USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 1 > Part 28
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In December, 1864, he was assigned by General Thomas to command the Second Division, Fourth Army Corps, and participated in the battles around Nashville. On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier-General United States Army for "gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Nashville, Tenn.," and Major-General of Volunteers for "gallant and meritorious services in the battles before Nashville, Tenn.," and Major-General United States Army for " gallant and meritorious services in the field during the war." From August, 1865, to March 1, 1866, he was in command of the district of Kansas, when he was " honorably mustered out" of the volunteer service. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel of the First United States Cavalry, August 31, 1866, and was assigned to duty in the Pacific States and Territories until April 4, 1878, when he was promoted Colonel of the Third United States Cavalry. At his own request, after over thirty years service, he was retired March 20, 1879.
After his retirement from the army General Elliott was appointed Vice-Presi- dent of the California Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and while attending to his duties in the office of this company he was suddenly stricken by an attack of heart disease which terminated fatally, June 29, 1888. His decease was widely noticed by the press of the country and lamented by the people.
GEN. JOHN R. BROOKE.
GEN. JOHN RUTTER BROOKE.
G EN. JOHN R. BROOKE, one of the most popular and distinguished officers in the regular army, was born in Pottsgrove township, Montgomery county, July 21, 1838. His father, Major William Brooke, had been a captain in the American army in the war of 1812, and his mother was a daughter of David Rutter, one of the early iron manufacturers in the State, residing near Pottstown. The family is an old one, and its record in this country dates from 1692, when John Brooke and his wife, with two sons, James and Matthew, emigrated from Yorkshire, England. Before sailing the father had purchased from William Penn fifteen hundred acres of land, to be taken up anywhere between the Dela- ware and Susquehanna rivers where unoccupied or unclaimed plantations could be found. The parents died soon after landing, and the sons took up a tract in Limerick township, now Montgomery county, where they settled. Matthew Brooke had four sons, one of whom, also named Matthew, was the father of Thomas Rees Brooke, whose son William, above referred to as an officer in the war of 1812, was the father of Gen. John R. Brooke, and lived and died on a farm that was part of the original family purchase.
Gen. Brooke's education was obtained in the common schools of his native county and at Bolmar's famous seminary at West Chester, where he received a full English course. He was in his twenty-third year when President Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand volunteers appeared, to which he responded with alacrity and enthusiasm. He at once recruited a company for three months' service, and became its Captain, his commission bearing date April 20, 1861. After their discharge on the expiration of the term of enlistment, he began to recruit a regiment for three years' service. On the 17th of August, 1861, he was commissioned Colonel of the Fifty-third Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, and on their arrival at Washington, on the 7th of November following, they were mustered into the United States service, and becanie a part of the Army of the Potomac, the regiment being assigned to the Third Brigade, Second Army Corps.
It was not, however, until Sunday, June 1, 1862, that the command participated in a general engagement. This was at Fair Oaks Station, where Colonel Brooke's regiment was under fire for four hours, and held their position, under fearful odds, against some of the best troops of the enemy, directed by their ablest commanders. "Here," says General Walker, in his "History of the Second Army Corps, ' Col. John R. Brooke, leading the Fifty-third Pennsylvania for the first time into fight, displayed that cool daring, that readiness of resource, that firmness of temper which were to raise him high among the most illustrious of the young soldiers of the Union, while his splendid regiment responded to every call with easy courage and prompt manœuvre." In this battle of Fair Oaks
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Colonel Brooke had a horse shot under him, and his command lost ninety-four killed, wounded and missing.
When the army was ordered to evacuate Fair Oaks and fall back to the James river, Colonel Brooke's command was detailed as part of the rear guard, and was almost continually under the fire of the enemy's artillery. It was his regiment that destroyed the bridge over the White Oak Swamp, and held the enemy in check when they attempted to rebuild it. At the battle of Malvern Hill, which followed, his regiment was in the reserve, and did not become actively engaged. After this battle they retired to the James river and went into camp, nothing of interest transpiring.
