USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 3
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of home and social pleasures was not injuriously affected by his busy life, for at the proper moment he was always ready to participate in whatever rec- reation presented. He loved happiness and delighted in diffusing or conferring it. To his magnanimous nature no mean resentments were possible. Osten- tation was never present to mar the beauty of his numerous acts of benevolence. It is said that no day passed since he became possessed of a compe- tence that did not witness some kindness or char- ity to his less fortunate fellow-creatures. His acts of munificence to institutions devoted to charity, religion or education, were frequent and often princely, while to the deserving poor who became the object of them they were invariably extended with true and generous sympathy. Colonel Scott was a born leader of men. He cared nothing for political power, yet he wielded it by the very force of his nature and surroundings. Every President of the United States, from Lincoln to Hayes, sought his counsel at times, and profited by it. His own name was once seriously canvassed for the Chief Magistracy,-at the Liberal Republican Convention in Chicago, in 1872,-but he was unadvised and in- different about the contest. His aspirations were confined to his vocation, beyond which he seemed to possess no personal ambition. A bulwark of strength to the Republic in the hour of greatest danger, he was likewise a warm and helpful friend of the stricken South when she sought to re- trieve her broken fortunes. In his own State, Col- onel Scott was active and prominent for a period of fully twenty years, and but few great movements occurring in it during that time were unaffected by his counsel or substance. But his efforts and labors in the great fields of industry and trade did not comprise all his activities. He was foremost in aid- ing churches, schools, asylums, and hospitals. His affection went out strongly to the soldiers of the war and to their orphans. His interest in the Cen- tennial Exhibition at Philadelphia was a prime fac- tor in its success. The same may be said of his en- dorsement of the development of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. It is not too much to say that he did more than any other individual of his time in liberalizing the whole policy of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the municipality of Philadel- phia, and the remarkable progress made in the de- velopm nt of the wealth of both city and State is largely due to his conception and efforts. His mon- ument may fittingly be described as the Pennsyl- vania Railroad, which he really created and raised to be the greatest in the world. but in reality it is not properly limited to any one institution or corpora- tion, for, like the history of his deeds, it is to be found
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in the great material advancement and prosperity of the Keystone State. Everything that tended to promote the well-being of society, church or State, enlisted his sympathies and could count upon his means. In administrative powers he had few if any equals, in broad usefulness as a citizen few peers. Fortune lavished her golden favors upon him as the reward of his wisely directed energies. But though his labors were crowned with success, wealth and honors, his health was spent, and in a little over a year after regretfully resigning the Presidency of his road, he laid down life's burden forever. To say that he was regretted but feebly expresses the gen- eral grief at his loss. His departure made a notable vacancy among the great of the land-one that may never be filled,-for besides being great in all the qualities which ennoble the citizen, he was undoubt- edly the master railway mind of the Continent. Colonel Scott was twice married. His first wife, to whom he was united in the fall of 1848, was Miss Mullison, daughter of Mr. Reuben Mullison of Co- lumbia, Penn. Five years after her marriage this young wife died, leaving two children, a son, James -for many years an able assistant to his father, es- pecially in the direction of the "Texas Pacific"- and a daughter, who is the wife of Mr. Bickley, once prominent in Philadelphia banking circles. Colonel Scott married, secondly, in 1865, Miss Annie D. Rid- dle-daughter of a leading citizen and journalist of Pittsburgh,-who with two children, survives her husband. Two of Colonel Scott's sisters married well-known Philadelphians, viz .: Major Patton and Colonel Stewart. Mrs. Stewart is still living, as is also James D. Scott, a brother of Colonel Scott's, and a prominent and prosperous merchant of Cliam- bersburg, Pa.
JAMES A. BEAVER.
