History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 109

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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1 We have drawn largely in this sketch from the very valuable and interesting " Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania," etc., by William C. Armor, Philadelphia, 187%.

" Mr. Armor, in his " Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania," mys Gen. Geary was born near Mount Pleasant. Ou this point there is not . unanimity of opinion.

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sheriff, probate judge, recorder, notary public, and coroner. The Court of First Instance exercised both civil and criminal jurisdiction throughout the city, and, besides this, adjudicated all those cases arising under the port regulations which usually fall within the cognizance of Courts of Admiralty.

On May the 1st, 1850, in a vote upon the first city charter and for its officers, Judge Geary was elected the first mayor of San Francisco by a large majority. Ho declined a re-election, but accepted a place on the Board of Commissioners, which had been created by the Legislature for the management of the public debt of the city, and was made its president. As chairman of the Democratic Territorial Committee, he was instrumental in securing the Free State clause in the constitution of the State, and the reference of that instrument to the people for their sanction.

In February, 1852, he returned to Westmoreland, where his wife, in failing health then, soon after died. Ho engaged in farming interests here, and specially directed his attention to the rearing of stock. In 1855 President Pierce offered him the Governorship. of Utah Territory, which he declined. He, however, accepted the Governorship of Kansas, and was com- missioned in July, 1855. He arrived at Fort Leaven- worth September 9th, and his administration extended only from that date to March, 1857, at which time the Presidency of Buchanan commenced.

Gen. Geary was in Westmoreland when the civil war commenced. Immediately on receipt of the attack on Fort Sumter he opened an office for recruits, and offered his individual services to the President. They were accepted, and he was commissioned a colonel, and authorized to raise a regiment. In the course of a few weeks he received applications from sixty-six companies, soliciting permission to join his command. On account of the numerous and urgent appeals he was permitted to increase his regiment to sixteen companies, with one battery of six guns, making the full complement to consist of fifteen hundred and fifty-one officers and men. The artillery company was that which subsequently became the celebrated Knapp's battery.

The services of Gen. Geary in the civil war on the part of the Union army were so varied and so distin- guished that they may be relegated by us with pro- priety from a provincial history to the history of the nation, to which they belong. The general reader has at hand so many varied and comprehensive his- tories of this struggle that we are sure that whatever we might say here would be useless verbiage.

Gen. Geary, who was a Democrat until the break- ing out of the war, at the ending of it became a Re- publican, and in 1866 was elected by that party Governor. He was inaugurated on the 15th of Jan- uary, 1867. On the expiration of his first term he was renominated without much show of opposition and re-elected by something of a reduced majority. He served out his term and died.

Governor Geary was married on the 12th of Feb- ruary, 1848, to Margaret Ann, daughter of James R. Logan, of Westmoreland County. By this marriage he had issue three sons, one of whom died in infancy, and another was killed in the battle of Wauhatchie; the third is an officer in the regular army. Mrs. Geary died on the 28th of February, 1853, and in November, 1858, he was married to Mrs. Mary C. Henderson, daughter of Robert R. Church, of Cum- berland County, and had issue several children.

Governor Geary through life was a man of good habits and strong physical powers, and greatly owed his success to great energy, prudence, and temper- ance. He was a Presbyterian in religion, and be- longed to a number of secret societies. He was proud of his military titles and somewhat fond of show and ostentation.

HON. JAMES KEENAN

was born in the ancient village of Youngstown. He struggled in early life with many adversities. These, however, only served to make him self-reliant, and to bring into greater activity traits of character which were in after-life of no inconsiderable importance to his success. When war was declared by the United States against Mexico he was among the first to offer his services, and on 1st of December, 1846, volunteered as a private in Capt. Herron's company, the "Dut quesne Grays," of Pittsburgh, First Regiment Penn- sylvania Volunteers. In 1847 he returned from Mex- ico, laboring under a severe chronic disease which he had contracted by exposure on the field. He, how- ever, rapidly recovered, and soon after received the appointment of a lieutenant in the Eleventh United States Army Infantry, and opened a recruiting-office in Greensburg. Again, in the spring of 1848, he started with his command for Mexico, and remained in the service until the close of the war, when his commission expired. His gallantry in the ser- vice, and his bold and daring adventures at the head of his command, brought him prominently into no- tice, and after his return from Mexico he was, in the fall of 1849, elected register and recorder for Westmoreland County. At the expiration of his term he was again re-elected to the same office, in 1852, for another period of three years. During the period that Gen. Keenan was register and re- corder he introduced various improvements in the manner of keeping the books and papers of the office, which were followed by his successors, and which have proved highly beneficial to the public. On the 2d of February, 1852, while he held the office of regis- ter and recorder, he was appointed by Governor Big- ler adjutant-general of Pennsylvania. In June of the same year President Pierce tendered him the position of consul to Hong Kong. This latter appointment was held under consideration for some time, which he, however, finally concluded to accept, and in the fall of 1853 resigned the offices of register and recorder

