William Reading Montgomery

William Reading Montgomery
Born(1801-07-10)July 10, 1801
Monmouth County, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMay 31, 1871(1871-05-31) (aged 69)
Bristol, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Buried
Bristol, Pennsylvania
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service/branchUnited States Army, Union Army
Years of service1825–1854; 1861-1864
RankMajor, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army.
Brigadier General, Union Army
Commands1st Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry
Military Governor of Alexandria, Virginia
Annapolis, Maryland
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Battles/wars

William Reading Montgomery (July 10, 1801 – May 31, 1871) was a career United States Army officer who served in the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War. He was a brigadier general in the Union Army from May 17, 1861, to April 4, 1864, during the American Civil War.

Montgomery received a brevet appointment as major for gallant and meritorious conduct during his service as captain of the 8th United States Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, where he was wounded, and a brevet appointment as lieutenant colonel for gallant and meritorious service with the 8th U.S. Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Molino del Rey, where he also was wounded.[1][2]

Montgomery was promoted to the full, substantive rank of major in 1852 after which he served on recruiting and garrison duty. Montgomery was dismissed from the U.S. Army in 1855 due to unauthorized real estate transactions, the supposed appropriation of part of the military reserve land at Fort Riley, Kansas, for the use of the Pawnee Association as a town when he "had an interest" in that association. Historian Ezra J. Warner states that Montgomery's dismissal from the service for this reason may have been procured by the pro-slavery faction in Kansas because of Montgomery's Free State views.[3] Historian Stewart Sifakis supports Warner's view and states that the appropriated government land "was for a townsite that was apparently planned as a free-soil community."[4]

At the beginning of the American Civil War, Montgomery organized and was briefly colonel of the 1st Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry.[4][5] The 1st New Jersey Volunteer Regiment was "held in reserve" at the First Battle of Bull Run[6] on July 21, 1861, according to Wilson and Fiske.[7] Sifakis states that Montgomery's regiment was detailed to guard areas around Arlington Heights, Virginia, and Fairfax Court House, Virginia.[4] Cullum also supports this view by stating that Montgomery first served in the defenses of Washington, D.C. at the start of the war.[2][8]

Soon after the Battle of First Bull Run, Montgomery was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers to rank from May 17, 1861.[9] Thereafter, he served in administrative positions or was awaiting orders. He was military governor of Alexandria, Virginia, from September to December, 1861; in command of Annapolis, Maryland, from January 1862 to March 17, 1862, and at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from April 4, 1862, to March 2, 1863; awaiting orders at Cairo, Illinois, from March to October 1863; on a military commission at Memphis, Tennessee, October 16, 1863, to March 15, 1864; and on leave of absence from March 15 to April 4, 1864.[2][8] Montgomery submitted his resignation from the Union Army, which according to Warner was presumably due to ill health, on April 4, 1864.[3] After his resignation was accepted on April 4, 1864, Montgomery briefly dealt in wood moldings at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He then retired to Bristol, Pennsylvania, where he died on May 31, 1871.

  1. ^ Cullum, George W. George W. Cullum's Register of Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy. Revised and Extended. Vol. 1. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1891. OCLC 1417240. Retrieved June 28, 2020. Page 361.
  2. ^ a b c Cullum's Register also can be retrieved online as of June 28, 2020, at [1] Cullum's Register online. Page 361. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. ISBN 978-0-8071-0822-2. p. 330.
  4. ^ a b c Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4. Page 453.
  5. ^ Warner, 1964, p. 330 states that Montgomery "seems to have been" a Pennsylvania resident at the time but Eicher, 2001, p. 394 states that Montgomery moved to New Jersey after his dismissal from the U.S. Army and does not mention that he moved back to Pennsylvania until after his service with the Union Army.
  6. ^ Also known as the First Battle of Manassas.
  7. ^ Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske, eds. Appletons' Cyclopaedia Of American Biography, Volume IV. Lodge-Pickens. New York, D. Appleton & Company, 1888. OCLC 906067060. Page 372.
  8. ^ a b Cullum, 1891, p. 362.
  9. ^ Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1. p. 394.