Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1822 - 1893)

Born 4 Feb 1822 in Washington, D.C., USA

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Died 22 Apr 1893 at age 71 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA

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Biography

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Edward Fitzgerald "Ned" Beale (February 4, 1822 – April 22, 1893) was a national figure in 19th century America. He was naval officer, military general, explorer, frontiersman, Indian affairs superintendent, California rancher, diplomat, and friend of Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill Cody and Ulysses S. Grant. He fought in the Mexican–American War, emerging as a hero of the Battle of San Pasqual in 1846. He achieved national fame in 1848 in carrying to the east the first gold samples from California, contributing to the gold rush.

In the late 1850s, Beale surveyed and built Beale's Wagon Road, which many settlers used to move to the West, and which became part of Route 66 and the route for the Transcontinental railroad. As California's first Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Beale helped charter a humanitarian policy towards Native Americans in the 1850s. At the urging of Beale, Fort Tejon was established by the U.S. Army in 1854, to protect and control the Indians who were living on the Sebastian Indian Reservation, and to protect both the Indians and white settlers from raids by the Paiutes, Chemeheui, Mojave and other Indian groups of the desert regions to the east. Fort Tejon was abandoned in 1864. In 1865 and 1866, Beale purchased the Mexican land grants which now comprise the 270,000-acre (1,100 km2) Tejon Ranch. He received appointments from five U.S. Presidents: Andrew Jackson appointed him to Naval School, Millard Fillmore appointed him Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California and Nevada, James Buchanan appointed him to survey a wagon road from New Mexico to California, Abraham Lincoln appointed him Surveyor General of California and Nevada, and Ulysses S. Grant appointed him Ambassador to Austria–Hungary.

Ned Beale was born in Washington, D.C. His father, George Beale, who was a paymaster in the U.S. Navy, had earned a Congressional Medal for Valor in the War of 1812. His mother, Emily Truxtun, was the daughter of Commodore Thomas Truxtun of the U.S. Navy. His father and grandfather were officers in the United States Navy, and both of them received medals of honor from Congress. His education was begun in Georgetown College, where he remained until he was appointed a cadet at the United States naval academy, and was graduated in 1842.

During the war with Mexico he distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry, and was presented with a sword by his brother officers, in recognition of his services as a bearer of dispatches through the enemy's lines. For the same act he was officially complimented by Com. Stockton. At the conclusion of the war with Mexico he resigned his commission and was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs for California and New Mexico. At the request of Maj.-General Wool, he was commissioned Brigadier-General and deputed to terminate an Indian war in California.

During the decade preceding the civil war he conducted many important explorations in the far west, and in 1861 was appointed surveyor-general of California by President Lincoln, but offered his services in a military capacity as soon as the war of secession began. In 1876 he was appointed U.S. minister to Austria by President Grant. In 1877 he resigned, and he then personally superintended his large sheep and cattle ranch in southern California. In 1885, U.S. Grant died. They had been such good friends Beale was devastated. He lost interest in day to day business. He was also getting physically weaker.

Meanwhile, his oil investments had done well and made him very rich. After six weeks of jaundice, he died on April 22, 1893. His wife, Mary, died on April 6, 1902. He left instructions that his remains be cremated. After a well attended service at their Washington house, he was buried at the family plot at Chester Rural Cemetery in Chester, Pennsylvania. His will was witnessed by Ulysses S. Grant and General William Tecumseh Sherman.

In 1900, Truxtun gave Bakersfield, California, a library building as a memorial to Beale. He also gave the city an adjoining clock tower and an outdoor Greek theater. Truxtun sold the Tejon ranch in 1911 for $3 million. An earthquake destroyed the library in 1955. The new library had one wing named for Beale. There is also an Air Force Base in Marysville, California named for him. Decatur House, his home in Washington D.C., where he lavishly entertained the movers and shakers of society, was deeded by the family to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1956. The agency maintains an office in the building.

Sources

• Tejon Ranch (http://tejonranch.com/)

• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11558486 : accessed 14 November 2019), memorial page for Edward Fitzgerald “Ned” Beale (4 Feb 1822–22 Apr 1893), Find A Grave Memorial no. 11558486, citing Chester Rural Cemetery, Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, USA ; Maintained by Gregory Speciale (contributor 31762373) .

• Legends of America (https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-edwardbeale/)

• Gerald Thompson, Edward F. Beale and the American West, University of New Mexico Press, 1983.

See Also:

• Wikipedia: Edward_Fitzgerald_Beale
• Wikidata: Item Q1292161, en:Wikipedia