Samuel Beall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Cause of deathMurdered
Resting placeForestvale Cemetery, Helena, Montana
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 service1861–1865
RankUnion army lt col rank insignia.jpg Lt. Colonel, USV
Unit18th Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Samuel Wootton Beall (June 16, 1807 – September 26, 1868) was an American land speculator, lawyer, and Wisconsin Territory pioneer. He was the 2nd Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin (1850–1852) and lost his leg at the Battle of Shiloh, serving as a Union Army officer in the American 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.[citation needed] His eldest daughter, Mary Morris Beall, was the second wife of Levi Hubbell, a prominent Wisconsin lawyer, judge, and Democratic politician in early Wisconsin.[9]

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. open access
  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. open access
  6. ^ "Death of Co. Beall". Green Bay Weekly Gazette. October 3, 1868. p. 5. Retrieved December 12, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  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. open access
  9. ^ Hubbell, Walter (1915). History of the Hubbell Family. New York City: The Scientific Press. p. 122. Retrieved June 9, 2021.

External links[]


Party political offices
Preceded by
John Edwin Holmes 		Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
1849 		Succeeded by
Timothy Burns
Political offices
Preceded by
John Edwin Holmes 		Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
1850–1852 		Succeeded by
Timothy Burns
Retrieved from ""