Cambria County Pioneers, 1910, by James L. Swank, Cambria County, PA - Colonel Jacob M. Campbell
Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/
________________________________________________
CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS
HON. CYRUS L. PERSHING
A Collection of Brief Biographical and other Sketches
Relating to the Early History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania.
by JAMES M. SWANK
PHILADELPHIA: No. 261 SOUTH FOURTH STREET, 1910.
108 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS.
COLONEL JACOB M. CAMPBELL.
AN EDITORIAL IN THE JOHNSTOWN TRIBUNE OF FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1865, WITH ADDENDA.
THE importance of the pending political campaign in this State, and the
enthusiasm everywhere created among loyal men by the nomination of two
distinguished soldiers for the only offices to be filled this year on the State
ticket, naturally call for more than a brief reference to the antecedents and
characteristics of our Republican standard-bearers. In another place we give
such information as we possess concerning the civic and military record of Major
General Hartranft, the candidate for auditor general, and in this article we
propose to tell what we know about our friend and fellow-citizen, Colonel
Campbell, the nominee for surveyor general.
Jacob Miller Campbell is a native of that old Whig stronghold, Somerset
county, where he was born forty-four years ago in Allegheny township on November
20, 1821. He was the son of John and Mary (Weyand) Campbell. When a mere youth
his parents removed to Allegheny City, where he went to school until 1835. In
that year, being fourteen years old, he became an apprentice in the office of
the Somerset Whig, a Democratic newspaper, in which he remained until he had
mastered as much of the printing business as could be learned in a country
office of that day. In 1840 he left Somerset and worked for some time "at case"
in the office of the Literary Examiner, a monthly magazine of considerable
merit, published in Pittsburgh. From here our "your printer" found his way to
New Orleans and to another printing office. But his active nature was not
satisfied. The steamboat trade on the lower Mississippi presented in 1840, as
does the oil business in 1865, tempting inducements to enterprising spirits who
care less for hard knocks than for the substantial benefits which they
COLONEL JACOB M. CAMPBELL. 109
sometimes produce. Laying down his composing stick the boy of nineteen became a
steamboatman, and for several subsequent years he filled successively the
positions of clerk, mate, and part owner of a steamboat, always, however, making
Pennsylvania his home, which he frequently visited. In 1847 the iron business of
our State attracted his attention and he embarked in it at Brady's Bend, working
as a roller in a rolling mill. In the same year he married. In 1851 he followed
the course of empire to California but did not long remain there, and in 1853 we
find him in Johnstown assisting in the construction of our mammoth rolling mill.
With this splendid enterprise he remained connected up to the breaking out of
the war, holding all the time an important and responsible position.
In April, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon and the call appeared for
volunteers to "rally round the flag." At that time Mr. Campbell was first
lieutenant of a volunteer company in Johnstown, and his company at once tendered
its services to the Governor, who promptly accepted them. It was the first
company to enter Camp Curtin. Upon the organization of the Third Regiment of
Pennsylvania Volunteers for three months' service this company became known as
Company G. Lieutenant Campbell was appointed quartermaster of the regiment, a
position which he filled with great acceptance until the regiment was
discharged. On the 28th of July he was mustered out of service, and on the 30th
he was authorized to recruit a regiment for three years' service. In due time
the regiment was completed and he was commissioned its colonel, the companies
composing it having been largely recruited through his individual efforts. Eight
of the ten companies were recruited in Cambria and Somerset counties and two in
Lehigh and Northampton counties. The regiment when mustered into service was
designated the Fifty-fourth.
For two years this regiment performed the arduous duty of guarding sixty miles
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and while thus engaged it protected the
Maryland and Pennsylvania border from Rebel invasion and from guerrilla
outrages. It is a fact that may not be generally known to Pennsylvanians that to
the Fifty-fourth Regiment they
110 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS.
owe much of the security they enjoyed in their persons and property during 1862
and 1863, the two most critical years of the war. The position of the Fifty-
fourth was at all times an exceedingly dangerous one, requiring the exercise of
the utmost vigilance and the soundest discretion. During its guardianship of the
railroad it was frequently engaged in skirmishes with the enemy, and upon more
than one occasion it gave timely and valuable information of his movements and
designs. In addition to his ordinary duties as commander of the regiment Colonel
Campbell was almost daily called upon to decide disputes between the Rebels and
Unionists residing along the line of the railroad, and it is no exaggeration to
say that in no instance was justice cheated or rascality rewarded. It is not an
assertion merely, but the testimony of all who are cognizant of the facts, that
the commander of the Fifty-fourth manifested on all occasions the possession of
judicial qualities of a high order. Of his purely executive ability the
successful and always satisfactory manner in which the regiment guarded those
sixty miles of railroad in hostile territory is the only proof that we need to
cite. We had almost omitted to mention that from March, 1863, until March, 1864,
Colonel Campbell was in command of the Fourth Brigade, First Division, Eighth
Army Corps, in which was included his own regiment.
Early in 1864 General Sigel took command of the Department of West Virginia
and moved with all his available troops to Martinsburg, preparatory to a
movement up the Shenandoah valley. In a reorganization of the troops which then
took place Colonel Campbell, at his own request, returned to the command of his
regiment. At the battle of New Market, on May 15, 1864, the regiment suffered
severely. It occupied the extreme left of the line and was the last to leave the
field.
