Edward McPherson

Edward McPherson

Edward McPherson (July 31, 1830 – December 14, 1895) was a Pennsylvania newspaper editor and politician who served 2 terms as a United States Congressman. As a director of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, he effected efforts to protect and mark portions of the Gettysburg Battlefield.

1863 Battle of Gettysburg combat on July 1 was at the barn on McPherson Ridge, which had been named for McPherson by 1892.

Early life and career

Born near Gettysburg, McPherson studied law and botany to graduate as 1848 Pennsylvania College valedictorian. In Thaddeus Stevens' firm in Lancaster, McPherson became a Whig. McPherson left the law practice due to illness and moved to Harrisburg, editing the Harrisburg American in 1851, and the Lancaster Independent Whig (1851-1854). In 1855, he started and edited an American Party paper, the Pittsburgh Evening Times. He moved back to Gettysburg the next year and resumed his legal career. He inherited his father's farm west of town along the Chambersburg Turnpike in 1858. and was elected to the 36th and 37th United States Congresses (1859-March 1863, Republican). He was a member of the Republican National Committee in 1860.

American Civil War

McPherson organized Company K of the First Pennsylvania Reserves at the beginning of the American Civil War, and was defeated in the 1862 reelection when his House of Representatives district (Adams, Franklin, Fulton, Bedford, and Juniata counties) was expanded to include opposing Radical Republicans in Somerset County (substituted for Juniata). President Abraham Lincoln appointed McPherson as Deputy Commissioner of Revenue in 1863. After the Battle of Gettysburg, McPherson became an officer of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association with an office on the corner of Baltimore and Middle streets and after Congressman Morehead nominated him, Thaddeus Stevens had him appointed as Clerk of the House of Representatives (December 8, 1863 – December 5, 1875).

Postbellum career

McPherson presided over the Republican National Convention in 1876, and President Hayes appointed him as Director of the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing (1877-8). Returning to the newspaper business, he was editor of the Philadelphia Press from 1877 until 1880. He also served as editor of the New York Tribune Almanac from 1877–1895 and was editor and proprietor of a newspaper in Gettysburg from 1880 until 1895. He was the American editor of the Almanach de Gotha. He again served as Clerk of the House of Representatives from December 1881 to December 1883 and for a third time from December 1889 to December 1891. McPherson was the attorney for the 1893 complaint against the Gettysburg Electric Railway which ended in the Supreme Court case of United States v. Gettysburg Electric Ry. Co.

McPherson died of accidental poisoning in Gettysburg (interred Evergreen Cemetery (Adams County, Pennsylvania)) after being married to Annie D. Crawford McPherson in 1862 with four sons and a daughter: William L. McPherson. The Edward McPherson Society is named in his honor.

Works

In 1941, the papers of Edward McPherson were added to the Library of Congress,[1] and his published works include:

References

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Wilson Reilly	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district 1859–1863	Succeeded by Archibald McAllister
Government offices
Preceded by Emerson Etheridge	Clerk of the United States House of Representatives 1863–1875	Succeeded by George M. Adams
Preceded by Henry C. Jewell	Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing 1877 – 1878	Succeeded by O. H. Irish
Preceded by George M. Adams	Clerk of the United States House of Representatives 1881–1883	Succeeded by John B. Clark, Jr.
Preceded by John B. Clark, Jr.	Clerk of the United States House of Representatives 1889–1891	Succeeded by James Kerr