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and adjutant-general, and sailed in October, 1858, for Hong Kong, China. During the first year of Mr. Buchanan's administration, Gen. Keenan paid a visit to his friends in this country, and while here was mar- ried to Miss Elizabeth Barclay, an estimable lady of Greensburg, with whom he immediately left the United States for his consulate in Hong Kong, which position he occupied until the 22d of Jan- uary, 1862, when he with his family sailed in the ship "Surprise" for the United States, and arrived in New York on the 16th of the next May, very ill, having been confined to his berth in the ship for six weeks previous to the end of the voyage. On the day after his arrival he was removed with much difficulty to Blanchard's Hotel, on Fourth Avenue, where he remained until Thursday evening, the 22d. Although he seemed to revive somewhat for the first forty-eight hours after landing, yet the best medical skill and kindest attention was unavailing against the deep-seated disease, which had got such a firm hold on him, and he afterwards commenced sinking, which continued until it terminated in death.

His mortal remains, under the care of James C. Clarke, his brother-in-law, were brought to Greens- burg on the next Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon interred in the cemetery at Greensburg in the presence of the largest concourse of citizens that perhaps ever assembled in this place on such an occasion.

Gen. Keenan was & young man, but he possessed endowments, both mental and physical, which enti- tled him to a very high position in the estimation of his fellow-citizens. From his first entry into public life until his final end, his career had been upward and onward, and although he had not reached the zenith of life, yet no young man in Western Penn- sylvania had a more brilliant career before him.

A warm personal friend, who published this sketch of his life, had this further to say, which is not an overdrawn characterization :

"From a long and intimate acquaintance with the deceased of the . most unreserved character, first formed in 1846, the writer of this notice can say, without exaggeration, that Gen. Keenan was pos- sessed of many of the noblest qualities that endow human nature. He was generous, brave, intrepid, and courageous, yet gentle, kind, and humane; his knowledge of human character was very accurate, and his confidence was consequently seldom mis- placed ; his manners were courteous, easy, and grace- ful, not assumed for the occasion, but natural, the generous overflowing of a happy disposition and be- neficent heart. He was not surprised or disconcerted by sudden danger, but only roused to cool and 'in- trepid action. He had many of the qualities of a great commander, and if events had drawn him into that channel he would doubtless have greatly distin- guished himself.

" Without the aid of either friends or fortune, ex- cept those whom he endeared to him by the excel-

lence of his own character, he rose rapidly, step by step, without a single reverse or defeat, to a position of great public importance, and if God had spared his life many predicted for him a still more brilliant career. The excellence of his person, the counter- part of his mortal organization, was in perfect har- mony with his mental structure. Nature is seldom so lavish of her gifts. An intimate friend may say that, within the limits of his knowledge, he never used these glorious gifts, ready passports to a confid- ing heart, to ensnare innocent and unsuspecting inno- cence. Being an elder brother, many of the responsi- bilities both of a father and a brother were cast upon him in early life. With what unceasing fidelity and tenderness he provided for his widowed mother, and with what wise counsels he guided the steps of his young and inexperienced brothers, their bleeding hearts will now recount. May we not trust and hope that these noble traits of character, preserved in the midst of so many temptations, were evidences that the hand of God was upon him, and that the glory of His power and the munificence of His grace will be magnified throughout all eternity by grateful homage of his ransomed spirit, perpetually rendered for undeserved mercy.

He died on Thursday evening, May 22, 1862, aged thirty-eight years, eight months, and six days.

RICHARD COULTER DRUM.