Under General Hunter the Fifty-fourth Regiment took a prominent part in the
battle of Piedmont, on June 5, 1864, again occupying the left of the line, and
this time flanking the enemy's right and attacking him in the rear. After the
battle Colonel Campbell was assigned to the command of a brigade and as a
special favor his own regiment was trans-
COLONEL JACOB M. CAMPBELL. 111
ferred to it, that it might remain under its old commander. The brigade suffered
heavily in an attack on the Rebel entrenchments at Lynchburg and covered the
retreat of the army when the attack failed. On July 24 the brigade participated
in the battle of Winchester and upon the fall of Colonel Mulligan Colonel
Campbell took command of his division. He continued in command until its
consolidation into a brigade, consequent upon its many losses in killed and
wounded, and he afterwards commanded the brigade. After General Sheridan came to
the head of the department the brigade participated in the engagements in the
Shenandoah valley under that renowned commander. Colonel Campbell was mustered
out of service nearly two months after the expiration of his three years' term
of enlistment. His total period of service, including the three months'
campaign, covered nearly three and a half years.
Colonel Campbell's early record as a politician will bear examination. Reared
in the school of Jacksonian Democracy he voted in 1844 for Polk and Dallas. In
1848, however, he abandoned the party which he had become convinced was the
champion of slavery extension, and the foe to Pennsylvania's best interests, and
voted for the Free Soil candidates, Van Buren and Adams. His residence in the
South had shown him the evils of slavery and he therefore gave his vote against
the party which sought its extension. In 1852 he voted again for the Free Soil
nominees, Hale and Julian. In 1856 he was the delegate from Cambria county to
the Fremont Convention, which met at Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia. During
that year he took an active part in advocating Republican principles in his own
county, and at once took rank with the people of the county as a politician of
fairness, ability, and zeal. His influence in county politics continued to be
felt during the succeeding years. In 1859 he was the choice of the Republicans
of Cambria county for the Senatorial nomination in the district composed of
Cambria, Blair, and Clearfield counties, and a little more than a month ago he
was again unanimously selected as the choice of the Union party of his county
for Senator from the district composed of Cambria, Indiana, and Jefferson
counties. That he was not nominated on
112 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS.
either occasion by the district conference was not owing to a want of
appreciation of his worth and services, but was due to the supposed superior
claims of the county which was honored with the nominee. Such is the private and
public record of our candidate for surveyor general.
Colonel Campbell is a shrewd business man, a public spirited citizen, a good
worker, and an honest man. Without having enjoyed the advantages of a liberal
education he is, nevertheless, one of the best read men in the State. He is a
clear thinker and remarkably cool and cautious in judgment. In a long
acquaintance we have rarely known him to err in his estimate of public men or in
the wisdom of public measures. He is a man of marked sagacity. His social
characteristics are of that class which never fails to create the warmest
friendships and to command the respect of all. That he is worthy of the office
for which he has been nominated is conceded by those who know the man. That he
and his gallant colleague, General Hartranft, will be elected by overwhelming
majorities is a foregone conclusion.
-----
The foregoing sketch of Colonel Campbell was written when he was the
Republican candidate for surveyor general in 1865. He was elected to that office
for the term of three years on the ticket with General Hartranft for auditor
general. In 1868 both gentlemen were re-elected to the same offices, each
serving another term of three years. In 1876 Colonel Campbell was elected a
Republican Representative to the 45th Congress from the 17th district of
Pennsylvania, composed of the counties of Bedford, Blair, Cambria, and Somerset,
receiving a majority of 520 votes over John Reilly, his Democratic opponent. In
1878 he was a candidate for re-election but was defeated by A. H. Coffroth by a
majority of 305. In 1880 he was elected to the 47th Congress by a majority of
1,436 over A. H. Coffroth, and in 1882 he was elected to the 48th Congress by a
majority of 551 over the same opponent. He was elected to the 49th Congress by a
majority of 3,564 over Americus Enfield. It will be seen that Colonel Campbell
represented his district in Congress for the exceptionally long period of eight
years, a fact which forcibly testifies to his popularity and ability.
COLONEL JACOB M. CAMPBELL. 113
An incident in the life of Colonel Campbell, illustrating his patriotism,
should not go unrecorded. When in the service of Wood, Morrell & Co. he worked
under a tonnage contract for several years, employing his own helpers. This
contract was profitable. When the civil war came and it was necessary for
Pennsylvania to borrow a large sum of money to make preparation to assist the
Government at Washington in resisting rebellion Colonel Campbell promptly
subscribed $30,000 to the State loan, which represented virtually all his
savings. At the time this subscription was made the risk of payment of both
interest and principal was very great, as all who passed through those trying
times will well remember. More than one friend of Colonel Campbell said that he
would never see his money again.
On April 28, 1847, Colonel Campbell was married to Mary Rankin Campbell (no
relative) at Brady's Bend. He died at Johnstown on September 27, 1888, aged
nearly 67 years. His wife and several children survived him.