A SKETCH 
 
 Of fa Early Life and of fa Civil and Military Services of 
 
 MAJ. GEN. JOHN W.GEARY, 
 
 CANDIDATE OF THE NATIONAL UNION PARTY 
 
 FOR GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 1866. 
 
A SKETCH 
 
 Of the Early life and of the Civil and Military Services of 
 
 MAJ. GEN. JOHN W. GEARY, 
 
 CANDIDATE OF THE NATIONAL UNION PARTY 
 
 FOR GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 1866. 
 

 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 TO HIS OLD COMPANIONS IN ARMS, 
 
 TO THE FAMILIES WHO HAVE SUFFERED BEREAVEMENT IN THE CAUSE OF THEIR COUNTRY, 
 AND TO ALL PATRIOTIC AND LOYAL VOTERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 " For Fitness to Command, and Promptness to Execute," 
 
 GENERAL GEARY'S COMMISSION AS BREVET MAJOR GENERAL, 
 DATED JANUARY 12, 1865. 
 
 KINO & BAIRD, PRINTERS, 
 No. 607 SAXSOM STREET, PHILADELPHIA 
 
KF E/rrcFrjFr r rrrc'/crw 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF MU, GEN, JOHN I, GE1R1, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCESTEY, BIETH AND EAELY LIFE. 
 
 The supposed availability of a candidate is the controlling argument 
 in most political nominations. Influenced by this consideration, parties 
 have frequently felt themselves obliged to ignore the claims of favorite 
 leaders, and select candidates whose obscurity would prove the surest 
 protection against the assaults of their opponents. In some memorable 
 instances, both federal and state nominations have been made upon this 
 principle. Fitness has thus been sacrificed to success. Sometimes the 
 sacrifice of persons is accepted to insure the triumph of principles, but 
 every sincere patriot, in such a case, submits to the alternative with painful 
 reluctance. It may be deemed, therefore, most fortunate, when all the 
 elements of availability and fitness are found uniting in a candidate ; and, 
 in every such instance, a party triumph stands as a certain guarantee for 
 a wise and faithful administration. Such is the allotment of good fortune 
 which Divine Providence has been pleased to assign to the National Union 
 Part} r of the great Commonwealth of Penns} 7 lvania. Their candidate for 
 the Chief Magistracy of the State is well known throughout the country 
 for his long, varied and eminent public services ; while his conduct in 
 both personal and official relations has ever been such as to court inves- 
 tigation, and win the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens of all 
 shades of political opinion. 
 
 At a remote period his ancestors were Scotch-Irish, but for several 
 generations they had inherited the inestimable privileges and honors of 
 American birth. Richard Geary his father was a native of Franklin 
 county, Penns3 r lvania. Margaret White his mother was born in Wash- 
 ington county, Maryland. Richard Geary received the advantages of a 
 * liberal education, and was a man of refined tastes, amiable disposition, and 
 great moral excellence. Margaret White was, in all respects, fitted to be 
 his companion. Shortly after their marriage, the young husband removed 
 with his family to Western Pennsylvania. His attention was soon directed 
 to the mineral wealth of that section, and he was induced to engage his 
 talents and capital in the manufacture of iron. A business involving, at 
 all time-s, much risk and responsibility, it was far more precarious in our 
 country then than now ; and like many of the iron manufacturers of that' 
 period, Mr. Geary failed in business, losing the whole of his original invest- 
 ment, and leaving himself still under pecuniary liabilities which he was 
 unable to discharge. In this trying exigency of his affairs, he fell back 
 
4 
 
 upon the resources which a liberal education had furnished, and opened a 
 select school in Westmoreland county. The rest of his life was devoted 
 to the honorable and useful, but seldom lucrative profession of teaching ; 
 and he died insolvent from his previous failure in business, leaving his 
 family without provision for their maintenance and education. In their 
 affliction, however, there remained to them the pleasing reflection that the 
 husband and father had been instrumental in so directing the minds, and 
 forming the character of his pupils, as to give promise of that distinction 
 in civil life, to which they subsequently attained ; and notwithstanding 
 his pecuniary misfortune, he had bequeathed to them principles worthy of 
 their most sacred preservation, and a reputation without stain. 
 
 By the will of her father, Mrs. Richard Geary inherited several families 
 of slaves, all of whom she first educated, and then manumitted. The mann- 
 mission of slaves, at that day, was a thing ol frequent occurrence, but 
 the gift of freedom was rarely preceded by an education that would enable 
 the recipients to make the most of its advantages. This instance, though 
 not regarded as noteworthy at the time, is very significant now, indicating, 
 as it does, that love of liberty and of justice which has ever so strikingly 
 characterized the eventful life of her distinguished son. 
 
 The home of Richard and Margaret White Geary was an humble log- 
 house, situated near Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 
 In this county were born to the happy husband and wife four children 
 all sons. The first and the third died young. The second is the Rev. 
 Edward R. Geary, an eminent Presbyterian clergyman, who for the last 
 fourteen years has resided in Oregon. The youngest is Major-General 
 John White Geary, the candidate of the National Union part}', and 
 destined to be the next Governor of Pennsylvania. General Geary was 
 born December 20th, 1819, and is consequently in his forty-seventh 
 year. After attending to the usual course of preliminary study, he en- 
 tered Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In this institution 
 he remained for some time, making diligent use of his opportunities, but 
 was obliged, in consequence ot the death of his father, to leave school 
 before the period of graduation. The circumstance of his father's failure 
 in business has already been noted, and also the dependent condition of 
 the family at the time of his death. The stroke fell heavily upon the hopes 
 of the young student, but he braced himself nobly to meet its consequences. 
 Promptly, though with reluctance, retiring from college, he at once assumed 
 the care of his sorrow-stricken mother, and by opening a school, as his 
 father had done, provided for the comfort of her declining years. In his 
 estimation, however, it was not enough that he should provide for a 
 widowed mother. His father having, unavoidably, left certain claims of 
 his creditors unsatisfied, the son honorably resolved that he would dis- 
 charge them, and by persevering industry, self-denial, and economy, was 
 enabled to accomplish this rare and exalted purpose. It was not difficult 
 to foretell the future of a son who had evinced such affectionate solicitude 
 for a living mother's comfort, and such a chivalrous regard for the honor 
 of a dead father's memory. These instances of filial affection and rever- 
 
 Li I 
 
ence, it is said, very deeply impressed the minds of all the old neighbors 
 and friends of the family ; induced them to speak of young Geary in the 
 most flattering terms, and to predict for him the proud achievements which 
 have since become facts of sober history. 
 
 The profession of a teacher not proving sufficiently remunerative, and 
 having by ample experiment found it to be unsuited to his tastes and 
 aspirations, after a brief clerkship in a wholesale store at Pittsburg, he 
 commenced the stud}'' of civil engineering, thus yielding to a strong pre- 
 dilection for mathematical pursuits, which he had displayed during his 
 collegiate course. In addition to this important branch of science, he 
 subsequently studied law, and was admitted to practice. By these varied 
 acquirements, he was qualified for the different positions of public trust 
 and responsibility which he has filled with so much distinction as a eitizen 
 and a soldier. 
 
 Personal Characteristics^ 
 
 This biographical sketch being necessarily very limited, no attempt will 
 be made to give a full analysis of the personal qualities of its distinguished 
 subject. "A sound mind in a sound body " was the phrase used by the 
 old Romans to express their idea of that peculiar type of the human con- 
 stitution which is naturally adapted to the accomplishment of great deeds. 
 Such a mind is clear in perception, sober and accurate in judgment, 
 prompt, persistent and victorious in action. A man thus endowed is 
 naturally fitted for the deliberations of the assembly, the decisions of the 
 bench, the duties of the magistracy, and the dangers and responsibilities 
 of the field. General Geary has been tried in each of these situations ; 
 and has signally proved his eminent fitness for them all. And besides 
 these powers he possesses that natural faculty for leadership, without 
 which, even superior men, never advance to .prominent positions m the 
 contests of life. 
 
 The fact of his endowment with this great quality has received numerous 
 and striking illustrations. Whether the service has been civil or military 
 that engaged his attention, he has achieved a commanding position. It 
 should be noted also that his faculty for leadership has been rendered 
 more effective by the endowment of a fine personal presence. In person, 
 General Geary is tall, erect and well-proportioned. In manner, he is 
 direct, simple, and cordial. Either in military undress, or in full costume, 
 at the head of an army, he looks every inch the soldier ; and at the head 
 of the Commonwealth he will look every inch the Governor. 
 
 But of more intrinsic ^alue, and of paramount importance, are the moral 
 qualities of our candidate. His moral basis is sound, strong, and enduring. 
 For this he is indebted to his Scotch-Irish descent, and his early and care- 
 ful religious instruction and discipline. These causes have implanted and 
 developed in him a conscience that is tender and wakeful, a love of truth and 
 justice which temptation has neither supplanted nor impaired ; and especially 
 a force of will which holds the most dangerous of nature's appetites and 
 passions under easy and complete control. Thus constituted, he has escaped 
 
the vices which have destroyed so many gifted men. Placed in circum- 
 stances, during most of his life, that exposed him to temptations of 
 peculiar power, he has not succumbed. Thus, for example, though the 
 greater part of his public life has been spent on the frontier or in camp, 
 he has been noted for his temperate and abstemious habits. In regard 
 to all moral and religious questions, General Geary is a man of liberal 
 views, and of a true Christian spirit. Nothing short of this could be ex- 
 pected, considering the ancestry from which he has derived his name and 
 inherited his principles. And should he live to assume the highly impor- 
 tant trust of the State's Chief Magistracy, it will be with a becoming 
 sense of his obligations to his fellow-citizens, and of his accountability 
 to Almighty God. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CIVIL EEOOED. (California.) 
 
 The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which defined and established the 
 results of our Mexican war, extended the national boundary line front 
 the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean. California, with her gold-streaked 
 mountains, was included in that rich and vast accession to the national 
 domain. As soon as it was ascertained that the rocks and sands of tho 
 newly-acquired Territory were rich in the most precious of all metals, 
 emigration, as a very gulf-stream, began to flow around Cape Horn, and 
 across the Isthmus. At the same time, from the banks of the Missouri 
 river, caravan after caravan began to wend its toilsome way across tho 
 plains, and through the passes of the Rocky mountains. " The gold of 
 that land was good," and the rich deposits of the new "El Dorado" were 
 quickly and eagerly sought by natives of all climes and nations. All shades of 
 opinion and character were there. Of this strangely diversified community, 
 it might be said " there was no Judge in Israel ; every one walked in the 
 ways of his own heart, and in the sight of his own eyes." But love of order, 
 and reverence for law, are among the most prominent characteristics of 
 the American mind ! Out of the heterogeneous mass of men, which the 
 powerful attraction of gold had brought together from the nationalities of 
 the Old and the New World, there accordingly arose a civil community, 
 under the usual forms of American law, and governed in the usual modes 
 of American administration. It was on this strange and singularly 
 interesting theatre, that John W. Geary commenced his public career. 
 
