John W. Geary

John W. Geary
Territorial Governor of Kansas
In office September 9, 1856 – March 20, 1857
Preceded by	Wilson Shannon
Succeeded by	Robert J. Walker
Personal details
Born	John White Geary (1819-12-30)December 30, 1819 Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Died	February 8, 1873(1873-02-08) (aged 53) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Political party	Republican
Other political affiliations	Democratic (until 1866)
Spouse(s)	Margaret Ann Logan (widowed); Mary Church Henderson
Profession	Teacher, Clerk, Land Speculator, Engineer, Soldier
Signature
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1846–1848, 1861–1865
Rank	Brigadier General Brevet Major General
Battles/wars	Mexican–American War American Civil War

John White Geary (December 30, 1819 – February 8, 1873) was an American lawyer, politician,

Geary was active in the state militia as a teenager. In December 1846, during the Mexican–American War, he was commissioned in the 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry, serving as lieutenant colonel. He led the regiment heroically at Chapultepec, and was wounded five times in the process.^[3] Geary was an excellent target for enemy fire: a huge man for that era, he stood six feet six inches tall, 260 pounds (118 kg) and solidly built. Altogether, he was wounded at least ten times in his military career. Geary's exploits at Belén Gate earned him the rank of colonel and he returned home a war hero.

California politics

Moving west, Geary was appointed postmaster of San Francisco by President James K. Polk on January 22, 1849, and on January 8 1850, he was elected^[4] the city's alcalde, before California became a state, and then the first mayor of the city. Aged thirty at the time of his appointment, he holds the record as the youngest mayor in San Francisco history. As alcalde, he served as the city's judge in addition to the city's mayor.^[5] Geary returned to Pennsylvania in 1852 because of his wife's failing health. After her death, President Franklin Pierce wanted to appoint him governor of the Utah Territory, but Geary declined.

Territorial Governor of Kansas

Geary accepted Pierce's appointment as governor of the Kansas Territory on July 31, 1856. Proslavery forces opposed Geary, favoring instead either acting governor Daniel Woodson or Surveyor General John Calhoun (an Illinois politician). Geary spent a month preparing for his new position and then left for the territory. While traveling up the Missouri River, his boat docked at Glasgow, Missouri, where he happened upon recently fired governor Wilson Shannon. They briefly discussed the "Bleeding Kansas" crisis and Geary had previously met with Missouri governor Sterling Price, who promised Geary that Free-staters would be allowed safe passage through Missouri.

Geary arrived at

Despite his efforts to be a neutral peacemaker, Geary and the proslavery legislature clashed. Geary stopped a large force of Missouri border ruffians who were heading to Lawrence to once again burn the town. Additionally, he vetoed a bill which would provide for an election of delegates to the Lecompton constitutional convention. This bill would have bypassed any referendum on a constitution before being submitted to the U.S. Congress for ratification. The legislature, however, overrode the veto.

Geary also angered Free-staters when he turned away $20,000 from the Vermont legislature that was intended to help the suffering from the harsh winter of 1856–57. Geary wrote in his response, "[there is] doubtless some suffering ... consequent upon the past disturbances and the present extremely cold weather; but probably no more than exists in other territories or in either of the states of the Union."^[7]

Initially, Geary solidly abhorred the proposals he received from Kansas

Geary soon began to fear for his personal safety after his private secretary, Dr. John Gihon, was assaulted by proslavery ruffians. Geary submitted his resignation to incoming President James Buchanan, expecting that he would be reappointed. Instead, Buchanan fired Geary on March 12, 1857, with an effective date of March 20. In his farewell message to the territory, Geary stated that he had not sought the office and "[that it] was by no means desirable." He added, "most of the troubles which lately agitated the territory, were occasioned by men who had no especial interest in its welfare... The great body of the actual citizens are conservative, law-abiding and peace-loving men, disposed rather to make sacrifices for conciliation and consequent peace, than to insist for their entire rights should the general body thereby be caused to suffer."^[9]

Armed with two guns, Geary left the territory during the night on March 21 and returned to Washington, D.C. Afterward, he spoke at many public meetings about the dangers in Kansas. Although he did not bring peace to the territory, Geary's administration did leave the territory more peaceful than it had been before his arrival. Geary returned to his Pennsylvania farm and remarried.

