Washington Civil War veteran to receive state historical marker
In his 75 years, Andrew Gardner Happer made his mark on Washington County by selling insurance and real estate, contributing funds that helped build Washington Hospital and being among the investors who launched Citizens National Bank.
But perhaps Happer’s greater claims to fame were his service in the Civil War, where he rose to the rank of major; serving as a judge in a trial of Civil War draft resisters and dissidents in rural Pennsylvania; and accompanying the funeral train of Abraham Lincoln as it moved through the commonwealth following the president’s assassination in April 1865.
More than 100 years after his death, Happer’s life and achievements are due to be highlighted on a Pennsylvania Historical Marker. The new marker is one of 36 new markers that were announced Thursday by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC).
It’s the only new marker announced this year for Washington, Greene or Fayette counties. There were 91 applications for markers this year, according to the PHMC. The blue sign with gold lettering is set to be placed at 130 E. Wheeling St., outside the Admission House of Washington & Jefferson College. The home was built for Happer in 1894, and was acquired by W&J in 1984. A precise timeline for when the marker will be put in place has not yet been established, according to Howard Pollman, a spokesman for the PHMC.
Born in 1839 in Union Township, Happer distinguished himself on the battlefield in the Civil War, and was an important mover and shaker in Washington County upon his return. He died in 1915, and is buried in Washington Cemetery. He is the subject of a 2015 biography, “Born to Serve: The Major A.G. Happer Story.”
A wide array of people and events are being honored in the latest batch of historical markers, including the late Pennsylvania Gov. Richard Thornburgh; Pittsburgh photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris; the artist Keith Haring; the jazz trumpeter Edward Lee Morgan; and Allentown State Hospital, Pennsylvania’s first state hospital to treat mental illness through homeopathy.