 Appointed Postmaster of San Francisco, and Mail Agent for the 
 
 Pacific Coast, 
 
 On the 22d of January, 1849, President Polk, in grateful recognition 
 of his gallant services in the Mexican war, appointed him Postmaster of 
 San Francisco, with full authority tc jreate post offices, appoint post- 
 
masters, establish mail routes, and make contracts for carrying the mails 
 throughout California. Having received his commission at Washington, 
 with his customary promptness he returned to his home in Westmoreland 
 county, closed up his business, and on the 1st of February, in company 
 with his wife and child, sailed from New York for the distant scene of 
 his official responsibility. The passage of the Isthmus was made in a 
 small boat, and was at that time attended with inconvenience and danger. 
 Arriving safely, however, at Panama, he was detained there nearly a month, 
 waiting for the steamer Oregon, which was to call for passengers at that 
 port on her trip to California, via Cape Horn. Subjected to this detention, 
 and being as ever before and since, incapable of idleness or useless occu- 
 pation, he organized a Masonic society, and an association of Odd-Fellows, 
 both of which were designed to afford relief to sick and destitute emigrant 
 passengers. These two societies continued to exist as monuments of his 
 thoughtful prudence, and humane foresight, until the increased facilities 
 for travelling across the Isthmus rendered them no longer necessary. 
 This may seem to some a trifling circumstance, but it is very significant 
 as an illustration of the pleasing fact that, at no stage of his public career, 
 has he ever made even a brief pause without doing something beneficial, and 
 to cause his name to be held in grateful remembrance. 
 
 A Perilous Adventure, 
 
 During his detention at Panama, there occurred to him an adventure, 
 not without peril, and that might have been attended with serious conse- 
 quences to his life, but for his native quickness and presence of mind in 
 all times of emergency and clanger. The incident referred to is thus 
 related by a well-known author : ' Three or four days after his arrival in 
 the city, he discovered that he had been robbed during the night of a 
 number of valuable articles, and about daylight went to the guard, con- 
 sisting of a sergeant and twelve men, whose guard-house was ki the jail- 
 building, to obtain information concerning the robbery. Here, though he 
 addressed them in good Spanish, they pretended not to understand him, 
 and plied him with some insulting questions. One of the party finally 
 struck him on the ear, and being incensed by so gross an outrage, he 
 instantly knocked the fellow down. Quickly perceiving his error, and 
 observing his desperate position, he rushed between two men, tripping 
 them, and knocking down another, sprang into the guard room. This 
 room was about thirty feet long, and at the rear end were stacked the 
 arms of the garrison. He seized a loaded musket from the pile, and 
 placing his back to the remainder, threatened to shoot the first man who 
 should enter the door. Glancing his eyes around, he recognized his 
 perilous situation. The sides of the room were of rough logs, between 
 the interstices of which peered at every corner the dark and desperate 
 faces of the prisoners in the contiguous jail cells. Before him were 
 thirteen armed and hostile men, anxious and determined to destroy him. 
 On repeating his questions concerning the robbery, one of them threw 
 himself on a pile of blankets, and said that they had slept in that position 
 
8 
 
 all night, and had kept no watch. This man attempted, by rolling himself 
 on the blankets, to seize Colonel Geary by the leg and trip him, upon 
 which the latter snatched the rascal's bayonet from its scabbard, and 
 placed it on the end of the musket in his own hands. The fellow repeating 
 his effort, the Colonel stabbed him in the leg, and seizing him, with part of 
 the blankets, hurled him out of the door, and thus, unexpectedly, uncovered 
 his stolen property. Having thus firmly fastened the evidence of their 
 theft upon the men, the stolen goods being in sight, they immediately 
 jaelded, obeyed all his orders, threw their bayonets upon the ground, and 
 forming themselves in line, carried the articles back to his quarters, and 
 placed them on the spot whence they had been taken. 
 
 " Before leaving the guard-room the Colonel took the precaution to knock 
 out all the flints and remove the priming from the remaining arms. When 
 he reached his quarters, he sent twelve of the men back, and knocking 
 out the flint and priming, and reversing the bayonet of the gun he had 
 retained, he gave it to the last man of the guard, whom he summarily 
 kicked down stairs." (See the "Annals of San Francisco.") The Spanish- 
 Americans have great respect for the prompt will, and the strong hand ; 
 and it is scarcely necessary to add that, after what had happened, Colonel 
 Gear} 7 was treated with marked consideration during the remainder of his 
 sojourn among them. 
 
 Arrival at San Francisco, 
 
 The " Oregon," arriving at last, the Colonel and his family took pas- 
 sage, and were safely landed at San Francisco on the 1st of April, a little 
 more than two months from the date of his commission. Entering at once 
 upon his duties, he was obliged to content himself for a time with the 
 rudest accommodations. Having no mail-boxes, he drew lines upon the 
 floor, forming squares, which were duly alphabeted, and in these the letters 
 were arranged, and, as called for, were delivered through a hole in the 
 window made by the removal of a pane of glass. Here, however, as in all 
 other situations of his life, his methodical turn, and practical tact, soon 
 provided all needful facilities, and brought the labors of the office under 
 an easy and expeditious system of operation. But scarcely had he effected 
 these arrangements when he learned that General Taylor, who had suc- 
 ceeded to the Presidency, had appointed Jacob B. Moore, Esq., to the 
 position which he had so briefly but efficiently occupied. 
 
 Unanimously elected First Alcalde of the City, 
 
 About the time of his removal from the post-office, and general mail 
 agency, Brigadier-general Riley, having been appointed military governor 
 of the territory, issued a proclamation to the settlers to assemble in con- 
 vention for the purpose of organizing a territorial government. By the 
 easy and intelligent dispatch with which Colonel Geary discharged his 
 duties as postmaster and mail-agent, he had won the confidence and esteem 
 f the people, so that when the time arrived for the nomination of candi- 
 dates to fill the positions created by the new organization, he was selected 
 
9 
 
 for the office of First Alcalde. This action of his fellow-citizens was not in 
 harmony with his known and oft-repeated wishes, yet they persisted in 
 placing his name on every one of the ten tickets presented to the people, 
 and at the ensuing election he was unanimously chosen, as was officially 
 certified in the following document : 
 
 " To HON. JOHN W. GEARY: 
 
 "At a special election held in San Francisco, August 1st, 1849, to fill 
 the vacancy existing in the office of First Alcalde of said town and district, 
 you were elected by fifteen hundred and sixteen votes, being the whole 
 number cast. 
 
 "FREDERICK BILLINGS, 
 " Chairman Board of Inspectors and Judges. 
 "SAN FRANCISCO, August 2, 1849." 
 
 This was only eight days after his retirement from the office which he 
 had held by appointment from the Federal Executive. This flattering 
 testimonial from his fellow-citizens was almost immediately succeeded by 
 another mark of confidence and appreciation indicated in the following 
 proclamation of Governor Riley : 
 
 Appointed Judge of First Instance. 
 
 "Know all men, by these presents, that I, Bennet Riley, Brevet Brigadier- 
 general United States Army, and Governor of California, by virtue of 
 authority in me vested, do hereby appoint and confirm J. W. Geary as 
 Judge of First Instance in and for the district of San Francisco, to date 
 from the 1st of August, 1849. Given under my hand and seal, at San 
 Francisco, Cal., this 6th day of August, A. D. 1849. 
 
 (Official) "B. RILEY, 
 
 " Bt. Brig. Gen. U. S. A. and Gov. of California. 
 
 " H. W. HALLECK, 
 
 "Bt. Capt. and Secretary of State." 
 
 The office of Alcalde, and that of Judge of First Instance, were Mexican 
 institutions. How onerous and important their duties were will be seen 
 from a brief enumeration. The Alcalde was Sheriff, Probate Judge, Re- 
 corder, and even Notary Public and Coroner. In addition to these func- 
 tions, he held daily an ordinary Police or Mayor's Court, as well as a 
 regular Alcalde's Court for the minor cases and general executive matters 
 of the city. The Judge of First Instance held a Court, having both civil 
 and criminal jurisdiction throughout the city ; and a Court of Admiralty 
 also, exercising authority in all maritime cases. In fact, Judge Geary 
 was, by virtue of his two appointments, general Curator of the public, 
 doing every thing that was to be done, either in the department of civil or 
 criminal business. For a long time there was no other magistrate in the 
 town, and the Judge was finally obliged to request the appointment of an 
 assistant, when Hon. W. B. Almond was made Judge of First Instance 
 with civil jurisdiction only. All these varied and intricate duties Judge 
 Gearv r>erformed with the utmost satisfaction to the people. 
 
10 Mwi 
 Unanimous Ee-election, 
 
 At the close of the year a new election took place, when he was re- 
 elected, receiving all the votes but four out of the twelve thousand that were 
 polled. He continued in office until the following spring, at which time 
 the old Mexican institutions were supplanted by our own system of muni- 
 cipal government. 
 
 Administrative Ability and Integrity, 
 
 In the departments to which the public voice had called him, both his 
 talents for administration and the integrity of his character found many 
 occasions for signal illustration. Under the old Mexican laws, Alcaldes 
 had power to grant away the public lands at the fixed rates of twelve 
 dollars for fifty vara lots, and twenty-four dollars for one hundred vara 
 lots. All Mexican Alcaldes, previous to Geary's time, had availed them- 
 selves of this privilege, and disposed of an immense amount of valuable 
 property at these merely nominal prices. No sooner had he been duly 
 installed in office than he caused it to be understood that he would make 
 no such grants, and would at once resign rather than conform to the pre- 
 vious custom. At his instance a committee was appointed to ascertain the 
 value of the city property, at the old rates, and they reported it to be 
 only $35,000. Upon the reception of this report, the new Alcalde ordered 
 a portion of the property to be sold at public auction, and it realized the 
 handsome sum of half a million of dollars. As a matter of course, the 
 unsold tracts immediately rose to a proportionate value, and became worth 
 millions to the cit^y treasury. 
 
