USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 3 > Part 35
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Fifth. Increased membership lessens individual responsibility for legislation, and, as a result, increased ways are devised to deplete the treasury. Railroad facilities would enable a member to represent a larger district than he formerly could have done. He can now "pass " around among his constituents.
Sixth. The best results ever obtained from any delegated body in the history of the world was the framing of the Constitution of the United States, which body at no time contained over thirty-eight men. Seventh. To this Legislature the people look for economy and reform, and by the adoption of this amendment we will give them a true reform. Its provisions will save to the State, as the salary of each member now is, over one quarter of a million of dollars for every session of the Legislature. The items of this saving are as follows, viz. :
It will save the salary of 17 Senators $ 25,500
It will save the salary of 101 members .
151,500
It will save the postage of 118 members and Senators
II,Sco
It will save stationery and mileage of 118 members .
11,200
It will save in shortening the session to roo days £ 66,000
Total saving for session
$266,000
In 1860 Dr. McKnight was married to Miss Penelope G. Clarke, who has proved a true help-meet and model wife and mother. They have four living children-Amor A., a prominent citizen of Denver, Col., now serving his second term as City Auditor ; Jay B., also a citizen of Denver ; and Misses Mary A. and Bonnie, still under the parental roof. The Doctor is still in the vigor of life, actively engaged in the practice of his profession, and maintains his place in the foremost ranks of the Republican party and as one of the leading business men of Jefferson county. G. D. H.
F GUTEKUNST.
FMILA
JOHN F. HARTRANFT
JOHN FREDERICK HARTRANFT.
P ERSECUTION for the sake of either religious or political beliefs by the powers and principalities of the Old World was, through one of its consequences, emigration, of immense advantage to this country in its earlier history in sending thither a generally God-fearing, liberty-loving people of sober and industrious habits, and of thrifty and saving dispositions. Their descendants, especially in New England and Pennsylvania, have distinguished themselves in all avocations and professions, and have been noted for their patriotic sacrifices in all our wars. Among the least known, perhaps, among the emigrants who were driven hither by religious persecution were the sect called Schwenckfelders, who were forced to fly from Silesia in 1733-34. They fled in many directions ; but among those who landed in Philadelphia in September, 1734 (O. S.), was Tobias Hertteranft, or Hartranft, as the name is now spelled and pronounced, the ancestor of the late GENERAL JOHN F. HARTRANFT, who was the sixth in descent from that early settler.
John F. Hartranft was the only child of Samuel Engle Hartranft, of Norris- town, who was born in New Hanover township, Montgomery county, on the 16th of December, 1830. At the age of fourteen his parents removed to Nor- ristown, where he attended for some time the Treemount Seminary, under the care of Rev. Samuel Aaron. He afterwards passed the Freshman year at Mar- shall College, Mercersville, where he was prepared for entrance into the Union College at Schenectady, N. Y. He sedulously pursued his studies there for three years, and graduated at that institution, in 1853, in his twenty-third year. As a student he had always been a quiet, thoughtful boy, with none of those flashy qualities born of conceit which lead some young men to enter the learned professions with the expectation of immediate distinction. His was rather the purpose to apply educational and natural gifts to some industrial employment, such as civil engineering, which leads to the material development of the coun- try. Accordingly he directed his studies to surveying and engineering, and his first employment after leaving college was in assisting to run a line for a railroad from Chestnut Hill to New Hope, via Doylestown, and also a road between Mauch Chunk and New Haven. The following year Michael C. Boyer, Sheriff of Montgomery county, selected him as his Deputy, which position he filled until the expiration of Mr. Boyer's term, in 1856. He was continued in the same position for three years by Sheriff Rudy, Boyer's successor. During this latter period Mr. Hartranft commenced the study of law, doubtless with the view of becoming more professionally familiar with the duties of the office which he held. On the 4th of October, 1860, he was admitted to the bar and opened an office. Some time previously he had joined the Norris City Rifles, being chosen Lieutenant and afterwards Captain. He soon showed an aptitude and taste for military matters, and, as the Rifles was a flourishing company, Captain Hartranft,
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at the next election of the line officers held by the volunteer militia, was chosen Colonel. This was in 1859. There were five companies already organized in the vicinity of Norristown, and these formed the main part of the regiment of which he was the commander.
