The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1899-06-09
Mr.. REASONER
HONORED
Tribute to a Faithful and Trust
ed Railroad Official.

Commuters, Employees and Friends
Present Handsomely Bound Res
Colonel in lS6l-Arranged Trip
and Accompanied President Lin
coin to West Point Where Grant
Was Selected as Commander-in-
Chief of the Army.
Andrew Reasoner, whose name for
many years past has been familiar one
in Morristown and along the line of the
Morris and Essex division of the Della
ware, Lackawanna and Western Rail
road, comes of sturdy ancestry. His
father was for many years engaged in the
manufacture of wagons and agricultural
implements at South Egremont, among
the Berkshire Hills. He was born in
Dutchess county, New York, removing
to the Bay State when boy Christina
Race, a defendant of an old Holland
family, was the mother of Mr. Reasoner.
His ancestors on both sides were engaged
in the Revolutionary war, serving with
distinction. The establishment founded
by the elder Reasoner is in successful
operation at the present time.
Young Reasoner went to the village
school, and afterwards attended an
academy in South Berkshire. AT the
early age of II school life was abandoned
for railroading The young railroader
assisted in the construction of road ex-
tending from the Berkshires to Canaan,
Conn, his duties comprised time keeper,
occasionally taking hand at driving
yoke of oxen, with which most of the
grading was done. Afterwards he was
active in laying strap iron" rails on
chestnut string pieces.
When the road was completed he be-
came brakesman, working in that ca
pacity for two years. He then served
on the Harlem Railroad. Later, Samuel
Sloan made him conductor on the Har-
lem River Railroad, of which he soon
became train dispatcher at the New York
terminus, then located where the Madi-
son Square Garden now stands.
AS train dispatcher it devolved upon
Mr.. Reasoner to handle during the early
days of the Civil War large bodies of
soldiers and train loads of ammunition
and munitions of war, and the prompt
ness with which he handled his depart
ment so commended him to Governor
Morgan, New York's great war Cover
nor, that he commissioned him colonel
of volunteers and master of transporta.
tion of troops. The urgency was SO great
addition to passenger cars, those used
for the handling of freight, gravel and
stock were impressed to hasten the
journey of the boys in blue, southwark.
Perhaps the most memorable incident
in the many in which Col. Reasoner
figured 30 prominently in those anxious
days. was one in which several of the
great leaders of the war participated.
Mcclellan, with the grandest army the
world had ever known, did not move.
Lincoln urged him to advance, but with
out success. The people at the North
were crying out for an advance to Rich
mond. Still Mcclellan hesitated.
OAc uty messenger came from preSi-
dent Samuel Sloan requiring the pres
ence Of Colonel Reasoner, the head Of the
transportation department. Mr.. Sloan
informed him that Lincoln was coming
to New York from Washington /; he must
be met at Jersey City, taken across New
York and sent by a special to Garrisons
and ferried over to West Point, where
consultation was to be held with General
Scott the venerable commandant at that
place relative to change in COM
manders at the front
The enemies of the government were
anxious to prevent move leading to a
change in the commander. in chief of the
army Lincoln's absence from the White
House was not to be known. The de-
tails were all left to Colonel Reasoner,
who promptly arranged for the work be-
fore him. In company with Mr.. Sloan
coach met Governor Morgan and Presi-
dent Lincoln at Jersey City at dusk
with Mr. Reasoner on the box with
careful driver and the Governor the
President and Mr.. Sloan inside. A start