Colonel Brooke commanded French's brigade during the time that general was at the head of the division. The command left Harrison's Landing for Newport News when the Army of the Potomac retired from that place. Here they took transports for Alexandria, and were immediately marched to the front, partici- pating in the second battle of Bull Run. From there he went to the Antietam campaign, and in that battle was in the thickest of the fight on the right in com- mand of a brigade. General Walker, in his book describing Colonel Brooke's part in the battle, says :
" He threw his force, composed of the Fifty-seventh and Sixty-sixth New York Regiments and his own, Fifty-Third Pennsylvania Regiment, into a gap in the Union lines, which the Confederates had discovered and were seeking to pene- trate. He led the brigade in person, seeming to be everywhere."
In his official report General McClellan particularly mentions Colonel Brooke and his brigade for the efficient service they rendered. Colonel Brooke remained with the Army of the Potomac, and while at Harper's Ferry was sent out in charge of a large command under General Hancock to make an important reconnaissance. The enemy were found at Charlestown, where an engagement took place. After accomplishing the object of the expedition the command returned to Harper's Ferry.
In the battle of Fredericksburg Colonel Brooke, besides commanding his own renowned Fifty-third Regiment, was instructed to also look after the Twenty- seventh, which he did most efficiently and gallantly. His command lost heavily, his own regiment going into the fight with sixteen officers and three hundred men, and coming out of it with but six of the former and one hundred and thir- teen of the latter, they having been part of the force sent to assault the enemy and drive them from Marye's Heights and from behind the famous stone-wall. lle remained with the army during the winter, and took part in Burnside's mud march ; also in the battle of Chancellorsville, which occurred early in May. Colonel Brooke had been assigned to the command of the Fourth Brigade, First Division, Second Army Corps, in April, 1863, which was formed for the express purpose of giving him a command worthy of his ability as a reward for and in recognition of his services and fine action at Marye's Heights. The promotion in rank which he had clearly earned, however, was not accorded him, a mistake
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at that time too frequently made by the authorities in Washington. Without enjoying the rank and honor that he deserved and had won by desperate fighting, he handled this brigade as only a Colonel at Chancellorsville, and on the march from in front of Fredericksburg to Gettysburg, where he arrived with the troops on the evening of July Ist. Early the next day his force was under arms, and in the afternoon he was ordered to move to the left of the line near Round Top, to assist in defeating Longstreet in his attempt to capture that position. ]Ie led his brigade on a charge through that terrible fight in the wheat field, driving the enemy nearly a mile. Walker, in his " History of the Second Army Corps," describes this charge in these words :
"And now from the rear approaches Brooke. Relieving the regiments of Cross, which fall back to the road-all but the regiment and a half on the left-he flings his brigade with one mighty effort upon the enemy. Ile will not be denied. On through the wheat field in spite of all, across the rivulet choked with the dead, into the woods, up the rocky slope, clean into the open space beyond and into the very sight of the Emmetsburg road, Brooke pushes on in his splendid charge, driving Semme's Georgia brigade before him. But impetuous as has been his advance he has not outstripped Zook's brigade, which comes up on his right-Zook's brigade no longer, for that intrepid leader has fallen with a mortal wound. Roberts, too, of the One Hundred and Fortieth is killed. Brooke assumes command of the entire line thus thrust out on the extreme verge, far beyond Birney's original position, and there anxiously awaits the arrival of reinforcements which shall make his flanks secure. But none appear; the enemy are pressing him actively in front and on both flanks; his retreat is threatened; Brooke sees that he must retire ; at the word his regiments let go their hold and fall back. Stricker on the left handles the Second Delaware with great courage and address, beating back the enemy who seek to cut off the retreat ; while Frazier with the One Hundred and Fortieth performs a like soldierly office on the right, and thus this gallant command falls back to the road, having lost one-half its numbers."
In this fearful assault Colonel Brooke was wounded, but did not leave the field. His command was also engaged in the third day's battle at Gettysburg. After the battle he followed in the pursuit of Lee until the Confederate General had passed beyond the Rapidan.