Civil War

At the start of the Civil War, Geary raised the

Geary's division was heavily engaged at Chancellorsville, where he was knocked unconscious as a cannonball shot past his head on May 3, 1863. (Some accounts state that he was hit in the chest with a cannonball.)

At the

The XII Corps was transferred west to join the besieged Union army at

After the war, Geary served two terms as the Republican governor of Pennsylvania, from 1867 to 1873. He established a reputation as a political independent, attacking the political influence of the railroads and vetoing many special interest bills.

On February 8, 1873, less than three weeks after leaving the governor's post, Geary was fatally stricken with a heart attack while preparing breakfast for his infant son in

Freemasonry

Geary was made a Mason at Sight on January 4, 1847, in Pennsylvania (Philanthropy Lodge #255), just before he left with his troops to fight in the Mexican War. During the Civil War, he was the commanding Union general at the fall of Savannah, Georgia. He placed Federal troops about the quarters of Solomon's Lodge No. 1 to save it from looting and damage. Later, while Geary was governor of Pennsylvania, the Lodge sent him a resolution of thanks. He answered by claiming it was the principles and tenets of Freemasonry that helped Reconstruction to be as successful as it finally turned out to be. In this reply, he said: "... I feel again justified in referring to our beloved institution, by saying that to Freemasonry the people of the country are indebted for many mitigations of the suffering caused by the direful passions of war."^[10]

In memoriam

Geary County, Kansas, was renamed in honor of John W. Geary in 1889 (previously named Davis County for Jefferson Davis, it was renamed at the insistence of its citizens; in 1893, the county electorate rejected an attempt to restore the Davis County name), as is Geary Boulevard in San Francisco, a major artery in that city, Geary Avenue on the field at Gettysburg, Geary Street in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania (where Geary owned a home), Geary Street in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, and Geary Hall, an undergraduate dorm building in East Halls at Pennsylvania State University. There is a monument to Geary in the town center of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Geary, Kansas (in Doniphan County) was also named in his honor, but the town ceased to exist in 1905. In 1914, a monument to Geary was erected on Culp's Hill at Gettysburg, but it was not formally dedicated until August 11, 2007.^[11]

See also

• List of American Civil War generals (Union)

Notes

References

• Blackmar, Frank W. Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History. 2 vols. Chicago: Standard Publishing, 1912.
  OCLC 2996736
  .
• Eicher, John H., and
  ISBN 0-8047-3641-3
  .
• Geary, John W. A Politician Goes to War: The Civil War Letters of John White Geary. Edited by William Alan Blair. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995.
  ISBN 0-271-01338-9
  .
• Gihon, John H. Geary and Kansas: Governor Geary's Administration in Kansas with a Complete History of the Territory until July 1857. Philadelphia: Charles C. Rhodes, 1857.
  OCLC 247108072
  .
• Johnson, Samuel A. The Battle Cry of Freedom: The New England Emigrant Aid Company in the Kansas Crusade. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1954.
  OCLC 192098112
  .
• Socolofsky, Homer E. Kansas Governors. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990.
  ISBN 0-7006-0421-9
  .
• Tagg, Larry. The Generals of Gettysburg. Campbell, CA: Savas Publishing, 1998.
  ISBN 1-882810-30-9
  .
• Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964.
  ISBN 0-8071-0822-7
  .

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John W. Geary.

• Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission description of Geary's governorship
• The John W. Geary Letters at the Georgia Historical Society.
• The Geary Family Papers, including correspondence and John W. Geary's diary, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
• William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas
• "John W. Geary". Find a Grave. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
• "John White Geary" Monument at the Historical Marker Database
• John White Geary Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.