James W. Sullivan, Carlisle Man of Letters

The front page of the Wednesday, September 28, 1938, Evening Sentinel displayed two large headlines with accompanying pictures. One portrait was of President Franklin D. Roosevelt with the stated hope he could act as a peacemaker in the Hitler initiated German-Czechoslovakian dispute. The other, an image of an elderly, bearded gentleman, bore the legend: "Distinguished Citizen Passes"

The man was James William Sullivan. J.W, as he will often be referred to in this paper, was born 90 years earlier on March 9, 1848, in a fine, old house which still stands at 17-19 North East Street between High and Louther. His parents were Timothy and Elizabeth Hagan Sullivan. They would have two children, James and Mary Frances. Born in 1845, Mary Frances would grow up in Carlisle and later marry State Senator Marion Weakley. J.W's mother was the widow of John Dwen before her marriage to Timothy Sullivan. They had one son, Tom Dwen, who was beloved by his younger half-brother James. According to Martha C. Slatten's excellent publication on "Carlisle's Old Northeast Side", Tom Dwen "was remembered for his athletic prowess, his Irish good looks, his skills as a contractor, his soldierly abilities, and for building Dwen Cottage at 22 North East Street."

After completing his Gothic Victorian cottage for his bride, Mary, in 1857, Tom Dwen sailed to South America for a construction project. He would then return to Carlisle at the start of the Civil War and join his old company, the Carlisle Light Infantry. He was later killed in the battle of South Mountain, September 14, 1862.

The death of his brother would affect James W Sullivan all his life. He would frequently refer to Tom in his writing or recall the incidents surrounding his death. In 1864 when Tom's Company H, as it was then known, returned to Carlisle, J.W wrote:

I was sadly disappointed in then seeing what little was left of its original membership. Tom, its captain for fourteen months, had been dead for two years- my hero, friend, brother, was not among those who had returned. I went home and sorrowed.¹

Elizabeth Sullivan was widowed for the second time but continued to live in the North East Street house with her two children, James and Mary Frances. J.W, apparently a good student, finished all but his last year in Carlisle High School. At, or around, the time of his leaving school J.W became a printer's apprentice with The American Volunteer, one of a few newspapers published in town. He was a quick study and soon became skilled at his trade. Much of what is known about J.W Sullivan's early life in Carlisle is sketchy, but that which can be learned is gleaned through a famous letter sent by him many years later to Jane Van Ness Smead, daughter of his boyhood friend and life-long correspondent, A.D.B. Smead. The 44-page letter written in 1932, when J.W and his wife were living in Hereford, England, was presented later to the Hamilton Library in 1933 by another friend of J.W.'s, John M. Rhey. The letter, which recalls events of 70 to 80 years earlier in the writer's life, clearly demonstrates his keen ability to observe and retain details even as a young lad. His pre-war memories date back to 1856. At eight years of age, J.W became quite excited about the national political campaign. He and his friends enjoyed the parades of all the parties. His candidates were "Buck and Breck," Buchanan for president and Breckenridge for vice president. In his words, he enjoyed "the banner raising, badge wearing, and boys' electioneering by fisticuffs. " Four years later, the historical contest between Lincoln and Douglas found him more attentive to the speeches and less interested in the pageantry. When he was fifteen years old the Confederates invaded Carlisle. This is how he saw it in his own words:

All idea of defending the town was soon abandoned. There ensued some days of anxious waiting. Carlisle traced the occupation successively of Hagerstown, Chambersburg, Shippensburg, and Newville as the telegraph ceased to work. ... When at last columns of the Confederates actually marched into the west end of our town, there were panic stricken persons who knowing in indubitable report that the dreaded fact must be so yet could not realize it was so until they saw it for themselves.

Read the entire article