John Frederick Hartranft (December 16, 1830 – October 17, 1889) was an American politician and military officer who read the death warrant to the individuals who were executed on July 7, 1865, for conspiring to assassinate American President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

. Previously having achieved the rank of major general of the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, he had also been awarded the U.S.

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

for his actions in the

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run, called the Battle of First Manassas
. by Confederate States ...

. Post-war, he served as the 17th

governor of Pennsylvania The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

from 1873 to 1879.

Early life and career

Hartranft was born in Fagleysville, a village in New Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, near Pottstown, the son of ethnic German Americans Mary Lydia (Bucher) and Samuel Engle Hartranft.Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J. ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford University Press, 2001, p. 284. Hartranft had some local schooling in Norristown, where his family moved when he was a boy. He attended Marshall College in Mercersburg, a forerunner of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster. He moved to New York, where he completed his degree in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

in 1853 from

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

in Schenectady. He briefly worked for two railroads in eastern Pennsylvania before returning home to Norristown to assist his father in the real estate and stage line businesses. In 1854, the young man was appointed

deputy sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is commonly ...

of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. That year, he married Sallie Douglas Sebring. They had six children, but three died in infancy. Hartranft was active in the Norristown fire company and the local Freemason lodge. After "reading the law" as an apprentice with an established firm, Hartranft was admitted to the bar in 1860. He entered the Pennsylvania

Militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

, being promoted to the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Civil War

In April 1861, Hartranft raised a Montgomery County

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

of 90-day volunteers in Norristown, serving as

of the 4th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. When their term of enlistment was up, the regiment returned to Pennsylvania, although it was the eve of the

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run, called the Battle of First Manassas
. by Confederate States ...

, and firing had already begun. Hartranft was humiliated by his men's decision to go home. He stayed to fight with the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

on July 21, 1861. This act earned him the

on August 21, 1886, for volunteering his services to fellow Pennsylvanian Col. William B. Franklin. His citation reads: "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." Hartranft raised a three-year regiment, the 51st Pennsylvania Infantry, and became its colonel. They first served on the

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

coast in the Burnside Expedition. Hartranft led them in battle at Roanoke Island and

New Bern New Bern, formerly Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 31,291 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located at the confluence of the Neuse River, Neuse a ...

. In July 1862, Hartranft's men proceeded to

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...

, to become part of Burnside's IX Corps, with whom they fought in the

Second Battle of Bull Run The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of the Northern Virginia Campaign waged by Confederate ...

and at South Mountain. They also fought at the

Battle of Antietam The Battle of Antietam ( ), also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, took place during the American Civil War on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virgi ...

, where Hartranft led the famous charge across Burnside's Bridge, suffering 120 casualties. They later participated in the

Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat between the Union Army, Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Major general ( ...

. The 51st Pennsylvania was transferred to the Western Theater, where Hartranft saw action at the battles of Vicksburg, Campbell's Station, and

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

; in the latter two actions, he served as commander of the 2nd Division of the IX Corps while still a colonel.Sauers, Richard A. John Frederick Hartranft. ''Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History.'' Heidler, David S., and Heidler, Jeanne T., eds. W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, pp. 941-942. He commanded the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, of the IX Corps in the 1864

Overland Campaign The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, towards the end of the American Civil War. Lieutenant general (United States), Lt. G ...

, participating in the fighting at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. He was promoted to brigadier general as of May 12, 1864. He continued in operations against Richmond and Petersburg. His brigade distinguished itself in the Battle of Peebles' Farm. When the IX Corps was reorganized, Hartranft was given command of a new 3rd Division, consisting of newly raised Pennsylvania regiments. Hartranft was brevetted major general by Lt. Gen.

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

for defeating Confederate General

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

's last offensive at the Battle of Fort Stedman. He brought his untested division from its reserve position and counterattacked to recover the captured fort.

Imprisonment, trial and execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators

In the aftermath of the assassination of United States President

, Hartranft was appointed both commanding officer of the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., and as a special provost marshal during the trial of those accused in the Lincoln assassination: George Atzerodt,

David Herold David Edgar Herold (June 16, 1842 – July 7, 1865) was an American pharmacist's assistant and accomplice of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. After the shooting, Herold accompanied Booth to the home o ...

, Lewis Paine (also known as Lewis Powell), and

Mary Surratt Mary Elizabeth Surratt (; 1820 or May 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American boarding house owner in Washington, D.C., who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy which led to the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 18 ...

, who would become the first woman to be executed by the U.S. government. The trial lasted from May 9, 1865, until the conviction of the Atzerodt, Herold, Paine, and Surratt in late June. At 1:15 p.m. on July 7, 1865, Hartranft led the four to the gallows in what is now called Fort Lesley McNair. When asked if the convicted had any final statements, the spiritual advisors of Atzerodt and Payne stated that both men wished to thank Hartranft and the officers and soldiers serving under him for the kindness they displayed during their incarceration. Following prayers for each of the prisoners, "Gen. Hartranft read the order of the War Department, embracing the President's Executive Order, for the execution", according to ''The New York Times''. The prisoners were then simultaneously executed by hanging at 1:25 p.m.