GENERAL JAMES ADDAMS BEAVER, Gover- nor of Pennsylvania, was born at Millerstown, Perry County, Pennsylvania, October 21, 1837. Gen- cral Beaver, himself a soldier of undaunted courage and brilliant service, comes of a fighting family. "For a century and a half," says Colonel Frank A. Burr, his biographer, " no war had been fought on the Continent in which its members had not played their share, and it has been their lot to win in each great wave of religious and national agitation, lead- ing * * friends and townsmen conspicuous * for resolution and bravery. Its coming to this country was in that extraordinary emigration which transferred to America and England the best of
France in the Huguenots, who left all after the rev- ocation of the edict of Nantes. Huguenots of Elsass, Protestant by faith, by birth and race of that Teuton strain which filled the province, com- bining in some sort the better qualities of the two nations between which Elsass lies as a fronticr pro- vince. German to the core, leaving his home for a faith condemned in France, abandoning a German province recently torn from the German Empire and now restorcd, the first Beaver founded in Chester County, (Pennsylvania), about 1740, a new line, which had about it in the making, the resolution, the endurance and the high faith which in three wars was to distinguish its members." This ancestor, by name George Bcaver, was one of the passengers in the "good ship Friendship," which left Holland in 1744, and landed her living freight in Pennsylva- nia. He was well equipped, both mentally and physically, to meet the demands of life in the New World. He chose farming as an occupation and resolutely bent his energies to the task of making for himself and his little family, who accompanied him, a comfortable home. Like most of his com- peers and associates, pioneers in the American wil- derness, he took a hand in the Indian wars, bat- tling, like them, not so much for conquest as for peaceable existence in the region they had wrested from Nature, after many hardships and sore trials. A son and namesake of this hardy pioneer was stirred to the heart by the resolve of his compatriots to throw off the yoke of England, and "was among the first to shoulder his musket for the indepen- dence of the colonies," bearing himself witli con- spicuous courage and fortitude through the weary and terrific struggle which culminated in the birth of the Republic. At the close of hostilities he set- tled in Franklin County, Pa., and there married Catharine Kieffer, the sister of an army comrade. One of the, children born to this union was Peter Beaver, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Peter Beaver inherited many of the sturdy traits of character which had long distinguished his ancestors on both sides. He mastered the use- ful trade of tanner and afterwards removing from Franklin to Lebanon County, engaged in commer- cial pursuits. He was a devout Christian and seems to have cared more for the care of souls than for the making of his fortune, as he never acquired riches, although he did acquire what he regarded as far more precious, viz : a profound influence in the community, not only as a respected merchant, but also as a successful preacher of the Methodist Church, in which he was duly " set apart " as a Deacon and Elder. He married a Miss Gilbert, of a Pennsylvania Dutch family, and at his death left
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
six sons, George, Samuel and Jacob, all deceased, and Peter, Jesse and Thomas, still living. Both George and Jesse each in turn represented Perry County, Pa., in the State Legislature ; and Thomas, for many years a member of the great dry goods house of Barcroft, Beaver & Co., one of the pio- neers in the wholesale trade in Philadelphia, and also an iron-master of wealth and prominence, has likewise held political office. Both he and his brother Jesse are now respected residents of Dan- ville, Pa. Jacob, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Lebanon County, Pa., in 1805. Following the example of his parent hc engaged in mercantile pursuits, going into business in early manhood, at Millerstown, where his brother Thomas subsequently became associated with him as part- ner. Together they conducted a general merchan- dising business, and being among the first to avail themselves of the completion of the Pennsylvania Canal, derived considerable additional profit from heavy shipments of grain. "Jacob Beaver married Ann Eliza Addams, whose father, Abraham Addams, had come from Berks to Perry County about the year 1811, and purchased a tract of land, upon part of which Millerstown grew up. The greater part of this purchase is still in the family. At the upper end of Millerstown stands a large stone house, which, in its time, was considered a stately mau- sion. This Abraham Addams built, and here he spent his last days. The Addamses made themselves a place in the history of Pennsylvania. John, brother of Abraham, commanded one of the two brigades of Pennsylvania militia ordered to rendezvous at York during the War of 1812. Another brother, Wil- liam, was a member of the Nineteenth and Twen- tieth Congresses, making an honorable record as an intelligent and faithful legislator." The family of Jacob and Ann Eliza