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Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Colonel John Frederick Hartranft, 4th Pennsylvania Militia
Born in 1830 in Pennsylvania, John Hartranft attended school in Virginia and received his degree from Union College in New York. Before the war he was a trained civil engineer, a lawyer, and had held political office. The 90-day volunteer unit he belonged to turned its back and went home on the eve of First Manassas. Though their enlistment was up, Hartranft was humiliated by the decision and he stayed to fight with the army. This act earned him the Medal of Honor. He spent time in North Carolina, fought at Antietam, and served in the West, before gaining command of the 3rd Division of the IX Corps towards the end of the war.
Hartranft is credited with the Union success at Fort Stedman and for this was made a brevet major general.
At war's end he was appointed a special provost marshal during the trial of those accused in Lincoln's assassination. Afterwards he became a Auditor General, a two-term governor of Pennsylvania (Republican 1873-1879), the postmaster of Philadelphia, and collector of the city port.
Hartranft was the second Major General of the Civil War to be elected Governor of Pennsylvania.
The Constitution of 1873 was adopted during Hartranfts first year in office. Members of the Legislature had two-year terms instead of annual terms. Senators went from three years to four years. Most important in the Constitution of 1873 was the prohibiting of special and local legislation.
The United States became one hundred years old in 1876 and Hartranft saw that Pennsylvania led the way in the Centennial Celebration that was centered in Philadelphias Fairmont Park.
Riots broke out across Pennsylvania caused by coal and railroad strikes. The riots prompted Hartranft to call out the militia. The situation worsened in Pittsburgh causing the Governor to call on the Regular Army to restore order. In Philadelphia, Reading, and Pittsburgh fires burned and eleven people died along the Schuylkill River before the United States troops had taken control.
1877 was one of the darkest years in Pennsylvanias history. There were widespread killings and all of Pennsylvanias miners went on strike causing the State Guard to be called out again.
Because of his action, an historic precedent was set when the District Attorney of Allegheny County tried to force Hartranft to appear before a grand jury to tell why the militia was called out in Pittsburgh. The courts backed Hartranft when he refused to appear. It became known as the Hartranft Decision.
Hartranft understood what was happening during these turbulent and changing times. Those with money and those who worked for them would have to come to arbitration to settle their differences for neither party could exist without the other.
Hartranft was concerned with fixing limitations on State banks and trust companies. He also worked on expanding the public school system to educate the large masses of uneducated European labor that was being imported into Pennsylvania. The solution he saw was education.
When his second term ended, Hartranft went to Philadelphia as Postmaster and Collector of the Port.
He died in 1889 his tenth year as Commanding General of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He is the only Governor honored with a statue in front of the State Capitol where he forever sits on his great stallion.
CITATION
Rank and Organization: Colonel, 4th Pennsylvania Militia. Place and Date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861. Entered Service At: Norristown, Pa. Born: 16 December 1830, New Hanover Township, Montgomery County, Pa. Date of Issue: 26 August 1886. Voluntarily served as an aide and participated in the battle after expiration of his term of service, distinguishing himself in rallying several regiments which had been thrown into confusion.
Another Version of his life
John Frederick Hartranft was born on December 16, 1830, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He attended Marshall College and later Union College, where he pursued training in civil engineering. He graduated in 1853 and began work as a railroad civil engineer. In 1854, he was appointed deputy sheriff of Montgomery County. Hartranft was admitted to the bar in 1860, and rose to the rank of colonel in the county militia. In April 1861, he raised and led a Montgomery County regiment of ninety-day enlistees to crush the rebellious South. However, their terms of service expired prior to the Battle of Bull Run, and the regiment was disbanded.
John F. Hartranft, 1863
(Hartranft Archives, RG 393, Pennsylvania Archives)
Hartranft, nevertheless, remained with the army and served bravely as a staff volunteer during the battle. For his valor on the field, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Hartranft then returned to Montgomery County to raise a three-year regiment, the 51st Pennsylvania Volunteers, which he commanded until promoted to brigadier general in May 1864.
During the Civil War, Hartranft served with distinction in several major battles, including the Second Battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, Campbell's Station, and Knoxville. Hartranft served as brigadier general for about one year prior to the end of the war, commanding several brigades and divisions. Campaigns in which he participated included the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, as well as operations against Richmond and Petersburg. Hartranft was brevetted major general by General U.S. Grant for having foiled, on March 25, 1865, General Robert E. Lee's last offensive at the battle of Fort Stedman.
Following Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Hartranft was appointed Special Provost Marshal for Washington, D.C. As Special Provost Marshal, Hartranft was responsible for commanding the Military Prison at the Washington Arsenal, in which the accused conspirators were incarcerated during their trial and at which four were executed on July 7, 1865.
Upon leaving the army, Hartranft began a career in government service, as the Commonwealth's Auditor General from 1865 to 1872 and as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1872 to 1879. During his years as governor, economic depression and unemployment, following the industrial boom of the early 1870s, caused several serious civil disturbances, forcing Hartranft to call out the state militia and ask for assistance from Federal troops to maintain order. Among these were the railroad strikes of 1877 and Molly Maguire incidents in the anthracite coal regions. After peace was restored, Hartranft proposed recognition of labor unions and arbitration of claims. He was a strong advocate of education, municipal reform, regulation of banking, improved industry and commerce, and the reorganization of the National Guard. During his administration, the revision of the Commonwealth's constitution was completed and ratified as the Constitution of 1873. At the Republican Convention in June 1876, he was a contender for the nomination that went to Rutherford B. Hayes.
Hartranft returned to his home in Montgomery County in 1879, where he accepted the position of Postmaster. He was subsequently appointed Port Collector for Philadelphia. He was also reappointed to command the Pennsylvania National Guard, which he had worked to develop. Hartranft died on October 17, 1889.
Those interested in learning more about General Hartranft are referred to A. M. Gambone's Major-General John Frederick Hartranft: Citizen Soldier and Pennsylvania Statesman, published in 1995 by Butternut and Blue of Baltimore, Maryland.
 Engineering Survey Corps, 1856: John F. Hartranft first row left
General John Frederick Hartranft and staff, responsible for securing the conspirators at the Arsenal. Photograph of Washington, 1862-1865, the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, April-July 1865. Left to right: Capt. R.A. Watts, Lt. Col. George W. Frederick, Lt. Col. William H.H. McCall, Lt. D.H. Geissinger, Gen. John F. Hartranft, Assistant Surgeon George L. Porter, Col. L.A. Dodd, Capt. Christian Rath.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/v?ammem/cwar:0817-0839:T23
Courtesy of Find A Grave
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