USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
625
GEORGE A. McCALL.
of Major, for gallant conduct in the battle of Pelalicaha, who said : " He will do more honor to the rank than the rank can confer on him." He was with General Taylor in his march to the Rio Grande, and for "gallant and distinguished services" in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma he was brevetted Major and Lieutenant-Colonel. On the 7th of July, 1846, he was made Assistant Adjutant-General with the rank of Major, and on the 26th of December, 1847, Major of the Third infantry. His fellow-citizens of Philadelphia, justly glorying in his gallant bearing in recent battles, presented him with an elegant sword, as a token of their appreciation of his services, on his return from Mexico.
His health having been impaired by active duty, he deter- mined to spend a year in Europe, and, both in England and upon the Continent, visited military schools, and minutely inspected fortifications, camps, and hospitals, gaining a large acquaintance with the improvements in modern warfare. On his return he was placed in command of the Third infantry, stationed at Santa Fé. Before joining his regiment he was requested by the War Department to prepare a historical account of the territory newly acquired from Mexico, accompanied by statistical tables of population and resources, which was published by Congress. On the 10th of June, 1850, he was appointed Inspector-General of the United States Army, with the rank of a Colonel of cavalry, and as such made a personal examination of military posts and the troops in New Mexico, California, and Oregon. His health, which was never robust, again failing, on the 29th of April, 1853, he resigned his commission, determined to retire permanently to private life. Being well read in natural science he prosecuted his studies in this department, and made valuable contributions to its literature. In 1855, he removed from Philadelphia to a farm in Chester county, and here prepared and published a work entitled Letters from the Frontiers, in which he gave an account of his services in the Department of the West. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he was called to Harrisburg by Governor Curtin for advice and consultation. While there he was elected Colonel of the Tenth Reserve regiment, which position he declined. He was shortly after appointed Major-General by Governor Curtin,
40
626
MARTLIL. DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
and given command of the Pennsylvania Reserve corps, consisting of twelve regiments of infantry and one each of cavalry, artillery, and riflemen. He planned the movement on Dranesville, which resulted in the first victory gained by the Army of the Potomac. When Mcclellan moved to the Peninsula, McCall remained before Washington, and soon after marched along the line of the Alexandria railway and thence to Fredericksburg. He had thrown a part of his force across the stream, and his cavalry was moving down the Richmond railway, the purpose being to join McClellan overland, when he was ordered back and taken down the Potomac by transport. He arrived just as the Seven Days' battle was opening, and was thrust out to the fore-front, where he received the first shock at Beaver Dam Creek, on the 26th of June. McCall was here almost alone pitted against thrice his number. But he had chosen well his position and had thrown up earthworks-a lesson which the Potomac army was slow in learn- ing-and against him the tide of battle beat in vain. The victory was signal and complete, and attained at little cost, though im- mensely destructive to the foe. Having but a small force, and his right flank liable to be turned, he was recalled during the night, and moved back without loss, in the face of a vigilant enemy. On the 27th, at Gaines' Mill, McCall was held in re- serve till the front line of battle was broken and being driven back, when he was ordered forward. But here there had been no systematic and continuous earthworks thrown up, and a frag- ment of the Union army having been caught at a disadvantage, was overwhelmed, and his command suffered severely. At Charles City Cross Roads, on the 30th, was enacted the great military exploit of his life. It was next to the last of the noted Seven Days. Here it was that the rebel leaders had determined to fall upon the flank of the Union army and cut it in twain. But the vigilant McCall was there; and though the onsets of the foe were terrible and oft repeated, yet he withstood the brunt of their assaults, and by the aid of Hooker and Sumner, who came to his assistance, totally defeated the cherished purpose of the foe, though not without great loss and a terrible breaking and scourging of his gallant corps. Just at dusk, while reconnoitring with Major Stone of the Bucktail regiment, he was taken prisoner.
...
2
627
GEORGE A. McCALL.
"General McCall," says Stone, "had come out of the woods, wounded and alone, and taken his place at the head of the column. After the halt, the General took me forward a few paces with him, and in the darkness we suddenly found ourselves close upon the levelled muskets of a hostile column which filled the road in front of us. We were ordered to halt and dismount, but I turned and escaped, only slightly hurt, drawing two volleys from the enemy. General McCall was not so fortunate, and is in their hands." He was taken to Richmond and incarcerated in Libby Prison. After his release, having suffered from his wound and the unusual severity of the campaign, he resigned his place in the army, and returned to his home in Chester county, where he remained in private life until his death, which occurred on the 25th of February, 1868.
CHAPTER VII.
OHN WHITE GEARY, Colonel of the Twenty- eighth regiment, Brigadier and Major-General of volunteers, and Governor of Pennsylvania, was born on the 30th of December, 1819, near the little village of Mount Pleasant, in Westmoreland county, at the head of the Ohio valley, a region pronounced by the Duke of Carlisle to be the most picturesque and beautiful which the wide world affords. His father, Richard Geary, was a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and was a man of culture, and of singular uprightness and integrity of character. His mother, Margaret White, was a native of Washington county, Mary- land, of an old slaveholding family, and, like her husband, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Soon after their marriage the parents removed to Westmoreland county, where the father engaged in the manufacture of iron, which, owing to the depression in the market for that commodity, proved a losing venture, and he was obliged to abandon it, absorbing not only the capital he had invested but entailing debts which he was unable to liquidate. In this situation, doubly harassing from his delicate sense of honor, he resorted to teaching, for which he was well qualified ; but soon sank to his grave, his declining hours embittered and doubtless hastened by the sense of his indebtedness.
Many of the most gifted and successful of the public men of America have had an humble origin. Geary was no exception to this rule. A log cabin sheltered him in boyhood. There were four children, all boys. The first and third died young. The second, the Rev. Edward R., has for nearly twenty years prosc- cuted a faithful and consistent ministry in Oregon. The youngest, John W., after the usual preliminary course, entered Jefferson
. .
628
DAVID M JONES, Lt.Collio " Peg
R BPUCE RICKETTS. Cap" Bat E Coll Art
DANIEL LEASURE, Col 100' Roundhead Reg Brev Brug Gen
HIRAM C ALLEMAN. Lt Col 107th Regt Col 38! ML
EM WOODWARD Mayor 3." Reg 24 Reserve.
15 - Ben 6.2 and New York
629
JOHN W. GEARY.
College ; but owing to the death of his father he was obliged to leave before graduating. His mother had inherited a number of slaves, but, impelled by that strict sense of probity and justice which ever characterized her, she not only manumitted them but before doing so gave them all the rudiments of an education. That he might provide for that mother's immediate wants and make her comfortable, he taught school for a time, and by fru- gality was not only able to accomplish this filial duty but to complete his education. A short experience in a wholesale busi- ness house in Pittsburg convinced him that he was not born for a tradesman, and he prosecuted the study of civil engineering, for which he had early developed a fondness. He subsequently read law, and was admitted to practise. But, an opportunity opening for employment as an engineer in Kentucky, he went thither, and was engaged in the survey of several lines of public works, acting as the joint agent of the State and the Green River Railroad Company. With the income from this service, and the fortunate sale of a small land venture, he was enabled to return to his mother with sufficient means to discharge all his father's debts, which he did.
He soon after became assistant superintendent and engineer of the Allegheny and Portage Railroad in his own State, an im- portant and responsible position ; but he had not been long thus engaged before the Mexican war opened, and he at once aban- doned a lucrative place, and recruited a company in Cambria county which was called the American Highlanders. It was incorporated in the Second Pennsylvania regiment, Colonel Roberts, of which Geary was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel. It : joined General Scott's army at Vera Cruz and became a part of Quitman's division. His first action was at the Pass of La Hoya, and in the storming of Chapultepec he received a wound. Upon entering the valley of Mexico, Colonel Roberts was disabled by sickness, and the active command devolved upon Geary. In the sharp action at Garita de Belen, he displayed such intrepidity that, upon the fall of the city, General Quitman assigned him to the command of the great citadel. Colonel Roberts died soon afterwards, and Geary was promoted to succeed him.
The executive ability displayed in his Mexican service attracted
630
MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
the attention of President Polk, who appointed him Postmaster of San Francisco, and general mail agent with authority to establish offices, routes, and appoint postmasters - being in effect a deputy Postmaster-General on the Pacific coast. It was a posi- tion of great labor; but his ability to systematize soon enabled him to bring order out of chaos, and to inaugurate a well-regulated plan. A new administration soon succeeded with altered politics, and with it a change of Postmasters, and Geary was superseded by Jacob B. Moore. But he was not long suffered to remain in retirement. The citizens of San Francisco elected him First Alcalde, and shortly after he was made Judge of First Instance by the Military Governor of the Territory, General Riley. These were Mexican offices, and involved nearly all the civil and criminal business of the city. He was almost unanimously re- elected Alcalde, and when, in the following year, the Mexican forms gave place to American, he was chosen the first Mayor of the city. A turbulent population was now rushing to the new El Dorado, and his task in maintaining order was difficult. In the meantime the question of a State Constitution was presenting itself for decision, and though not a member of the convention which framed that instrument, his voice is known to have been potential in devising and carrying through in the face of the fire- eaters of the South the clause which excluded slavery, and made it a free State.
He had married, in 1843, Miss Margaret Ann, daughter of James R. Logan, of Westmoreland county. Her failing health de- cided him to return to the Atlantic States in hope of her restora- tion. Her death, soon after his arrival, caused him to abandon the purpose which he strongly cherished of going back to the Pacific coast and making it his permanent home. He accordingly de- voted himself to improved stock-raising and farming, in his native county. Three years had scarcely elapsed, and his farming was just beginning to take the form which he had prefigured, when he was called to Washington by President Pierce, and asked to take the governorship of Utah. This he declined, feeling that there was no field here for the development of executive ability. But when, a short time afterwards, he was urged by the Chief Magistrate to take the helm on the troubled waters of Kansas,
631
JOHN W. GEARY.
he recognized the opportunity for great usefulness, and promptly accepted it. The outlook before him was anything but promis- ing. Governor Reeder had failed to carry out the views of the administration, and had been superseded by Shannon, who in turn was leaving with no better success than his predecessor. Governor Geary was a known Democrat when he left Pennsyl- vania. He therefore entered the Territory with no very strong sympathies for the abolitionists, nor on the other hand had he any sentiments in common with the border ruffians. He accord- ingly determined to pursue an upright and impartial course, let who would go down before it. In his first communication to Secre- tary Marcy he says : "The existing difficulties are of a far more complicated character than I had anticipated." But he was one of the most hopeful and resolute of men, and the greater the diffi- culty the more was he aroused to meet it. After giving a graphic picture of the condition of the Territory, where murder, arson, and crime were running riot, he concludes by saying: "Such is the condition of Kansas, faintly pictured. It can be no worse. Yet I feel assured that I shall be able ere long to restore it to peace and quiet." His previous political teachings and expe- rience caused him to enter upon his duties with prejudices against the more violent of the abolitionists. Yet when he came face to face with the two parties, and understood the real designs and purposes of each-that one was bent on settlement, and the other on breaking up such settlement-he determined to allow no preconceived opinions to have weight, and he declared, in his first address to the people, "I have deliberately accepted the executive office, and as God may give me strength and ability, I will endeavor faithfully to discharge its varied requirements. . . . In my official action here, I will do justice at all hazards. Influ- enced by no other considerations than the welfare of the whole people of this Territory, I desire to know no party nor section, no North, no South, no East, no West-nothing but Kansas and my country." But this was not what the pro-slavery party wanted of a Governor, nor, as it subsequently appeared, what the administration at Washington designed. To break up free- soil emigration and settlement and make it a slave State was the only purpose. When, therefore, the Governor strove to stop
632
MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
outrage and violence, and give every bona fide settler a fair chance, he incurred the mortal hatred of the fire-caters, was thwarted by nearly every local officer and Federal appointee, was threatened with assassination, and was left alone to battle with the wrathful elements. "He no longer," says his biographer, " doubted his true position. He was alone in the Territory. He was not only not supported by a single officer sent there by the General Government, but every one of them was exerting his in- fluence and power to oppose his efforts to do justice and secure the peace he had effected." In one of his addresses to an excited crowd at Topeka which seemed bent on doing him personal vio- lence, the Governor said : "Gentlemen, I come not to treat with, but to govern you. There is now no other Governor in the Ter- ritory than myself. I will protect the lives and property of every peace-loving and law-abiding citizen with all the power I possess. I will punish every lawbreaker, whatever may be his position or pretensions. I will not for a moment tolerate any questioning of my authority. All who are in favor of restoring peace to this distracted Territory can range themselves under my banner; all others I will treat as bandits and robbers, and as such extir- pate them at the point of the bayonet. Don't talk to me about slavery or freedom, free-state men or pro-slavery men, until we have restored the benign influences of peace to the country ; until we have punished the murderer, and driven out the bandit and rabble, and returned the industrious citizens to their homes and claims. Do not, I pray you, attempt to embarrass me with your political disputations. You shall all, without distinction of party, be alike protected. This is no time to talk about party, when men, women and children are hourly being murdered at their own firesides or whilst sleeping in their beds, or are being driven by merciless bands of marauders from their homes without money, food, or clothing. In God's name, rise for a moment above party, and contemplate yourselves as men and patriots. I am your friend-your fellow-citizen-moved by no other im- pulse than the welfare of the inhabitants of this Territory, and the protection of their honor, their lives and property. When peace is fairly restored, I will see that every man of you is secured in his political rights."
₹
633
JOHN W. GEARY.
Although himself a Democrat of the strictest sect, and the appointee of a pro-slavery administration, there was a sentiment ever uppermost in the heart of John W. Geary that would never allow him to stand unconcernedly by and see right and justice trampled in the dust, and iniquity prevail, however much his party might seem to be strengthened thereby. As a consequence, bloodshed, arson, and turbulence of every description were checked under his rule, and the tide of bona fide population set strongly and rapidly towards the new Territory. The pro-slavery men saw their darling projects withering in his hand, and set themselves vigorously to work to have him recalled. But in the meantime the administration of Pierce was at an end, and, moved by a desire to relieve the successor from any embarrass- ment on his account, he promptly placed his resignation in the hands of Mr. Buchanan on the day of his inauguration, and soon after issued his farewell address, in which he referred with honest pride to the pacification which had resulted from his rule, · and the consequent prosperity and growth of the Territory, com- mending the interests of the infant State and the nation to the instincts of patriotism, and declared : "All true patriots, whether from the North or South, the East or West, should unite together for that which is and must be regarded as a common cause, the preservation of the Union; and he who shall whisper a desire for its dissolution, no matter what may be his pretensions, or to what faction or party he claims to belong, is unworthy of your confidence, deserves your strongest reprobation, and should be branded as a traitor to his country."
On retiring from Kansas he resumed his agricultural opera- tions, which had suffered in his absence. Four years of turmoil soon passed, in which the elements of discord which he found in Kansas, and which he strove to settle, were kept in constant agitation. On the morning after the attack upon Sumter, Gov- ernor Geary, unconscious of what had transpired, drove his farm- wagon to the neighboring village, where he learned that the flag of his country had been insulted and pulled down in Charleston harbor. His resolution was immediately taken, and in less than one hour from that time he had an office open for recruits, and promptly tendered his services to the Government. He was
634
MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
given authority to raise a regiment, and so great was the desire to serve with him that sixty-six companies sent applications to be taken into his command. In consequence of this he was per- mitted to have fifteen companies and a battery of six guns. As soon as officered and equipped, his command was assigned to the army of General Banks, and was posted at Harper's Ferry, where he had a front of twenty-one miles upon the river to guard. On the 16th of October, while a portion of his force was out gathering wheat from the enemy, he was attacked by a large body under Ashby and Evans with seven guns; but he succeeded in repulsing them and capturing one of their pieces, though sustaining some loss and himself being wounded. In the spring he was given the advance in the movement up the Valley, captured Leesburg, and uncovered, in succession, all the important passes through the Blue Ridge. Soon after this he was appointed Brigadier-General of volunteers, and assigned to the command of a brigade in the Second corps. In the hotly contested battle of Cedar Mountain, where Stonewall Jackson fought with his usual impetuosity and skill, General Geary, leading his brigade with remark- able courage and daring, was wounded, first in the foot and afterwards severely in the arm, to save which from amputa- tion he was obliged to give himself unreservedly to surgical treatment.
-
Upon the formation of the Twelfth corps, after the Maryland campaign, General Geary was assigned to the command of its Second or White Star division. This corps accompanied Hooker in his advance upon Chancellorsville, and was on the centre of the original line of battle. When disaster befell the right, and Hooker was obliged to fall back to a more defensible position, Geary was left upon the front to check the foe until the move- ment, could be executed, and in finally withdrawing was fearfully exposed and suffered severely. He was himself struck over the heart with the fragment of a shell, and his division lost over one thousand men in killed, wounded, and missing. During the first day at Gettysburg the First and Eleventh corps and a division of cavalry were alone engaged. Just at the close of the day, when, broken and decimated, the remnants of those heroic corps were retreating through the village of Gettysburg, the fainting and
+ "2"
635
JOHN W. GEARY.
dispirited soldiers descried far down the Baltimore pike a cloud of dust. Higher and higher it rose, and finally was revealed to their eager gaze the dim outline of the stars and stripes. It was the head of Geary's division advancing to the rescue, and soon his solid columns were deploying upon the field, bringing hope to their depressed and despondent minds. Its arrival was known to the enemy, who was deterred from attacking, since that gallant division was ready to be thrown upon any part where he might choose to assault. As the left of the line, in the direction of Little Round Top, was open and most liable to be turned, Geary was sent thither. On the following morning he was recalled and put upon Culp's Hill, which he fortified. Towards evening he was ordered over to the left with two of his brigades; but before he reached the point intended he returned to Culp's Hill. In his absence the enemy had attacked and nearly over- borne the brigade which he had left, and completely overrun his own works. To regain them the struggle was desperate, com- mencing at dawn and lasting till past ten o'clock. Assault after assault of the enemy was repulsed, and the ground was piled with the slain and wounded. Finally, seeing his antagonist weakened and beginning to waver, Geary charged and swept all before him, retaking his lost breastworks and inflicting fearful slaughter. This ended the last real advantage obtained by the enemy on this field, and was an important agency in finally gaining the victory.
But perhaps the two most notable military exploits of General Geary's life, though by no means the ones in which his manhood was most severely tested, were those of Wauhatchie, and Lookout Mountain or the BATTLE ABOVE THE CLOUDS. Soon after the Gettysburg campaign closed, General Hooker, with the Eleventh and Twelfth corps, was sent to Chattanooga to the relief of Rose- crans, who was shut up in that out-of-the-way place, and in imminent peril of capture from the combined forces of Bragg and Longstreet, the latter, detached from Lee's army in Virginia, having reached this place in advance of Hooker. The Union forces were pushing forward to open the way to the starving army of Rosecrans, the main avenues to which were in possession of the enemy. On the 27th of October, Geary, with a portion of
636
MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
his division, had reached a point opposite Lookout Mountain, where the Kelly's Ferry road intersects the railroad near the banks of Lookout Creek. His force numbered but 1463, and no Union troops were within several miles. It was an important posi- tion, as it commanded the roads necessary to be kept open for the passage of supplies, a result which the enemy was eager to defeat. It lies immediately beneath the shadow of Lookout Mountain, upon whose serene summit a number of rebel generals, among whom were Longstreet, Breckenridge and Hood, were watching the toilsome progress of the Union troops. Seeing this little force of Geary encamping with no supports they determined to surprise it by a night attack, and crush it utterly. Geary was not aware when he formed his camp that any hostile forces were near him. But it was a marked characteristic of him to be ever watchful, and fortunately he was that night especially vigilant. He sent Colonel Rickards, with the Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania, to picket all the roads, with injunctions to throw the guards well out, and in double strength. Colonel Rickards was a shrewd officer, and, when his men were posted, went to the house of a magistrate near by, under pretence of having some bread baked, and in response to a question apparently casually put to one of the women of the household he learned that the enemy had that very day been upon the ground. This was startling intelligence. Could it be that the foe in force was upon his track and no part of the Union army in supporting distance ? The magistrate was brought to General Geary's tent and quickly made to disclose the whole truth-that the enemy in heavy battalions, at least four times his own, was at that moment lying at the head of the bridge leading across the creek, not a mile and a quarter away, ready to advance and give battle. The situation was critical ; but General Geary was determined, if attacked, to sell his command dearly, and accordingly made every disposition.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.