 The authors of "Annals of San Francisco," who were eye-witnesses, 
 speak of Colonel Geary's municipal administration in terms of strong and 
 unqualified approbation. " The city," say they, " comprised people of every 
 nation, class, and sort, many of whom had for months been exercising an 
 unrestrained course of villainy and rascality, yet no civilized community 
 was ever more harmoniously governed; and even after his administration 
 had ceased, its condition could not compare with what it had been before, 
 as was proved from the necessity of the action of the Vigilance Committee. 
 Thefts and robberies were of so rare occurrence that valuable goods were 
 frequently left in the streets unwatched and undisturbed, and people felt 
 no hesitancy in quitting their unprotected and generally open abodes for 
 hours, and even days, without the slightest apprehension of suffering loss 
 during their absence. The rogues had either left the place or were terri- 
 fied by the few examples of severe reprehension that were given. They 
 soon learned that they had nothing to expect either from the tenderness 
 or partiality of the magistrate. A conviction was sure to be followed 
 by a merited and speedy punishment, rendered as severe as opportunities 
 permitted and circumstances seemed to demand. Finding that the rascals 
 cared little for confinement in the prison -brig, where they ate the bread of 
 idleness at the public expense, the Alcalde adopted a better method to 
 hold them in awe, and teach them the observance of good manners. He 
 
11 
 
 established a chain-gang, and attaching a chain and large ball to the 
 ankles of the criminals, that they might not escape, set them, to work at 
 improving the public streets, thus compelling them to earn their keeping, 
 and, at the same time, be serviceable to the community. This company 
 became a feature of the place. The people of the city appreciated these 
 efforts, and even those who suffered admitted the justice of the Alcalde's 
 decrees. Of twenty-five hundred civil and criminal cases tried by him, not 
 more than a dozen appeals were taken from his decisions, and not one of 
 these was ever sustained. Throughout the whole period of his arduous 
 labors he exercised an unwavering firmness, and discharged his duties 
 regardless of feelings of preference or claims of friendship. " 
 
 Chosen first Mayor of San Francisco, 
 
 The first city charter having been adopted May 1, 1850, Judge Geary 
 was elected first Mayor of San Francisco by a very flattering majority. 
 During his official term he rendered most valuable service in the work of 
 perfecting the municipal organization ; restrained all tendency to extrava- 
 gant expenditure of the public funds ; nobly sustained the city's credit ; 
 hastened with a few citizen soldiery to Sacramento and quelled some seri- 
 ous riots there ; and for his almost superhuman efforts to save the city, 
 during the great conflagration, he received the grateful acknowledgments 
 of the people, and the highest encomiums of the public press without dis- 
 tinction of party. Toward the expiration of his term of office Mayor Geary 
 received a communication, numerously signed by influential business firms 
 and respectable citizens of every hue and shade of political opinion, re- 
 questing him to consent to be a candidate for re-election. But, while 
 entertaining a grateful sense of the honor that was done him by such an 
 expression, he felt himself obliged to decline the request. He was pre- 
 vailed on, however, to accept a place in the Board of Commissioners, 
 which had been created by the Legislature for the management of the 
 funded debt of the city, and served as their President. In this position 
 he did much to create a feeling of confidence in the city's securities, and 
 to induce a belief in the public mind that she would keep the faith which 
 had been plighted to her creditors. 
 
 Secures the Adoption of a Free State Constitution for California. 
 
 The services of Colonel Geary to the young and rapidly growing com- 
 munity on the Pacific had been of great value, and, as has been seen, they 
 were duly appreciated and acknowledged by his fellow-citizens of all par- 
 ties. But the most important service that distinguished his residence on 
 that coast remains to be stated. On the 1st of September, 1849, a Con- 
 vention of Delegates assembled at Monterey to form a State Constitution. 
 This body included the best talent and ripest political experience of the 
 territory. Robert Semple, Esq., was chosen President, and Captain Win. 
 G. Marcy, Secretary. The Convention completed its work in a little more 
 than one month, and closed its session on the 13th of October. Colonel 
 Geary was not a member of the Convention, bat occupied such a position 
 
12 
 
 in the eye of the public at large, and held such relations to his party (the 
 Democratic) as enabled him to exert a very potent influence upon its 
 transactions. How he exerted that influence, and what it was worth to 
 California and the whole country, will be understood when it is stated 
 that, as Chairman of the Democratic Territorial Committee, he was mainly 
 instrumental in securing the Free State clause in the newly framed Consti- 
 tution, and the reference of that document to the people for their sanction. 
 In order to obtain this inestimable triumph for the great principle of free- 
 dom Colonel Geary merely conceded to its opponents the temporary and 
 trifling advantage of the election of the two Senators that were to repre- 
 sent the new State in the Federal Congress. From the foregoing narrative 
 it will be seen what one patriotic, capable, and earnest man may, in a 
 very short period of time, accomplish for his country. John W. Geary 
 passed through the " Golden Gate," landing at San Francisco on the 1st 
 day of April, 1849, and left California on the 1st day of February, 1852. 
 In less than three years he had achieved more than most men achieve in a 
 lifetime of three score and ten. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CIVIL EECOED CONTINUED, (Kansas,) 
 Early Difficulties, 
 
 It is not proposed in a sketch, so brief as the present, to attempt a 
 history, nor even anything that could be properly styled an outline, of 
 political troubles in Kansas. It will be necessary, however, to present a 
 few preliminary facts in order to a satisfactory understanding of what has 
 now passed into our history as Geary's administration of the civil govern- 
 ment of that territory. 
 
 The memorable Kansas-Nebraska Bill, introduced and advocated by 
 Stephen A. Douglas, after being discussed with ability and eloquence, 
 vehemence and passion, rarely equalled, finally passed both houses of Con- 
 gress, and on the 30th of May, 1854, received the signature of President 
 Pierce. As must have been foreseen by its author, and its advocates, in 
 re-opening the whole vexed question of slavery extension, it produced 
 great excitement in political parties, in social circles, in the pulpit, and 
 in the press all over the country. Pro-slavery men on one hand, and 
 anti-slavery men on the other, at once commenced operations ; the former 
 to settle Kansas with a population in favor of slavery ; and the latter with 
 a population opposed to it. In the slave States secret organizations were 
 formed with the design of introducing slavery, and in the free States 
 11 Emigrant Aid Societies" were organized to introduce settlers who would 
 vote for its exclusion. In view of these circumstances it may be readily 
 conjectured that the emigrant parties, having been heated by discussion 
 at the two extremes of the country, would not long dwell peacefully to- 
 
13 
 
 gether in the same neighborhood. And, as was the anticipation, so was 
 the reality. On the Gth of October, 1854, the very day on which Andrew 
 H. Reeder, Esq., first Governor of the Territory, arrived, a party of pro- 
 slavery men came from Westport to Lawrence with intent to disperse the 
 Free State men, who had founded that town and settled the adjacent 
 country. The invaders demanded that the "abolitionists" should abandon 
 their cabins, strike their tents, and leave the territory. But greatly to 
 the surprise of the slave-driving chivalry, the freedom-loving Yankees, 
 instead of obeying orders, prepared to fight in defence of their property 
 and their families. 
 
 The Contending Parties seek to Conciliate the Governor, 
 
 As soon as the Governor arrived each party had an interview, stated 
 its grievances, and volunteered such suggestions as seemed good to it f 
 respecting what should be the course of his administration. But that high 
 official knew his duty quite as well as his advisers, and was not to be 
 turned from his purpose to discharge it. The Act of Congress, creating 
 a government for Kansas, provided that the actual settlers of the Terri- 
 tory should decide for themselves, by vote, whether slavery should or 
 should not exist within its bounds. To this act Governor Reeder was 
 inflexibly determined to conform. The result was that as soon as his lino 
 of policy became known the pro-slavery settlers banded together against 
 him. All they could do they did to annoy him personally. All they 
 could do they did to defeat his endeavors to administer the laws which 
 he had been commissioned to execute. They even carried their political 
 opposition to personal violence. A certain ruffian, bearing the name of 
 Stringfellow, and the title of General, assaulted and beat the Governor 
 severely in his own office. Meanwhile complaints had been lodged against 
 that impartial functionary at Washington, and he was removed from his 
 position. During the interval which elapsed between the removal of Gov- 
 ernor Reeder and the arrival of his successor Wilson Shannon Daniel 
 Woodson, Secretary of the Territory, acted as governor, and exercised his 
 authority in strict accordance with the preferences and interests of the 
 pro-slavery party. 
 
 Gov. Shannon assumed his official duties September 1, 1855. Whatever 
 may have been his personal desires and aims, he was certainly not the 
 man to govern such a community as that of Kansas Territory. Under 
 his administration, therefore, the passions of the contending parties were 
 more intensely inflamed. Affairs daily became more complicated. Con- 
 fusion was worse confounded. There was 110 excess of crime that was 
 left unperpetrated by the pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" as they had 
 come to be distinctively known, and shamelessly to designate themselves. 
 Theft, rape, arson, highway robbery, and murder, were crimes with which 
 this self-styled chivalry almost daily stained its hands. The issue which 
 the pro-slavery men were resolved to force upon the Territory is thus 
 stated by an eye-witness: " It was of little consequence what number of 
 Northern men might locate themselves in Kansas. It was assumed that 
 
14 
 
 the}' had no right to come there, unless with the intention of assisting to 
 make it a slave State. If they would not pledge themselves to that object 
 they were abolitionists, allies of disunionism, and deserving of death ; and 
 so far from being a crime, it was a virtue to kill them." 
 
 Conflicting Authorities, 
 
 Meanwhile, in the midst of all this, and partly productive of this state 
 of things, there were two legislative bodies, each claiming to be the legally 
 constituted law-making power of the Territory. First, the pro-slavery 
 legislature convened at Lecompton, January 12th, 1857, elected mainly by 
 Missouri voters ; Secondly, the free State legislature convened at Topeka, 
 January 6th, 1857. As a sanction for legislative authority each party ha 1 
 adopted a State constitution. In alluding to these shameful circumstances 
 it is not pretended that the free State party had not also been guilty of 
 great excesses. They had. But there was this palliation for their conduct. 
 They had been driven to violent measures in pure self-defence. Their ene- 
 mies were determined either to drive them from the Territory or destroy 
 them. And when the pro-slavery men could not enlist the sympathies of 
 the governor, in favor of their object, they combined against him, and 
 sought to drive him from his office. They had succeeded in having 
 Governor Reeder removed ; and as Governor Shannon, though in sympa- 
 thy with their opinions, could not be carried to their extreme lengths in 
 support of the views which they mutually entertained, they petitioned for 
 his removal also. And before their request had been granted, or rather, 
 before their knowledge of it, they threatened him until he fled from his 
 post through fear of assassination. What a story ! What fearful days 
 it foreshadowed! Voters had committed perjury; houses had been 
 burned ; crops had been destroyed ; churches had been desecrated ; women 
 had been outraged ; men had been murdered ; battles had been fought ! 
 Such was the state of things when Col. John W. Geary was appointed 
 Governor of Kansas. 
 
