Hon. Benjamin E. Eberhart

EBERHART, EVANS, STEBBINS, BEAL

Posted By: P. Bergmeier (email)
Date: 5/8/2005 at 13:22:20

Hon. Benjamin E. Eberhart, now serving his third consecutive term as mayor of La Porte City, Iowa, is a prominent citizen of Black Hawk County, whose long and patriotic services, during the Civil War, of themselves entitle him to the esteem and admiration of his fellow citizens. His birth took place June 10, 1844, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and he is a son of Rev. Albert G. and Eliza (Evans) Eberhart.
Rev. Albert G. Eberhart was born October 8, 1810, at New Geneva, Pennsylvania, and was a son of Adolphus Eberhart, who served through the Revolutionary War. From his day the family has been one distinguished for its patriotism. Benjamin E. Eberhart, his father and four brothers, having served through the Civil War, and a nephew having served as a member of the Signal Corps in Cuba, during the Spanish-American War. Adolphus Eberhart established the first glass works in the United States, west of the Allegheny Mountains. Prior to entering the Baptist Ministry, Albert G. Eberhart worked in the glass factory. In 1857 he removed to Waterloo, Iowa, having filled charges at various points in Pennsylvania, at Rock Island and Moline, Illinois, and at Muscatine and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He organized the First Baptist Church at the last mentioned place, in 1860. He served as chaplain of the 12th Regiment, Iowa Vol.Inf., during the Civil War. After the battle of Shiloh, he resigned on account of his health, resumed his church connection and preached until his failing faculties made cessation necessary. His death took place May 22, 1881, and he was interred at Waterloo.
On Januaary 14, 1833, Rev. Mr. Eberhart was united in marriage with Eliza Evans, who was born May 1, 1815, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. She died in 1897, at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was buried by the side of her husband at Waterloo. The six children of this marriage were as follows; Gustavus A., George E., John S., Benjamin E., Lloyd F., and Alwilda. Gustavus A. served two years as 2nd lieutenant in the Third Regiment, Iowa Vol. Inf., was promoted to be major of the 32nd Regiment, Iowa Vol. Inf., and at the close of the war held the rank of Colonel. Prior to the war he was deputy county clerk of Black Hawk County, and was county clerk for eight years after the war. He is now a prominent citizen of Des Moines, a civil engineer, and for four years has been a member of the Board of Public Works. George E. was for many years a resident of Cedar Falls, but now lives in Idaho. He served for three years of the Civil War in Company I, Third Regiment, Iowa Vol. Inf., reenlisted; he was taken prisoner of the battle of Atlanta, was incarcerated at Andysonville for two months, and after exchange served until the close of the war. John S. was born February 8, 1841, and died June 3, 1894. For 23 consecutive years he was a merchant at La Porte City, and a worthy member of the Baptist Church. He served until the close of the Civil War, in Company A, 29th Reg., Iowa Vol. Inf., having enlisted in 1862. Lloyd F., born in 1847, was drum major of the 32nd Regiment, Iowa Vol. Inf., and is now engaged in the commission business in Milwaukee. Alwida ia a music teacher at Cedar Rapids.
The subject of this sketch, the fourth member of the family, accompanied his parents to Rock Island County, Illinois, in 1850 and to Waterloo, Iowa, in 1857, where he remained until 1860, and then went to Cedar Rapids. His school advantages had been those afforded in the places where the pastoral duties of his father had located the family. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he found himself a member of as loyal a family as the Stars and Stripes ever protected, and on April 24, 1861, he became a soldier in Companay K, First Reg., Iowa Vol. Inf., which was commanded by Capt. T. Z. Cook. He was sent to Keokuk, thence to Hannibal, Missouri, and on to Macon and Booneville and was there made a part of General Lyon's army. The regiment was encamped for a time near Springfield, Missouri, and the army was there increased by the coming of the forces of Generals Sigel and Schofield. Soon afterward the regiment to which Mayor Eberhart belonged was engaged in a skirmish at Dug Springs, and later, at McCullagh, the latter taking place on the Fourth of July; the day so hot that 21 men experienced sunstroke. The death of General Lyon, at Wilson's Creek, on August 10, 1861, placed General Sigel in command, and in this month, Mr. Eberhart was honorably discharged, at St. Louis, his first term of enlistment having been completed. The young solider, an onlooker in the further stirring events of the time, and on October 17, 1861, Capt. E. Haddock, of Waterloo, commanding Company E, 12th Reg., Iowa Vol. Inf., at Cedar Rapids, received by mail information of the enlistment of Mr. Eberhart, whose father at that time was chaplain of the regiment.
From its encampment at Dubuque, the 12th Regiment moved to Benton Barracks and from there went to General Grant's command, and took an honorable part in the fighting at Fort Henry, the capture of Fort Donelson, and the struggle at Pittsburgh Landing, otherwise known as Shiloh. On this last mentioned memborable field, Mr. Eerhart was most seriously and dangerously wounded, which resulted in the total loss of an eye, the surgical operation being performed at the military hospital in St. Louis. As a grewsome relic, Mayor Eberhart posseses a canister ball, one inch in diameter, weighing three and a half ounces, which was extracted from his head. In a surprisingly short time after being honorably discharged, Mr. Eberhart again returned to the ranks, enlisting in Company H., Sixth Reg., Iowa Vol. Cav., under Capt. J.J. Marsh and Colonel Wilson. This command was sent to Dakota, under General Sully, and proved its quality in the battles with the Indians at White Stone Hill and Falling Springs. At the former place, when Capt. Jeptha Van Meter was hit in the face with an arrow, Mr. Eberhart was one of those who hastened to his aid and withdrew the weapon from the wound. For the two succeeding years (1864 and 1865) Mr. Eberhart remained in the far West, taking part in the almost continuous skirmishing, and finally was transferred to the battery commanded by Captain Pope, of General Sully's staff. In October, 1865, the command went to Davenport, Iowa, where it was discharged. Mr. Eberhart's record, from beginning to end, is one which reflects only credit upon him, and few defenders of the flag gave more faithful service or bravely bore more serious injury.
After the close of his service, he returned to his father's home at Cedar Falls. Shortly after, he went into the railroad service, and in 1871, was appointed mail agent on the B.C.R.& N. Railway, now a part of the Rock Island system. He soon secured a better position as head clerk on the Illinois Central between Chicago and Dubuque. Subsequently he became head day clerk on the Northwestern road between Chicago and Cedar Rapids, continuing to fill this position until he resigned it in 1879 in order to embark in a grain business at La Porte City, where he conducted a grain and grocery business until 1881. In 1886 he was appointed sergeant-at-arms of the Senate in the 21st General Assembly, and held this office during the Brown impeachmnets trial, the only case of the kind ever brought up in the State Legislature. He was presented by the Senate with a find badge of great value, and is the only incumbent of that office ever so honored. He was then appointed quarter master of the Iowa Soldier's Home, and held the position until his resignation, July 25, 1895, when he accepted a position with the Herrick Regrigerator & Cold Storage Company, at Waterloo. He remained with this company for five years in the capacity of traveling salesman, living at Marshalltown, Iowa, until 1898, when he removed to La Porte City, where he has been an honored resident ever since.
In 1900, he ws elected a member of the Board of County Supervisors from the fifth district, and served a period of three years, being its chairman durng the last year. He has filled other minor offices and was elected a justice of the peace, but refused to qualify. In May, 1900, he was appointed mayor, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Waterson, and so excellent was his administrative ability, that he has been retained in this responsible position by his admiring fellow citizens to the present time.
Mr. Eberhart was married December 22, 1874, to Clara E. Stebbins, who was born May 11, 1854, at Medina, Ohio, and is a daughter of John R. and Sarah A. (Beal) Stebbins, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter, of New York. The three children of this union were: Florence, born June 17, 1878, who is a stenographer and bookkeeper for the Willard-Eastman Lumnber Company, at Waterloo; Harry G., who was born June 9, 1881, and died at Marshalltown, Iowa, of typhoid fever, July 27, 1896; and Faye, born February 23, 1883, who is employed in the telephone office.
In politics, Mayor Eberhart is a stanch Republican. Fraternally, he is prominenet in the higher branches of masonry, being a Master of Trowel Lodge, No. 216, A.F. & A.M. of La Porte City; Tabernacle Chapter, R.A.M., of Waterloo; Ascalon Commandery, No. 24, K.T. of Waterloo; and El Kahir Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is a Modern Woodman of America and at one time was State commander of the military order of Our Country's Defender, an organization which was later merged into the Grand Army of the Republic. It is a matter of interest that the united terms of service in the Civil War of Rev. A.G. Eberhart and his loyal sons aggregated 17 years; although they participated in more than 50 battles, our subject was the only one to be seriously injured.