Joseph Torrence Power

After college graduation he was principal of the Elizabeth (PA) School District, then went West - to Denver, CO - for his health (1860). He spent a year as Professor of Languages, Pleasant Ridge College, MO (1861). He then returned East, to Pittsburgh, read a "partial course in the law", and was admitted to the bar after one year (1862). He enlisted as First Sergeant in Company E, 155th Pennsylvania Infantry on 2 September 1862.

Promoted from 1st Sergeant to 2nd Lieutenant on 23 October 1862. He was appointed Captain and Assistant Quarter Master, U.S. Volunteers, on 10 November 1864, serving in Washington, DC, and mustered out on 1 October 1867. He was honored by brevet to Major for his service.

He was appointed to the US Treasury, was Chief Clerk of the Register's Office by 1870 and of the Department by 1880. He retired in 1882 and returned to the law, with a practice on F Street, NW, in Washington.

Basic information and his picture from Porter1, with military dates from Bates2. Further details from a sketch in The Annual of Washington and Jefferson College (PA, 1883). His death date and place from a notice in the The Washington Law Reporter for 13 November 1886.

12/12/1836; Elizabeth, PA

11/04/1886; Washington, DC; burial in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA