Biography

02/04/1824 - 06/23/1873

Captain Mahlon Yardley (R4) Bucks County, 1859-1861

Early Life: 

Captain Mahlon Yardley born February 4, 1824, Yardley, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; son of John and Frances Haypenny Yardley; public schools education; Lafayette College; law degree, admitted Easton bar, 1846; private practice, Bucks County (i) ; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1859-1861; Civil War, 1861-1863; United States Army Provost Marshal, 5^th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, April 26, 1863, collector internal revenue, 5th district of Pennsylvania, December 6, 1869 - June 23, 1873; married Elizabeth Brock, son, John 1852; died, June 23, 1873, (aged 49), at residence, hemorrhage of the lungs, Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; interment, Doylestown Cemetery, Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  

Early Career:

Enlisted, Company K, 104th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, September 20, 1861, 1^st Lieutenant, promoted, Captain, mustered out, April 1863. participated in the “Advance on Manassas,” the Peninsula Campaign, Battle of Williamsburg, Battles of Fair Oaks and Seven Pines (the Seven Days before Richmond Campaign), White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Harrison’s Landing, Yorktown, North and South Carolina campaigns, including the Charleston Expedition. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican. State Senate, 4th district, Bucks County, 1859-1861.

Continued Government Service/National Politics:

United States Army Provost Marshal, 5th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, April 26, 1863, serving until death. 

Delegate, Republican National Convention from Pennsylvania, 1868; Crosby's Opera House Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, May 20-21, 1868, resulting in the nomination of: Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois, for President and Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, for Vice-President. 

The Federal Draft of 1863

By 1863, federal authorities concluded that leaving conscription in the hands of states was clumsy and unworkable, and lacked provisions for adequate enforcement. This realization led to the first comprehensive military draft, mandated, organized and enforced by the federal government. In Bucks County, newly appointed Provost Marshal for the 5^th Congressional District, Mahlon Yardley, took on the responsibility for implementing and enforcing conscription. Again, bounties raised and volunteer enlistments encouraged, but in the end, a draft needed to meet quotas. In July 1863, the first federal draft held at the Board of Enrollment offices in Frankford, northeast of Philadelphia. A total of 1,656 Bucks County men selected. Many of these draftees would fail to report or desert. Others rejected due to disability, received exemptions, hired substitutes or paid the commutation fee. Some, however, reported for service and joined regiments in the field. With more calls for troops in 1864 and 1865, federal conscription would continue to the close of the War.  

To the Senate of the United States:

I nominate Mahlon Yardley to be collector internal revenue, 5th district of Pennsylvania, he having been designated during the recess of Senate to perform the duties of that office in place of Joseph Barnsley, suspended. 

U.S. Grant. 

Washington, D.C., December 6, 1869.  

Cited: 

Zeigler, J., (1860) A Manual for the Government of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, page 289.

List of Attorneys/Lawyers; State: PA; County: Bucks Co, Records @ Our Family Tree (ourfamtree.org)

Turning Points: Civil War, 1863 -1864 Exhibit | Mercer Museum & Fonthill Castle

The Political Graveyard: Pennsylvania Delegation to 1868 Republican National Convention

Journal of Executive Proceedings of the Senate Volume 41, Issue 1-3, Page 265. By United States. Congress. Senate. 

Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate - United States. Congress. Senate - Google Books 

Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) Thursday June 26, 1873, Page 2. 

The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Yablonski to Yater

Lieut Mahlon Yardley (1824-1873) - Find a Grave Memorial