Richard Coulter Drum was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., Pa., in 1825, and from the Greens- burg Academy graduated to Jefferson College, where, after spending a short time in the acquisition of the higher studies, he commenced the study of the law, having managed in the interim to pick up the very exemplary trade of the printer. From these pursuits he was awakened by the sound of the bugle from the Rio Grande, where his brother, Capt. Simon H. Drum, was already serving with the Fourth Regular Artillery, and shouldering his musket as a private soldier on the 8th of December, 1846, he entered the Mexican war as a member of Company K of the First Pennsylvania Volunteers. Scarcely two months later, on the 18th of February, 1847, he was commis- sioned a second lieutenant of infantry and assigned to the Ninth, in which he performed such gallant and meritorious services before Chapultepec on the 13th of September as to gain him a brevet, an event that was saddened by the untimely death of his brother, who met his death the same day in the famous assault upon the Belen Gate. At the close of the war he was transferred to the Fourth Artillery and ordered to Florida, his regimental comrades including such names as Pemberton, Getty, A. P. Howe, Garesche, Garnett, Mansfield, Lovell, Fitz-John Porter, Couch, and Gibbon, and where he awaited his promotion, which met him at Fort Sumter on the 16th of Sep- tember, 1850. During the next decade his services were marked by stirring episodes and flattering marks

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of approbation. He fought with Harney in the peril- ous Sioux expedition, and as aide-de-camp to that gallant veteran aided to maintain the peace during the Kansas disturbance of 1855. In November of the following year he was appointed an aide to Gen. Persifer F. Smith, and acting assistant adjutant-gen- eral of the Department of the West, and at his death, two years later, he rejoined his battery at Fort Mon- roe, where he was made adjutant of the post, and on the 16th of March, 1861, was transferred to the ad- jutant-general's department with a captaincy by brevet. This merited promotion, which sent him with Gen. Sumner to the Presidio, was unfortunate in the respect that it removed him from the scenes where his knowledge of the practical tactics of war would have been of the greatest value to the government, to an isolated command where the duties and dan- gers were great, requiring management of the most delicate character.

The necessity of holding open the overland route to travel, of repressing the tendency of the Indian tribes to revolt at a time when the resources of the government were severely strained in the States, of watching the covert hostility of the Mormons, and holding the Mexican frontier against incursions from the South, where Maximilian and Bazaine had se -. cured a threatening foothold, were duties that called for the most dextrous management and the most thorough comprehension of the situation. How well he performed these duties, and with what satisfaction to the people of the Pacific coast, was shown by the fact that at the termination of his service, on the 1st of October, 1866, a sum of money exceeding $40,000 was raised at San Francisco and presented him as a testimonial of their appreciation. While in Cali- fornia he was promoted, on the 3d of August, 1861, to the rank of major in the adjutant-general's depart- ment, and on the 17th of July, 1862, to lieutenant- colonel.

Returning East, he was made adjutant-general to Gen. Meade, whom he accompanied a month later to the Third Military District, where he rendered no un- important aid in the arduous duties attending the re- construction of the States of Georgia and Alabama. After turning over these States to the civil authorities Gen. Drum attended Gen. Meade to the new Depart- ment of the South, where he remained until March 20, 1869, having been promoted to a colonelcy on the 22d of February, and later to the Division of the At- lantic, with headquarters at Philadelphia. On the death of Gen. Meade 'he continued as adjutant-gen- eral to Gen. Hancock, who succeeded him, where he remained until the 26th of November, 1873, when he was sent to the Division of the Missouri at Chicago, where he remained until the 2d of May, 1878. Dur- ing the labor riots of the summer of 1877, Gen. Drum again found occasion for an exercise of that personal judgment and sound discretion which had character- ized his administration at San Francisco. The threat-

ening emergency found both Gens. Sherman and Sheri- dan absent on the plains, far beyond the reach of the telegraph, a howling mob in the streets of Chicago, crazy with the tidings of the success of their fellows at Pittsburgh, and a like impending fate hanging over the city. Aware of his ability, the War Department placed upon Gen. Drum the full power and responsi- bility of maintaining the public peace. Without an instant's hesitation he collected all the regular and militia forces within reach, seized the gas and water- works, planted Gatling guns at strategical points, and patroled the city with bristling bayonets, and by such prompt and vigorous measures checked and dispersed the mob without firing a gun, and before it could ef- fect the slightest damage to person or property. For these services he received the public thanks of the people and the highest commendation of the War De- partment. On the 2d of May, 1878, he was ordered to Washington, where he remained until the retire- ment of Adjt .- Gen. Townsend on the 15th of June, 1880, when, without political influence or personal ef- fort, he succeeded to the vacancy amid general appro- bation of the appointment.

