and flour 
miller; in April, 1895, he engaged in his present business.  Mr. Attick 
was married in Harrisburg, December 23, 1886, to Elmira A., daughter of 
Col. Seneca G. Simmons and his wife, Elmira A. (Simmons) Simmons.  He 
is a Democrat in politics.  Mrs. Attick is a member of St. Stephen's P. 
E. church.