Beaver consisted of two sons and two daughters. James Addams Beaver was the third child and eldest son. His mother, left a widow three years after his birth, married, in 1845, the Rev. S. H. McDonald, of Millerstown, and, in 1846, removed with her husband and children to Belleville, Mifflin County. James began his educa- tion in the district school at Millerstown, and con- tinued it at home " under the genial, developing in- fluence of a good step-father, who was an exem- plary Christian and a scholar." His health was not robust, and his gentle, loviug mother, fear- ing that he might not prove physically equal to rugged pursuits, watched over his studies with the deepest solicitude, guiding and encouraging him in their mastery, and tenderly leading him onward to that excellence which she fondly hoped would qualify him for a professional career. The years
1850, 1851 and 1852 were thus spent at home in preparing for the academic course later on. As a resident in a farming country the lad was no stran- ger to manual labor. Such tasks as he was ade- quate to perform were entered upon willingly and were carried on with zeal and judgment. An oc- casional dollar thus earned delighted the heart of the mother, proud of her boy's industry, no less than it lightened the lad's task, often covering a whole day's exertion under a broiling sun. In 1852, with improved health, he was entered at Pine Grove Academy. His progress, when stimulated by riv- alry with other boys, was extremely rapid, and at the age of seventeen he successfully passed exami- nation for admission to the junior class of Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, where he was graduated with his class in 1856, taking his Bachelor's degree with honor before he had completed his eighteenth year. It is worthy of mention here that of the fifty-six members of this class, twenty-two took an active part in the War of the Rebellion. "Leaving col- lege, young Beaver settled at Bellefonte, and en- tered the law office of Hon. H. N. McAllister, a dis- tinguished lawyer of that place, who died while a member of the Convention which framed the new Constitution of Pennsylvania. He applied himself with such assiduity to his studies, that when he had barely reached his majority he was admitted to the bar of Centre County. He was so thoroughly grounded in the principles of the law, so pains-tak- ing in his work, so ready in speech and forcible in argument, that he at once made an impression, and was accounted a good lawyer of more than ordinary promise. His preceptor, recognizing his merit, and having need of such assistance as he could render in a large and important practice, took him into partnership. Despite the disparity of years, the partners found in each other genial companionship, which ripened into a friendship of great warmth. Their relations were destined to become even more close after the junior partner had won distinction in the field." The opening of the Civil War found the young lawyer holding the rank and commission of Second Lieutenant in the Bellefonte Fencibles, a company of militia, which he had joined a year or two previous, and the commander of which, Cap- tain Andrew G. Curtin, soon became famous as Pennsylvania's "War Governor." When the firing on Fort Sumter aroused the loyal North, no man's heart thrilled with a purer patriotism than that which beat iu the bosom of the young militia offi- cer, now by election promoted to the First Lieuten- antcy of his company. Writing to his beloved mother on April 17, 1861, when already under or- ders for the front, and unable to see her, he said :
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" You have doubtless anticipated the action I have taken in the present alarming condition of our Na- tional affairs, and I hope I know my mother too well to suppose that she would counsel any other course than the one which I have taken. I can almost imagine that I hear you saying, ' My son, do your duty,' and I hope no other feeling than that of duty urges me on. If I know my own heart, duty -my duty first and above all to God, my duty to humanity, my duty to my country and my duty to posterity-all point in one and the same direction. Need I say that that direction points to the defence of our Nation in this hour of her peril?" Noble and patriotic woman that she was, that mother re- plied, commending her son's prompt action and cheering him with her blessing. In the light of his subsequent military career his three months' ser- vice with the Fencibles was a mere trifle, yet it was weighty, inasmuch as it tested and sealed the young officer's devotion to his country. As Company H. of the Second Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. Frederick S. Stumbaugh, commanding, the Bellefonte Fencibles were mustered into the service of the United States on April 21, 1861, and on the evening of the same day were dispatched by rail to Washington. The burning of the bridge at Coc- keysville, Md., by the rebels, prevented further progress, and the command was ordered to return to York. While here Lieut. Beaver was detached from his company by special order, and appointed Adjutant of the Seventh Pennsylvania Regiment. At his own request and to the delight of his men, who could not bear to lose their favorite, this