page_title: Oliver Bosbyshell
section_title: Return to Pennsylvania
hierarchical_section_title: Oliver Bosbyshell / Return to Pennsylvania
caption_attribution_description: English: Second Philadelphia Mint, NW corner Chestnut &amp; Juniper Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (built 1829-33, demolished 1902), William Strickland, architect. Now the site of the Widener Building.
context_page_description: Oliver Christian Bosbyshell was Superintendent of the United States Mint at Philadelphia from 1889 to 1894. He also claimed to have been the first Union soldier wounded by enemy action in the Civil War, stating that he received a bruise on the forehead from an object thrown by a Confederate sympathizer while his unit was marching through Baltimore in April 1861.
  Bosbyshell was born in Mississippi. His parents were of old Philadelphia stock, and he was raised in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. After briefly working on the railroad and then studying law, Bosbyshell enlisted in the Union cause on the outbreak of war. Following a brief period of service in the 25th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment, he joined the 48th Pennsylvania, remaining in that regiment for three years. He saw action in such battles as Second Bull Run and Antietam. He rose to the rank of major and led his regiment, but was mustered out upon the expiration of his term of service in October 1864, having been refused a leave of absence.
context_section_description: Having returned to Pottsville, Bosbyshell entered first the banking business, and then the book and stationary trade, each time with "disastrous" results.  A Republican, he ran for prothonotary of Schuylkill County in 1866, but was defeated.
  Shortly after the war, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a Union veteran's group, was founded.  During Bosbyshell's campaign to become prothonotary, he was asked to organize the Schuylkill County branch, but declined because of his status as a candidate.  The following year, however, he joined the GAR, organizing Post 24 in Pottsville.  He became Schuylkill County district commander of the GAR soon after, and in 1869 was elected Pennsylvania's GAR department commander.
  In 1869, Bosbyshell was hired as Register of Deposits of the Philadelphia Mint, and moved to that city.  The Chief Coiner, A. Loudon Snowden, was impressed by Bosbyshell, and promoted him to Assistant Coiner in 1872.  When Snowden left the Mint to accept a position as postmaster in 1876, President Ulysses Grant promoted Bosbyshell in his place. Grant nominated Bosbyshell on December 14, 1876; he was confirmed by the Senate on December 26.  According to numismatic historian Q. David Bowers, Bosbyshell, while serving as Chief Coiner, used Mint facilities and out-of-date dies to strike rare three-dollar pieces, including the 1873, 1875, and 1876 issues.  During Bosbyshell's tenure, quantities of pattern coins, restrikes, and pieces struck in different metals flowed to well-connected collectors and dealers, and Bosbyshell sold a large personal collection of such pieces shortly after leaving office.
  Bosbyshell served as Chief Coiner until early 1885; with the approaching advent of the first Cleveland administration, Democrats would be appointed as Mint officials, and Bosbyshell secured a position as chief clerk in the Philadelphia City Controller's office.  Bosbyshell was hired, despite the fact that he was a Republican in a Democratic-run municipal administration, because of his friendship with Controller Robert Dechert.
  Having maintained his involvement in the GAR, Bosbyshell was in charge of the committee on arrangements for the Tenth National Encampment of the GAR, at Philadelphia in 1876.  In 1879, he was elected as commander of Post 2 in that city.  He also joined the Second Regiment of the Pennsylvania National Guard, and was elected major in 1878 and lieutenant colonel in 1880.
caption: The second Philadelphia Mint (1833–1901)
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