 Appointed Governor of Kansas Territory, 
 
 He received his commission, in July, 1856, his appointment having been 
 confirmed by the Senate without the usual reference to a committee. He 
 was now to assume the duties of a position more difficult than any he had 
 hitherto occupied. The story of his administration may soon be told. It 
 consists of the formidable difficulties he was obliged to encounter, and of 
 the spirit and means by which he overcame them. His preparations for 
 the journey were made with his usual dispatch. 
 
 About the same date of Governor Geary's departure from Washington, 
 Mr. Woodson, Secretary of State, and acting governor of Kansas, issued 
 a proclamation, declaring the Territory to be in a state of rebellion, and 
 summoning the militia to arms to suppress it. As the governor ascended 
 the Missouri river, he met Ex-Governor Shannon on his way down the 
 river, flying for his life. Besides this, when the steamer arrived at Glas- 
 gow, on the Missouri shore, Captain Jackson canie on board with an armed 
 
16 
 
 company of sixty men, en-route for Kansas, to aid in the work of driving 
 out or exterminating the " abolitionists." 
 
 Arrives at Fort Leavenworth, 
 
 The Governor reached Fort Leavenworth September 9th, 1856. On the 
 very day of his arrival he wrote to Mr. Secretary Marcy, in these words : 
 " I arrived here this morning, and have passed the day mostly in consulta- 
 tation with General Persifer F. Smith, in relation to the affairs of the Terri- 
 tory, which, as I am now on the spot, I begin to more clearly understand. 
 
 " I find that I have not simply to contend against bands of armed 
 ruffians and brigands, whose sole aim and end is assassination and robbery, 
 infatuated adherents and advocates of conflicting political sentiments and 
 local institutions, and evil disposed persons, actuated by adesire to obtain 
 elevated positions ; but worst of all, against the influence of men who have 
 been placed in authority, and have employed all the destructive agents 
 around them to promote their own personal interests, at the sacrifice 
 of every just, honorable and lawful consideration. The town of Leaven- 
 worth is now in the hands of armed bodies of men, who, having been enrolled 
 as militia, perpetrate outrages of the most atrocious character under shadow 
 of authority from the territorial government." 
 
 The facts of the case alluded to in this extract, were simply that the 
 pro-slavery party, in their violent attempts to drive the free-soil settlers 
 from the Territory, had obliged them to take up arms in self-defence, and 
 then the acting governor (Woodson) had called out the militia (meaning 
 the pro-slavery men) to put down a rebellion (meaning the anti-slavery 
 men), who had taken up arms to defend their property, homes, and lives. 
 
 The Situation, 
 
 To sum up the facts of the situation, which must be done briefly as 
 possible, Governor Geary found the Territory in arms a violent and 
 utterly lawless party, bent upon the triumph of their policy in defiance 
 alike of the Acts of Congress, and the laws of the Territory and another 
 party, not lawless, but equally determined to maintain their rights as 
 citizens of the United States, and of the Territory of Kansas. These 
 perplexing and most disagreeable circumstances, calling for the prompt 
 and decided action of the Governor, were greatly aggravated by the facts 
 that the sympathies and co-operation of the people of Missouri were 
 
 violently enlisted in behalf of their pro-slavery brethren in Kansas and 
 
 that the Legislature, and the United States Judges of that Territory, were 
 furiously and blindly committed to the same side, 
 
 "Equal and Exact Justice to All," to be the Cardinal Principle of 
 
 His Administration, 
 
 Governor Geary, always quick-sighted, prompt and practical, was not 
 long in ascertaining the true state of public affairs, nor in deciding upon 
 the course which he ought to pursue. Having duly informed himself, and 
 calmly made up his mind, he fearlessly announced his policy. In a public 
 
16 
 
 address at Lecompton, he said : " I appear among you, a stranger to most 
 of yon, and for the first time have the honor to address you as Governor 
 of the Territory of Kansas. The position was not sought by me, but was 
 voluntarily tendered by the Chief Magistrate of the Nation. As an Ameri- 
 can citizen, deeply conscious of the blessings which ever flow from our 
 beloved Union, I did not consider myself at liberty to shrink from any 
 duties, however delicate and onerous, required of me by my country. 
 With a full knowledge of all the circumstances surrounding the executive 
 office, I have deliberately accepted it, and as God may give me strength 
 and ability, I will endeavor to faithfully discharge its varied requirements. 
 
 "The Constitution of the United States, and the organic law of the 
 Territory, will be the lights by which I shall be guided in my executive 
 career." 
 
 The same just and patriotic sentiments pervaded his first annual mes- 
 sage to the territorial assembly. " I will administer," said he, " equal and 
 exact justice to all men, of whatever political party or religious persuasion." 
 Upon this eternal principle the Governor took his stand at the outset, and 
 there he maintained himself to the last. And as he had good reason to 
 anticipate, this faithful attitude roused, and combined against him, all 
 those elements of violence and disorder which had disgraced the Territory 
 prior to his assumption of its government. But he who is right need 
 never fear, and the ,new Governor was not only right, but prompt, and 
 capable in all matters of administration to a degree that has seldom fallen 
 to the lot of man required to govern his fellow-mortals. 
 
 An army of three thousand men had come to destroy the free State town 
 of Lawrence, and in the less pious and elegant, than vehement and forcible 
 language of that section, " to wipe out the d. d abolitionists." 
 
 The Governor rode into their camp, at Franklin, unattended, assumed 
 command of the forces, and addressing to them some earnest words of 
 patriotic and loyal counsel, disbanded and sent them to their homes. 
 When he approached their lines he did not know whether they would 
 shoot him or acknowledge his authority. It was an extremely critical 
 case. It required great presence of mind. But he was equal to the 
 situation. Lecompte, a third-rate Maryland lawyer, Chief Justice of the 
 Territory, used his authority both under and above, within and beyond 
 the law, to promote the interests of the pro-slavery cause. But the 
 Governor overruled his decisions. The Legislature enacted laws directly 
 in conflict with the Federal Constitution and the organic law of the Terri- 
 tory. But the Governor vetoed them. 
 
 Finally, perceiving that opposition, personal and official, would not 
 drive him from his just purposes, they changed their tactics, and if he 
 would favor the pro-slavery policy they promised that he should be 
 Senator from the new State in the Federal Congress. But to the man 
 who had the audacity to make to him this proposition, the Governor 
 declared, should he have the infamous assurance to repeat it, he would 
 pitch him through the window. 
 
17 ! 
 
 Peace Kestored to Kansas. 
 
 Governor Geary, as we have seen, assumed the functions of office 
 September 9th, 1856. Three weeks from that day, owing to his vigorous 
 and skilful measures, he was enabled to make to Secretary Marcy the 
 announcement contained in the following lines : 
 
 " Peace now reigns in Kansas. Confidence is gradually being restored. 
 Settlers are returning to their claims. Citizens are resuming their ordi- 
 nary pursuits, and a general gladness pervades the community." 
 
 His administration was brief, terminating in six months from the date 
 of its inauguration. In this short space of time he had suppressed all 
 organized violence, and restored the supremacy of the Federal and terri- 
 torial laws. It must, therefore, have been with a proud and grateful sense 
 of satisfaction that he was able to say to Secretary Marcy, in his last 
 official communication to that gentleman : 
 
 " In this state of affairs the most vigorous and determined action on 
 my part seemed the only remedy for the growing evils. Impartial justice 
 'will ever commend itself to every American citizen worthy to bear the name. 
 To disband armed bodies of men assembled under color of law, and dis- 
 perse others brought into antagonistic existence without authority, both 
 inflamed by the most exciting of questions, and both committing outrages 
 which all good men must deplore, required neither hesitation nor fear. 
 
 " I am most happy to inform you, that in order to calm these disturbing 
 elements, and bring the people back to sober reason, I have not been 
 obliged to resort to an}' measures unknown to the law, and not covered 
 by the spirit and letter of my instructions. It is also a matter of special 
 gratification to be able to say, that since my arrival here peace has been 
 restore^, and the fierce passions of man soothed, without the shedding of 
 one drop of fratricidal blood. 
 
 " The peace of the Territory is now placed upon a permanent basis, all 
 parties at length having relinquished the idea of a resort to arms, and 
 agreeing to refer the adjustment of all political disputes to the ballot-box, 
 or other lawful expedients. " 
 
 These lines were written as Franklin Pierce was preparing to vacate the 
 Presidential Mansion. And being satisfied, from intelligence which he 
 could not doubt, that the incoming Administration would endeavor to 
 force a pro-slavery policy upon Kansas, contrary to the organic law, and 
 the wishes of a majority of the territorial residents, on the very day of 
 James Buchanan's inauguration Governor Geary forwarded to the newly- 
 installed chief magistrate the following letter of resignation : 
 
 "EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, KANSAS TERRITORY, 
 
 " LECOMPTON, March 4th, 1857. 
 "His EXCELLENCY, JAMES BUCHANAN, 
 
 u President of the United States. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : Please accept my resignation as Governor of Kansas Ter- 
 ritory, to take effect on the 20th of the present month, by which time you 
 will be enabled to select and appoint a proper successor. 
 
 " With high respects, your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 inirxr w ni? A 
 
18 
 
 Thus terminated one of the most trying and difficult, and }^et most suc- 
 cessful and triumphant acts in the public life of the man whom the patri- 
 otic and loyal people of Pennsylvania, both civilians and soldiers, desire to 
 honor. Let it speak for him. From it might be predicted the course he 
 would pursue in the dreadful contest which treason and traitors were a 
 few years later about to wage against the Union, and against those prin- 
 ciples of constitutional liberty which he had so ably and successfully main- 
 tained in California and Kansas. And his civil administration of the 
 affairs of these two Territories under circumstances of so much disorder 
 and difficulty, clearly show his capacity to administer the affairs of our 
 beloved Commonwealth, in these happier days of order, peace and pros- 
 perity. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MILITAET OAEEEE. (Mexico.) 
 
