John S. Casement
John Stephen Casement | |
---|---|
103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry | |
Commands held | 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, XXIII Corps. |
Battles/wars | American Civil War
|
Other work | Directed the Union Pacific work crews during construction of the Transcontinental Railroad |
John Stephen Casement (January 19, 1829 – December 13, 1909) was a general and
Early life and career
John S. Casement was born in Geneva, New York on January 19, 1829, to Robert Casement (1795-1849) and Anna Curphey (1794-1878) who were themselves of Manx descent from the Isle of Man.[1] John had a brother, Daniel T Casement. Casement's education was mostly self-acquired.[2]
Casement married Frances Marion Jennings (1840-1928), a native of Painesville, Ohio on October 15, 1857, in Lake County, Ohio.[3][1] They had three sons, Charles J. (1861-1865) John Frank (1866-1886) and Dan Dillon Casement (1868-1953) .[1] His son Dan, first graduated from Western Reserve Academy in 1886 and was also a civil engineer, graduating from Princeton University in 1890.[4]
In 1878, Casement bought Juniata farm, near Manhattan, Kansas which his son, Dan operated from 1889 until his death in 1953.[4]
Railroad contractor
In 1844, the family moved from New York to Michigan where Casement started his railroad career with the
Civil War
Soon after the beginning of the War with
He continued to lead his regiment during the first phase of the
- "(Casement) was known throughout the South as the Brigadier-General who held our line east of the Columbia Pike in front of the old cotton gin where so many of Hood's men lost their lives in trying to drive him out of the works. In front of his brigade Generals Cleburne, John Adams, and Quarles gave up their lives and fully 40 percent of their commands were left stretched on the field In front of Casement's Brigade. For this service as you know Casement received a Brigadier Generals commission and served to the end of the war as commander of the Second Brigade of the Third Division of the Twenty third Corps. I (T. H. Stevens) have always been proud that I was a humble member of his command. His men all loved him and would have died for him at any time if called upon to make the sacrifice." [8]
Casement's brigade consisting of four regiments, was transferred to North Carolina as part of Reilley's third division, XXIII Army Corps under Major General John Schofield.[9]
During the
Postbellum career
In 1867 when the Union Pacific crossed into what was to become the Wyoming Territory, Casement, a popular figure, was elected to be Wyoming's first Representative in Congress. After a long struggle, Congress ruled that the election was illegal and Casement was never seated. [13]
Legend has it that when the
After the completion of the transcontinental railway Casement continued to be active in railway construction. In July 1870, Casement was part of an effort to reconstruct the Union & Titusville Railroad from wide gauge (6'-0") to standard gauge at an estimated cost of one million dollars. The railroad planned to reconstruct its track Financing for the project was to be a mix of existing funds in the corporation ($250,000) with the remainder of the funding to be provided by the Casement brothers in exchange for additional stock or bonds. For about half its length, the railroad ran alongside the Oil Creek and Allegheny River Railway and then onto Union Mills to connect with the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad. [14] The railroad eventually became a part of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad in 1871.[15][16]
In 1880
Casement even played a role in the construction of a second route to the Pacific, this time in Costa Rica in 1897.[2]
Casement had the misfortune to be in San Jose, California when the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck. Staying at the Vendome Hotel with his wife, he was pinned in his bed and suffered three broken ribs when parts of the hotel collapsed.[18] Although he survived this encounter, his full health never returned.
Casement died in Painesville, Ohio, on December 13, 1909. Casement Airport at Painesville was named in his memory, as was a World War II liberty ship, the SS John S. Casement.
Hell on Wheels
As crews pushed across the plains during Casement's involvement with the transcontinental railway, they were followed by a large contingent of "camp followers" who provided such indulgences as prostitution, liquor, gambling, and other services for the laborers. This ever-moving assemblage of rail workers and hangers-on became known as Hell on Wheels. As well as being descriptive of daily life at "end track," the term has become further enshrined by an eponymous TV series, Hell on Wheels. In the series, the character of Cullen Bohannon (portrayed by Anson Mount) is loosely modeled on Casement's life and career.