Post-war life and political career

Following the war Hartranft switched party allegiances and became a Republican. He was appointed to serve in former general John W. Geary's Pennsylvania administration as Auditor General from 1867 to 1873. Hartranft was elected as governor in

1872 Events January * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. *January 20 – The Cavite mutiny was an uprising of Filipino military personnel of Fort S ...

. He was a strong advocate of education, municipal reform, regulation of banking, improved industry and commerce, and the reorganization of the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

. He supported

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

for African Americans, fought the corrupt

Simon Cameron Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799June 26, 1889) was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Ameri ...

political machine, and championed the rights of the workingman. JFHartranft

During his administration, the revision of the Commonwealth's constitution was completed and ratified as the Constitution of 1873. It prohibited special and local legislation; and increased the terms for state legislators: House terms were increased to two years instead of one, and Senate terms to four years from three. He was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1876. He was the 5th commander-in-chief of the Union veterans' organization, the

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...

, serving from 1875 to 1877. He was also a member of the

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or, simply, the Loyal Legion, is a United States military order organized on April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Union Army. The original membership was consisted ...

. The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

celebrated its centennial as a nation in 1876. Hartranft saw that Pennsylvania led the way in the celebration that was centered in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

's Fairmount Park. At the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

in June 1876, he was a contender for the presidential nomination, but Rutherford B. Hayes of

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

was eventually selected. He had served with Hartranft during the Civil War in the same army corps. During his second term,

economic depression An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economic downturn that is the result of lowered economic activity in one or more major national economies. It is often understood in economics that economic crisis and the following recession ...

, low wages in industry and

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

, following the industrial boom of the early 1870s, resulted in national labor unrest and strikes culminating in the

Great Railroad Strike of 1877 The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. The Great Railroad Strike of 187 ...

. Serious civil disturbances included riots associated with the railroad and general strikes of 1877 in several industrial cities: including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Reading and Scranton. There were other incidents with the Molly Maguires in the anthracite coal regions. Hartranft called out the state militia and then

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a ...

troops to maintain order. In

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, fires were set and extensive railroad facilities and equipment burned, especially in Pittsburgh. Eleven people died along the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map(). accessed April 1, 2011. from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville ...

before Federal troops restored the peace. Hartranft later proposed recognition of

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s and arbitration of claims. Concerned with the governor's precedent in calling out the militia to battle civilians in Pittsburgh, the

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

of Allegheny County tried to force Hartranft to appear before a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

to explain his rationale. The courts backed Hartranft when he refused to appear. Their ruling became known as the "Hartranft Decision." John F

Hartranft returned to his home in Montgomery County in 1879, where he accepted the position of US Postmaster. He was subsequently appointed as Port Collector for Philadelphia (1881–1885). He was also reappointed to command the Pennsylvania National Guard, which he had helped develop. On August 26, 1886, Hartranft was awarded the Medal of Honor for valor during the

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run, called the Battle of First Manassas
. by Confederate States ...

in 1861. John Hartranft died in Norristown and was buried in Montgomery Cemetery in West Norriton Township, Pennsylvania, near Norristown. The Pennsylvania National Guard later provided an

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

for his grave. He was succeeded as commander of the Pennsylvania National Guard Division by George R. Snowden.

In memoriam

An equestrian statue was installed next to the Pennsylvania Capitol Building in

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

honors Hartranft.John F. Hartranft Statue, State Capitol, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
/ref> Camp No. 15 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is named in his honor. Marble monuments at Petersburg and Vicksburg honor his Civil War service. An elementary school in Norristown is named for the governor as well as another elementary school in Philadelphia. The Hartranft section of North Philadelphia, and a street in the Packer Park section of South Philadelphia near the sports complex, both in

, were also named in his honor. A residence hall at the University Park campus of

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

is named after him. Three avenues in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, are named in his honor: the first is in Norristown and is the avenue leading to the cemetery in which he is buried. The other avenues are located in nearby East Norriton Township and in Fort Washington, Upper Dublin Township. A street in the Brookline section of

is also named after him. Beginning in 1899, a General Hartranft cigar brand was manufactured by C. E. Blair and Sons in

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Colonel, 4th Pennsylvania Militia. Place and date: At Bull Run, Virginia, July 21, 1861. Entered service at: Norristown, Pennsylvania. Born: December 16, 1830, New Hanover Township, Pennsylvania. Date of issue: August 26, 1886. Citation:

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.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartranft, John F. 1830 births 1889 deaths Politicians from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania American people of German descent Republican Party governors of Pennsylvania Union army generals People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Pennsylvania lawyers Pennsylvania auditors general Pennsylvania postmasters Grand Army of the Republic commanders-in-chief Marshall University alumni Union College (New York) alumni United States Army Medal of Honor recipients American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor 19th-century Pennsylvania politicians People associated with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln Members of the American Philosophical Society

Early life and career

Civil War

Imprisonment, trial and execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators

Post-war life and political career

In memoriam

Medal of Honor citation

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links