 All who are conversant with the political history of that period well 
 remember that the annexation of Texas to the Federal Union was strongly 
 opposed by many of the leading public journals, and by some of the most 
 able and influential members of Congress in both Houses, on the ground 
 that it would certainly provoke a war with the Republic of Mexico. The 
 passion for territorial aggrandizement, however, proved too strong for 
 successful resistance, especially as the accession presented to our Southern 
 statesmen that most tempting bait an opportunity to add, in due time, 
 new slave States to the then existing fifteen. Joint resolution* for the 
 admission of Texas passed the House of Representatives, February 25th; 
 and the Senate, March 1st, 1845, and were approved by President Tyler the 
 same day. The independence of Texas had never been acknowledged by 
 Mexico, and though that government had no hope of reconquering and 
 restoring the Texans to their former allegiance, the act of incorporation 
 by the Congress of the United States naturally tended to produce estrange- 
 ment and unfriendliness between the two countries. 
 
 The immediate cause of rupture, however, was a question of boundary. 
 The Mexicans maintained that Texas had never been recognized by them 
 as extending beyond the river Nueces, while the United States claimed the 
 Rio Grande as her legitimate line of frontier. At the beginning of Mr. 
 Polk's administration, he found the two governments involved in this 
 dispute, and being resolved to make good the American claim, ordered 
 General Zachary Taylor, with a small force, to occupy the region lying 
 between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. In April, 1846, a slight col- 
 lision occurred between the troops of General Taylor, and those of the 
 Mexican commander, General Arista. When the news of this event 
 reached Washington, the President immediately sent a special message to 
 Congress, declaring that "war existed by the act of Mexico," and asking 
 for men and money to carry it on. Congress, in response, promptly ap- 
 
19 
 
 propriated $10,000,000, and gave authority to call out 50,000 volunteers. 
 The rashness of General Arista, in crossing the Rio Grande, had furnished 
 the very occasion which President Polk, and the friends of his administra- 
 tion, most ardently desired. And the results of the contest, thus inau- 
 gurated, proved very soon that the Mexicans had either greatly overrated 
 themselves, or greatly underrated the resources and warlike prowess of 
 their Anglo-American neighbors. 
 
 Geary Enlists in the Service of his Country, 
 
 At the commencement of hostilities, John W Geary was employed as 
 Civil Engineer, and Superintendent of the Allegheny Portage Railroad. 
 His temporary residence was in Cambria county; and quickly respond- 
 ing to the first call for volunteers, he recruited a company there, in a 
 few days, which he organized under the name of "American Highlanders." 
 This company was attached to the Second regiment, Pennsylvania volun- 
 teers. Immediately upon the organization of the regiment, Captain Geary 
 was elected Lieutenant-colonel. This election may be regarded as strong 
 proof of the confidence which officers and privates felt in his soldierly 
 qualities, and was far more complimentary to him than if he had received 
 his promotion at the hand of executive authority. This regiment joined 
 the arm}'' of General Scott, at Yera Cruz, and was attached to the division 
 commanded by General Quitman. The events of the campaign which fol- 
 lowed, are as familiar as household words to every American reader. The 
 victories achieved by the gallantry of American soldiers, under the direc- 
 tion of their great chief, need not be repeated here. They are embalmed 
 in the country's history, and will inscribe, for all time, on the page of glory, 
 the name of that inflexible patriot, and consummate Captain, who has so 
 recently gone to his rest, followed by the proud and grateful benedictions 
 of his countrymen. 
 
 Under the orders of Quitman, Colonel Geary distinguished himself for 
 personal gallantry and military skill, particularly in the bloody battles 
 of La Hoya, Cerro Gorda, Chepultepec and Garita de Belen. And when 
 Quitman, always foremost, stormed the defences of the Capital, Geary and 
 his Pennsylvanians were in the van, and charged shoulder to shoulder with 
 the Southern braves, whom they have since met and vanquished on still 
 more fiercely-contested fields. 
 
 Colonel Roberts having died, Geary was elected colonel of the regi- 
 ment his gallant companions thus giving him the highest mark of their 
 confidence, in their power to bestow, after they had seen him so fully tested, 
 under the fatigues of the march, and amid the thunders of battle. In the 
 appointments to posts of duty and honor, which followed the occupation 
 of the city, Colonel Geary, in consideration of the valuable services he 
 had rendered in the capture, was assigned to the command of the great 
 citadel of the Capital, and his commission as colonel, dated on the same 
 memorable spot, and bestowed for the same reason, was the first ever 
 received by an American in the city of the Montezumas. It may not be 
 Hie last ! 
 
20 
 
 It was with Geary in Mexico as in California his bravery, ability and 
 integrity won for him that promotion to which an honorable ambition 
 induced him to aspire. He left his peaceful home in Cambria county, as 
 captain of his Highland company, and returned to it as colonel of the 
 Second regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers. 
 
 MILITAEY EEOOED, Continued, 
 
 W f 4.1. -D I. IT 
 
 War of the .Rebellion, 
 
 On the 12th of April, 1861, treason opened her batteries on Fort Sumter 
 and a war began, which may safely challenge its parallel in all history. 
 Any one who knew the principles and character, the private and public 
 antecedents of John W. Geary, could not have been at a loss to determine 
 which side he would take in such a conflict. 
 
 Colonel Geary was at his rural home in Westmoreland, when the thun- 
 ders of .armed treason first broke upon the ear of the nation. His life- 
 long political views and convictions, his high-toned and oft-tried patriotism, 
 and the natural promptings of his military genius, all conspired to urge 
 him to the field. He accordingly at once proceeded to Philadelphia for 
 the purpose of recruiting a regiment, believing that he would have greater 
 facilities there for the speedy accomplishment of his purpose, than in the 
 country districts. As soon as it was generally known through the State 
 that he had been commissioned by President Lincoln to organize a regi- 
 ment, he received applications from no less than sixty -six companies, 
 soliciting permission to join his command. Owing to these numerous and 
 urgent requests, he was permitted to raise his regiment to the standard 
 of sixteen companies, with one battery of six guns, making the organiza- 
 tion, when complete, to consist of seventeen hundred officers and men. 
 The artillery company, which formed a part of the regiment, was that 
 which subsequently became so celebrated throughout the country as 
 "Knapp's Battery." 
 
 Ordered to the Front Battle of Bolivar, 
 
 Immediately upon the equipment of his command, Colonel Geary re- 
 ceived orders to proceed to Harper's Ferry, with instructions to report to 
 General Banks. Having joined Banks' corps, he was by order of that 
 General assigned to the command of Mainland Heights, with a force con- 
 sisting of one thousand men and four guns. In this position he first 
 unsheathed his sword, and first shed his own blood, in that gigantic war 
 which was so signally to maintain the supremacy of the ballot, and estab- 
 lish the authority of the national constitution. Here, with his small force, 
 on the 16th of October, 1861, he fought the battle of Bolivar against an 
 assailing force, consisting of five thousand men and seven guns, under 
 command of Generals Ashby and Evans, and severely repulsed the enemy, 
 after an engagement which lasted nearly eight hours. During the action 
 the colonel was wounded in- the right knee, and his command suffered 
 
21 
 
 severely from the repeated and furious efforts of their assailants. But 
 his superior officers, and his country, could congratulate him upon having 
 corrected a serious mistake into which the self-confident rebels had fallen. 
 They had boasted that they would undertake to whip the Union forces in 
 the ratio of five to one ; and there were some Union commanders against 
 whom they made good their boast, but it was obvious that the command- 
 ing spirit at Bolivar was not of that number. In fact, Colonel Geary had 
 completely reversed the scale upon which they had made their vaunting 
 calculations. With one thousand men and four guns, he had severely 
 beaten five thousand rebels with seven guns. As a beginning that was 
 doing well. 
 
 Battle of Leesburg Appointed Brigadier-General, 
 
 The gallant, obstinate, and successful defence of his position at Bolivar, 
 induced the assignment of Col. Geary to the command of the advance, in 
 the movement shortly after made, into the head of the Shenandoah Valley, 
 in the spring of 1862. On the 8th of March he bore a conspicuous part in 
 the battle which resulted in the capture of Leesburg, and led the van of 
 the Union column in the subsequent operations, by which the rebel forces 
 were obliged to evacuate all the towns north of the Rappahannock, and 
 were dislodged from their strongholds at Snicker's, Ashby's, Manassas 
 and Chester Gaps, in the range of the Blue Mountains. These valuable re- 
 sults were achieved while Stonewall Jackson was within striking distance 
 at Winchester; and for the services which Colonel Geary rendered in their 
 accomplishment, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-general, his 
 commission bearing date of April 25th, 1862. During the greater part of 
 the time he held the rank of colonel, he had commanded a force equal 
 in strength to a brigade, and immediately upon his promotion, he was 
 assigned to the command of the 1st Brigade, 2d Division, 2nd Corps, 
 General C. C. Augur being Division Commander, and Major-general N. P. 
 Banks, Commander of the Corps. 
 
 Battle of Cedar Mountain, 
 
 On the 26th of June, 1862, by appointment of the President, Major- 
 general John Pope was placed in command of the army of Virginia, 
 consisting of the corps of Fremont, Banks, and McDowell. On .the 
 9th of August Banks' corps had a severe engagement with the rebels, 
 under Stonewall Jackson, at Cedar Mountain. The weather was oppres- 
 sively hot, and the Union troops suffered extremely from exhaustion, as 
 well as from the furious assaults of that self-deceived man, and great 
 soldier, who subsequently proved himself to be the most active and capable 
 of all their antagonists. Brigadier-general Geary was again wounded 
 slightly in the left foot, and severely in the right arm. The battle was 
 obstinately contested, but the results of the day were adverse to the Union 
 arms. Meanwhile Lee, having been relieved from all pressure on the 
 south side of Richmond by the withdrawal of the army of the Potomac, 
 under McClellan, rapidly massed his troops with the intention of falling 
 
22 
 
 in united force upon Pope's command. Quickly perceiving the danger of 
 his position, that General executed a hasty but well-conducted retreat 
 across the Rappahannock. This movement was effected on the 17th and 
 18th of August. Lee and Jackson hotly pursued the retreating forces, 
 and during the fifteen days following, General Pope fought them with 
 greatly inferior numbers in a series of fiercely sustained but disastrous 
 actions, at Manassas Junction, Gainsville, and Chantilly, known as the 
 second Battle of Bull Run. Those were dark days for the republic! 
 Many homes were shrouded in mourning for the patriotic and gallant dead 
 who fell in those bloody conflicts. General Stevens, who had ranked so 
 highly in his class at West Point, and served his country so well and 
 bravely in the field, and General Phil Kearny, a lion in the day of battle 
 the pride and joy of every patriotic heart, were among the slain. But 
 Geary survived the dangers and reverses of that anxious and sorrowful 
 period to win fresh laurels on other and more glorious fields. 
 
