BEARDSLEY, John Davis, American soldier and railway official: b. Woodstock, N. B., 1 Jan. 1837. He engaged in mercantile and lumbering pursuits at Grand Falls. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he left his lumber mill on the Saint John River to his partner, entered the Maine volunteers and was soon made first lieutenant of the 10th Maine volunteers. He was employed to guard the railroad from Baltimore and Harper's Ferry, was present at the battles of Winchester and Cedar Mountain, being taken prisoner at the latter. After three months in Libby Prison he was exchanged. He was present at Chan cellorsville and at Gettysburg and in the fall of 1863 was sent to Tennessee. He was trans ferred to the 29th Maine, who were soon dis patched by sea from New Orleans to Fortress Monroe to reinforce Grant on the Potomac. The destination was changed to Washington and they were up in time to help in repulsing the Confederate general, Early, from the outskirts of the capital. He was next with Sheridan's corps in the Valley campaign, was promoted major in the 109th regiment in 1864.
He resigned in March 1865 to raise a regiment of sharpshooters but before it could be ef fected the collapse of the Confederacy occurred. In 1897 he was appointed by the governor of Maine a commissioner for the erection of monuments at Gettysburg in commemoration of the soldiers of Maine who fell there. After the war he went into business at Richmond, Va., where he continued until 1873, removing thence to Cairo, W. Va. In 1878 he went to Arkansas, where he built a narrow-gauge rail road from Hope to Washington, Ark. In 1882 he changed the gauge of the road and extended it to Nashville. It is known as the Arkansas and Louisiana Railroad. Beardsley sold it to Jay Gould in 1886 and in 1887 began the con struction of the Louisiana and Northwest Rail road from Magnolia, Ark., to Natchitoches, La. This road was sold to a syndicate in 1905. Following this he built an electric system, a light and power plant, an ice plant and an amusement park at Mineral Wells, Tex.