In the fall of 1863, while a portion of the Army of the Potomac was in New York on duty in suppressing the draft riots, Lee made an attempt on the right of Meade's line, which resulted in a number of combats, and compelled Mcade to retire to Centreville to more thoroughly secure Washington. In this move- ment Brooke was actively engaged in several encounters with the enemy. The manœuvring of the armies resulted in the occupation of the ground held by each before it commenced. Then followed the Mine Run campaign, in which his command took a prominent part. This military movement closed the active operations in the field until the following spring, which found him still com- manding the Fourth Brigade.
When General Grant reorganized the Army of the Potomac, in March, 1864, Colonel Brooke, who for a year had commanded the brigade above mentioned, was now, with his force, still retained in the First Division, Second Army Corps, under General Hancock. Colonel Brooke, or, rather, General Brooke as it should have been, at once took an active part in the battles of the Wilderness
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and the Po river. On the 12th of May, at Spottsylvania Court-House, his brigade was in the advance in Hancock's famous charge on the enemy. In this the grandest charge of the war, Brooke distinguished himself again for his bravery and skill. His command captured several pieces of artillery, and inimediately turned the guns of the enemy upon the foe, doing good execution. An entire rebel division, with its commander, General Johnson, were taken prisoners.
The retreat from the south to the north bank of the Po led to a bloody battle, in which the brigade of Brooke was engaged. General Hancock, in his official report, remarked :
" During the heat of this contest the woods on the right and in the rear of our troops took fire. The flames had now approached close to our line, rendering it almost impossible to retain the position longer. The last bloody repulse of the enemy had quieted him for a time, and during 'his lull in the fight Gen- eral Barlow directed Brooke and Brown to abandon their position and retire to the north bank of the Po. Their right and rear enveloped in the burning woods, their front assailed by overwhelming numbers of the enemy, the withdrawal of the troops was attended with extreme difficulty and peril, but the move- ment was commenced at once, the men displaying coolness and readiness such as are rarely exhibited in the presence of dangeis so appalling. It seemed, indeed, that these gallant soldiers were devoted to destruction. The enemy, perceiving that our line was retiring, again advanced, but was again promptly cheeked by our troops, who fell back through the burning forest with admirable order and deliberation, though in doing so many of them were killed and wounded, and many of the latter perished in the flames. "One section of Arnold's battery had been pushed forward by Captain Arnold during the fight to within a short distance of Brooke's line, where it had done effective service. When ordered to retire the horses attached to one of the pieces, becoming terrified by the fire and unmanageable, dragged the gun between two trees, where it became so firmly wedged that it could not be moved. Every exertion was made by Captain Arnold and some of the infantry to extricate the gun, but without success; they were compelled to abandon it. This was the first gun ever lost by the Second Corps.
" Brooke's brigade, after emerging from the wood, had the open plain to traverse between Block House Road and the Po. This plain was swept by the enemy's musketry in front, and by their artillery on the heights above the Block llouse bridge on the north side of the river. Brown's brigade in retiring was compelled to pass through the entire woods in its rear, which were then burning furiously. Although under a heavy fire, it extricated itself from the forest, losing very heavily in killed and wounded. Col- onel Brown crossed the river some distance above the pontoon bridge, forming his troops on the right of Brooke, who had also crossed to the north bank on the pontoon bridge.
" I feel that I cannot speak too highly of the bravery, soldierly conduct and discipline displayed by Brooke's and Brown's brigades on this occasion. Attacked by an entire division of the enemy (Heth's), they repeatedly beat him back, holding their ground with unyielding courage until they were ordered to withdraw, when they retired with such order and steadiness as to merit the highest praise. Col. James A. Beaver, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and Lieut .- Col. D. L. Stricker, Second Delaware Volunteers, are particularly mentioned by Colonel Brooke for marked services and conspicuous courage."
Colonel Brooke was made a Brigadier-General of Volunteers for his gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Spottsylvania Court-House, May 12, 1864. Colonels Miles and Carrol received a similar promotion, and General Walker remarks in his history of the corps : " Three finer examples of fiery valor in battle, of the steady and faithful performance of duty even to the dreariest work of routine in camp and on the march, could not have been found in one group in all the armics of the United States. * Generals Miles and
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Brooke had been conspicuous in every battle-field since the Sunday morning at Fair Oaks, not more for their indomitable bravery than for their command over men ; their ealın intelligence, over which the smoke of battle never east a cloud; their restless energy in assault; their ready wit and abounding resources amid disaster."