 Appointed to the command of the 2d Division 12th Corps, 
 
 Shortly after the battle of Antietam, General Banks being removed tc 
 another and more important command, the 12th corps was assigned to 
 General Slocum, and Geary was promoted to the command of its 2d 
 division. 
 
 Participates gallantly and is dangerously wounded in the great battle 
 
 of Chancellor sville, 
 
 The chief command of the army of the Potomac having been transferred 
 to Major-general Burnside, the only event of importance which distin- 
 guished its operations while subject to his orders, was the bloody and 
 unsuccessful assault upon Lee's formidable lines at Fredericksburg. The 
 12th corps did not participate in that action. In a few days after its 
 occurrence, Burnside was relieved from command, at his own request, 
 and was succeeded by an officer distinguished as a major-general, and 
 corps commander, but more familiarly known, in and out of the army, as 
 ''Fighting Joe Hooker." The public expectation was considerably elevated 
 by this important change, and though the new commander failed to achieve 
 the full success he deserved, he fully maintained his old renown for fight- 
 ing, and the reputation of an able general. During the latter part of winter 
 and the first months of spring, General Hooker, having put his army in 
 excellent condition and formed a comprehensive plan of campaign, crossed 
 the Rappahannock and gave Lee battle at Chancellorsville on the 1st, 
 2d, and 3d of May, 1863. The results of the first and second day's fight- 
 ing were not decisive for either of the contestants. But on the third day 
 the battle was decided against the National forces by Stonewall Jackson's 
 celebrated flank movement, and assault upon the extreme right of Hooker's 
 position. As will ever be remembered, Jackson fell at the close of that 
 bloody day, and the indecisive victory of the rebels was won at the 
 fatal cost of the red right arm of their treasonable and blood-stained 
 confederacy. In this memorable engagement, the 12th corpp. maintained a 
 
23 
 
 conspicuous part, and General Geary, at the head of the 2d division, was 
 distinguished for his coolness and courage among the many gallant and 
 faithful leaders of the patriot hosts who so nobly vindicated the honor of 
 the flag. In the course of the protracted and fearful struggle, he was noted 
 for the almost reckless exposure of his person, and for the resistless fury 
 with which he several times led his division against the ranks of the con- 
 fident and stubborn foe. In this battle he was wounded in the right breast 
 by the fragment of a shell, and so serious was the wound in its character 
 that he yet despairs of ever recovering entirely from its consequences. It 
 was at Chancellorsville that his command was first designated as the 
 "White Star" division, by which name it continued to be known till its 
 honorable discharge at the close of the war. 
 
 Lee's Campaign in Pennsylvania Battle of Gettysburg, 
 
 The battle of Chancellorsville was barren of results to the rebel com- 
 mander-in-chief; and being unable to draw Hooker from the positions, 
 which he occupied for the defence of Washington, he abandoned his in- 
 tention of attacking that city, and began about the middle of June to 
 move with his whole force towards the Pennsylvania line. Hooker ob- 
 served his motions very keenly, and followed rapidly and skillfully upon 
 his footsteps, as Lee acknowledged, in his report of his subsequent 
 operations, to the rebel Secretary of War. But while in the very act 
 of moving to the encounter, General Hooker was relieved, and Majoi- 
 general George G. Meade was invested with the chief command. The 
 public mind, alread} r anxious and agitated in prospect of another great, 
 contest of arms, was rendered still more so by the intelligence of a change 
 of commanders at such a critical juncture. But the appointment of 
 Meade was signally justified by the results which immediately followed, 
 and from the heights of Gettysburg his name will pass down on the page 
 of his country's history, until the end of recorded time. The battle, like 
 that of Chancellorsville, lasted three days, being fought on the first, 
 second and third of July. On the morning of the anniversary of the 
 Nation's Independence, the sun rose upon a scene, such as the eyes 
 of men had not witnessed since the dawn that lighted the plain of 
 Waterloo. The shattered and beaten army of the enemy was in full 
 retreat. Its hitherto invincible leader had staked and lost, and was 
 never to win another victory. In that great battle, fought on Pennsyl- 
 vania soil, nearly all the loyal States were represented, and Pennsylva- 
 nia's noble sons eclipsed the renown they had won in Mexico, and even 
 transcended the heroic deeds of their revolutionary sires. By forced 
 marches they had come to defend their hearthstones and family altars ; 
 covered with dust, streaming with perspiration, scorched by the sun, 
 hungry and weary, but panting to be led against the invading hosts. 
 Many of them had neither shirts on their backs, nor shoes on their feet. 
 Day and night they still came on. By daylight of the second, they were 
 . assembled in force, when with one hasty cup of coffee, and a few morsels 
 of hard tack and bacon, they fell into line, and advanced upon treason's 
 
24 
 
 proud and defiant array. On the distant left was the Potomac, winding 
 hard by the sacred spot where sleeps the dust of great Washington. In 
 their rear was their metropolitan city, where the signers had put their 
 names to the "Declaration," and gave a new nation, endowed with rational 
 freedom, to the world. 
 
 All around them were the homes of their loved ones, and the graves of 
 their lamented dead. Their very muskets seemed to be inspired by the 
 hour and the situation. The humblest private rose to sublimest deeds of 
 heroism. Meade a Pennsylvanian bore the responsibility of the dread- 
 ful hour. Reynolds a Pennsylvanian in the same glorious moment, 
 gave back his life to God, and received the palm and crown of immortality. 
 Hancock, Crawford and other Pennsylvanians, united with heroes from 
 the other loyal States, for victory in this fearful struggle. Geary a 
 Pennsylvanian on the first day occupied Round Top, and was the first 
 to indicate its extreme importance. On the morning of the second, he 
 was ordered to Gulp's Hill, which he fortified ; the same evening he was 
 ordered back to assist in repelling an assault on the left centre ; and the 
 same night was recalled to Gulp's Hill, where the next morning, after 
 "seven hours and a quarter of desperate fighting," the advancing hosts of 
 " Stone wall's " veterans, eager to avenge the fall of their adored com- 
 mander, were hurled back in confusion and dismay. O ye patriot fathers, 
 who were too old and infirm to join these heroes ! and ye fathers and 
 mothers, who had no sons to give, well may you envy those whose sons 
 were marshalled on that famous field ! Yes, well may you envy those 
 whose children died to win, or live to wear, the dear-bought honors of 
 those three momentous days 1 
 
 Transferred to the Army of the Southwest, 
 
 After Gettysburg came Chickamauga. The issue of that great battle 
 was unfortunate for the Union arms. Rosecrans, the sterling patriot, the 
 brave soldier, the skillful commander, did not fully sustain the reputation 
 he had won amid the iron hail of Corinth and Stone River. But, George 
 H. Thomas, saved the day from going down in the darkness of total defeat, 
 and arose from the wrecks of its misfortunes to strike those famous blows 
 for his flag and country at Franklin and Nashville, that will enshrine him 
 for all time to come in every truly American bosom. 
 
 The defeat of General Rosecrans made it necessary to reinforce the 
 Army of the Cumberland. For this purpose the llth and 12th corps of 
 the Army of the Potomac were detached, and ordered to join the Army 
 of the Southwest. Geary still followed the fortunes of the 12th corps, and 
 continued at the head of his old division. Other reinforcements were 
 hurried forward to the scene of the late disaster. Grant, the silent and 
 invincible, having laid Vicksburg in the dust, had now come to the moun- 
 tains of Tennessee, and assumed the chief command. With that extraor- 
 dinary clear-sightedness, promptitude, and vigor, which naturally belong 
 to him. and which with other eminent qualifications, constitute him the- 
 greatest of living captains, he at once initiated a series of important 
 
25 
 
 movements, designed to dislodge Bragg from the formidable positions 
 he had gained by the victory at Chickamauga, in the previous autumn. 
 In pursuance of his masterly plan, a battle was fought at Wauhatchie, 
 October 28th, 1863; another at Lookout Mountain, November 24th; 
 another at Mission Ridge, November 25th ; and a fourth, November 27th, 
 at Ringgold, in the State of Georgia. These victories won in such rapid 
 succession, constitute Grant's great "Chattanooga Campaign," by which 
 he hurled Bragg from heights which he fondly deemed inaccessible, drove 
 him across the Tennessee line, and set all loyal hearts in the country wild 
 with joy. 
 
 Battle of Wauhatchie, fought by Geary's Division, 
 
 The name of General Geary will ever be proudly associated with the 
 events of this brilliant campaign of his incomparable chief. It is not 
 generally known, but it is a fact worthy of notice, that his division fought 
 the battle of Wauhatchie alone. The other two divisions of Slocum's 
 corps were, at that time, guarding the railroad between Bridgeport and 
 Murfreesboro, a distance of twenty-eight miles from the scene of action. 
 Geary's also was the only division of the corps that participated in the 
 battles of Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, and Ringgold. Of the battle 
 of Wauhatchie, General Hooker spoke in his official report, as follows : 
 
 " During these operations a heavy musketry fire, with occasional dis- 
 charges of artillery, continued to reach us from Geary. It was evident 
 that a formidable adversary had gathered around him, and that he was 
 battering him with all his might. For more than three hours, without 
 assistance, he repelled the repeated attacks of vastly superior numbers, 
 and in the end drove them ingloriously from the field. At one time they 
 had enveloped him on three sides, under circumstances that would have 
 dismayed any officer except one endowed with an iron will and the most 
 exalted courage. Such is the character of General Geary. 
 
 ***** *** 
 
 " As to the loss of the enemy, it cannot fall short of fifteen hundred. 
 Geary buried one hundred and fifty-seven rebels on his front alone. He took 
 one hundred and thirty prisoners, and several hundred stand of small arms." 
 
 In reference to the same action his corps commander, General Slocum, 
 addressed to him the following letter of congratulation : 
 
 "HEADQUARTERS TWELFTH CORPS, ARMY OP THE CUMBERLAND, 
 " MURFREESBORO, TENN., Nov. 13, 1863. 
 
 " MY DEAR GENERAL : I am very happy to hear the good reports which 
 reach me from all sides, relative to the conduct of your command in the 
 recent action. The contest was one of very great importance. The highest 
 credit is awarded to you and your command, not only by General Thomas 
 but by all officers conversant with the circumstances. 
 
 " As I was not with you I can claim no portion of the credit gained, 
 nor can I, with good taste, publish an order expressing thanks to you, but 
 I wish you and your command to know that I have been informed of all 
 
26 
 
 the facts in the case, and that I feel deeply grateful for their gallant con- 
 duct and for the new laurels they have brought to our corps. 
 
