USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 1 > Part 32
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It served out its term in the Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac, but I will not enter on its history, which is well known to every gallant soldier of that army. It was entitled to be mu-tered out on the 16th of May, 1864, when the army was locked in deadly embrace with the brave Army of North- ern Virginia ; but, at the call of its corps commander, cheerfully remained and participated in the bloody assaults at Cold Harbor, where an historian has justly said that the Second Corps suffered losses from which, though it recovered and continued in service till the last day of the war, it was never afterwards exactly the same body it had been.
I cannot speak to you with calmness. If you think I can or ought to look on the scanty and battered remnant of your once splendid array unmoved, you are wrong. I cannot do it.
Enough, however, has been said here by far better orators, though one hundred times as much would be inadequate to express the reminiscences and solemn thoughts which this historic spot and our dwindled ranks of scarred and battered survivors send surging through our breasts and welling from our eyes.
I cannot look into your faces and speak with steady voice. I can say no more now, but will express one single sentiment which I believe will reach all of our hearts. That while life remains for this small remnant, we may every one of us, till our last breath, continue to cherish for our friends and comrades, affection, love and personal friendship, and to share with our gallant enemies of long ago -- enemies, thank God, no longer-peace, concord and fellowship under one common flag forever more.
C. R. D.
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GEN. JOSHUA T. OWEN.
JOSHUA THOMAS OWEN.
MERICA owes a large part of her wealth and influence to her adopted citi-
A zens. Some of her most prominent men were born in other lands, but gave this country the benefit of their life-work, and the strong infusion of foreign blood which has permeated the veins of the Republic from the day of its inception until now has had much to do in developing its character and moulding its career. A worthy example of the better class of this foreign-born element of the Ameri- can people was General Joshua Thomas Owen. He was a typical Welshman- quick-witted, level-headed, industrious and always bound to rise in the world.
He was born and spent his childhood in Caermarthenshire, South Wales, his father, David Owen, having removed to that section from Glamorganshire after marrying Jane Thomas, a Glamorganshire lass. The father was a manufacturer of woollens. Joshua was born March 29th, 1821, and was eleven years old when David Owen concluded to try his fortunes in the New World across the sea. The family, consisting of the father, mother, ten sons and one daughter, came to America in 1832, and settled in Wellsboro, Tioga county, Pennsylvania. It was away back in the woods. The two or three railroads that were then strug- gling to establish the system which was to cover the country fifty years later with an iron net-work were slowly struggling into existence, and it seemed about the last spot on earth for an enterprising manufacturer to start a woollen factory. What took the shrewd Welshman there we do not know, but it did not take him long to find out that it was not the place for him. In 1835 he took his family to Baltimore, where he and his son Caleb engaged in the business of publishing and selling books.
During all this time young Joshua's education was being attended to, and at the age of eighteen, after a preparatory course at the Baltimore High School, he was ready for college. He entered Jefferson College, in Washington county, Pennsylvania-then under the presidency of Dr. Matthew Brown-and grad- uated in the class of '45. He returned to Baltimore, and, the senior member of the firm of Owen, Kurtz & Co., book publishers, having died, Joshua took his place and carried on the business with Mr. Kurtz for about a year.
In 1849 he removed to Philadelphia, where he engaged in teaching at the Chestnut Hill Academy, in conjunction with his brother, Dr. Roger Owen, who was afterward pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Chestnut Hill. Ile did not, however, intend to make teaching his profession. In the same year he entered the law office of Samuel H. Perkins, and was admitted to the bar in 1852, though he did not begin the active practice of his profession until 1854. The next year he was elected a member of Common Council from the Twenty-second ward of Philadelphia, and in 1856 was sent to the Pennsylvania Legislature as a Demo- cratic member on the general ticket. He served one term in the Legislature,
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then retired to private life, and had built up a lucrative practice in his profession, when the War of the Rebellion broke out, and the eloquence and ardor of Ilon. Samuel J. Randall induced him to volunteer. He enlisted as a private in the First City Troop of Philadelphia, but was shortly afterward elected Colonel of the Twenty-fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia (three months' men). When this term of enlistment expired he organized the Sixty-ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, to serve for three years. Ile saw a great deal of ser- vice with this command, and did so much good work that on November 29th, 1862, he was made a Brigadier-General. The Senate failed to confirm the ap- pointment at that time, but in June, 1863, it was renewed and then confirmed.
