Biography

09/24/1833 - 05/08/1906

Brevet Brigadier General Samuel McCartney Jackson (R41) Armstrong and Butler Counties 1875-1876

Early Life: 

Brevet Brigadier General Samuel McCartney Jackson, born September 24, 1833, Apollo, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania; son of John and Elizabeth McCartney Jackson; drummer boy, Pennsylvania Militia (age 12, 1845); Jacksonville Academy, Indiana, Pennsylvania; farmer; merchant; elected, burgess, Apollo; postmaster, United States Postal Service, Apollo, 1861; enlisted, Pennsylvania Volunteer Reserves, Civil War, 1861-1864, brevetted Brigadier General, United States Volunteers, 1865; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1868-1869; engaged, oil business; cashier, Apollo Savings Bank, 1871-1882; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1875-1876; appointed, Collector of Internal Revenue, 23rd district, 1882-1885; elected, president, Apollo Savings Bank, 1885-1906; organizer, treasurer, P.H. Laufman and Company Steel (now United States Steel Corporation); married, Martha J. “Mattie” Byerly, (d. 1864) two daughters, Mary Gertrude, Lizzie; married, Mary Wilson, 1869, children, Frank, John, Elizabeth Ruth, Mamie, Emily Louise; died, May 8, 1907, Apollo, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, interment, Apollo Cemetery, re-interment, Riverview Cemetery, Apollo, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

Enlisted, 1845, drummer, Pennsylvania State Militia, twelve years old; major, Company G, 40th Regiment, 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Reserves, Civil War, 1861-1862; colonel, 40th Regiment, 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Reserves, Civil War, 1863-1864; Battles of Gaines' Mill, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Bethesda Church; mustered out, honorably, June 13, 1864; brevetted Brigadier General, United States Volunteers, March 13, 1865. 

Cited for gallantry at Gettysburg; Jackson, substantially outnumbered, charged down Little Round Top, under the command of Colonel William McCandless, (Pennsylvania State Senator, 1866-1869) to the Confederate center, driving the enemy to the Wheatfield (“Valley of Death”). For this, Colonel Jackson received a Brigadier General’s commission for gallantry.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1868-1869. 

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 41st district, Armstrong and Butler Counties, 1875-1876; committee assignments, Bank (Chairman), Compare Bills and Military Affairs. 

Names of any service after Senate:

Appointed, President Chester Alan Arthur, Collector of Internal Revenue, 23rd district; district composed of the counties of Beaver, Allegheny (northern part), Butler, Armstrong, Indiana, Jefferson, Clearfield, Blair and Huntingdon, 1882-1885.  

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Treasurer, 1893-1896. 

Legacy:

A monument honoring Jackson’s unit, the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves Regiment stands south of Gettysburg on Ayers Avenue.  

Their daughter, Elizabeth Ruth, married, Alex M. Stewart of Indiana, Pennsylvania, they were proud maternal grandparents of actor Jimmy Stewart who often visited their home in Apollo while he was growing up.  

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

Official Website - PA House Archives Official Website (state.pa.us)

Cited: 

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

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1876). Smull, J.A., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 606, 610-612.

General Samuel McCartney Jackson – Apollo Area Historical Society (apollopahistory.com)

Family Tree and Genealogy of Actor James Stewart (thoughtco.com)

Gen. Samuel McCartney Jackson (pa-roots.com)

Monument to the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves at Gettysburg (stonesentinels.com)

List of American Civil War brevet generals (Union) - Wikipedia

Samuel McCartney Jackson (1833-1906) - Find a Grave Memorial