 "H. W. SLOCUM." 
 "Brigadier-general J. W. GEARY, 
 
 " Commanding Second Division, Twelfth Army Corps." 
 
 Bereavement in the Hour of Victory, 
 
 But this glorious campaign, in which General Geary bore so gallant and 
 honorable a part, will ever be associated in his memory with an event that 
 filled his heart with unutterable sorrow. 
 
 On this bloody field, his eldest son, Captain Edward R. Geary, then only 
 nineteen years of age, commanded one of the sections of the celebrated 
 " Knapp's Battery," and fell, pierced through the forehead, while bravely 
 maintaining his position against the fierce assault of superior numbers. 
 The following narrative is from the pen of one who knew this young 
 officer well. In 1861, though scarcely sixteen years of age, he had been 
 commissioned second lieutenant ; he was afterwards, for meritorious ser- 
 vices, promoted to first lieutenant, and served constant!} 7 in the field until 
 his death. 
 
 " He was actively engaged in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Sulphur 
 Springs, South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellors ville, Gettysburg, and 
 last the bloody field of Wauhatchie, besides numerous skirmishes, which 
 were of frequent occurrence, during the campaigns of Banks and Pope in 
 Virginia. In so high estimation was he held by his brethren in arms, who 
 had witnessed his high soldierly bearing, and knew his virtues and manly 
 qualities, that after the death of Captain Hampton, commanding Company 
 F, Pennsylvania Independent Battery, who fell at Chancellorsville, both 
 officers and men of that battery united in asking Governor Curtin to 
 commission Lieutenant Geary as their captain. They still remained with 
 the Army of the Potomac, while Knapp's Battery went with Geary's 
 Division to Chattanooga. He was duly commissioned as captain. The 
 commission and orders to report to the Army of the Potomac were en 
 route to him at the time of his death. In the bloody field of Wauhatchie, 
 he filled the post of first lieutenant, commanding one section of Knapp's 
 Battery. The slaughter in that command attests the fierceness of the 
 struggle. About fifteen hundred men under General Geary (the balance 
 of his division having been left several miles in the rear) were attacked 
 from an eminence by not less than five thousand of Longstreet's troops, 
 of the enemy, commanded by him in person, at about midnight, in an open 
 field, without intrenchments or cover of any kind. In the battery, four 
 guns only were engaged, and nearly all the horses were killed or wounded. 
 Captain Atwell and Lieutenant Geary were among the slain. After several 
 hours' hard fighting the enemy were repulsed at every point with great 
 slaughter. In the hoNir of danger, Lieutenant Geary was cool and intrepid. 
 Though in many a fearful fight, he never for a moment faltered ; always 
 conscious that instant death might summon him at any moment into the 
 presence of his God. To a friend riding by his side to the battle of Antie- 
 tam, he said, " We are here now, but who can tell where we shall be an hour 
 hence ?" And with an affectionate farewell he immediately passed to his 
 post in the thickest of the fight. 
 
 " As an artillerist he had no superior in the army. It was his custom 
 in battle to dismount and assist in working his guns. In this action, in 
 the act of sighting his gun, his forehead pierced with a bullet, young 
 
27 
 
 Geary fell, and instantly expired. His father coming to the spot, clasped 
 in an agonizing embrace the lifeless form of his boy, then mounting his 
 horse, dashed wildly into the thickest ranks of the foe, and rode like an 
 avenging spirit over that bloody field until the enemy were utterly routed 
 aid put to flight. This General Hooker pronounced the most gallant and 
 successful charge that has come to his knowledge during the war. Gene- 
 rals Grant, Thomas and Hooker rode upon the field the next morning, 
 complimenting in strong terms General Geary for his stubborn resistance 
 to an immensely superior force. The supplies to the army at Chatta- 
 nooga are saved ; alas, with what a sacrifice ! The eye of the General is 
 Moistened with tears. His first-born has fallen a sacrifice, and many a 
 gallant spirit who had followed him through many a bloody fight has bit 
 the dust. Thus fell a noble son of a noble sire ; another victim to this ac- 
 cursed rebellion ; another pledge given by our country in the blood of her 
 noblest sons, that the freedom bequeathed to us by patriot ancestors shall 
 be by us transmitted, unimpaired, redeemed and purified, to our posterity." 
 
 The Battles of Lookout Mountain, Mission Eidge and Kinggold, 
 
 On November 24th the battle of Lookout Mountain was fought, under 
 the immediate leadership of General Geary. After the contest at Wau- 
 hatchie, and when the results of that victory had settled the question of 
 supplying the army at Chattanooga, it was determined that an effort 
 should be made to drive the enemy from Lookout Mountain and Mission 
 Ridge. General Hooker selected Geary for the perilous work of taking 
 the Mountain, and in less than an hour after our Pennsylvania commander 
 received the order, his troops were on the march. Crossing Lookout 
 Creek, the rebel pickets were surprised and captured, and Geary's men 
 moved quietly over ledges and boulders, onward and upward, until they 
 had rounded the rugged peak and stood beneath the lofty palisades. The 
 contest was sharp but decisive, and as the mist which enveloped the 
 mountain cleared away, the troops in the valley beneath for the first 
 time were enabled to ascertain the position of their comrades, and to know 
 that they had been victorious. The enemy, driven by a succession of 
 terrible assaults from their redoubts, redans and rifle-pits, fled in disorder 
 down the mountain sides. 
 
 This contest has been most aptly termed " The battle above the clouds," 
 and no more conclusive proof of Its importance and severity could be 
 added than the following extract from the official report of General 
 Hooker: "Viewed from whatever point," says the General, "Lookout 
 Mountain, with its high palisaded crest and its steep, rugged, rocky and 
 deeply furrowed slopes, presented an imposing barrier to our advance, and 
 when to these natural obstacles were added almost interminable well- 
 planned and well-constructed defences, held by Americans, the assault 
 became an enterprise worthy of the ambition and renown of the troops to 
 whom it was entrusted." During the battle, General Geary captured a large 
 amount of ammunition and stores, and twenty-one hundred of the enemy. 
 
 From Lookout the enemy were pursued across the Valley to Mission 
 Ridge, where they again attempted to make a stand, but the attempt was 
 in vain. The history of that battle of November 25th has been faithfully 
 written, and it is only our duty to say that Geary was there, and, as 
 
28 
 
 fighting Joe Hooker remarked, " always in the right place." While his 
 brother commanders were driving the rebel troops from their works on the 
 sides and summit of the ridge, he rolled up their left in the Rossville gap. 
 
 From Mission Ridge to Ringgold was but a comparatively short dis- 
 tance, and on the 2tth of November our advance came up with the rear of 
 the flying foe at the latter-named place. A stubborn and sanguinary battle 
 followed, and victory again perched upon the banners of the Union troops. 
 Geary was in the thickest of the fray, and while furthest in advance, driv- 
 ing the rebels before him, orders came for him to return, and thus this 
 campaign, one of the most glorious and successful of the war, terminated 
 with increased lustre to the fame of Grant and Hooker, under whose com- 
 mand it had been fought, and to John W. Geary and the other leaders who 
 had battled victoriously from its inception to its close. 
 
 In the early part of the following month, General Geary issued the 
 following general order : 
 
 "HEADQUARTERS SECOISTD DIVISION, TWELFTH ARMY CORPS, 
 
 44 Wauhatchie, Tenn., December 3, 1863. 
 
 " A most important era in the present contest for national existence has just been 
 passed ; battles culminating in grandest success, fought and won, and the part taken 
 by the troops of this Division in the engagements by which it has been marked, hav- 
 ing reflected so much honor upon themselves as individuals, and the command to 
 which they are attached, the General commanding cannot refrain from alluding to 
 these services in terms which shall convey in some measure his warm appreciation of 
 their valor, their patriotism and their noble endurance of severe hardships, while en- 
 gaged in the arduous campaign. 
 
 44 With heartfelt pride he refers to their prowess in the assaults which made them 
 the heroes of Lookout Mountain on the 24th ultimo, and to their gallant conduct upon 
 Mission Ridge on the 25th, Pea Vine Creek on the 26th, and at Ringgold upon 
 Taylor's Ridge on the 27th. The conquest of Lookout Mountain will, associated 
 with the emblematic ' White Star ' of the conquerors, stand out as prominently in 
 history as do the beetling cliffs of that Titanic eminence upon the horizon. 
 
 "For these services he tenders them his heartfelt thanks ; for their endurance his 
 sympathy ; for their bereavement in the loss of so many gallant officers and so many 
 brave and noble men, his condolence. In all the Division, death could not have 
 selected braver spirits, nobler hearts, than those who have laid their lives a sacrifice 
 upon their country's altar in the recent engagements with the rebel forces. He 
 assures them that their gallant conduct has gained for them the high esteem and 
 appreciation of the commanding generals. 
 
 44 It behooves us to remember prayerfully that the hand of the Omnipotent Architect 
 of the Universe is visible in our great victories, and that He who holds in His hands 
 the destinies of nations, has in His goodness answered the humble petitions for suc- 
 cess to crown our arms, which ascended from anxious hearts to His Heavenly throne." 
 
 Campaign of Atlanta, 
 
 In the spring ef 1864 the Army of the Southwest was reorganized, and 
 Grant, having been invested with the rank of Lieutenant-general, and 
 appointed Commander-in-Chief, Sherman assumed command of all the 
 forces designed to operate in the Southwestern and Southern States. By 
 direction of that great Captain important changes were effected in the 
 combinations and appointments of his army. Among others the llth 
 Corps (Howard's) and the 12th (Slocum's) were consolidated, becoming 
 in this form the 20th Army Corps, with "Fighting Joe Hooker" in 
 command. Geary was continued in charge of the 2d Division, consisting 
 of his old troops, with the addition of one brigade from the llth Corps. 
 The two great campaigns of this memorable year were opened on the sam 
 
29 
 
 day. On the 4th of May Grant moved from the Rapidan to encounter 
 Lee, and Sherman from Chattanooga to encounter Johnston. Sherman's 
 army was complete in equipment, and about ninety thousand strong. The 
 events which followed can scarcely be named in these pages. They belong 
 to history. The future historian will note the strength of the moun- 
 tainous country that was to be traversed by the Union commander, the 
 formidable defences which his opponent had constructed to repel his 
 advance, the danger to which every day's march from his base exposed 
 his communications. He will tell how Sherman and his Lieutenants 
 designed, and how they executed how the veterans of the subordinate 
 commands, and of the rank and file, endured the fatigues of the march, 
 without complaint, and confronted the perils of battle without fear how, 
 with hard tack and bacon in their knapsacks, and the love of country in 
 their souls, they slept through the night on the bare ground, and fought 
 through the day mid storms of rain from heaven, and storms of bullets 
 and shell from the lines of the enemy how they dragged their batteries 
 into line how they forded rivers how they scaled mountains how they 
 stormed positions when they couldn't flank them, and flanked them when 
 they couldn't storm them how they forced the passes of Tunnel Hill, the 
 gorges of the Kenesaw, and the banks of the Chattahoochee and how 
 a grateful and admiring country uncovered at the mention of their heroic 
 deeds, and made the very pillars of the firmament tremble with shouts of 
 exultation over their manifold and sublime achievements. 
 
