Jacob Bowman Sweitzer
Jacob Bowman Sweitzer was born on July 4, 1821, in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, to Henry and Ann Sweitzer. His father was a merchant who owned $18,000 of real estate by 1850. He probably grew up in Brownsville, and he graduated from Jefferson College (present-day Washington & Jefferson College) in 1843. He was admitted to the bar in November 1845, and he began practicing law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
President Zachary Taylor appointed him United States Attorney for western Pennsylvania in 1849. He served until May 1853. He married Mary Holmes Stevenson on June 15, 1852, and they had at least five children: Annie, born around 1856; Henry, born around 1859; Elizabeth, born around 1861; Bowman, born around 1866; and Denny, born around 1868. By 1860, he owned $2,000 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property.
In July 1861, he received a commission as a major in the 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in November 1861 and then to colonel in June 1862. He was wounded and captured in the Battle of Gaines’ Mill on June 27, 1862. He spent the next six weeks imprisoned at Libby Prison, and he was exchanged in mid-August 1862.
He rejoined his regiment, and he took part in the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and the siege of Petersburg. He mustered out on July 13, 1864.
He returned to Pittsburgh after leaving the army. In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him Supervisor of Internal Revenue for western Pennsylvania. He held the position until 1873, when he became a clerk for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He applied for a federal pension in April 1879 and eventually secured one. He died in Pittsburgh on November 9, 1888.
Image: Jacob B. Sweitzer (courtesy Wikicommons)
DATABASE CONTENT
| (5157) | Sweitzer, Jacob Bowman | 1821-07-04 | 1888-11-09 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Major
- Rank out: Colonel
- Rank highest: Colonel
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 1
- (14637) [recipient] ~ Francis J. Parker to Jacob B. Sweitzer, 23 February 1863
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (1137) [officer] ~ 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry
SOURCES
1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; U.S. College Student Lists, 1763-1924, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, available from Ancestry.com; The Biographical Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia, PA: Galaxy Publishing Company, 1874); “Jacob B. Sweitzer” Wikipedia profile, available from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_B._Sweitzer
