Samuel Beall

Samuel Wootton Beall (June 16, 1807 – September 26, 1868) was an American land speculator, lawyer, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the second lieutenant governor of Wisconsin (1850–1852) and lost his leg at the Battle of Shiloh, as a Union Army officer in the American Civil War.

Not to be confused with Samuel Beale.
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
SpouseElizabeth 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
Parents
  • Lewis Beall (father)
  • Eliza Beall (mother)
Alma materUnion College
ProfessionLawyer, land speculator, politician
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Volunteers
Union Army
Years of service1861–1865
RankLt. 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 was a delegate to both the first and second Wisconsin constitutional conventions from Marquette County, one of only six men to do so, as most members of the first convention declined to serve in the second.[2]

Beall was a Democrat and was 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 Infantry Regiment 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 its 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 was 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] He was re-interred in 1907 at Forestvale Cemetery in Helena.[6]

Family life

The son of Lewis and Eliza Beall, in 1829, he married Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper, a niece of James Fenimore Cooper, and they had seven children. His eldest daughter, Mary Morris Beall, was the second wife of Levi Hubbell, a prominent Wisconsin lawyer, judge and Democratic politician in early Wisconsin.[7]

Electoral history
Wisconsin Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election, 1849[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 6, 1849
Democratic Samuel Beall 16,355 52.59% -5.11%
Whig Timothy O. Howe 10,757 34.59% -7.71%
Free Soil John Bannister 3,985 12.81%
Plurality 5,598 18.00% +2.60%
Total votes 31,097 100.0% -8.37%
Democratic hold

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
    - "Death of Col. Beall". Green Bay Weekly Gazette. October 3, 1868. p. 5. Retrieved December 12, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. open access
    - Beall, Samuel Wooton[?] 1807 - 1868. Wisconsin Historical Society.
  6. "Locate Body of Former State Official". Eau Claire Leader. November 28, 1907. p. 6. Retrieved December 12, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  7. Hubbell, Walter (1915). History of the Hubbell Family. New York City: The Scientific Press. p. 122. Retrieved June 9, 2021 – via Google Books.
  8. "Official Canvass". Wisconsin Democrat. December 15, 1849. p. 3. Retrieved December 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.


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