Here’s an
Attractive Lot of Eight [8] Antique Checks
Signed by Pennsylvania Civil War Military Veteran and Post-War Political Statesman
“COLONEL” ANDREW JACKSON “JACK”
HERR
(1828 – 1894)
· PENNSYLVANIA
REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE SENATOR 1875-1884, and PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE 1878-1879, SERVING
WITH GREAT DISTINCTION and DEALING WITH THE COAL MINERS’ LABOR UNREST and PA RAILROAD
STRIKES,
·
CIVIL WAR RECONSTRUCTION MEMBER OF THE
PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1868-9,
·
ELECTED DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF DAUPHIN
COUNTY 1856-1865,
·
ELECTED SOLICITOR OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
1866,
· REMARKABLE
CRIMINAL ATTORNEY and COUNSEL, FOR IMPORTANT CASES and KNOWN AS THE “WORD PAINTER,”
·
CONTRIBUTOR TO THE “SATURDAY EVENING POST,” and “NEAL’S GAZETTE OF PHILADELPHIA” IN THE
1840s, and AUTHOR OF THREE NOVELS AT AGE 15, and
·
CIVIL WAR PRIVATE IN “E” Co., 1st PA MILITIA, THE EMERGENCY MILITIA CALLED BY GOVERNOR
CURTIN IN SEPT 1862 TO DEFEND PA FROM POSSIBLE REBEL INVASION – THE MILITIA ACTING
AS A SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM!
THIS ATTRACTIVE COLLECTION OF AUTOGRAPH
DOCUMENTS SIGNED ARE DATED FROM 1865-1875 and DRAWN OFF HERR’S ACCOUNTS AT VARIOUS
HARRSIBURG BANKS. THE CHECKS BEAR
SIGNATURE ENDORSEMENTS ON THE VERSO, and
2 CENT US INTERNAL REVENUE TAX
STAMPS.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: A. J. HERR
12/31/1828 - 03/16/1894
Andrew
Jackson “Jack” Herr, Dauphin County
Early
Life:
Andrew
Jackson Herr, born, December 31, 1828, Greencastle,
Franklin County, Pennsylvania; son of Daniel Kunkle Herr and Salome Sarah Herr;
graduated, Zane Street Grammar School (Philadelphia High School); author;
contributor, Saturday Evening Post, Neal's Gazette, of
Philadelphia; Dauphin county bar, 1850; private, Civil War, 1862; lawyer
1850-1894; elected, District Attorney, Dauphin County, 1856-1865; elected,
solicitor, Dauphin County, 1866; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of
Representatives, 1867-1868; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate,
1874-1884; elected, President Pro Tempore, 1879-1880; married, Martha Linn Coyle
Herr, (d.1858) no children; married, Nancy Mathers Coyle Herr
(d.1862) son, Daniel Coyle Herr; married, Nancy Jane “Nannie” Gilmore
Herr, 1863 one child Eleanor Gilbert Boyd; died, March 16, 1894, (age 61)
Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania; interred, Harrisburg Cemetery,
Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.(i)
Early
Career:
Enlisted,
private, First Regiment, Company E, First Militia, mustering out, Camp Curtin;
regiment disbanded, September 25, 1862, it served its purpose, supplying
General George Brinton McClellan’s troops during the Maryland Campaign (Battle
of Antietam). Afterwards known as the “Colonel”
Authored:
Herr,
Andrew Jackson. Fanny Roberteen, or, The Chain of Destiny: A Romance.
Boston: Gleeson, 1847.
Herr,
Andrew Jackson. Maid of the Valley, or, The Brother’s Revenge: A Tale
of the Revolution. New York: W.H. Graham, 1847.
Herr,
Andrew Jackson. In Memoriam: Decoration Day. n.p., 1882.
Pennsylvania
Politics:
Elected,
District Attorney, Dauphin County (1856-1865).
Elected,
solicitor, Dauphin County (1866).
Elected,
Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1867 and 1868; not a
candidate for reelection 1869.