Gen. Drum signalized his entrance into office as adjutant-general of the army by one of the most im- portant moves in the history of the War Department. Recognizing the importance of the uniformed State militia as the nursery which in time of war must be called upon to furnish the officers to organize and command the volunteer forces, and with a view to as -. similate the rules and forms governing both the reg- ular army and the militia, he addressed a letter to the adjutants-general of the States, in which he expressed the warmest desire to be of service to the State forces, and intimating the propriety of sending them copies of all general orders issued from the War Department. The responses to this overture of friendship and co- operation were most hearty and unanimous. "It is a happy augury for the future of this country," re- marked Gen. Jones, of North Carolina, "when high officials of the government begin to recognize the true relations between the regular army and militia or Na- tional Guard. It is an indication that the men who now shape and control public affairs are returning to the wisdom which prevailed with those who laid the foundations of this republic, and leads me to believe that the militia may yet become what it was originally intended to be, a thoroughly organized, disciplined, effective force, 'a sure and permanent bulwark of na- tional defense.'" "I have to thank you for your ex- treme courtesy in this matter," writes Gen. Berry, of Massachusetts, "and to express again my pleasure at the interest taken by you, an interest which is so much needed, and which will tend to raise the standard of the organized militia throughout the country." "Your arguments and conclusions," said Gen. Backus, of Cal- ifornia, "are worthy of the distinguished officer and gentleman who now presides over the adjutant-gen- eral's department of the United States army, and are

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such as would be expected from a gentleman who, while assistant adjutant-general of the Department of California, so successfully administered affairs as to. leave pleasant remembrances and a host of friends."

A year later this initiatory step was followed by issuing to the States, upon requisition, the tactical works and blank forms and books prescribed for the regular army, as still further assimilating the man- agement, drill, and internal government of the two forces, while regular officers have been detailed to in- spect the camp and troops of the militia at their an- nual musters. The importance of this step cannot be overestimated, and the progrees of the National Guard towards that discipline and development which is imperatively demanded of the great factor of success will date from the moment when Gen. Drum, as adjutant-general of the army, extended the helping hand of the national government.

In private life Gen. Drum presides at the head of one of the most charming households in Washington. He married, during his subaltern days in Louisiana, the daughter of Gibbs Morgan, of Baton Rouge, a notable Southern family, our present minister to Mexico being a brother to Mrs. Drum, who is now one of the most popular and accomplished ladies in so- ciety, and has two daughters, one a widow and the other a recent debutante. Their home is a large and substantial pressed-brick house, situated on K Street, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth, in the centre of fashionable Washington, and is an attractive example of the modern architecture, involving carved brown- stone and brick trimmings, stained window-glass, with halls and parlors finished in natural wood, and the whole furnished with elegance and taste.

It remains to be added that the general is about five feet nine inches in height, with a complexion that is florid, and hair and moustache gray and grizzled as becomes a soldier, and will weigh not far from one hundred and forty. To quote from a recent sketch, " he dresses in extreme good taste in civil costume, is quick in his movements, writes rapidly, decides quickly, knows a soldier when he sees him, works hard, is cautious in his manners, has a friendly smile and a quick frown, is not particularly religious, is given to fishing as a diversion, does not quarrel with the good things of this wicked world, and, take him all in all, he is a charming gentleman, a good officer, a true friend, and an admirable adjutant-general."1

Military History of Brig. Gen. Richard C. Drum, Adjutant-General of the United States Army .- Enrolled as a private in Company K, First Penn- sylvania Volunteers, Dec. 8, 1846, and was mustered into service Dec. 16, 1846. Served with his regiment in the war with Mexico (being engaged in the siege of Vera Cruz) until discharged at Vera Cruz, Mexico, March 17, 1847, having been appointed a second lieutenant, United States In- fantry, Feb. 18, 1847; second lieutenant, Ninth Infantry, April 9, 1847; transferred to the Fourth Artillery, March 8, 1848; promoted first lieu- tenant, Fourth Artillery, Sept. 16, 1850; brevet captain and assistant adjutant-general, March 16, 1861 ; vacated commission of first lieuten- ant, Fourth Artillery, May 14, 1861; major and assistant adjutant-gen- oral, Aug. 3, 1861; lieutenant-colonel and assistant adjutant-general,

July 17, 1808: colonel and sonistant adjutant-general, Job. 22, 1800 ; and brigadier general sad adjutant-general, June 16, 1880.