See also
References
- ^ .
- ^ a b c d e f g h Cutter, 1922 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Ancestry.com. Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
- ^ a b Anon. "Casement, Dan D. (1868-1953) Morse Department of Special Collections". Kansas State University Libraries. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ^ Jacobson, pp. 292–93, 298; Sword, pp. 218–19; Welcher, p. 597.
- ^ Cox, J. D. 1828-1900. (1897). The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864: a monograph. New York: C. Scribner's Sons. Accessed at [1]
- ^ Heitman, Francis Bernard. Historical register and dictionary of the United States Army, from its organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903. Vol. 1. 2012. page 289
- ^ "Death of Gen. Casement". The National Tribune. 30 December 1909. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ^ a b c United States. (1895). Official records of the Union and Confederate navies in the war of the rebellion: Series 1., Vol 47, Part 1 Reports. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
- ^ Heitman, Francis Bernard. Historical register and dictionary of the United States Army, from its organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903. Vol. 1., 2012. page 147
- ^ Wyoming History Day, American Heritage Center. "Daniel T. Casement". University of Wyoming. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- ^ "Colonel Daniel T. Casement (USA)". www.geni.com. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- ^ Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, 1868-1869 Tuesday, February 23, 1869.
- KiB), March 2008 Edition
- ^ Union and Titusville Railroad records, 1870-1871 (manuscript) Union and Titusville Railroad Union and Titusville Railroad records, 1870-1871, MFF 0254, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center. [OLGC ref. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/890974276]
- ^ PAINESVILLE TELEGRAPH 1870, Judy J. Stebbins, 10/1/2015 Accessed at
- ^ Hampton, Taylor. The Nickel Plate Road: the history of a great railroad. World Pub. Co., 1947.
- ^ Salt Lake Tribune, April 29, 1906, pg. 2.
Sources:
- Cutter, William Richard, ed. American Biography: A New Cyclopedia. Vol. 11. Pub. under the direction of the American historical society, 1922. page 3
- Jacobson, Eric A., and Richard A. Rupp. For Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin. Franklin, TN: O'More Publishing, 2007. ISBN 0-9717444-4-0.
- Sword, Wiley, The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993. ISBN 0-7006-0650-5. First published with the title Embrace an Angry Wind in 1992 by HarperCollins.
- Toponce, Alexander, Reminiscences of Alexander Toponce, pioneer, 1839-1923, page 167, 1923. Accessed at [2]
- Upton, H. Taylor. (1910). History of the Western Reserve. Chicago, New York: The Lewis publishing company. Vol II, page 805
- Welcher, Frank J. The Union Army, 1861–1865 Organization and Operations. Vol. 2, The Western Theater. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-253-36454-X.
- White, John Making Tracks: John Casement's Triumph, Timeline (Ohio Historical Society), Vol 18, no. 2 (Mar-Apr 2001):2-17
Manuscript Collections
- Casement Collection, 1795-1959. c. 2,000 items. Incl. a large group of letters written by John S. Casement about the Union Pacific. Kansas State U. Lib. and Dept. of Hist., Manhattan. 60-1211
- Casement, John S. 158 items. Incl. correspondence, relating to the Union Pacific, 1866-69. Huntington Lib., San Marino.
- Papers of Levi O. Leonard, Collection Dates: 1850–1942, Special Collections Department, the University of Iowa Libraries, Accessed at [3]
External links
- John Stephen and Frances Jennings Casement papers at the American Heritage Center
- Papers and photographs, 1871-1979 Archived 2018-12-19 at the Wayback Machine at John S. and Dan Dillon Casement Collection, Kansas Collection, RH MS 755, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries.
- Building the Union Pacific railroad from Wyoming Tales and Trails
- Engineers of U.P.R.R. at the Laying of the Last Rail, Promontory 1869 Work (by Andrew J. Russell), identified by Oakland Museum of California. This collection also has other pictures of Casement.
- Nebraska State Historical Society Manuscript Finding Aid Archived 2021-09-30 at the Wayback Machine for Record Group 3761.AM: Union Pacific Railroad (Omaha, Neb.)
- Historic Casement house and marker