Elected,
Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate 15th district, Dauphin County,
1874-1884; elected, President Pro Tempore, 1879-1880; unsuccessful campaign for
reelection to the Senate (1884), member, Finance, Judicial Apportionment,
Judicial Special, Municipal Affairs and Public Buildings Committees.
Pennsylvania
House of Representatives Biography:
Legacy:
Andrew
Jackson Herr won the next three elections, serving as District Attorney from
1856 to 1865. Described by contemporaries as a remarkable criminal lawyer and
“...perhaps the most accomplished word painter the Bar has for several
generations produced.” Herr went on to greater distinction in the State House
and the State Senate, serving in the latter for 9 years, for two years as
President Pro Tem of that body. (ii)
Served
as President Pro Tempore for the opening of the 1879 session, marked the first
day of the Senate’s new biennial system, an iconic provision of the 1874
Constitution.
Cited:
· Smull’s
Legislative Hand Book, (1883) Miller, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page
732, 764 and 770-772.
· findagrave memorial/13940277
· History of the District Attorney's Office
<>Andrew Jackson Herr, son of Daniel Herr, was born December 31, 1832, at Greencastle, Franklin County,
Pennsylvania. He was schooled in Philadelphia, where he graduated in the high school. Soon after he began the
study of law with James McCormick, at Harrisburg, and was admitted to the Dauphin county bar August 20,
1850. He immediately began practice, and soon acquired an extensive clientage.
He served as district attorney nine years, was counsel for the county commissioners for one year, represented the
county in the legislature in 1868 and 1869, and from 1875 to 1884 was state senator. In these capacities he served
with great distinction. In 1878 and 1879 he was president pro-tempore of the senate. He was familiarly known as "Colonel Herr." He was possessed of a brilliant mind, quick to catch a point and
make the most of it, and able to discriminate finely. Colonel Herr was a remarkable criminal lawyer. His style of
address was florid and beautiful, yet forceful and attractive. He was perhaps the most accomplished attorney the
bar has had for several generations produced. He prided himself on his ability to remember the names and places
of cases in the Reports, and in discussing legal questions with his brother lawyers he always was gratified if he
could give his hearings a case in Court). At the close of his career he withdrew from most small matters of practice,
and confined himself to matters of importance.
Colonel Herr was of literary tastes, and in his early years he was a contributor to the Saturday Evening Post
and Xeal's Gazette of Philadelphia, and when about fifteen years old wrote three novels. He died in Harrisburg,
PA on March 16, 1894. Daniel C. Hcrr, a member of the bar, is his son
THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA p.766
ANDREW
J. HERR – CIVIL WAR SERVICE SUMMARY
|
Enlisted
on 9/11/1862 as a Private. On
9/11/1862 he mustered into "E" Co. PA 1st Militia (The Militia of
1862). He
was Mustered Out on 9/25/1862 at Harrisburg, PA. Source:
History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865 |
History of the Pennsylvania
MILITIA OF 1862.
|
THE
rebel army had no sooner achieved its triumph in the second battle
Bull Run, than it hastened northward, and commenced crossing
the Potomac. The southern border of
Pennsylvania lay in
close proximity, all unprotected, and by its rich harvests invited
invasion.
The
Reserve Corps which was originally organized for the State defense,
had been called away to the succor of the hard pressed army
of McClellan upon the Peninsula, and was now upon the weary
march, with ranks sadly thinned in the hard fought battles
of Mechaniceville, Gaines' Mill' Charles City Cross Roads,
and the second Bull Run, to again meet the foe, but powerless
to avert the threatened danger.
The
result of the struggle on the plains of Manassas, was no sooner
known, than the helpless condition of the State, which had
been apparent from the first, became a subject of alarm. On
the 4th of September, Governor Curtin issued a proclamation, calling
on the people to arm, and prepare for defense. He recommended
the immediate formation of companies and regiments throughout
the Commonwealth, and, for the purpose of drill and instruction,
that after three P. M., of each day, all business houses
be closed.
