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Centre Daily Times June 27 2005
Brisbin fell through history's cracks
By Rich Kerstetter; rkerstet@centredaily.com
"Today, few but hard-core historians remember James Sanks Brisbin, but his near anonymity belies the Centre County native's prominence in late-19th-century America.
The October 1971 issue of Centre County Heritage includes a brief biography as part of the historical society's "Their Roots in Our Soil" series -- "stories on Centre Countians and their descendants who have gone from here and achieved a measure of fame during their lifetime."
The region's pre-eminent historian, John Blair Linn, writing in 1883, noted only Brisbin's presence as a staff officer when local military units encamped near Bellefonte prior to the Civil War and, briefly, in recounting notable students at Boalsburg Academy: "Among the scholars may be mentioned Gen. James S. Brisbin, of the regular army, who became Gen. Custer's successor."
But lesser historical figures have had towns, counties and even stadiums named in their honor.
Brisbin was born in Boalsburg in 1837, became a teacher, editor, lawyer and anti-slavery orator in Bellefonte before enlisting as a private in the Penns Valley Cadets. He soon earned promotion to second lieutenant in the U.S. Dragoons and was wounded twice in the First Battle of Bull Run before transferring to the cavalry.
He continued to rise through the ranks until May 1, 1865, when he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers -- initially the rank was honorary for his "gallant conduct at the battle of Marion, Virginia" in December 1864, according to Brisbin's online entry in Virtual American Biographies, but he later earned promotion to the full rank.
After the Civil War, Brisbin served on the Western frontier where, as a major, he participated in the campaign against the Sioux that ended in the defeat of Gen. George A. Custer at Little Big Horn.
According to the Montana Historical Society Archives, Brisbin was at various times a staff officer, battalion or squadron commander, post commander and regimental commander.
Brisbin was also a prolific writer and his dispatches from the West appeared in many Eastern publications.
Looking back from 1928, the Froid, Mont., Tribune said, of all those who were keenly interested in the development of the West, "none became such as Montana booster as Gen. James. Brisbin."
He was "not altogether a disinterested spectator," the Tribune admitted, since he invested heavily in a ranch, a large herd of cattle and other enterprises in the territory.
Brisbin maintained contact with his native county through letters, many of which were published in the Democratic Watchman, including one in 1888 describing his life as "indescribably lonely since the death of my wife" -- the former Mary Jane Wagner, who was born in Bellefonte in 1846 and died at Fort McKinney, Washington Territory, in 1887.
Brisbin also wrote a number of books, including "The Beef Bonanza," "Belden, the White Chief," "Life of Hancock" and biographies of James Garfield and Chester Arthur.
He apparently completed one of his books during a stay at a tourist hotel in the Snow Shoe region, the discovery of which attracted the attention of Mountaintop area historian Cordes Chambers III, who has compiled a wealth of biographical information on Centre County's forgotten soldier.
A copy of Chambers' collected material is on file in the Pennsylvania Room of the Centre County Library and Historical Museum on Allegheny Street in Bellefonte. It includes Brisbin's obituary, from the Jan. 22, 1892, edition of the Democratic Watchman.
"On last Friday, a telegram was received that Gen. James S. Brisbin had died, Thursday afternoon at The Lafayette Hotel, in Philadelphia, where he had gone for treatment for Bronchial Infection," the obituary began. "This indeed was a shock to his friends in this community, who supposed he was in his usual health and did not know that he was East."
The obituary recounted Brisbin's military career and fame as a writer, before concluding:
"His death came as a personal loss to many citizens of Pennsylvania, who knew him as a genial, big-hearted, honorable man with a nature broad, independent and pliant, and out of this character came the life which we admire and the death which we lament."
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