ap- pointment was cancelled. After varied services, of a useful, but not dangerous character, and having once sniffed battle at Falling Waters, where Gen- eral Patterson engaged the enemy in the first fight of the war, the term of the " Second " expired ; and at Harrisburg on the 26th of July, it was duly mus- tered out. Lieutenant Beaver lost no time in get- ting back again into military harness-this time "for the war." Joining Thomas Welsh, of Lancaster County, and J. M. Kilbourne, of Potter County, hc took a leading part in the work of organizing the Forty-fifth Regiment, which occupied the warm weather period of 1861. On October 18, 1861, this command was mustered into the service, and Lieu- tenant Beaver was raised by election to the rank of Licutenant-Colonel, his two associates in the order named above, being chosen respectively, Colonel and Major. On October 21, the "Forty-fifth " left camp for Washington. About a month later it started for Fortress Monroe, whence, on December 6 it sailed for Port Royal, S. C. Ordered by General Sherman to occupy the Sea Islands, Colonel Welsh
divided his regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel Beaver, with Companies A, C, D, E and I, relieved the "Seventy-ninth New York " at Fort Walker. In January, 1862, Lieutenant-Coloncl Beaver with his five companies relieved the "Fifty-fifth Pennsylva- nia," and part of the "Seventh Connecticut," at Hilton Head Island, a position of great importance. Subsequently, the regiment being ordered to guard the military railroad from Acquia Creek to Freder- icksburg and beyond, Colonel Welsh and two com- panies took position at the Creek, and Lieutenant- Colonel Beaver was sent with the remainder of the command to Brooke's Station. The duty at this post was neither pleasant nor exciting, therefore it was not strange that the ambitious young officer readily exchanged it for one promising service in a more active field, far more congenial despite the added risk. In response to President Lincoln's call for 600,000 volunteers, a regiment was raised in Centre County, Pa., and the leading citizens of that place joined the company officers in asking Gover- nor Curtin to appoint Lieutenant-Colonel Beaver to the command. Notwithstanding the recent order of the War Department prohibiting the acceptance of new commands by officers then in the service, the case of Lieutenant-Colonel Beaver, through the influence of Governor Curtin, was made an excep- tion, and on September 3, he resigned the Lieu- tenant-Colonelcy of the " Forty-fifth " to enter upon his new duties as Colonel. The regiment was com- pleted and organized September 8, and within a few hours was guarding twelve miles of the North- ern Central Railway, which was in danger from the cavalry of Lee, who was then threatening Pennsyl- vania. In the great battle of Antietam, Colonel Beaver's regiment was not engaged, although within hearing of the conflict. Among the 30,000 left upon this bloody field was Lieutenant J. Gilbert Beaver, Colonel Beaver's younger and only brother, who was killed while valiantly leading his men right in- to the enemy's works. The two had always re- garded each other with deep affection, and it was not the least cruel of the fortunes of war that as- signed the survivor to such urgent duty on the day of his brother's burial, as to prevent his being pres- ent at the sad and simple rites. Colonel Beaver's fine touches in the management and disciplining of his men raised them to such a high state of perfec- tion that they became one of the wonders of the army. Within three months a style and efficiency had been acquired which led to their being mis- taken by experts for " regulars." In the Fredericks- burg campaign the "One Hundred and Forty- eighth" was ordered to the front, and reaching Washington after midnight, December 10, march-
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ed five miles to join the Army of the Potomac, and then for five days pressed forward through drench- ing rains and over almost impassable roads, anxious to be in time to participate in the impending battle. Again they were disappointed, for by the time the regiment had reached Falmouth on the 18th, Fred- ericksburg had already passed into history. But there was gallant service in storc for this well-dis- ciplined and plucky command. Following the re- pulse of Burnside in his " matcliless, but fruitless" attempts at victory, the army went into winter quar- ters. The One Hundred and Forty-eighth was now assigned to the First Brigade, First Division, Second Corps, commanded by the dashing and valiant Han- cock. Colonel Beaver was delighted. His opinion of General Hancock, written at this time, shows how carefully he studied his surroundings and those with whom he was brought into personal contact. "Our division commander, General Hancock, is one of the best officers of this army," said he, " and, as we are but little interested in those who are be- yond our own division, I feel very much disposed to rejoice that we have found a man of so much ex- perience, nerve and decision." Little else occu- pied his attention during these three months of en- forced idleness, than the disciplining of his com- mand, which reached such a state of perfection as to elicit the most flattering compliments. Proud