Bates' history records the first successful bayonet charge of the war as the achievement of General Owen at the battle of Glendale in these words :
" During the night the corps moved on to White Oak Swamp, where it rested until morning, and then resumed the march to Charles City Cross Roads. The way was impeded by the trains and the progress was slow. After passing the junction of the Charles City with the Quaker Road, the brigade halted and was resting by the wayside. It was past two o'clock in the afternoon, when suddenly a terrific artillery fire was opened by the enemy on the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, holding the New Market Road, followed by a continuous discharge of infantry, accompanied by the well-known rebel yell. The enemy had approached under cover of a curtain of timber and, unheralded, was making a furious as- sault. At full speed General Sumner rode towards the spot where the regiment was resting and ordered Colonel Owen to lead forward his men at double-quick. As they moved over the open field, ploughed by shot and shell, General Hooker came on to meet them, crying out, with his usual enthusiasm in battle, to Gen- cral Summer as he approached : 'McCall holds them as in a vice, yet he must give way soon unless assisted. I am strong enough to the left of this road. If you will hold this open ground, I don't care how soon they come.' 'I have brought you,' said Sumner, 'the Sixty-ninth. Put it where you please, for this is your fight, llooker.' The regiment was immediately brought up and posted across the field in a slight depression of the ground with a battery a little in the rear. Turning to Colonel Owen, General Hooker said, with an expression of the utmost determination : ' Hold this position and keep the enemy in check at all hazards.' As was predicted, the division of McCall was forced to retreat, and the wounded and stragglers began to pour back to the rear. On pressed the enemy in pursuit. To give his men assurance, Colonel Owen ordered them to kneel. Soon the rebel line emerged from the woods within fifty yards, when it was brought to a halt by a volley from the well-poised muskets of the Sixty- ninth. But now the enemy swarmed out from the woods in masses and began to extend his line on either flank of the regiment. It was a critical moment. The order to fix bayonets and charge was given, and springing to their feet the men rushed on in the most daring and impetuous manner, driving the enemy in utter rout, pursuing him beyond his original ground and holding it undisturbed until
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midnight and until withdrawn. General Hooker complimented Colonel Owen on the field for having made this, 'the first successful bayonet charge of the war.' The loss was seven killed, twenty-two wounded and five taken prisoners."
General Hooker thus officially complimented Colonel Owen and his regiment : "About three o'clock the enemy commenced a vigorous attack on McCall, and in such force that General Sumner voluntarily tendered me the services of a regiment which was posted in an open field on my extreme right and under shelter from the enemy's artillery. This was the Sixty-ninth Regiment Penn- sylvania Volunteers under Colonel Owen. . . After great loss the enemy gave way and were instantly followed with great gallantry by Grover at the head of the First Massachusetts Regiment, while the Sixty-ninth Pennsylvania, heroically led by Owen, advanced in the open field on their flank, with almost reckless daring. As Colonel Owen has rendered me no report of the opera- tions of his regiment, I can only express my high appreciation of his services, and my acknowledgment to his chief for having tendered me so gallant a regiment."
General Owen was present and took part with his brigade in the battles of Ball's Bluff, Fair Oaks, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, Morton's Ford, Bristow Station, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, and was honorably mentioned by Generals Sumner, Hancock, Sedgwick, Howard, Hooker, McClellan, Meade and Warren.
General Owen remained in the army until August roth, 1864, when he re- signed because of difficulties with his commanding officer, General John Gibbon, and was honorably mustered out. Returning to Philadelphia, he resumed the practice of law, and in 1867 was elected Recorder of Deeds, which office he held for one term-three years. He then went to New York and founded the Daily Register. This at first was a newspaper devoted chiefly to commercial business, but upon the downfall of the Tweed dynasty it began publishing the calendars of the courts, and in 1874, under an act of Assembly, the President Judges of the Courts appointed it the official organ of the courts of record in New York city, a position which it still holds. General Owen had associated with him John Bryan and General Anson G. McCook. The General, however, continued his residence in Philadelphia, and in the spring of 1884 was honored by his fel- low-citizens of the Twenty-second ward by an election to the Common Council. He died at his residence at Chestnut Hill on November 7, 1887.
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GEN. WILLIAM LILLY.