On
the 10th, the danger having become imminent, the enemy being already
in Maryland, he issued a general order, calling on all able
bodied men to enroll immediately for the defense of the State,
and to hold themselves in readiness to march upon an hour's
notice; to select officers, to provide themselves with such
arms as could be obtained, with sixty rounds of ammunition to
the man, tendering arms to such as had none, and promising that
they should be held for service, for such time only as the pressing
exigency for State defense should continue.
On
the following day, acting under authority of the President of
the United States, the Governor called for fifty thousand men,
directing them to report by telegraph for orders to move, and
adding that further calls would be made as the exigencies should
require.
The
people everywhere flew to arms, and moved promptly to the State
Capital. One regiment and eight
companies were sent forward
during the night of the 12th, and others followed as fast
as they could be organized.
On
the 14th, the head of the Army of the Potomac met the enemy at
South Mountain, and hurled him back through its passes, and on
the evening of the 16th, and day of the 17th, a fierce battle
was fought at Antietam.
In
the meantime, the militia had rapidly concentrated at Hagerstown
and Chambersburg, and General John F. Reynolds, who was
at the time commanding a corps in the Army of the Potomac, had
assumed command.
Fifteen
thousand men were pushed forward to Hagerstown and Boonsboro,
and a portion of them stood in line of battle in close
proximity to the field, in readiness to advance, while the
fierce fighting was in progress.
Ten
thousand more were posted in the vicinity of Greencastle and
Chambersburg, and "about twenty thousand," says Governor Curtin,
in his annual message, " were at Harrisburg, on their way
to Harrisburg, or in readiness and waiting for transportation
to proceed thither.
The
Twenty-fifth regiment, under command of Colonel Dechert, at the
request of General Halleck, was sent to the State of Delaware,
to guard the Dupont Powder Mills, whence the National armies
were principally supplied.
But
the enemy was defeated at Antietam, and retreated in confusion
across the Potomac. The emergency
having passed, the militia
regiments were ordered to return to Harrisburg, and in accordance
with the conditions on which they had been called into
service, they were, on the 24th, mustered out and disbanded.
The
train on which the Twentieth regiment was returning over the
Cumberland Valley Road, collided, when nearing Harrisburg, with
one passing in the opposite direction, by which four men were
killed and thirty injured.
In a
letter addressed to Governor Curtin, by General McClellan, thanking
him for his energetic action in calling out the militia,
and placing them in the field, the General adds; "Fortunately,
circumstances rendered it impossible for the enemy
to set foot upon the soil of Pennsylvania, but the moral support
rendered to my army by your action, was none the less mighty. In the name of my army, and for myself, I
again tender to
you our acknowledgments for your patriotic course. The manner
in which the people of Pennsylvania responded to your call,
and hastened to the defense of their frontier, no doubt exercised
a great influence upon the enemy."
In
an order issued by Governor Bradford, of Maryland, soon after
the battle, he says: "To Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania,
and the militia of his State, who rallied with such
alacrity at the first symptoms of an invasion, our warmest thanks
are also due. The readiness with which
they crossed the border,
and took their stand beside the Maryland brigade, shows that
the border is, in all respects, but an ideal line, and that
in such a cause as now unites us, Pennsylvania and Maryland
are but one."
Source:
Bates, vol. V, p. 1147 |
The documents measure 8” x 3” and are
in very fine condition.
NOTE: The biographical sheets pictured
in the listing are included with the autograph..
I am a proud member of
the Universal Autograph Collectors Club (UACC), The Ephemera Society of
America, the Manuscript Society and the American Political Items Collectors
(APIC) (member name: John Lissandrello). I subscribe to each organizations'
code of ethics and authenticity is guaranteed. ~Providing quality service and
historical memorabilia online for over 25 years.~
WE ONLY SELL GENUINE ITEMS, i.e., NO REPRODUCTIONS, FAKES OR COPIES!KES OR COPIES!