Biography

09/16/1820 - 06/13/1877

Colonel William Franklin Small (D2) Philadelphia County 1847-1849 

Early Life: 

Senator William F. Small, born September 16, 1819, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; moved Philadelphia; common schools education; studied law, joined the bar; reporter, Philadelphia Public Ledger; married Mary Anne Felten Small, children, Fredonia Small Biggar, Mary Fitton Small, Captain William Swain Small, Pauline Small Jump, Samuel Lloyd Small; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1847-1848; Civil War Union Army Officer; died, June 13, 1877 (aged 57), at home, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Interment Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.  

Early Career:

Command, Monroe Guards, 1844, Philadelphia riots. December 1846, Captain Small recruited members Mexican War, 1st Pennsylvania Volunteers, rising to Brigadier General, Pennsylvania Militia, 1849

Civil War Union Army Officer; Colonel and commander of the 90-day enlistment regiment 26th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; shot, right calf, Williamsburg, May 5, 1862; discharged, June 30, 1862; returned Philadelphia; reenlisted, Colonel, organized, command, 60th Pennsylvania Emergency Troops, a militia unit called up during the Confederate Invasion of Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg Campaign.  

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 2nd district, Philadelphia County, 1847-1848; requested,  received a leave of absence, 1847 session, embarked for Mexico via New Orleans, returned, 1848 session. 

Names of any service after Senate:

Clerk of the Philadelphia Common Council

Legacy:   

National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC states that Colonel William F. Small used balloons during the Civil War to sketch maps of Confederate forces.  

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members S". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Colonel William F. Small Portrait (si.edu)

William Francis Small (1819-1877) - Find a Grave Memorial