Sullivan County PA Archives Biographies.....DEEGAN, J. Leonard 1875 - 
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  Author: Thomas J. Ingham (1899)
  
      J. LEONARD DEEGAN was born in Dushore, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of
  September, 1875. His father, Jeremiah Deegan, is a son of one of the pioneers of
  Sullivan county, and at the opening of the Civil war enlisted for service among
  the Pennsylvania Volunteers. In recognition of his military worth he was made
  second lieutenant of Company C, One Hundred and Seventh Regiment, receiving his
  commission November 28, 1861. He was made first lieutenant of the same company
  on the 16th day January, 1863, and was promoted to the captaincy on the 13th of
  March of the same year. His wife was Ella B. Smith, and she belongs to an old,
  wealthy and respectable family. She bore her husband nine children, namely:
  George T., Francis, Alice, Emma, Eugene, Oscar, J. Leonard, Maggie and Bessie.
  
      Of the family Leonard was especially endowed with talent. He attended the
  parochial school conducted by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart until sixteen
  years of age, when he was sent to the St. Bonaventure College and Seminary, at
  Allegany, New York, where he studied for two years. There he laid the foundation
  for the grand manhood that so signalized him; there he imbibed the principles of
  morality and religion that he so faithfully practiced and that endeared him to
  all who knew him. Completing the commercial course at the above named
  institution, he accepted a position with the firm of Jonas Long's Sons, at
  Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. It was while he was discharging his duties there that
  the tocsin of war was sounded, and he heard the voice of executive authority
  issuing from the national capital calling the sons of the nation to do battle
  for the flag. The war with Spain had been declared, and young Leonard laid down
  his merchandise upon the counter, donned a suit of blue and went forth to do
  battle for the cause of human freedom. On the 8th of May, 1898, he enlisted as a
  private in Company D, Ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, at Wilkesbarre, and was
  sent to Chickamauga, Georgia. There he was made regimental post-master, a
  position that he ably filled, endearing himself at the same time to his
  companions. While in the discharge of the exacting duties of this office he was
  stricken with typhoid fever, which resulted in his death on August 9, 1898. The
  first to leave his native county, he was the first to die - the first to offer
  up his young life, so full of promise, on the altar of liberty. Amidst all the
  trials and hardships of camp life, patriotism was his guiding star to duty. "Who
  has a better right to defend the flag than the son of a soldier," was his answer
  to a protest against entering the army. "If I die - well ' `tis sweet to die for
  one's country.' "
  
      His remains were borne home to Dushore by way of Wilkesbarre. At the latter
  place a vast concourse had assembled to do honor to the dead soldier, while at
  his home the entire place was in mourning, flags at half mast, business places
  closed, and every evidence of grief and sympathy made manifest. The obsequies
  were held on the 13th, and were very largely attended. Practically the entire
  population of the county was present, while Wilkesbarre, Kingston, Auburn,
  Pittston, Towanda and New Albany sent representatives. Numerous and beautiful
  floral tributes told eloquently the story of the young hero's worth, and the
  place that he held in the heart of his friends. The local post of the Grand Army
  of the Republic attended as a guard of honor. A requiem high mass was celebrated
  by Rev. N. A. Kaier, and Rev. J. A. Enright preached an affecting sermon from
  the text, "A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of one's
  death is better than the day of one's birth." The warmest friendship had ever
  existed between young Leonard and Father Enright, who thus officiated in
  compliance with the request of the dead hero. The vast audience was in full
  sympathy with the eloquent priest, and sobbed when his voice, broken with
  emotion, described the life and death of his friend or grew quiet and hushed
  when he uttered words of consolation. Later the flower-strewn grave in the
  churchyard received the coffin, and there now rests in an eternal sleep under
  the blue skies of his childhood's home and beneath the folds of the flag for
  which he died, Sullivan county's sole representative in the ranks of the dead of
  the Spanish-American war.
  
  
     "Your cry was the flag, yes, the flag of the brave;
     To sustain it forever, death, glory, the grave;
     May it wave o'er the land, the dear red, white and blue,
     May it wave o'er the graves of the gallant and true.
  
     Then rest, soldier boy, in thy garment of blue;
     To the star-spangled banner, you've proved yourself true;
     May it wave o'er your grave, o'er the land, o'er the free,
     And remind us forever, dear Leonard, of thee."
  

      Additional Comments:
                Extracted from: 
                  
                History of Sullivan County Pennsylvania
                by Thomas J. Ingham
                  
                Compendium of Biography
                  
                The Lewis Publishing Company
                Chicago: 1899
  
  
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