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John H. Shammo – White Supremacist, 1866
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 3, 2018
At the time of the Civil War, John H. Shammo served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company E. He was born at Halifax, 22 January 1839, the son of John Shammo (1786-1870) and Sarah [Reinhoehl] Shammo (1786-1870).
According to information available from the Pennsylvania Archives, John H. Shammo enrolled at Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on 3 September 1861, and was mustered into service in Harrisburg as a Corporal on 17 October 1861. At the time he was 22 years old, stood 6 foot 1 inch tall, had dark hair, a light complexion, and light eyes. By occupation, he was a carpenter and was born in Dauphin County. On an unknown date, John H. Shammo was promoted to 1st Sergeant. On 5 March 1863, he was wounded at Thomson’s Station, Tennessee, 5 March 1863. On 1 January 1864, he re-enlisted at Moss Creek, Tennessee, and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, 19 May 1865. On 18 July 1865 he was honorably discharged with his company.
About the time the war ended, John H. Shammo married Catherine “Kate” Bordner (1841-1912) and with her had at least four known children. She was the daughter of Michael Bordner (1799-1870) and Katherine “Kate” [Koppenheffer] Bordner. By the 1870 census, John H. Shammo had moved to Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois where he had employment as a carpenter. By 1880, he was in Sherman, Story County, Iowa, where he was a farmer. In 1900, he was living in Cedar, Antelope County, Nebraska, and in 1910, he was in Grant, Story County, Iowa. In 1920, he was living in Nevada, Story County, Iowa, where he also appeared in the 1925 Iowa census. On 14 February 1925, he died and is buried at the Nevada Municipal Cemetery, Story County, Iowa.
Because of his war injury, John H. Shammo qualified for an early pension. He applied in January 1867 and collected until his death. His wife had preceded him in death in 1912.
Previously, he was mentioned on this blog in a post entitled Halifax Area Civil War Veterans.
After the war, John H. Shammo openly supported the white supremacist views of Heister Clymer by signing a call for denial of equal rights to African Americans, both those who were previously slaves and those who were previously freemen. The statement was published in the Harrisburg Patriot of 24 July 1866 and included his name, regiment, company and rank.
Heister Clymer was a white supremacist candidate for Pennsylvania Governor on the Democratic Party ticket in 1866, and was previously profiled here on 26 April 2016.
The call for a meeting of Union Soldiers was printed in the Harrisburg Patriot, 24 July 1866, along with an up-to-date list of Clymer supporters who openly supported Heister Clymer‘s white supremacist views and wanted to deny “negro equality and suffrage” even to those who had been free men before the war.
The undersigned honorably discharged Union soldiers, believing that we battled in the late war for the Union of these States, and had successfully maintained it, view with alarm the persistent efforts of radical men who seem determine, practically to destroy the Union we went forth to save. They would have the community believe that Union soldiers are willing to give up in the hour of victory the great object to which their sacrifices and toll and blood were given….
Therefore we unite in requesting all the honorably discharged officer, soldiers and seamen of Dauphin County who favor the wise and constitutional policy of President Johnson, who oppose the doctrine of negro equality and suffrage, and desire the election of the Hon. Hiester Clymer, to meet in Mass Convention at the Democratic Club Room, Walnut Street, below Third, Harrisburg, at 7 1/2 o’clock, on the evening of the 25 July 1866, for the purpose of electing fourteen delegates to the Convention of Union Soldiers, which is to assemble in this city [Harrisburg] on Wednesday, 1 August 1866.
The Dauphin County veterans who signed the racist petition calling for the meeting were from a variety of regiments and social levels. Included in the list were some residents of Upper Dauphin County, the area north of Peter’s Mountain – all of which is included in the geographic area of the Civil War Research Project.
John H. Shammo was only one of many honorably discharged Union soldiers who openly supported the white supremacist gubernatorial campaign of Heister Clymer in 1866. The full list of those with a connection to Upper Dauphin County will be presented over time.
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Portrait from Ancestry.com.
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