high eulogy in speaking of one of the earliest and most vigorous of the pioneers, who have hewn for San Francisco a path to glory and greatness through dangers and difficulties unappreciated by any who did not share them. We have already, in our work, noticed the prominent part he has taken in numberless enterprises for the public good, and the various and multiform relations which he has filled in this country; and through all, the approbation of his acts and the confidence in his integrity, were such as to make him a favorite of the people. The mass of mankind is ever ready to respect, honor and reward those virtues which itself has not; but it is rare to discover a society without any, who refuse their sanction to what they know to be good, if only for envy's sake. Who then, would have expected to have found a community, so lawless and reckless, so passion-actuated and fancy-governed, so wild, desperate and daring, so pregnant with vices and so barren of virtues, as it was described in the history of nations, the first to exhibit to centuries of civilized life, a lesson of thankfulness for good done, of forbearance and sacrifice of personal desires, of zeal and earnestness in rewarding real merit ? Colonel Geary was not even a native of the place, nor a long resident of the country, nor an old associate of its inhabitants, but was left friendless on a strange shore, where a strange city saw and appreciated his pre-eminent qualities.

John W. Geary is a Pennsylvanian, born in Westmoreland County, and although but thirty-five years of age, he has won a lasting fame by his firm adherence to the cause of right and duty in the various parts of our country in which he has been placed in civil, military, judicial and executive positions. He has been rewarded by the prosperity and esteem that attends upright conduct and honorable actions, even though without the advantages of wealth and influential or numerous friends to gild life's troubles at the outset of his career and help him to position and renown.

His parents never had much pecuniary means, and very early in his life, his father was afflicted with a tardy attack of illness, during which he became much involved in debt, and died without leaving any thing to satisfy his creditors. Young Geary then became the sole stay of his mother, whom he supported by teaching school, and eventually through his praiseworthy and industrious

exertions, succeeded in defraying every dollar of his deceased parent's indebtedness. This at once gave him a high reputation in his native place. So honorable a return for a mother's tender rearing is unusual; it is more uncommon,-indeed, it is never expected, that a son should so nobly vindicate the memory of his father, by the generous gift of his hard earnings. The position of a school-teacher not being wholly consonant with his inclinations, he removed to Pittsburg, and accepted and filled for a short time only the situation of clerk to a wholesale establishment, quitting the business in disgust, in consequence of certain dishonorable requirements, exacted by his employer. Meanwhile his own efforts had given him a classical education, which he completed at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., creating lifelong friends among professors and classmates, by the early exhibition of those same qualities that have since endeared him to so many others in public and in social life.

While at college his preference and pre-eminence were in the various departments of the mathematical chair, and accordingly he subsequently gratified his predilection and assumed the profession of a civil engineer, in the practice of which he went to Kentucky, partly in the employ of the Commonwealth and partly in that of the Green River Railroad Company, and was engaged in the survey of several very important branches of the public improvements of that State. After an experience with the Engineer Corps, in many of the States, he successively filled all the various offices from a clerkship to the superintendency of the Alleghany Portage Railroad, and during several years, discharged the duties of his responsible positions with complete satisfaction.

Actuated by his mathematical abilities, it is not strange he should, at a very early date, have exhibited a fondness for military tactics. He admired, and labored strenuously by the outlay of time and means to perfect our volunteer system. From a private in the ranks, he rose rapidly through all the grades to that of Brigadier-General, to which he was unanimously elected by the brigade, comprising Cambria and Somerset Counties.

The war with the Mexican States soon after this furnished an opportunity for the citizen soldier to do in earnest, what he had been doing in play-to temper and to test the steel he had

been making-to ascertain the practicability and the use, beyond a mere amusement, of all his music and marching, his gaudy colors and fatiguing drills. Mr. Geary responded among the first, to the call for volunteers, and was accepted to participate in the coming conflict, along with the "American Highlanders," whom he commanded. They were incorporated in the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, of which, on organization, Captain Geary was almost unanimously elected Lieutenant-Colonel. His regiment joined the army of General Scott at Vera Cruz, and served in the advance under the command and on the line of operations of that great chieftain through his brilliant campaign in Mexico. He was attached to General Quitman's division, and distinguished himself by his bravery and military skill in the battles of La Hoya, Chapultepec, Garita de Belen and the City of Mexico, and was so well appreciated and esteemed by his command, that on arriving at the capital of the Montezumas, their leader, Colonel Roberts, having died, he was elected Colonel by a vote of more than two-thirds of the regiment, and was the first American ever to receive a commission dated at that place. Such a compliment, at such a time, could not be regarded as the reward of friendship or political preference. It was the spontaneous and grateful gift of associates in arms-the men who had fought by his side, shared his privations, suffering and dangers, and served cheerfully under his command through the hazardous march across the country of a powerful enemy. It was the reward for his own gallantry from the hands of the gallant soldiers who had witnessed and best knew how to appreciate his merits. The Second Pennsylvania Regiment had done pre-eminent service in the Mexican war. They were foremost in many terrific strifes, enthusiastic, uncomplaining under fatigue, and anxious to lead any enterprise of danger and difficulty. They had stormed and taken the almost inaccessible heights of Chapultepec in the face of the enemy's batteries-and Geary, though wounded in the attack by a spent grape-shot, was with them in the victory; they had entered the fearful causeway of the Garita de Belen, under a terrific fire from every side, drenching with their blood every foot of the distance gained, and accomplishing a victory, despite even the intention of the commander-in-chief, who had believed