General Brooke remained in command of this brigade, and participated in all the battles and skirmishes in which the Second Corps was engaged. On the 3d of June while leading his brigade on a charge at Cold Harbor against the rebels, who were in a fortified position, he was struck in the side by a grape shot, and so severely wounded in two places that for some time his recovery was con- sidered very doubtful, compelling his retirement from active service for a time.
While still suffering from the wound, however, he reported at Washington for duty, and was assigned as President of a general court-martial sitting at Carlisle, Pa., and afterwards detailed at Washington, D. C., to examine officers for a veteran corps that General Hancock had been authorized to raise.
On August 1, 1864, he was promoted to be brevet Major-General of Volun- teers, and after Hancock had organized the Army of the Shenandoah, he com- manded the second division under him. At the end of the war his division was mustered out, and on the first of February, 1866, General Brooke resigned his commission. He returned home, and after a very brief period engaged in the iron business at Thorndale, Chester county. While there, and unsolicited on his part, the War Department tendered him a Lieutenant-Colonel's commission in the Thirty-seventh United States Infantry. The offer of the command was at the time a surprise to him, but as he had a taste for the profession of arms he concluded to accept. His commission is dated July 28, 1866. On taking this command Colonel Brooke was first stationed at Fort Union, New Mexico, and afterwards at Fort Stanton in the same Territory. On the 2d of March, 1867, about a year afterwards, he was brevetted Colonel and Brigadier-General in the United States Army.
On the 15th of March, 1869, he was transferred to the Third United States Infantry, and for several years was stationed with the regiment at Fort Shaw in the District of Montana Territory. On April 6, 1888, he was promoted to be Brigadier-General in the United States Army.
General Brooke was married on December 24, 1863, to Louisa H., daughter of Leonard F. Roberts, of Warwick, Chester county. She died October 22, 1867, leaving two sons, William and Louis Roberts Brooke. Since his transfer to the regular army he was married on the 19th of September, 1877, to Miss Mary L., daughter of Hon. Onslow Stearns, of Concord, New Hampshire, ex- Governor of that Statc.
C. R. D.
GEN. S. WYLIE CRAWFORD.
GEN. SAMUEL WYLIE CRAWFORD.
G EN. SAMUEL W. CRAWFORD, LL.D., was at the birth and death of the Con- federaey. He heard the sound of the first gun of the rebellion, and felt its deadly purpose in the shock of its thud against Fort Sumter. In his life romance and reality have so mingled that the record of his career is a story of adventure and achievement. ITis experience takes a wide range, both in war and in peace. He has been physician, soldier, traveller and author, and, best of all, he has been a success at each. Much of the power which enabled him to win at everything he undertook came from a line of strong ancestry, both physically and mentally. On the paternal side his people came of the lowland Scotch of Ayr and Renfrewshire for centuries back. Margaret Wylie brought into the family, by her union with his grandfather, Nathan Crawford, a sturdy strain of characteristics of mind and body from the "Scot " of the North of Ireland. This union resulted in producing offspring endowed with the best traits both of head and heart of the Scotch-Irish stock.
