Biography

02/27/1826 - 02/04/1906

Brevet Brigadier General David B. McCreary (R49) Erie 1889-1896

Early Life: 

Brevet Brigadier General David Berkey McCreary, born February 27, 1826, Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania; son of Joseph F. McCreary and Lydia Swan McCreary; Erie Academy; Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College) 1848-1849; teacher; admitted bar, 1851, attorney-at-law 1851-1906; Civil War, 1862-1865, Brevetted Brigadier General, prisoner of war, Civil War, 1864-1865; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State House 1866, 1867, and 1870, Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania National Guard, 1867-1870; elected, Reublican, Pennsylvania Senate, 1889-1896; married Annette, daughter Sophy Gertrude McCreary; died February 04, 1906 (age 79) Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Interment: Erie Cemetery, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania (i)

Early Career:

Enlisted, member of the Wayne Guards, under the command John W. McLane, 1862, promoted Lieutenant, 145th Regiment, then Captain of Company D, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Captured with regiment, Petersburg, June 16, 1864, imprisoned for ten months at Libby, Macon, Charleston, and Columbia, released, mustered out with his regiment, May 31, 1865. Commissioned Colonel and Brevetted Brigadier General, President and Congress.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State House 1866, 1867, and 1870

Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania National Guard under Governor Geary, 1867-1870,

Trustee, Dixmont State Hospital (6 years).

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senator, 1889-1896;

Legacy

Daughter, Sophy Gertrude McCreary, married Senator Henry Alden Clark.

Notes from Emory A. Walling, 1927, memoirs and notes of the Erie bar.

General David B. McCreary was an admirer of Henry Clay, got to meet the Great Pacificator and was even invited to his funeral. At Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers, McCreary was one of the first to sign up and was made a Lieutenant Colonel. Half his regiment got wiped out at Fredericksburg. He was captured twice, imprisoned twice, and released twice to rejoin his regiment. Later on, he made many friends in Harrisburg during his time in the State Senate. "Probably no member of our bar had a more extended acquaintance among men of distinction than the General.... He never, to my knowledge, spoke unkindly of anyone."

Pa. House of Representatives Biography:

https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/BiosHistory/MemBio.cfm?ID=7513&body=H

Cited:

Cochran, T.B., (Ed.) (1896) Smull’s Legislative Hand Book, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 1019, 1054 and 1061-1064.

        (i) https://www.geni.com/people/Brev-Brig-Gen-USA-David-McCreary/6000000108741494840

        (ii) Walling, Judge Emory A, (1928), Memoirs of the Erie County, Pennsylvania Bench and Bar.