page_title: James A. Beaver
section_title: Military service
hierarchical_section_title: James A. Beaver / Military service
caption_attribution_description: English: Bust of General James Beaver of Perry County, Pennsylvania, by Katherine M. Cohen. Beaver commanded at regiment of Pennsylvania soldiers in the US Civil War. Bust located on the Smith Memorial Arch just west of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
context_page_description: James Addams Beaver was an American attorney, recruiter and field commander of Pennsylvania Infantry who was wounded four times during the Civil War, and politician who served as the 20th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1891. He also served as the acting president of the Pennsylvania State University from 1906 to 1908.
context_section_description: On the organization of the 45th Pennsylvania volunteers, he became its lieutenant-colonel, and first saw active service in the neighborhood of Hilton Head and Port Royal, South Carolina. A new call for volunteers was issued in 1862 and Lieut-Col. Beaver was commissioned colonel of the 148th Pennsylvania volunteers, recruited in the vicinity of his home. He had by this time developed high qualities as a disciplinarian, and his men made it their boast that they were often mistaken for regulars. The regiment joined the army of the Potomac just after the Battle of Fredericksburg, was assigned to Hancock's corps, and first met the enemy at the Battle of Chancellorsville (2 and 3 May 1863), where it held an advanced position, and lost very heavily, Col. Beaver being among the wounded.
  He had not recovered when the third call for troops was issued; but, at his own request, he was placed on recruiting service, in command of Camp Curtin. He was able to rejoin his regiment just before the Battle of Gettysburg, but, still weak from his wound, was not permitted to take command during the fight. He led his regiment throughout the Wilderness Campaign in May 1864, and took part in the successful assault upon the confederate works at Spottsylvania Court House, his regiment being among the first to scale the earthworks. At the Battle of Cold Harbor (3 June 1864) he was left in command of the brigade, Gen. Brooke being wounded, and later he was himself slightly wounded, but not disabled, and remained at his post during the rest of the day, holding an advanced position close to the enemy's works, and constantly under fire.
  On 16 June 1864, he was again wounded while leading his brigade in the first assault upon the works at Petersburg. Returning to duty before his wound was fairly healed, he rode to the battlefield of Ream's Station in an ambulance, and had scarcely reached the front and assumed command at the advanced line when his right leg was shattered by a rifle ball. Amputation of the right leg followed, and, although his life was saved, the 26-year-old was no longer capable of active military service. He was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers, 10 November 1864, and mustered out of service at his own request on 22 December of that year, refusing to remain in the army on light duty as he was urged to do. He repeatedly declined promotion that would have taken him away from his own regiment, feeling bound to remain with the men whom he had enlisted.
caption: Bust of Beaver on Smith Memorial Arch
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