The anticipated trouble with the South had aroused the patriotism of the members of the regiment, and no sooner had President Lincoln issued his call for seventy-five thousand men, after the attack on Fort Sumter, than Colonel Hartranft tendered the services of the regiment, composed of the Montgomery county militia, to the National Government through the patriotic Governor of Pennsylvania, Andrew Gregg Curtin. Two days after the fall of Sumter Colonel Hartranft went to Harrisburg for that purpose, leaving his subordinate officers at home busily engaged in filling up the companies to the standard. Being accepted by the Governor, the Fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania Militia, as it was then numbered, consisting of seven companies, rendezvoused at Harrisburg on April 20th, and in a day or two was on its way to Washington, via Perryville and Annapolis. The regiment reported to General Butler, and did good service in keeping open the communication between the National Capital and the North.
After making Washington secure for the new administration and driving the rebels from the approaches to it, General Scott did not order an advance until almost at the expiration of the three months for which the Fourth Pennsylvania was enlisted. The order to advance on Bull Run was not issued until the very day that the Fourth Pennsylvania was ordered to the rear to be mustered out. A few, however, offered to go into the fight as volunteers. Among them was Colonel Hartranft, who was accepted as a volunteer aide on the staff of General William B. Franklin, who, in his report of the engagement, spoke of his services in the highest terms of commendation. Colonel Hartranft's gallantry and cour- age on this his first engagement with the enemy marked him as a leader, and on his return home he had no difficulty in completing arrangements for the forma- tion of the afterwards famous Fifty-first Regiment, which he commanded in so many battles. The regiment was organized in Harrisburg in September, 1861, and was assigned to the command of General Burnside, who had been ordered to make a winter campaign in North Carolina. The expedition left Annapolis by sea early in January, 1862, and on the 10th of February Colonel Hartranft led his men into their first battle in the swamps and thickets of Roanoke Island. The rebels supposed the defences impregnable, but Foster's and Reno's troops, of which the Fifty-first was part, not only carried the works at the first assault, but secured nearly all the garrison as prisoners. At the attack on Newberne a few days later Hartranft's force was held in reserve at first, but soon participated in the final assault which carried the works of the enemy, and the whole coast of the State was in the hands of the Federal authorities.
A period of rest now followed, but early in August, 1862, Burnside's command of eight thousand men was suddenly ordered northward. Here Reno's brigade, including Hartranft's regiment, did efficient service in covering the retreat of
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Pope's army after the disaster of the Second Bull Run. At Chantilly, on the Ist of September, they gathered fresh laurels, effectually guarding the capital from attack and compelling Lee to make a long detour in his advance on Maryland and Pennsylvania. At Antietam the Fifty-first once more distinguished itself, for, when other troops had been again and again repulsed in their efforts to take the stone bridge, which was the key of the position, General McClellan sent word to Burnside that it must be carried. General Burnside knew from what he had seen of the Fifty-first Regiment in North Carolina that he could rely upon it for a forlorn hope, and he sent to its commander his aide, General Ferrero, who delivered the following explicit order : " General Burnside directs that the Fifty- first Pennsylvania, Colonel Hartranft commanding, storm the bridge." The result showed that he made no error of judgment. The bridge was stormed, taken and held, the regiment suffering a loss of twenty-two killed, including the lieutenant-colonel, and fifty-eight wounded. This brilliant charge, which was led by Colonel Hartranft in person, secured for him the most flattering mention from General Burnside in his report to General McClellan, in which he strongly urged that Colonel Hartranft be promoted to a Brigadier-Generalship. This justly deserved recognition was, however, delayed for another year. Late in December the ill-starred forward movement was made on Fredericksburg, and in the action before that city the regiment lost in killed and wounded ninety out of two hundred and fifteen men.
