Seated studio view of Geary. He wears a double-breasted coat with shoulder straps. Image is clean and clear with good detail. Pencil identification along lower edge of mount. Plain mount with photographer’s backmark, Henszey & Co., Philadelphia.

John White Geary (December 30, 1819 – February 8, 1873) was an American lawyer, politician, Freemason, and a Union general in the American Civil War. He was the final alcalde and first mayor of San Francisco, a governor of the Kansas Territory, and the 16th governor of Pennsylvania.

At the start of the Civil War, Geary raised the 147th and 28th Pennsylvania Infantry regiments and became colonel of the latter. Commanding the district of the upper Potomac River, he was wounded and captured near Leesburg, Virginia, on March 8, 1862, but was immediately exchanged and returned to duty. On April 25, 1862, he was promoted to Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers and the command of a brigade in Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks's Corps, which he led in the Shenandoah Valley against Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. He led it at the Battle of Cedar Mountain on August 9, 1862, where he was seriously wounded in the arm and leg. He returned to duty on October 15 as the division commander; now part of the Army of the Potomac, XII Corps, under the command of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum.

Geary's division was heavily engaged at Chancellorsville, where he was knocked unconscious as a cannonball shot past his head on May 3, 1863. At Gettysburg, Slocum's corps arrived after the first day's fighting subsided and took up a defensive position on Culp's Hill.

The XII Corps was transferred west and he distinguished himself in command during the Battle of Lookout Mountain, the entire Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, and the Carolinas Campaign. He oversaw the surrender of Savannah, Georgia, and briefly served as the city's military governor, where he was breveted to major general.

After the war, Geary served two terms as the Republican governor of Pennsylvania, from 1867 to 1873. He established a reputation as a political independent, attacking the political influence of the railroads and vetoing many special interest bills.

On February 8, 1873, less than three weeks after leaving the governor's post, Geary was fatally stricken with a heart attack while preparing breakfast for his infant son in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was 53 years old. He was buried in Harrisburg with state honors in Mount Kalmia Cemetery, now, the Harrisburg Cemetery.

This image was part of the Ray Ritchie collection. [jet] [ph:L]

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