James Martinus Schoonmaker

James Martinus Schoonmaker Sr. (June 30, 1842 – October 11, 1927) was a German American colonel in the Union Army in the American Civil War and a vice-president of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad. He received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864. Biography He was born in Peebles Twp. (subsequently Pittsburgh) on June 30, 1842, to James Schoonmaker and Mary Clark Stockton. James was a student at the Western University of Pennsylvania (now known as the University of Pittsburgh) when the American Civil War began and enlisted in a local company of recruits which was assigned to the 1st Maryland Cavalry, rising to the rank of lieutenant. During the next thirteen months, he proved himself repeatedly in battle and in command of his troops. In August 1862, Schoonmaker was authorized by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to raise the 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, and was promoted to the rank of colonel. He later also commanded a cavalry brigade in the Cavalry Corps, under the command of Philip Sheridan.