In the spring of 1863 General Burnside, at his own request, was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac, and, with the Ninth Corps, was sent to make a diversion in favor of General Grant, who was then besieging Vicks- burg. Accordingly, in April, Colonel Hartranft and the Fifty-first Regiment started west by railroad via Cincinnati, and in a short time the command was posted in detachments at various points in Kentucky for the purpose of protect- ing Unionists against guerillas. In June Colonel Hartranft was ordered with his regiment to the Mississippi to operate on the Big Black, in the rear of Vicks- burg, in order to prevent General Joseph E. Johnson from relieving that be- leaguered city. Here the men suffered incredible hardships from the hot climate, impure water and want of food until Grant captured Vicksburg, and took Pem- berton and all his troops prisoners of war. Colonel Hartranft, who had for some time been acting as a brigade commander, was now, with the Ninth Corps, returned to Kentucky and West Tennessee, whence they marched over the mountains to East Tennessee. His brigade arrived at Campbell's Station just in time to prevent Longstreet from intercepting Burnside's march to Knoxville. Here a spirited fight occurred in which Colonel Hartranft, being the senior officer, commanded a division and maintained and enhanced his previous reputa- tion for courage, decision, judgment and ability. It was largely through his skill and knowledge of engineering that Knoxville was held against a much superior force and, after nearly a month of desperate and unsuccessful effort, Longstreet was obliged to raise the siege. Immediately after the siege of Knox-
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ville the Fifty-first was furloughed, and allowed to visit home and recruit. At the expiration of this furlough the regiment rendezvoused with full ranks at Annapolis, Md., where, in the absence of General Burnside, the command of the corps, numbering twenty thousand men, was assigned to Colonel Hartranft, to whom all new regiments were ordered to report, and to whose supervision was committed the work of the equipment of the troops and the reorganization of the corps. This was a high -honor to an officer whose rank was still only that of Colonel. Notwithstanding the delay in suitably rewarding his services, Colonel Hartranft showed no lack of activity or interest in the work of suppress- ing the rebellion, but always displayed the greatest judgment and energy, coupled with the most conspicuous gallantry and unselfish patriotism.
During his service in the field as a Colonel he participated in the engagements at Roanoke Island, Newberne, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, Jackson, Campbell's Station and the siege of Knoxville, and in the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania; and for his gallantry at the last named engagement, and in the desperate struggle of the Wilderness, he was made a Brigadier-General, his commission dating from May 12, 1864. Soon after he was made a Division Commander, and as such participated in the battles of North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg Mine, Weldon Railroad, Ream's Sta- tion, Poplar Spring Church, First and Second Hatcher's Run, Fort Stedman, Petersburg and Richmond. He won his Major-General's stars by his heroic capture of Fort Stedman, which was one of the most daring and brilliant epi- sodes of the war. Throughout the winter of 1864-65 the two armies lay entrenched within a few yards of each other, each watching for a weak point in the other's lines. The Confederates, realizing that it was only a question of time when the success of the Union arms would prevail, decided to attempt to break through the Federal lines in front of its base of supplies. Accordingly, before day on March 25th, they made an assault on Fort Stedman, and such was the suddenness and impetuosity of their charge that the Union troops were captured or driven out, the enemy advancing their front beyond the line of the nationals and taking some rifle-pits abandoned by the Northern soldiers. This was the status at four o'clock in the morning, when Hartranft, who was lodging a mile away, hearing the firing arose and learned that Fort Stedman, situated near the Appomattox, had been taken by the enemy. Hastily forming his regiments to resist the Confederate advance most effectually he soon received orders from General Parke, who was in command of the Army of the Potomac that day owing to the absence of General Meade from the front, to retake the fort without delay. Reinforcements with the aid of the artillery of the Ninth Corps having arrived and been placed in position just as General Hartranft had set his troops in motion, orders came from head-quarters to suspend the attack until the arrival of the Fifth Corps. Feeling assured of success, however, and fearful that he might not be able to communicate with his entire line in time to countermand the order to attack, General Hartranft determined to proceed with the assault,
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which he did, leading the centre of the charge in person. No troops took part in this attack other than his own division and a few of the First Division, who had occupied the line prior to the Confederate assault. The enemy, not expecting the tables to be so soon turned upon them, were driven back after a stout resistance with the loss of many killed and three thousand taken prisoners, and the fort was retaken. The victory was complete, the Union line restored, and the Confederates immediately set about arranging for the final evacuation of Peters- burg and Richmond. This famous assault, partly with new recruits, was one of the most brilliant achievements of this celebrated siege. The action was the crisis of General Hartranft's military career as also of the war of the rebellion. Had he failed he would have been ruined; for technically and strictly he was leading a charge on countermanded orders, and success was all that made it a personal victory. The result justified the action of the General and demonstrated the possession of those qualities for which he was noted-decision, quick judg- ment, an unerring faith in his men, and the nerve to assume responsibility when he felt that the end justified his doing so, even to the technical disobe- dience of orders, knowing as he did that to blindly obey would be a mistake.