 Battles, 
 
 It will suffice for the special object of this narrative to say that Geary 
 was there. At the head of that division to which he was endeared, and 
 which was endeared to him by so long a companionship in perils, hardships 
 and sufferings, he participated in the battles of Mill Creek and Snake 
 Gaps, May the 8th; Resaca, May 15th; New Hope Church, commencing 
 May 26th and continuing eight consecutive days; Pine Hill, June 15th; 
 Muddy Creek, June 17th; Nose's Creek, June 19th; Kolb's Farm, June 
 22d ; Kenesaw, June 27th ; Marietta, July 3d ; Peach Tree Creek, July 
 20th, and the siege of Atlanta, lasting twenty-eight da3^s, and ending in 
 the capture of the city on the 2d of September. To use his own language: 
 " The campaign, from its opening till the fall of Atlanta, was really a one 
 hundred days' fight, and may be termed a continuous battte, crowned with 
 constant -victory." 
 
 Sherman's March to the Sea, 
 
 General Sherman having reached the objective point, and gained the 
 grand end of the skillful plans he had formed at Chattanooga on the 4th 
 of May, entered at once upon other plans and dispositions. Hood was 
 consigned to the care of Thomas, and Sherman, with one-half of his grand 
 array, swung round upon his pivot at Atlanta, cut loose from his commu- 
 nications, and started on his famous march for the Atlantic coast. He 
 took Geary with him. On the 25th of July Hooker had been relieved from 
 
30 
 
 command of the 20th Corps, at his own request, and Williams had suc- 
 ceeded him, as senior Division General. Geary still remained at the head 
 of his old division. 
 
 It is well remembered what predictions were uttered respecting Sher 
 man's great movement toward the sea. The rebels, and the Nassau 
 blockade-runners, the English cotton bond-holders, and the Southern 
 sympathizing copperheads, "each did after their kind." It was said: 
 "He has started somewhere, but he'll not get there, nor will he ever get back." 
 One-half of the envious, cowardly, malicious prediction was fulfilled. But, 
 alas ! alas! it was not the half which these sworn enemies of republican 
 institutions so much desired to see. It was never in his mind to turn 
 back, but to go forward. " He came, he saw, he conquered." Charleston, 
 that had so long laughed and jeered in defiant treason, and Savannah, 
 that had deemed herself impregnable, were uncovered, and laid low. In 
 all the movements, the marches, and battles, that drove the Union 
 ploughshare through these hotbeds of treason, Geary and his division 
 played their accustomed part. 
 
 Eeceives the Surrender of Savannah. 
 
 General Geary led in the advance upon Savannah, after the fall of Fort 
 McAllister, and received the surrender of the city at the head of his division. 
 In consideration of his distinguished services, in the siege and capture, he 
 was appointed Military Governor of the city by General Sherman. And 
 here, as in every other administrative position he has ever occupied, he 
 won for himself the most flattering acknowledgments. At a meeting of 
 the citizens of Savannah, convened by Mayor Arnold, December 28, 1864, 
 the following, among other resolutions equally complimentary, was unani- 
 mously adopted: 
 
 "Resolved, That Major-General Sherman having appointed Brigadier- 
 general Geary commander of this post, who has by his urbanity as a gen- 
 tleman, and his uniform kindness to our citizens, done all in his power to 
 protect their persons from insult, and their property from injury, it is the 
 unanimous desire of all present, that he be allowed to remain in his present 
 position, and that for the reasons above stated, the thanks of the citizens 
 are hereby tendered to him and the officers of his command." 
 
 Promoted to the Eank of Major- General, 
 
 While in command of the city, as Military Governor, he was, in grateful 
 recognition of his services throughout the war, breveted Major-general 
 of Volunteers. His commission was dated January 12th, 1865, and the 
 reasons assigned for his promotion, in the document itself, are for "fitness to 
 command and promptness to execute." With this well-merited mark of his 
 country's approbation, he declined the request of the people of Savannah, 
 that he might be continued in command of their city, and braced anew by 
 the sense of the honor and responsibility conferred by his promotion, 
 took the field for the final conflict. 
 
 The following extract from Major Nichols' " Story of the Great 
 March," will explain why the people of that city were so anxious to have 
 
31 
 
 him remain in command: "General Geary, commanding a division of the 
 Twentieth Corps, is now the Military Governor of Savannah. He is a tall, 
 stalwart, soldierly man, with a full black beard, and an open, inviting face. 
 He has a hearty, hospitable manner, which pleases everybody ; is sensibly 
 discreet and firm ; understands precisely the nature of his duties, and ex- 
 ecutes them noiselessly but effectively. The citizens are delighted with 
 him, and they may well be so, for no city was ever kept in better order. 
 Clean streets, careful and well instructed guards, perfect protection of 
 property, and a general sense of comfort and security indicate the execu- 
 tive capacity and the good judgment of the General." 
 
 End of the War, 
 
 During the campaign in the Carolinas, which followed the capture of 
 Savannah, Geary's division fought on the Apalache and Oconee rivers, at 
 Sandsboro' and Davisboro', at Salkahatchie and North and South Edisto ; 
 at Red Bank and Congaree ; at Black river and Bentonville. Here, in 
 the vicinity of Goldsboro' and Raleigh, the gigantic struggle that saved 
 the Republic, and gave hope to the world, was brought to a close. The 
 " White Star " division, with their old commander, witnessed the surrender 
 of Johnston, and after participating in the grand review at Washington, 
 were disbanded and returned to their homes. Their work was done. How 
 well they did it, poets and orators, patriots and Christians, historians and 
 philosophers, and all people who believe in God, and aspire to be free, will 
 continue to tell in every age and with every tongue. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 A few things more strictly personal to General Geary and his command, 
 remain to be told, and may properly conclude this brief and imperfect 
 narrative. This valiant and faithful soldier was present and participated 
 in sixty battles, and was four times wounded; made the entire circuit of 
 the rebel confederacy, and fought its authors and defenders from every 
 State that acknowledged their usurped authority. The regiment which he 
 recruited in the beginning (the 28th Pennsylvania) continued with him 
 to the end of the war. The brigade he commanded was the first in the 
 whole army to re-enlist as veterans. The division he led in so many 
 battles was never, in a single instance, either repulsed or driven by the 
 enemy. Its unyielding front in the day of battle will account for its losses. 
 During its campaigns in the Southwest and South its casualties were 
 about twenty-nine hundred, and from the time he assumed command to 
 the close of the war, the number was not less than ten thousand. It is 
 noteworthy also that no regiment, after being transferred to his brigade 
 or division, ever left his command till it was duly mustered out of service. 
 This universal and uninterrupted satisfaction is a very rare thing in mili- 
 tary commands. This unusual attachment of his troops to him is to be 
 chiefly ascribed to the following circumstances : 
 
 First. Their respect for his personal bravery and fortitude as a soldier, 
 and their confidence in his prudence and skill as a commanding officer. 
 
IT u ; * tw w 
 
 32 
 
 Secondly, to the unwearied, the sleepless attention he gave to the com- 
 fort of his command. The methodical character of his mind enabled him 
 to supervise all the details of marching and encamping with great facility. 
 While other commands were frequently allowed to straggle out of time, 
 and were badly camped, and poorly fed and clothed, his troops were always 
 brought up to time, kept in order, snugly quartered, and, in a word, cared 
 for in all respects as though they had been his own children. His chief 
 Commissary and chief Quartermaster, though diligent and faithful officers, 
 received a few hints from the General every day respecting tents and cloth- 
 ing, sugar and coffee, beans and rice, hard tack and bacon. 
 
 And as to any lack of vigilance with regard to the motions of the enemy, 
 or in any way being taken by surprise, no one ever dreamed of such an 
 occurrence who knew anything about the structure of his mind, or hi& 
 habits in the army. Some members of his personal staff, in fact, were fre- 
 quently astonished at his sleepless vigilance. 
 
 This brief sketch of the military career of General Geary cannot be 
 better closed than with the opinion of his former commander and com- 
 panion in arms. Major-general Joseph Hooker says of him: "My ao- 
 "quaintance with General Geary is of long standing. I knew him in 
 " California, in Mexico, and during the Rebellion. It gives me great 
 " pleasure to bear testimony to his most excellent character as a military 
 "leader, and as an honorable man. I know of no officer who has per- 
 " formed his whole duty with more fidelity than General Geary." 
 
 But few men have been so happily constituted, or at his time of life been 
 blessed with an experience so long and varied in the most important public 
 affairs. In the best sense of the term he may be said to possess a thor- 
 oughly disciplined and well stored mind. He has been a schoolmaster, a 
 civil engineer, a lawyer, a farmer, a manufacturer, and a soldier. He has 
 served as mayor of a city, as judge of a court, as governor of a territory, 
 and from the humble post of a volunteer captain has risen to the exalted 
 rank of Major-General in the United States army. Tried in almost all 
 departments of the public service, he has proved himself equal to the 
 exigencies of his position ; and amid the most difficult and adverse cir- 
 cumstances, his rare ability, prudence and firmness have enabled him to 
 achieve success and honorable distinction. California and Kansas tested 
 his civil abilities ; while upon a theatre, extending from the banks of the 
 Potomac to the shores of the Gulf, and from the harbor of Yera Cruz 
 to the heights of Chepultepec,'he has illustrated the qualities of the patriot 
 and soldier, and asserted the honor and vindicated the authority of the 
 Constitution and flag of his country. And now, without having enriched 
 himself by his superior opportunities for personal aggrandizement, he 
 makes his home in a modest dwelling on the banks of the Susquehanna, 
 feeling the proud consciousness that he has lived not so much for him- 
 self as to promote the highest welfare of his fellow-men. Such, in brief, 
 is the candidate of the National Union party in Pennsylvania for Governor 
 of the Common wealth. 
 
i