a mere feint and not an assault possible or feasible; and lastly, in connection with the gallant Quitman's command, they had the honor assigned them of raising the ensign of their country over that of the fallen enemy, within the walls of the conquered city. In the appointments that followed the victory, Colonel Geary was made first commander of the great citadel of the City of Mexico in consideration of his valuable aid in the capture of the capital.

Colonel Geary has always been remarkable for his close attention to his duties and business industry. During the campaign, he exhibited, in a striking manner, this peculiarity of character. He had never in a single instance been known to have been negligent of duty. He daily visited in person every portion of the regiment, and inspected the police and condition of his men, examining the state of the hospitals, and relieving the sick either by personal care or explicit directions through others. His men always welcomed his appearance on such occasions, and hailed it with as much hope as that of the physician. He was nevertheless a strict disciplinarian, and was never slow properly to bring to punishment when detected, the idle or vicious.

The treaty of peace having closed the war, he returned to his native State, marching his whole regiment from the City of Mexico to the City of Pittsburg, three thousand miles, the season being the most sickly of the year, without losing a single individual from his command, numbering at that time nearly four hundred men. The regiment originally consisted of eleven hundred Pennsylvanians, embracing sterling men of all professions and branches of industry; but of this number not two hundred and fifty are now living, the casualties of war and disease having swept away the most of them. Upon his arrival at Pittsburg, his troops being the first from the seat of war, the enthusiasm of their reception knew no bounds. The whole population, amounting to thousands upon thousands of people, turned out on the occasion. Cannon were fired, bells rung forth peals of joy, the roads were strewn with flowers, and triumphal arches erected at every hundred yards-and the shouts and huzzas of the populace rent the air. The Hon. William Wilkins, in a public speech, complimented the services of the gallant, weather

beaten and war-worn troops, and their much honored leader. The excitement of the universal jubilee ran to the highest pitch. The whole country around likewise seemed crazy with joy; and when he reached his western home, he was publicly and enthusiastically welcomed by every citizen of his native place.

On the 22d of January, 1849, President Polk, in return for his valuable services during the campaign in Mexico, appointed Colonel Geary postmaster of San Francisco, with powers to create post-offices, appoint postmasters, establish mail routes, and make contracts for carrying the mails throughout California. He thus unconsciously placed him in the way of all his subsequent success and popularity among the people of the Eureka State. It was all chance, cries one; it was tak-deer (destiny), exclaims the Persian. Whatever it was, judging from the man as he had previously shown himself, we must suppose that even under other circumstances or in another place, his career would have been equally praiseworthy though doubtless less liberally rewarded.

Colonel Geary, with his customary energy, promptly returned from Washington, with his commission, to his home in Westmoreland County, where he expeditiously closed his business and sailed with his wife and child, on the 1st of February, from New York for Chagres in the steamer Falcon, on her second trip. Arrived at the Isthmus, he left Chagres in a small boat, accompanied, besides Mrs. Geary and child, by Captain Bezer Simmons and wife. At that time there was no accommodation for travellers attempting the transit. No provisions were to be had along the route. Wild beasts and alligators were numerous. The party in the boat became almost starved on the third day out; but the inhabitants of the country, being at that time exceedingly hostile, refused to supply their wants. Col. Geary, at a bend in the river, went ashore and offered without success to purchase food. Not being able to buy, and observing chickens running about, he drew his revolver and shot two, throwing the owners a dollar in recompense. Three men instantly attacked. him with clubs, supposing he had discharged all his loads, but desisted as soon as he informed them that he had four left for their service. He crossed to the opposite side of the peninsula, keeping his assailants at bay. Here he discovered a tent, and