In August, 1865, he was nominated Auditor-General, and elected in October of that year by twenty-three thousand majority. In the autumn of 1868 he was elected to the same office by a handsome majority. In consideration of his distinguished military services during the war of the rebellion President Johnson tendered him the Colonelcy of the Thirty-fourth Regiment Infantry, U. S. A., dating from July 28, 1866, which, however, the General declined in a letter of suitable acknowledgment, as he preferred returning to civil pursuits. Upon the expiration of the second term of Governor Geary's administration General Hart- ranft was placed in nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania by the Republican party, and after one of the most bitter contests known in the history of this State was elected by a triumphant majority of thirty-five thousand. On May 26, 1875, he was again nominated for the office of Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth. This time he was unanimously placed in nomination by the Republican party, the only instance in the history of Pennsylvania in which an incumbent of the office had no opposition in a convention when proposed for a second term. His strict adhesion to what he deemed the right had engendered a factional feeling against him in the ranks of the party, but he was re-elected by a majority of over twelve thousand. Throughout his service as Governor General Hart- ranft took high ground upon all the leading questions of the day, and particularly as regards matters relating to municipal reform, to which he devoted much attention, and his messages bear witness of his statesmanlike understanding of the subject. In the convention of the Republican party held in Cincinnati in the spring of 1876, for the purpose of nominating a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, Governor Hartranft's name was presented by his friends ; but, after several ballotings, Governor Hayes, of Ohio, was placed in nomination and subsequently clected.
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Immediately upon his retirement from the Governorship President Hayes appointed him Postmaster of Philadelphia, and before his term as Postmaster had expired, his commission as Collector of the Port of Philadelphia was for- warded him from Washington, and he assumed the duties of his new appointment about July 15, 1880, and served until after the inauguration of President Cleve- land in 1885, after which date he was employed in private pursuits until his death.
Very soon after the expiration of his second term as Governor, General Hart- ranft was appointed Major-General commanding the National Guard of Pennsyl- vania-a position which he filled with distinguished ability up to the time of his death-and the splendid discipline and condition of this body is largely due to his fostering care and capacity for organization. Shortly before his death he was suggested as a suitable man for the position of Commissioner of Pensions, to succeed Corporal Tanner; but he peremptorily declined the office, which he could have had if he so desired.
General Hartranft's health had not been good for some time prior to his demise, and he was advised to try the benefit of a voyage to Europe. This he did, but returned home in worse condition than when he started. His illness was not considered alarming until about two weeks prior to his death, when symptoms were developed indicating a complication of uremia, pneumonia and malaria, and he steadily grew weaker until death relieved him from suffering at noon on October 17, 1889. The tributes of respect paid to his memory by public and private bodies and civic and military organizations were sincere and heartfelt, and the papers throughout the State and country contained columns of obituary notices and extended accounts of his career-all according him full meed of praise as an honest and competent public official, and a gallant, patriotic and able soldier.
If not one of the most brilliant soldiers of the war of the rebellion, General Hartranft was certainly one of the most reliable, prudent and successful com- manders ; for it has been justly said of him that he never made a mistake, while his bravery, promptness, nerve, dash and ability were frequently shown and cannot be questioned. His career as a soldier and public official, and his high character as a private citizen have added lustre to the annals of the State, which has honored itself in honoring him.
General Hartranft discharged the duties of whatever position he was called upon to fill, whether in the field, in the cabinet or in private life, with conscien- tious fidelity and distinguished ability. His modesty, firmness and integrity won for him the respect and confidence of all who were brought in contact with him, and, although not a demonstrative man, he was warm-hearted and sincere, and those who knew him best, loved him best.
General Hartranft was married, January 26, 1854, to Miss Sallie D., daughter of William H. Sebring. Six children were born to the union-four sons and two daughters. Two, his eldest daughter and second son, died in childhood. Samuel S., Linn, Marion and Annie, with their mother, survive him. C. R. D.
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·_ OUTERLAST.
EMIL-
SAMUEL K. SCHWENK.
SAMUEL KLINGER SCHWENK.
G EN. SAMUEL K. SCHWENK, an officer in the regular army of the United States, retired because of "wounds received in the line of duty," and now one of the most notable stock-raisers, especially of Jersey cattle, in the United States, has a most distinguished military record that reflects credit upon the State of which he is a native. He was born, May 8, 1842, in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and is descended from the Von Schwenks of Germany, a noble family, several of whom served with distinction in the late Franco-Prussian war, and his ancestors, both paternal and maternal, participated in the war of the American Revolution. General Schwenk was educated at the Dickinson Sem- inary, which he left in order to enlist in the service of his country during the war of the rebellion. He studied military tactics when but a boy, with an old French officer, and at the age of sixteen was appointed Lieutenant of the Germanville Artillery. While at the Seminary he instructed the Dickinson Cadets, composed of the teachers and pupils of that institution. On August 19, 1861, he was appointed a lieutenant in the Fiftieth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and proceeded with the command to South Carolina. In actions at Beaufort, and twice at Port Royal Ferry, he acted with bravery and skill, and received the thanks of Generals Stephens and Hunter. He was ordered with his regiment to Virginia, arriving there in time to take part in the battles of Second Bull Run and Chantilly. At South Mountain he was wounded in the ankle. At Antietam he participated with his regiment in the battle though scarcely able to walk, and was given command of the sharpshooters on the front of the Ninth Corps, where he was pitted against the famous Palmetto sharpshooters, whom he drove in and thereby opened connection with Hooker's corps on the right, receiving therefor handsome recognition from Generals Wilcox and Burnside. At Fred- ericksburg he again led the skirmishers, and reached out on the left until he joined hands with those of Franklin's grand division.
The Ninth Corps, to which his regiment was attached, was sent West in the spring of 1863, and at Blue Spring and Hough's Ferry, where the advance of Longstreet was met, Captain Schwenk performed one of those daring feats with which his name was often associated. He not only fought the enemy's skir- mishers and captured a number of them, but actually went within the hostile lines, gaining full information of the enemy's position and numbers, and in the end took prisoners a party sent out to demand his own surrender. "At Camp- bell's Station," says his brigade commander, General Cutcheon, " he behaved most bravely, and during the entire siege of Knoxville was especially distin- guished for his coolness, prudent judgment and determined gallantry as well as professional skill in the construction of defences."
His most conspicuous acts of gallantry, however, were performed during the
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battles of the Wilderness in 1864. At the battle of Ny River on May 9, 1864, he is accredited with having "saved the day." The rebels were ascending a hill, and, if they had reached the crest, would have discovered the weakness of the Union forces confronting them, but Captain Schwenk, perceiving this, took the responsibility of ordering a charge with the bayonet, which his superior officers hesitated to do, and with part of a regiment repulsed the rebels from the crest, and saved the brigade from a probable serious disaster. In one of the engage- ments before Spottsylvania Court-House he may be said to have gone into the fight as a Captain of one company and to have come out of it a commander of five regiments.
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