of his men and their success, Colonel Beaver within eighteen months thrice declined the Brigadier- General's command in order to remain with them. He looked upon " wire-pulling for promotion," as too utterly contemptible to be considered. Of Hooker, who succeeded Burnside, he wrote: "Gen- eral Hooker is proceeding with a degree of caution and prudence which do him great credit, and seem to deny the general impression that he is rash and im- petuous." His sentiments in the face of imminent danger are thus expressed in a letter to his mother : " I do not despair of my country's future. God is indeed trying us with fire, but it is the fire which purifies, and if the Nation comes out of the crucible refined, purified, sanctified, what are thousands of lives and millions of treasure compared with the new birth. Oh, mother, if my life can atone for any National evil; if I were satisfied that the re- sult of this struggle is to be union, purity, liberty, how gladly I would resign life !" A few days after this letter was written, Colonel Bcaver and his men were moving forward to their baptism of blood at Chancellorsville. On Sunday, the second day of the battle, this came. Hooker, who had ordered a brigade of the First Division of the Second Corps to arrest the advance of Stuart, who was carrying out Stonewall Jackson's plan of turning the Union
right, saw the regiment early in the morning, mov- ing from the abatis where it had been lying all night awaiting an attack from the front, and learn- ing that it was Colonel Beaver's, immediately or- dered it to occupy a wood already full of Stuart's Confederate troops, with whom an engagement be- gan almost immediately, at close range. "The fight had barely opened when a volley enfiladed the exposed regiment pushed into the jaws of the rebel advance." Almost at the first fire Colonel Beaver fell, hit hard below the waistband. To himself and to all about him the wound seemed mortal, but he declined the services of those who sprang to his as_ sistance, saying : "Go to your places, it will be time enough to bury the dead when the battle is over." An hour later he learned from one of the division operating staff, Dr. George L. Potter, of Bellefonte, that a gutta-percha pencil-which had been smashed to atoms-had turned the ball from its course, causing it to plough a great track through the fleshy part of the abdomen only, and thus saved injury to the intestines. All day the regi- ment swayed to and fro with the fortunes of war, never leaving the fatal wood until night, by which time one hundred and twenty-five of its number had been killed and wounded. But it had held its own all day, and won not only glory for itself, but the highest official praise for its gallant Colonel. Obliged to leave the field, Colonel Beaver was re- moved to his home at Bellefonte, yet before his wound had fairly closed he was again at Harrisburg for orders. He was dissuaded with difficulty from rejoining his command, but as a sort of compro- mise was placed in command at Camp Curtin, where, in response to Lincoln's call for 120,000 troops, thousands of emergency men were assem- bling for the purpose of driving Lee's army out of Pennsylvania. Here Colonel Beaver rendered most efficient service in organizing and pushing forward the new troops. By June 27th he was able to mount his horse, for the first time since being wounded, but although he sought to be relieved that he might join his regiment, he was held back until the middle of July, when, by special order, his request was granted. On this occasion Major General Couch, commanding the Department of the Susquehanna, tendered him his earnest thanks for his valuable services in the organization of troops, performed "while absent from duty on leave, on account of wounds received in battle." Nearly a score of years later General Couch, referring to Colonel Beaver's devotion to duty at this time, said :
" He was a soldier who could be trusted morning, noon and night." After rejoining his command, Colonel Beaver participated with it in all the opera-
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tions in which the Second Corps was engaged. In the engagement at Auburn Mills, October 14, 1863, he narrowly escaped death, one ball from a sharp- shooter's rifle piercing his saddle and another de- stroying the canteen which swung from his shoul- der. At the battle of Bristow Station, "the short- est, sharpest and cleanest fight of the war," he was present and took an active part. He impressed Warren as he had Hooker, and the former regarded him as " a real leader," and as " having no supe- rior" even in that excellent corps. With his brave and finely disciplined command, he followed the fortunes of the Second Corps through all its bril- liant campaigns, his men constantly occupying " an exposed point on an exposed corps." Although present and in line in the Wilderness he escaped attack. From the Wilderness to Spottsylvania he was frequently entrusted with perilous services, all of which he carried forward with zeal, discretion and bravery, as well as success. In the hot fight- ing on the Po, May 10, 1864, the " One Hundred and Fifty-eighth " lost one hundred and seventy- five men. "Colonel Beaver's share in the difficult
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