Breveted first lieutenant Sept. 18, 1847, for gallant sad meritorious conduct in the battle of Chapultepec; colonel, Sept. 34, 1864, for mert- torloos sad faithful service during the war, and brigadier-general, March 13, 1866, for faithful and meritorious service in the adjutant-gen- crai's department during the war.

Service: Joined the Ninth Infatry, May 19, 1847, and served there- with in the war with Mexico (engaged at the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, sad Gartts de Belea) to July. 1848, when he joined the Fourth Artillery, sad served with that regi- mest on route from Mexico to Fort Monroa, Va., to Ang. 14, 1848; at Fort Mearos, Va., to Oct. 21, 1848; Fort Pickens, Fla., to April 26, 1849; Baton Rouge, La., to June 4, 1860; on leave to Oct. 20, 1860; on detached service with light battery to March 11, 1861; with regiment at Fort Columbus, N. Y. H., to May 28, 1861; on detached service conducting recruits to Fort Kearney, Nob., to July 31, 1861; with regiment at Fort Columbus, N. Y. H., to Ang. 12, 1861 ; Fort Johnston, N. C., to June 6, 1862; Fort Brady, Mich., to October, 1863; Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to May 26, 1866; on detached service as acting commissary of subsistence of a battalion of the Sixth Infantry en route"to Fort Kearney, Neb., to July 1, 1866; with regiment in the field, Nebraska Territory, on expe- dition against hostile Sioux Indiane (being engaged at the action of Blue Water, Nob., Sept. 8, 1866), to Oct. 20, 1865; alde-de-camp to Gen. W. 8. Harney, commanding the Slouz expedition, to Nov. 10, 1886: aide-de- camp to Gen. P. F. Smith, commanding the Department of the West, cleo acting ceststaat adjutant-general at headquarters of thet department to May, 1858; with regiment at the artillery school, Fort Monroe, Va., from June 4, 1868 (also post-adjutant of school from September, 1868, to Jan. 9, 1800, and ordnance officer to April 31, 1800), to April 3, 1961; awaiting orders sad en route to California to May 6, 1861; on duty as sesistant adjutant-general at headquarters Department of the Pacific, San Francisco, Cal., to June, 1805; headquarters Department of California, to Oct. 1, 1866; headquarters Department of the East, Now York City, from Dec. 27, 1066, to Jan. 6, 1868; headquarters Third MIHi- tary District, Atlanta, Ga., to Ang. 1, 1868, and of the Department of the South to March 20, 1809 ; at headquarters Military Division of the At lantic, Philadelphia, Pa., from April 3, 1869, to Dec. 16, 1872, and at New York City to Nov. 96, 1873; headquarters Military Division of the Mis souri, at Chicago, Ill., from Nov. 28, 1873, to May 2, 1878; on duty in the adjutant-general's office, Washington, D. C., to present date, June 16, 1880.

COMMODORE JOHN BONNETT MARCHAND

was born on the 27th day of August, 1808, on the banks of the Sewickley, in Hempfield township, Westmore- land Co., Pa., on a farm located by his grandfather, Dr. David Marchand, in 1770, nine miles from Greens- burg. His father, Dr. D. Marchand, was elected pro- thonotary of the courts in 1823, and at the age of fifteen years young Marchand entered the office as clerk.

In December, 1828, he went to Philadelphia, and entered the United States navy. His appointment being dated in May previous, was sent to Greene County in mistake, thus causing the delay. In 1837 he was promoted to master, immediately after which he was put in charge of the expedition sent to survey the Savannah River. On the 15th of Septem- ber, 1841, he was put in command of the schooner "Van Buren," and on the 3d of September sailed from Baltimore to operate against the Seminole Indians in Florida. In this war he took a conspicuous part, and was frequently exposed to great danger in the swamps and bayous. On July 8, 1842, the Indian war being then over, he sailed from Indian Keys for the North. From this date on until 1843 his services were varied, the greater portion of the time being spent on board ship. On the 4th of May, 1843, he sailed from Hamp-

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 109

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: