USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 33
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 | Part 51
Brevet Major-General Kelley, who was pres- ent, was called upon for a speech. He said he had left his command for the purpose only of paying his respects to the remains of the gal- lant dead, whom the people of this city had to- day committed to the tomb. He had been more gratified to-day than he had been for many years, in doing honor to the memory of these gallant spirits who had expressed their devotion to the cause for which they died. He said he would bear back to his troops glad tidings that the people of Wheeling, W. Va., loved them for their sacrifices and appreciated their gal- lantry in the field. The following tribute to Captain Bier by a fellow-officer is charming in its graceful recognition of the fine qualities of that brave young soldier :
"Since this conflict commenced many a brave man has gone to his rest; many a patriot has been devoted upon the altar of his country; many a gallant soul has gained an immortal
glory; but no nobler heart than his ever bled and broke for freedom. There is mourning among his comrades to-night. Phil Bier will meet us no more below. For him the tumult of the march and battle is over, till we greet him in another life. We bid him a soldier's farewell. May flights of angels hymn him to his rest."
Tribute of Henry S. Walker, written at Clarksburg, February 29, 1864:
"In common with all others who mingled with him on terms of friendly intercourse, I recognized in Philip G. Bier a rare union of those rich mental gifts whose combination al- most invariably enables the possessor to attain an exalted rank in the intellectual kingdom. It was always a matter of remark, that he acquired with ease what others labored for in vain. He seemed to grasp by intuition and evolved by instinct truths and facts in the various depart- ments of letters, which to many were unattain- able and incomprehensible, and when in those more abstruse studies for whose mastery his powers of mind so eminently fitted him, he met some apparently inexplicable mystery whose solution required an exertion of all his powers, it was with an energy and a determination that never failed him that he entered upon the task, and to his credit as a student, be it said, always succeeded. While the rich endowments of his intellect rendered him an object of admiration to his companions, it was the constant kindness, the high sense of honor, the genuine manhood which filled his heart and characterized his every act, that won for him their love. I be- lieve I am personally acquainted with every one of his school-mates and fellow-students, during a period of four years, and I have yet to meet the first to say that Philip Bier ever did any- thing wrong. As for myself, I might write of his many deeds of gentleness toward me, but it will be long ere I can speak of them with any but quivering lips."
G. B. Caldwell, Esq., of Wheeling, himself a veteran of the hardest battles in the West Vir- ginia campaigns, makes this complimentary statement in a letter to the writer upon the sub- ject of war history: "You cannot give Phil Bier too much credit by anything said of him." It is appropriate, also, to add this heartfelt and eloquent tribute from the pen of a comrade, which was likewise published in the Intelli- gencer at the time of the funeral ceremonies. It would be a pleasure to give the name of the writer, but it is unknown:
"IN MEMORIAM .- Another brave officer of the gallant army of the Shenandoah has fallen; a
183
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
spirit baptized with the gentle dews of Helicon, though robed in the panoply of Mars, has fallen a victim to rebellion : Capt. P. G. Bier, A.A.G. The name should be written deep within the hearts of the people of West Virginia, for whose honor and safety he sacrificed his young and brill- iant life. How he was esteemed and loved in life is sufficient reason for his being so honored and so mourned in death. The mute, heroic face, still brave and lovely in the strong embrace of his last enemy; the firm, but gentle and intel- ligent lineaments of as brave a hero as ever trod Thermopylæ, or Bunker Hill, on the banks of the war-scarred Shenandoah, this noble, manly, patriotic countenance looks up to us through the icy barriers of death and seems to say, 'Thus much have I loved you, and my country's honor.' In these bloody days, when whole hecatombs of gallant men are hourly offering themselves as martyrs for our holy cause, it may seemn strange that so much should be writ- ten of one among the many. But he is a brill- iant representative of them all. In life, he was only proud to place himself upon the same foot- ing as his fellow-soldiers, and never sought to rob another of his laurels. The universal love that all had for him proves this clearly. I knew Captain Bier in college. He and I were in the same class, of which he always stood at the head. Frank, generous to a fault, intelligent far beyond any of his fellow-students, the acknowledged star of the college, admired and praised by the professors and his fellow-students, and yet he was as modest and unassuming as a child. Indeed, he was a child of genius, and at the same time a very Titan in learning. Every- thing seemed to come to him as if by intuition, but with all these great talents he was a great worker. He labored hard and accomplished much, outstripped us all at the race of mind, and yet his kind, genial disposition never al- lowed him to wound the feelings of the most lowly. In August, 1862, he left the halls of learning, and entered the army as a common soldier, 'full of ambition and bright hope,' de- termined to win his way to honor and position by his valor and integrity. No warmer heart ever beat for the Union. No soul ever throbbed with deeper or more patriotic emotions than his. His soldierly bearing and uniform good conduct soon won him a lieutenancy. He was still the same man. No haughty airs, no super- cilious word or action came, as it does too often, with promotion. Soon he was raised to a staff position for gallantry in action. I saw him, myself, in the disastrous retreat of Milroy from Winchester, abandoned by officers who should have commanded him. I saw him, as a thou- sand others did, and the Twelfth West Virginia regiment will never forget how nobly he ac- quitted himself there. I was intimately ac- quainted with the gallant young captain for a
long time before he went into the field, and, as a common soldier, was near him for two years at the front, and always found him the same genial companion in whatever place I met him. And is he dead? Is that brilliant genius that delighted us so often with its bright creations forever quenched in the darkness of the grave? Is his seat in college and in the councils of war to remain henceforth vacant? Farewell, my fellow-student, my fellow-soldier, farewell; the tomb thou didst seek, all laurel-crowned and glorious, the monument of a noble life and a glorious death-these, and a place in thy coun- try's history, and in a thousand proud but mourning hearts, be thine forevermore."
The Philip G. Bier Grand Army Post at New Martinsville, W. Va., was named in his honor many years after he left his early home, as he was placed in school, to prepare for college in 1858, and after that time was only among his early friends during vacations. This selection of one so young, from the many brave men sent to the army from Wetzel County, was a token of the heartfelt esteem in which he was held, and a public tribute to him as a man and sol- dier. The military record of Philip G. Bier, as furnished by the Pension and Record Office of the War Department, is as follows:
" Philip G. Bier was enrolled at West Liberty, Va., afterward West Virginia, August 14, 1862, and was mustered in August 23, 1862, as a pri- vate in Company D, Twelfth Virginia Volun- teers (subsequently known as Twelfth West Vir- ginia Volunteers), to serve for three years; was appointed Sergeant same company, August 25, 1862; was mustered in as Second Lieutenant Company A, same regiment, to date January 17, 1863; and was mustered out as Second Lieu- tenant, to date March 17, 1864, to enable him to accept an appointment as Assistant Adjutant- General of Volunteers. During his connection with this regiment he is reported present on the muster rolls, except on rolls dated December, 31, 1863, and February 29, 1864, which report him as absent since December 3, 1863, detached as Aide-de-Camp on the staff of Brigadier-Gen- eral Sullivan, commanding First Division De- partment of West Virginia. The regiment was in a skirmish at or near Wardenville, Va., in December, 1862, and in action at Winchester, Va., June 13, 14, and 15, 1863. He accepted an appointment as Captain and Assistant Adjutant- General of Volunteers, March 18, 1864; served as such on the staff of General Sigel to May 21, 1864, on staff of General Hunter to September 1, 1864, and on staff of General Crook to Octo- ber 19, 1864; was mortally wounded early in the battle of Cedar Creek, W. Va., October 19,
184
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
1864, an died the same day at Depot Field Hospital, Winchester, Va., of gunshot wound, right lung.
Following are extracts from battle reports of Major-General George Crook, commanding Department of West Virginia, in which Captain Bier has honorable mention: Ist. From report, dated October 17, 1864, of the part taken by the Army of West Virginia in the engagement of September 19, 1864, between Opequan Creek and Winchester, Va .: . .. 'From the follow- ing officers of my staff who were present upon the field of battle and amidst the thickest of the fight, cheered the men forward, and en- couraged them by example to do their whole duty, I received invaluable assistance. . . Captain P. G. Bier . . . ' 2d. From report, dated October 18, 1864, of the part taken by the Army of West Virginia in the battle of Fisher's Hill, Va., September 22, 1864: . . . 'I am personally indebted to my staff, . . . Captain P. G. Bier, Assistant Adjutant-General, . for their as- sistance to me on the field by carrying orders; and for cheering the men forward during the thickest of the fight. . . . ' 3d. From the report, dated November 7, 1864, of the part taken by the Army of West Virginia in the battle of Cedar Creek, W. Va., October 19, 1864: . . . 'I am specially indebted . .. to the members of my staff for valuable services rendered on that day. . . . I am pained to report the death of . . . and Captain Philip G. Bier, Assistant Ad- jutant-General on my staff; both fell mortally wounded while rallying the men-brave, effi- cient, and ever conspicuous for their gallantry in the field of battle. In them the country sus- tained a loss not easily repaired.'
" Very respectfully, F. C. AINSWORTH, " Colonel United States Army, " Chief Record and Pension Office."
The foregoing official record of Captain Bier constitutes a remarkable certification of all that had been written or published about him, and is a crowning glory to his name and reputation. To better appreciate the services of Philip G. Bier and his devotion to the cause his young heart cherished so loyally, let us glance at Gen- eral Hunter's career in West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, through every hour of which he was a steadfast participant. In the official " Records of the Rebellion," Vol. 37, the first order signed by Captain Bier for General Sigel, after he had been promoted Assistant Adjutant-General and assigned to duty by that officer, is dated :
" NEAR WINCHESTER, May 6, '64.
" Colonel N. Wilkinson, New Creek :
" All the troops on the line of the railroad
from Parkersburg to Sleepy Creek, and in front of that line, are at your disposition. A cavalry force will be sent to Moorefield and Petersburg. If you find it necessary to withdraw all the troops from Cumberland and to concentrate them at New Creek, you may do so. The Gen- eral wants to know where the Second Maryland (Potomac Home Brigade) Infantry is, and if you have given up Greenland Gap? Report fre- quently to Martinsburg, and keep the General informed as to the running condition of the rail- road, or if the road is destroyed in places.
" By order of Major Gen'1 F. Sigel, " BIER, A.A.G."
The last orders issued by Captain Bier for General Sigel were dated Cedar Creek, May 18 and 19, 1864, a little more than a month since his appointment as staff officer on April 9. One was to General Sullivan (Part 2 of Vol. 37 of the War Records has the order to General Sullivan dated the 19th, while Part I states the 18th). On the next day, the 19th, General Hunter was assigned to the command by Gen- eral Halleck, acting for General Grant, and left Washington with his horses on that day. Four orders were issued on this date signed by Cap- tain Bier for General Sigel, two to Major-Gen- eral Stahel and two to Colonel George D. Wells, of the Thirty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry, in reference to advance guard at Fisher's Hill, near Round Hill, in the vicinity of the North Fork of the Shenandoah, who responded with two dispatches to the Captain. General Hunter arrived at Martinsburg on May 20, at 10 P.M. His first order on the staff of Hunter is dated May 21, to Brigadier-General Sullivan of the First Infantry Division, in regard to picket duty near Cedar Creek, General Hunter having on that day sent the following to the Adjutant- General, Washington :
" DEP'T of W. VA., CEDAR CREEK, May 21, 1864. "I have the honor to announce my arrival at this point and assumption of command this evening at 7 P. M.
"D. HUNTER, Major-General commanding."
On the same day Lieutenant-Colonel Charles G. Halpine, Assistant Adjutant-General, wasre- lieved from the Department of the East, Gen- eral Dix, and ordered to report in person to General Hunter, with whom he had formerly served, and the General on the same day ap- pointed him on his staff, Assistant Adjutant- General, in addition to the Assistant Adjutants-
185
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
General then serving, Captains Melvin and Bier. These orders were issued at Martinsburg early on the 21st, and the General left at once for Cedar Creek, where he arrived that evening as announced, and took command. Meanwhile, on the same day, General Sigel, at Martinsburg, in General Orders 27, announced that he had been relieved by the President, and that Hunter was to succeed, and he hoped it would be for the best. His order is free from complaint and very patriotic, complimenting his officers and men. One of the last orders written by Captain Bier for General Hunter was the following, and it must have been very gratifying to the General on whose staff he was shortly to be appointed :
" HEADQUARTERS DEP'T OF WEST VIRGINIA, "HARPER'S FERRY, W. VA., July 16, '64.
" To Brig. Gen. Geo. Crook, Commanding Forces in Loudoun Valley.
" GENERAL :- The Major-General commanding directs me to inform you that he has sent to you 45,000 rations of hard bread and 30,000 rations of beef on the hoof. They are moving down the north side of the river until they can find a practicable ford at which to cross.
"I am, General, Very respectfully, " Your obedient servant,
" P. G. BIER, Assistant Adjutant-General." " HEADQUARTERS DEP'T W. VA.,
" MONOCACY JUNCTION, MD., Aug. 3, '64. " Brig. Gen. W. W. Averill, Commanding 2d Cavalry Division, Hancock, Md.
"GENERAL :- I am directed by the Major- General commanding to inform you that he is now at Monocacy Junction with the Sixth and the Nineteenth Army Corps and General Crook's command. General Duffie has been ordered to proceed westward to reinforce you. It is ex- pected at Washington that you will then move upon the enemy and drive him off. The Gen- eral wishes you to communicate with him every day either by courier or by telegraph. It is now a week since he has received any informa- tion or dispatch from you.
" I am, General, most respectfully, "Your obedient servant, "P. G. BIER, A.A.G."
The latter order was among the last signed by Captain Bier for General Hunter, who, soon thereafter, was relieved at his own request, Major-General George Crook being designated as his successor. The Captain remained on duty with the latter officer, and in charge of the business pertaining to this branch of the service, Colonel Halpine having resigned and Captain Melvin having been transferred temporarily to
the headquarters of the Military Division. The writer is unable to give here the numerous general and special orders and written commu- nications subsequently signed by Captain Bier, but takes pleasure in inserting instead the fol- lowing extract of a letter from Captain Melvin, recently one of the circuit court judges of West Virginia:
" Early in August, 1864, owing to changes in staff assignments, Captain Bier became senior Assistant Adjutant-General at Headquarters. Possessing the confidence of the General com- manding, he was retained for duty there, and served until his death, having sole charge of matters coming within his line of duty. All the General Orders from August 9, 1864, to No- vember, 1864, appear to have been signed by him, save two, which, appropriately, bear the signature of General Crook. During the period mentioned, the Army of West Virginia was in the field, taking part in an active campaign. His duties were necessarily arduous. Besides, he seemed to court opportunity for duty at the front when fighting was the order of the day. But he was none the less interested in Head- quarters' work. I think I can say that, what- ever the service, he was regarded by those who knew him as faithful, earnest and efficient-a splendid type of our volunteer soldiery in the Civil War."
J. M. HAGANS.
HON. JOHN MARSHALL HAGANS, of Morgantown, Judge of the Second Judicial Cir- cuit, ex-member of Congress and of the House of Delegates, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1872, and a well-known histori- cal writer, was born at Brandonville, Preston County, in the Old Dominion, on August 13, 1838. His father, Harrison Hagans, was a prom- inent citizen of Preston County, and a member of the Wheeling Convention. The "History of Preston County" says :
"Harrison Hagans died on the 7th of May, 1867, and was greatly missed in Preston County. He was a man of great natural ability, was a mathematician and mechanic of superior busi- ness qualifications, wonderfully energetic and quick of perception, liberal to a fault, kind to the poor, generous to the cause of education, and a large contributor to the church. His life was one long round of usefulness, and his name is indelibly stamped on the history of the county for all time."
I86
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
He came from New England, and his mother, Jane McCollum, was a native of Virginia, of Scotch extraction. They had ten children, of whom John Marshall was the youngest. The others were named George McC., William, Persis, Lucian A., Elisha, Sarah A., Henry C., Delia, and Virginia E. Our subject attended the celebrated Monongalia Academy, where he received a superior educational training, of which another writer, in "Prominent Men of West Virginia," has this kindly tribute to the good old school and its faithful teacher :
" Professor Moore was one of the most versa- tile men of his day. As a teacher he may prop- erly and justly be styled the Arnold of Rugby of the Mother State. Four years in his school afforded a course of study not surpassed by many of the most noted colleges of that day. Mr. Hagans, naturally bright and gifted, came from under Principal Moore's hands well up in English and classical studies."
Young Hagans had a natural inclination for the law and was so fortunate as to begin his Blackstone and Kent and Story in the office of Hon. Waitman T. Willey, at that time the lead- ing lawyer of the Morgantown bar. He re- mained with that gentleman for a year or more, and then completed his studies at the law de- partment of Harvard University. In 1859 he was admitted to practice and had his license signed by Hons. Gideon Camden, Mathew Edmiston, and George W. Thompson. Mr. Hagans re- mained on his native heath, so as to speak, and was destined to become one of Monongalia's leading sons in the stirring times that came in just as he started out to battle with fate as a full-fledged lawyer. In 1862 he was the candi- date of the Republicans for Prosecuting Attor- ney of Monongalia County, and was elected, of course, and re-elected in 1863-64, when he was appointed Reporter of the Supreme Court of Appeals-the first court so constituted in West Virginia. The judges chose the right man for the place, as events have so fully proved. He began office in January, 1864, and continued until March, 1873. His duties, which are now done by the Attorney-General and his assistant, consisted in reporting and printing the cases decided by the court. During his term of office the first five volumes of the Reports of West Virginia, designated "Hagans' Reports," were published. While still in office as Reporter, in
1870, his fellow-citizens of Monongalia County called him to the post of Prosecuting Attorney for the third time. We may judge, then, that Mr. Hagans had no time for politics or for scheming, had he been thus inclined, which he was not, and it is most conspicuously evident that he gave all his attention and energy to the duties of the court and the State. At a time when very few people were thoughtfully inter- ested in the preservation of the records of public events, and even those few so occupied with their own cares as to leave them little inclina- tion or energy for special literary work, Mr. Hagans, as Reporter and under the auspices of the Supreme Court of Appeals, seems to have been the one man Providentially placed, as it were, for the very purpose of transcribing in correct and homogeneous form the early history of West Virginia, from the first Convention at Wheeling down to the adjudication of nearly all the questions growing out of the war in connection with the new State; also including a résumé of the long-existing discontent of the West over the unjust legislation of the East, and a full account of the proceedings of the Richmond Convention. This invaluable chap- ter, as he wrote it, is imperishably safe in the first volume of the Court of Appeals Reports; and recently five hundred copies of the volume were reprinted by the Secretary of State, with- out any omissions or changes. This may be taken as a virtual certification, by a Democratic Legislature and administration, of the correct- ness and importance of the history and biogra- phy, which appear as a prefix to the Reports, and comprise about 50,000 words as chronicled by Mr. Hagans. Of course there was no mone- tary consideration in it at all, and the conscious- ness of a duty well done has been his only re- ward. It may be observed just here that, in common with other original authors in the whole domain of literature, Judge Hagans has often been a silent witness, as well as a helpless victim, of the plagiarisms carried on by one and another writer or speaker, appropriating his work for their own credit and sounding their own horn at his expense, without giving even the remotest mention of his name as an original author of the political history of West Virginia. A sample instance of this wholesale appropria- tion (which is not without humor) may be
187
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
given. A young school-teacher in one of the northern counties announced a lecture on the history of the Mountain State, which was well attended. The young man simply astonished his hearers with his perfect knowledge of the whole intricate subject. A neighbor, whose curiosity had to be satisfied, asked the lecturer " Where he got all his larnin' about West Vir- ginny?" "The truth is," responded the con- scious-stricken pedagogue, "I stole every word of it from Judge Hagans; but don't say any- thing." When a thoroughly comprehensive and philosophical history of West Virginia comes to be written by a man able enough to accom- plish such a work, the foundations of his labor will consist almost wholly of this chapter and the biographies of the first judges of the court. It is very likely true that men may be found- very intelligent men-who will not fully coin- cide with all that is here stated, but their dis- sent will be found based more upon political sen- timent rather than in actual controversy of facts and events and circumstances. But it is be- lieved that, although a young man at the time and comparatively unacquainted with public life, Mr. Hagans' writings are as free as possi- ble from error of statement or color of prejudice to the detriment of any one. Indeed, it will be found that where adverse criticism is in order, it is scarcely met with; and the shortcomings of those who failed in conclusion, on the Union side, in the great and momentous task of evo- luting the new State out of the old one, are passed over in that charity which covereth a multitude of sins; giving rise to perhaps the only defect in the narrative, which, however, the pages of the Congressional Record will make good, in supplying the debate over the bill of admission. In his preface, Hagans says:
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.