WILLIAM LILLY. DIED DEC. IN 18 83.
A GENTLEMAN who ought to be an authority on the subject said, some years ago, that few men or corporations make money in the business of mining anthracite coal. There is little doubt of the truth of this, though the reasons for it are not apparent to the average man who usually looks upon the business as a peculiarly profitable one; and of this fact he sees what is good evidence all about him. To be a successful producer of the great commodity of which Pennsylvanians have a monopoly, requires the highest business sagacity and a thorough knowledge of the trade of the world. And even with these qualifications and the prudence and care which is always requisite in ordinary transactions, it sometimes happens that unforeseen events undo the work of the coal producer and bankrupt him almost in the midst of his prosperity. William Lilly, of Mauch Chunk, is one of the comparatively few men whose business sagacity has been sufficient to overcome the obstacles to wealth which constantly rise up before the producer of anthracite coal. Beginning life in humble cir- cumstances, he has grown to be a large coal producer, and one of the foremost men in his section of the State.
He was born of sturdy revolutionary stock in Penn Yan, N. Y., in 1821, and removed with his father, Colonel William Lilly, to Carbon county, Pennsylvania, in 1838. As a boy he obtained employment in the Beaver Meadow Railroad Company. The line ran from the mines in the upper end of Carbon county, to the canal in Parryville, and it was the only steam railroad in the Lehigh Valley for many years. The great anthracite coal trade was still in its infancy, and for years the little road carried coal over the mountains, and down the winding Lehigh to Manch Chunk, where it was reshipped to Philadelphia and New York in boats. Young Lilly was soon advanced to a conductorship, and finally to a more important position, which grew as the coal trade developed. He kept himself fully posted as to his business, saved some money and soon became a valuable man to his employers. In twelve years he was far ahead of his boyish companions on the road to success, and when he was twenty was elected Colonel of one of the militia regiments of the Lehigh Valley. He took great interest in military matters, and was a prominent figure on training day's. In a few years he was elected a Brigadier-General, the youngest man in the State who had at- tained so high an honor. Beginning to take an active part in politics, as early as 1850 he was elected to the lower house of the State Legislature. He made an efficient member, and was re-elected for the succeeding term. Ile barely missed being chosen Speaker, an office which fell to Hon. John Cessna, who, like General Lilly, was then a strong Democrat, and who, with the General, changed his views at the beginning of the war, and became a pro- nounced Republican. During the next eight years General Lilly was ac- (285)
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WILLIAM LILLY.
tively engaged in business, but he still took a leading part in the politics of the State.
In 1859 he associated himself with Ario Pardee, the late J. Gillingham Fell and George B. Markle in the coal business, at Jeddo, in Luzerne county. The enterprise was a venturesome one, but good management soon placed it on a paying basis. The war came on and the coal and iron trade began to be remunerative to a degree never before known. In a few years General Lilly was a rich man, and paid the government $60,000 per annum as income tax. He is largely interested in the iron trade, and is a heavy holder of the securities of a number of corporations in the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere, and of the leading railroads of the country. In many of these companies he is a director, and he takes an active interest in their affairs.
Until the autumn of 1862, General Lilly was, as has been said, an active Democrat. About that time he went to Washington, as was his usual custom after the opening of Congress, and met the leading Democrats of the country. The time was an exciting one. The war had been going on for more than a year and the Union arms had met with reverses which almost made the struggle doubtful. Strong a Democrat as he was, General Lilly had never for a moment wavered in his loyalty to the Union cause, and he had never doubted the final success of the Federal arms. A few conversations with prominent Democratic Congressmen soon convineed him that he could not remain in the Democratic party and be as true a Union man as he desired to be. One day when he visited the House of Representatives he found fifty-five Democrats voting against a war measure, and he learned personally from more than thirty of these that they were strongly in sympathy with the rebels. He expressed to a number of gentlemen his firm belief that the rebellion would not be successful. One mem- ber replied : "I would like to see any Democrat on this floor who wants to sce it put down." In further conversation General Lilly found that there were but few real Union men among his Democratic acquaintances in the house. Among them were the late Hendrick B. Wright, of the Luzerne distriet, and General Joseph Baily, of Perry county. When General Lilly had surveyed the political field to his satisfaction he said to a Pennsylvania member :
"I don't care about breaking personal friendships, but I have come to bid you a political good-by."
" What's the matter ?" asked the astonished Congressman.
" Well," was the reply, " I have made up my mind never again to vote with a party which has failed to support the government in its hour of trial and need." Returning home General Lilly became a working Republican, and has remained one ever since.
He has attended no less than six National Republican Conventions, as dele- gate or alternate, and has been a member of every important Republican State Convention since 1863. He was a strong protective tariff man when he was a Democrat, and since, and occupied the chair at the great New York Tariff Con-
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vention of 1881. He there stated his belief to be that the industries of the United States should be protected and fostered to the extent of giving them the preference in their own market. In local State politics he has always been on friendly terms with all Republican politicians in the commonwealth, though he has never been the henchman of any leader or clique. He has never asked for an office, though his friends have frequently mentioned his name in State Con- ventions for the governorship. On one occasion he received the second highest vote on the last ballot for that offiec, and his name was freely mentioned in con- nection with the nomination in 1882.
Fifteen years ago General Lilly became impressed with the fact that the time had come for the revision of the Constitution of the State. He urged his views upon his friends privately, and at the Republican State Convention of 1867, at Williamsport, he presented and advocated a resolution committing the party to his project of amending the fundamental law of the commonwealth. Being a member of the Committee on Resolutions he was successful in placing it in the platform. It was not, however, until some years later that the Legislature passed a bill which presented the subject to the people of the State, and the Convention to revise the Constitution was called by a large majority of the popular vote. At a subsequent election General Lilly was chosen a Delegate-at-Large, having been unanimously named by the State Convention for that position. He took a very active part in the proceedings of the Convention, which sat for nearly a year in Philadelphia in 1872-73. His attention to his duties was very exact- during the whole period he never missed a roll-call. Serving on the chief com- mittees and often occupying the floor he gave his whole time to his duties, and took up his residence in Philadelphia that he might be able to do so. When the labors of the Convention were over, he expressed himself as satisfied with what the Convention had done. Since the new Constitution went into effect he has thought that some of its provisions might be modified with propriety and with benefit to the State.
General Lilly is still in the prime of life, though more than sixty years old. An active out-door life and a careful mode of living have given him at sixty-three the health and strength of a man of forty. In his habits he has always been a most temperate man. Since the year 1842 no intoxicating drink has passed his lips, and he has not used tobacco for more than thirty years. In appearance General Lilly is above the medium height, and robust in person. He wears long flowing whiskers, which are just beginning to be tinged with gray. He lives in an ele- gant mansion in Mauch Chunk. General Lilly has large wealth, and uses it lib- erally. His many charities are only known to the recipients of them. During the whole war he supported the families of five soldiers, and he now relieves the necessities of a large number of needy persons by paying them a regular annual income. In Mauch Chunk he is foremost in all town improvements, and he is extremely popular at home. Since 1840 he has been a leading Mason, becoming Master of his lodge, District Deputy and Grand Master. Royal Arch Chapter,
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WILLIAM LILLY.
No. ISI, is named after him, and he is an Eminent Commander of the Knights Templar and a life member of the Blue Lodge Chapter and two commanderies. Of late years his time has been so occupied that he has not given the attention to Masonry that he formerly did.
Ilis reading and tastes have led him in the direction of a man of culture. He is a life member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the society of American Mining Engineers. He has a large and well-selected library, and for years has devoted himself to a careful course of reading. In his residence there is a gallery of fine paintings. General Lilly's habits are quiet and unosten- tatious. He rises early, and manages his large interests with hardly the aid of a clerk. Wherever he is known it is as a man of stainless honor. He has ene- mics, as every man of character, determination and decided opinion has, but no man lives who will say that William Lilly ever did a dishonorable act.
4 real wisto The value of the fueronal effects of General William Lilly was held at mand Chamb Pas Ase 1 # 1931 .
LEHIGHTON. PA. EVENING LEADER DEC. 2-1931, L
News Letter From the Mauch Chunks
At a public sale held Monday, af - ternoon the property of Mrs. Julius Remmel on Broadway, was sold to James M. Breslin, the well known lawyer, for $3,650. It was formerly the home of General William E. Lilly, deceased and is one of the finest pro- pertles In Mauch Chunk. The pro- perty in prosperous times would easily command $25,000.
COL. EDWARD M. HEYL.
COL. EDWARD MILES HEYL.
