Husband Col. James Cameron 1 2 3 4
Born: 1 Mar 1801 - Maytown, Lancaster Co, PA 1
Christened:
Died: 21 Jul 1861
Buried:
Father: Charles Cameron (Abt 1769-1814) 5
Mother: Martha Pfoutz ( -1830) 5
Marriage: 1829 1
Wife Rebecca Leman 6
AKA: [Unk] Lehman 4
Born: 1802 6
Christened:
Died: Aft 1883
Buried:
Father: Jacob Leman (1756-1835) 7
Mother: Catherine Eichholtz (1773-1856) 6
Other Spouse: Dr. Bertram Galbraith ( -Bef 1829) 4
Children
General Notes: Husband - Col. James Cameron
He started out in life without pecuniary assistance, and worked his way by successive steps to distinction. As a young man he was fond of reading and study, and for a time was a partner in the Lycoming Gazette, and in the year 1829 obtained control of the Lancaster Sentinel. He read law with James Buchanan, afterward President of the United States, and Judge Molton C. Rogers, of Lancaster; was admitted to the bar in 1829, served one term as district attorney, and practiced his profession in Lancaster City until 1846. In 1843 he was appointed deputy attorney-general of the Mayor's Court, in place of S. Humes Porter, resigned, having been appointed in 1839 superintendent of motive-power on the Columbia Railroad in place of Andrew Mehaffey. For one year following 1846 he was sutler at New Orleans, during the Mexican war, and in the fall of the next year went to Gosport, Virginia, where he remained until 1851 engaged in building the steam-ship "Powhatan," and repairing other vessels for the government. In the latter year he retired to his farm near Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he lived in comparative quiet until the southern states began to withdraw from the Union. He was then employed as a secret agent by the government to intercept dispatches of the seceding States, and otherwise watch their secret movements throughout the South. Upon the breaking out of hostilities, in 1861, he was urged to accept the rank of colonel as commander of the Seventy-ninth New York Highland Regiment by the then Secretary of War, his brother, Gen. Simon Cameron. Although sixty years of age, he responded to the appeal that summoned the loyal sons of the United States to the defense of her insulted flag and her imperiled institutions. Reluctantly at first, but with his whole heart and soul in the work, he accepted this responsible position, and soon had the confidence and esteem of his regiment, which embraced many of the most intelligent and wealthy citizens of the metropolis, thus accepting the conviction that the path of duty and honor was thus providentially opened up before him. His appearance in full uniform at the head of his men when on parade is said to have been very imposing. The regiment was among the first to feel the shock of battle at Bull Run on the fatal 21st of July, and nobly did they do their duty as soldiers and patriots. In the thickest of the fight Col. Cameron fell at the head of his men, nobly waving them on to conflict. His last command, if not his last words were, "Scots, follow me!" He fell, pierced through the heart with a minie-ball, and his body was left in the confusion of the retreat on the field of battle. His name stands beside those early martyrs in the cause of truth and right,-Ellsworth, Baker, and Lyon. Months afterward his body was identified by his devoted wife's miniature being found on it, and brought north for interment. A correspondent speaking of the repulse of the Union army at Bull Run, says,
"Col. Cameron, who had repeatedly rallied his men, seemed paralyzed at this new reverse; he dropped his sword from his hand and looked a moment at the retreating mass. Some of his men still fired, and when one of his lieutenants came forward for orders about the wounded soldiers, he turned suddenly towards him, faced the battery, and at the same instant a minie-bullet pierced his breast. He fell without a groan. After his fall the rout became complete, and night saw the disheartened army in full retreat toward Fort Corcoran."
General Notes: Wife - Rebecca Leman
from Lancaster, Lancaster Co, PA