When this marriage was yet young the Crawfords started for the United States, intending to land on the shores of Virginia to join a settlement of Scotch Coven- anters, then located on the soil of the "Old Dominion." Storms, however, carried them further South, and towards the close of the century they sailed into the harbor of Charleston. Here the elder Samuel Wylie Crawford was born. From the chief city of South Carolina Nathan Crawford moved with his young wife and son into the interior, and settled upon the banks of Fisher's Creek, in Chester District, S. C., in a neighborhood peopled with citizens from his own country. Here they lived until August, 1794, when both parents died of the yellow fever, leaving a boy and girl orphans. Dr. Samuel Brown Wylie, a brother of Mrs. Crawford, who was an eminent scholar and citizen of Philadel- phia, went down by sailing vessel and brought the children to Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia the elder Crawford was educated at the University of Pennsylvania. Ile was ordained in the ministry, as many of his ancestors had been before him. Teaching the doctrine of the Covenanters, or instructing youth in the better class of education, was as conspicuous a trait in the Crawford family as their courage and industry. After his ordination he had a call to Franklin county, and settled along the banks of the Conecocheague Creek. Here he preached and taught until ealled to the charge of the Chambersburg Academy. In those days this was quite a pretentious educational institution, and is still a feature of the higher life of that seetion. Four miles from Chambersburg, on the Conecocheague Creek, was a farm which had early struck the fancy of Rev. Mr. Crawford, and he purchased it. At the beginning of his early teachings he married Miss Jane Agnew, of New York, one of the prominent family bearing that name, and so long noted as successful merchants. She was of French Huguenot descent, her
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GEN. SAMUEL W. CRAWFORD.
grandfather having fled from Normandy, in France, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, with his infant son, the grandfather of General Crawford, in his arms. Of this union Samuel Wylie Crawford was born. He first saw the light and was cradled at Alandale, the old homestead on the Conecocheague, which is still in possession of the Crawford family. He was called for his maternal uncle, and, while the son was yet young, the parent was called to the charge of the Academical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, and here Samuel Wylie Crawford, the younger, was given a classical education, receiving the degree of A. B.
Having graduated later with distinction from the Medical Department of the University, Dr. Crawford obtained through the Hlon. Joseph R. Chandler, M. C., the required authority, and presented himself before the Board appointed to examine applicants for the position of Assistant Surgeon in the army. This board met in New York, and young Crawford, while awaiting his turn, was the guest of "Stonewall " Jackson, ther an officer of the First Artillery, stationed at Fort Hamilton. But six passed of the many who applied, and Dr. Crawford stood first of the number. He was sent to the frontier as soon as there was an opening, and sailing for Texas, in 1851, he served at different forts, and was finally ordered to El Paso, where he remained for three years. Being then ordered East, he obtained leave from Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, to visit Mexico. He travelled through that country by easy stages, using his own conveyance, and arrived at the city of Mexico. The American Minister there finding that Dr. Crawford spoke the language fluently, asked that he might be retained for semi-diplomatic service. The request was granted, and Dr. Craw- ford remained for some time, during which he made the perilous ascent of the noted volcanoes Popocatapetl and Iztachihuatl, and for which he was compli- mented by being made a corresponding member of the Geographical Society of Mexico. Having been sent to Washington with important treaty dispatches, and his work in this line being finished, he was ordered by the War Department to Newport, and thence, after two years, to the Western frontier. Here he saw service, abundant and severe, in Kansas, in the upper Missouri region and on the Platte. A portion of this time he was attached to the Second Regiment Infantry, which he joined near the end of the Kansas war at Fort Scott, Kan .- a regiment he was in after years to command as its Colonel, and of which Nathaniel Lyon was then one of the captains and an officer of the garrison. While at Fort Laramie, in 1860, he was ordered East for examination and promotion. The introduction to his lately published work, entitled " The Genesis of the Civil War," tells how he became very quickly involved in the stirring scenes that opened the great strife, and describes his receipt of the telegraphic order from the War Department to repair at once to Fort Moultrie, and report to the com- manding officer there for duty. At that time it was an unusual way of transmit- ting the commands of the department, and the imperative terms of the order impressed him with its importance. He left Newport, where he was stationed
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GEN. SAMUEL W. CRAWFORD.
awaiting orders, and proceeded at once to Charleston, S. C., where he learned that his predecessor had just died of what was believed to be yellow fever, but the disease proved to be " break bone" fever, or dengue, which was very general in the community, but there were no more fatal results from it. Dr. Crawford was one of the few medical men in the community, and was thus brought into close and friendly relations with the residents. His sudden transfer to Fort Moultrie was the means of giving him a favorable opportunity of noting, studying and commenting upon the social and political phases of the secession movement just as it began to take shape immediately after Mr. Lincoln's election.
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