L IEUTENANT-COLONEL EDWARD M. HEYL, Inspector-General United States Army, was born in Philadelphia, February 14, 1844. Ile is a descendant of Rev. John Thomas Heyl, of an old and illustrious family of the Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, who came to America in 1730. Colonel Heyl's great-grand- father, John Ileyl, served in the Continental Army during the Revolution, and was with General Washington at Valley Forge. His grandfather, Philip Heyl, of Philadelphia, was a large vessel owner and shipping merchant, engaged in the West India trade. He was captured by an English man-of-war on one of his ships during the War of 1812, and sent to Dartmoor Prison, where he was coufined over a year. David Seeger Heyl, Colonel Heyl's father, was formerly a merchant of Philadelphia, and subsequently removed to Camden, N. J., where he was Collector of the Port for some years. He was married on October 12, 1836, to Caroline Julia Ileath, of Philadelphia, who was Colonel Heyl's mother, a daughter of Charles Pettit Heath, a descendant of a prominent New Jersey family which originally came from Lancashire, England, and settled in New Jersey in 1670. Charles P. Heath received his early training in that State, and graduated from Princeton College; after which he came to Philadelphia, where he made his permanent residence, and was associated with its interests at that time in connection with the prominent men of his day. He was a member of the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, IS18 to 1821. He married Esther Keeley, a daughter of Matthias Keeley, a well-known West India merchant of Philadelphia before and after the Revolution, whose wife, Hannah Thomas, was a great-granddaughter of Anthony Wayne, of Yorkshire, England, who com- manded a squadron of horse under William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne, and afterwards came to America and settled in Pennsylvania in 1722. He was the grandfather of Major-General Anthony Wayne, of Revolutionary fame.
Colonel Heyl received his elementary education at Plainfield Academy, near Carlisle, Pa., and later became a student in the Medical Department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. While a student there, and when but seventeen years of age, he enlisted on the 12th of August, 1861, in Company E, Third Pennsyl- vania Cavalry, and was appointed First Sergeant on October Ist following. On April 3, 1862, he was made a Second Lieutenant of Company M of that regi- ment, and received his promotion to the First Lieutenancy of Company I on April Ist of the following year. He became Captain of the company on August 4, 1863, and was mustered out at Philadelphia on August 24, 1864. Captain Heyl served throughout the war with the Army of the Potomac, and participated with distinction in the following battles and skirmishes : In 1862 at the siege of Yorktown, battles of Williamsburg, Hanover Court-House, Savage Station, Jor-
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COL. EDWARD M. HEVL.
dan's Ford, Charles' City Cross-Roads, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Unionville, Shepherdstown, Four Locks, Hartwood Church; in 1863 at Kelly's Ford, in Stoneman's raid, at Ashby's Gap, Amissville, Piedmont, Brandy Station, Aldie, Upperville, Middleberg, Westminster, Gettysburg, Fountaindale, Old Antietam Forge, Harper's Ferry, Shepherdstown, Salem Road (near Warrenton), Culpepper Court-ITouse, Rapidan Station, Occoquan (or Yates' Ford), New Hope Church, and Parker's Store; in 1864 at Todd's Tavern, Warrenton, Wilderness, Spott- sylvania Court-House, Guinney's Bridge, North Anna, Totopotomoy, Cold Har- bor, and siege of Petersburg. He was captured at Hartwood Church on November 28, 1862, and confined as a prisoner at Libby Prison, Richmond, Va., until February 2, 1863, At Kelly's Ford he was especially commended for gal- lant conduct and conspicuous bravery, where, on the 17th of March, 1863, he was selected to report to General Averill, with twenty-five picked cavalrymen, to lead the " Forlorn Hope" at daylight on that day. Ile charged with this detachment over the river, where the enemy's pickets made a bold stand. They were, however, driven back after a desperate resistance, in which a number of Lieu- tenant Heyl's squad were killed or wounded. The way was thus opened for the entire cavalry command, which soon after crossed and the memorable cavalry battle of Kelly's Ford was fought. He was also commended for valor and gal- lant soldierly qualities at the battle of Antietam, where, then only a Second Lieu- tenant, he rallied a broken retreating infantry regiment and charged with it, driving the enemy back and recapturing several guns and stands of colors. At this time Lieutenant Heyl was but eighteen years of age.
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