William Bigler (1814-1880)
Clearfield, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
State Senator, 1841-1847; Governor of Pennsylvania, 1852-1855; and U.S. Senator, 1856-1861. Opposed slavery; favored a Southern compromise to avoid the Civil War. His brother, John, was elected Governor of California, 1852. Resided here.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
William Bigler rose through Pennsylvania politics from state senator to governor in the 1850s and then to the United States Senate on the eve of the Civil War. Though he opposed slavery, he belonged to the camp that hoped a compromise with the South might hold the Union together and avert war. In a striking family coincidence, his brother John was elected governor of California the same year William won Pennsylvania; William made his home here.
Why it matters
Bigler embodies the anguished middle ground of the 1850s, when moderate Northern leaders searched in vain for a bargain that could preserve the Union without war.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Bigler
- · John Bigler
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Bucktails
Driftwood, PA · est. 1950
When the Civil War broke out in the spring of 1861, hardy woodsmen and hunters from Pennsylvania's northern mountains answered the call, famously pinning deer tails to their caps as a badge of their marksmanship. From this point along the Sinnemahoning they set off in April 1861 for Harrisburg to be mustered into service as the men who would become known as the Bucktails. A nearby monument, a state highway, and a state park all keep their name alive.
Pennsylvania Memorial Home
Brookville, PA · est. 2019
A generation after the Civil War, the men who had served the Union were aging, and their families often had nowhere to turn. In 1890 Kate Scott and Annie Wittenmyer of the Woman's Relief Corps founded a home in Brookville that broke new ground: it took in not only veterans but also their wives, children, widows, and orphans. It is remembered as the first such home in the nation to care for whole families.
Logan House
Altoona, PA · est. 1947
In September 1862, with the Civil War at a grim turning point, the governors of the loyal Northern states gathered at the Logan House, a famous railroad hotel that once stood on this site. Pennsylvania's Governor Andrew Curtin called the conference, and the assembled governors pledged their states' support to President Lincoln at a moment when he was preparing the Emancipation Proclamation. Their united stand helped steady the Union war effort.
Presented by Gov. James A. Beaver
Bellefonte, PA
This bronze dedication marks a gift to Bellefonte from one of the borough's most distinguished sons, James A. Beaver. A Union officer who rose to brigadier general and lost a leg to battle wounds in the Civil War, Beaver returned home to practice law and later served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1891. In 1910, near the end of a long public life, he presented this to his community—one of many civic gifts from a man who also helped shepherd the young Pennsylvania State College as a trustee.