Samuel Beall

Samuel Wootton Beall (June 16, 1807 September 26, 1868) was an American land speculator and lawyer, who served as the 2nd Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, and was a Union Army officer in the American Civil War.

Samuel W. Beall
2nd Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
In office
January 7, 1850  January 5, 1852
GovernorNelson Dewey
Preceded byJohn E. Holmes
Succeeded byTimothy Burns
Personal details
Born
Samuel Wootton Beall

(1807-06-16)June 16, 1807
Montgomery County, Maryland, U.S.
DiedSeptember 26, 1868(1868-09-26) (aged 61)
Helena, Montana, U.S.
Resting placeForestvale Cemetery
Helena, Montana
CitizenshipAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper
Children
  • Singleton Wooten Beall
  • b. 1830; died 1911)
  • Mary Morris (Hubbell)
  • b. 1832; died 1866)
  • Emma Cooper (LeFevre)
  • b. 1835; died 1926)
  • Ellen Agnes (Cone)
  • b. 1841; died 1924)
  • Louis Upton Beall
  • b. 1844; died 1868)
  • 2 others
MotherEliza Beall
FatherLewis Beall
Alma materUnion College
ProfessionLawyer
Land Speculator
Politician
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Union Army
Years of service18611865
Rank Lt. Colonel, USV
Unit18th Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Early life

Born in Montgomery County, Maryland, Beall graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, in 1827.

Career

Beall moved to what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1835, where he made a fortune in land speculation, and was admitted to the bar and practiced law. In the 1840s he settled in Taycheedah.

Between 1832 and 1856, Beall loaned the Stockbridge and Munsee Indians' delegations to Washington, D.C. some $3,000 for their expenses while they pursued claims against the federal government. He was promised one third of whatever they recovered, but when they won their case, he claimed and recovered only his actual expenditures.[1]

Beall served as a delegate to both the first and second Wisconsin Constitutional Conventions from Marquette County, one of only six men to do so (most members of the first convention declined to serve in the second).[2]

Beall was a Democrat, and served as lieutenant governor for Nelson Dewey's second term as governor, from 1850 until 1852.[3]

During the American Civil War, he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel of the 18th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry under Colonel James S. Alban. The 18th Wisconsin was organized in February 1862, proceeded to Tennessee in March, and was thrown into battle at Shiloh a day after their arrival. Beall was wounded in the battle and his leg was amputated below the knee. Colonel Alban was killed, along with the Regiment's third-in-command, Major Josiah W. Crane. After recovering, Beall served as second-in-command of a prisoner of war camp in Elmira, New York, where the prisoners nicknamed him "old peg-leg" and accused him of a pattern of repeated cruelty and abuse.[4]

Death

After briefly returning to Wisconsin after the war, Beall moved to Helena, Montana, where, on September 26, 1868, he was shot following an argument with a newspaper editor.[5][6][7] He was re-interred in 1907 at Forestvale Cemetery in Helena.[8]

Family life

Son of Lewis and Eliza Beall, in 1829, he married Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper, a niece of James Fenimore Cooper, and they had seven children.

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References

  1. Viola, Herman J. Diplomats in Buckskins: A History of Indian Delegations in Washington City Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995; p. 57
  2. Smith, William R. The History of Wisconsin. In Three Parts, Historical, Documentary and Descriptive. Madison: Beriah Brown, Printer, 1854. Part II. - Documentary. Vol. III; p. 302.
  3. "Public Square at Rapids Was First County Seat". Manitowoc Herald-Times. June 11, 1924. p. 5. Retrieved March 9, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Gray, Michael P. The Business of Captivity: Elmira and Its Civil War Prison Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2001; pp. 125-126
  5. "Coroner's Inquest". The Montana Post. October 2, 1868. p. 3. Retrieved December 12, 2016 via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Death of Co. Beall". Green Bay Weekly Gazette. October 3, 1868. p. 5. Retrieved December 12, 2016 via Newspapers.com.
  7. Beall, Samuel Wooton[?] 1807 - 1868. Wisconsin Historical Society.
  8. "Locate Body of Former State Official". Eau Claire Leader. November 28, 1907. p. 6. Retrieved December 12, 2016 via Newspapers.com.


Political offices
Preceded by
John Edwin Holmes
Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
18501852
Succeeded by
Timothy Burns
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