Look Back: Civil War veteran's address removed from 1878 Battle of Wyoming ceremony

Jul. 2—The Wyoming Valley was in an uproar for U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes' visit to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Wyoming on July 3 and July 4, 1878.

Large crowds gathered along the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad on the west side as the presidential train rolled through Shickshinny, Hunlock Township, Plymouth, Larksville, Edwardsville, Kingston, Forty Fort and Wyoming where an estimated 50,000 people gathered at the Wyoming Monument where a well planned event was scheduled for the Centennial anniversary of the Wyoming Massacre.

One speech had to be eliminated from the ceremony due to the length of the program and the schedule of President Hayes, who had to be at the Wyoming Valley Hotel on South River Street, Wilkes-Barre, for a dinner celebration.

The speech that got phased out was Luzerne County Judge Edmund Lovell Dana, a Civil War Union colonel whose great-great grandparents, Private Anderson Dana and Lieutenant Asa Stevens were killed during the massacre.

Dana's speech was published in the Wilkes-Barre Record and a book titled, "Wyoming, A record of the 100th year commemorative observance of the battle and massacre, July 3, 1778 to July 3, 1878."

"One hundred years ago this day they stood where we stand. The same July sun shone upon them, the same river reflected its beams, the same soil was beneath their feet, and the same mountains enclosed them," Dana wrote in his speech that no one heard.

Perhaps Dana's speech got jilted as it followed other similar speeches giving the history of the battle and massacre.

Dana was born Jan. 29, 1817, in today's Eaton Township, Wyoming County, which at the time was part of Luzerne County. He studied law at Yale College, Conn., where he graduated in 1838, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1841. Dana married Sarah Helen Peters in Philadelphia in March 1842, and returned home where he joined the Wyoming Artilerists as a captain and worked as a fire insurance commissioner for Wilkesbarre borough.

Dana and the Wyoming Artilerists were mustered into service from Pittsburgh during the Mexican War of 1846-1848, and took an active part in the siege of Vera Cruz.

As the Civil War broke out, Dana served as a Colonel and organized the 143rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment in Wilkes-Barre. The regiment was mustered for a three year commitment in October 1862.

Two days shy of the 85th anniversary of the Wyoming Massacre, Dana was in command of the 143rd PA Vol., 1st Brigade, 3rd Div., when he was injured on the first day of the three day battle at Gettysburg near McPherson's Farm. Dana's brigade was one of the first units to arrive in support of the artillery of Major General John Reynolds during the first day at Gettysburg.

Dana survived and was promoted to Brigadier General having fought in other battles during the Civil War, being taken prisoner by the Confederate army during the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia.

After the 143rd PA Vol. was mustered out of service in 1865, Dana resumed his law practice in Wilkes-Barre and eventually succeeding the Hon. Henry M. Hoyt as a Luzerne County law judge in 1867.

Dana, residing with his family at 379 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, was nominated for retention by the Democratic and Republican parties during the contentious 1877 election on a prohibition pledge to clean up the valley from alcohol and brothels.

"Our battle against the rum-sellers will accomplish little so long as their friends sit as judges in the courts. It is our duty to do something that will seep from the face of the land, every hotel, liquor store and restaurant. Then let us all unite in voting for Edmund L. Dana, who promises to be one of us in our fight against the liquor power," reported the Record of the Times on Nov. 6, 1877.

Dana lost retention as William H. Stanton won on election day Nov. 9, 1877, the Record of the Times reported.

"Judge Dana is one of the best judges in the state. He is competent, upright and efficient; he served 10 years on the bench with such marked fidelity as to command the unanimous approval of both the Republican and Democratic conventions of the county," the newspaper reported.

Dana would become one of the founders of the Wyoming Valley Historical Society and president of the Osterhout Free Library before his death from a stoke on April 25, 1889. Dana was interred in Hollenback Cemetery, Wilkes-Barre.

When the 143rd PA Vol. monument was dedicated near McPherson's Farm in Gettysburg on Sept. 11, 1889, a proclamation was read in Dana's honor, according to the Sunday Leader of Sept. 15, 1889.

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