Samuel Penniman Bates (January 29, 1827 – July 14, 1902) was an American educator, author, and historian. He is known for his reference works on the American Civil War, including his multi-volume History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861–1865 which remains a frequently-used, preliminary research resource due to its narrative descriptions of unit activities and rosters of the regiments raised in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Formative years
Born on January 29, 1827, in Mendon, Massachusetts, Samuel Penniman Bates (1827–1902) was a son of Laban and Mary (Thayer) Bates. He and his siblings, Elias (born 1833), Mary (born 1835), Henry (born 1841), and Lewis (born 1848) were reared and educated initially in the public schools of Worcester County. U.S. Census records show that the Bates family lived comfortably for their era; in 1850, the family's patriarch, Laban, was documented as being a successful farmer with real estate valued at $6,000.
A graduate of the Worcester Academy, Samuel was hired by a community school in Milford to teach classes in 1843 when he was just sixteen years old. Subsequently, granted admission to Brown University, he became proficient in a number of subjects, including mathematics and philosophy, before graduating from that institution in 1851. He then spent the next year immersed in an in-depth study of the works of Shakespeare and Milton.
Professional life
Bates then relocated to Meadville, Pennsylvania where, from 1853 to 1858, he taught ancient languages. During the latter four years of his tenure, he also designed and presented professional development classes for his colleagues.
On August 18, 1856, Samuel P. Bates wed Sarah Josephine Bates (1836–1907) in Bellingham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. A fellow native of Massachusetts, she was a daughter of John Bates and Sarah Prince (Fisher) Bates. The birth of Samuel and Sarah's son, Edward T. (1857-1899), at their Meadville home in 1857 was followed by the births of: Arthur Laban (1859–1934) on June 6, 1859; Gertrude Louise (1865–1930) on April 16, 1865; Josephine (1867–1963) on June 23, 1867; Alfred John (1870–1933) on November 13, 1870; Walter Irving (1873–1934) on June 15, 1873; and Florence Bates (1878–1949) on June 9, 1878.
Elected as the superintendent of schools for Crawford County in 1857, he served a three-year term during which he became known and respected statewide for his views on public education. By 1860, he and his family were documented on the 1860 U.S. Census as living in Meadville's North Ward Borough. Also residing with the family were James Wells and Darwin Finney, two teachers in the Crawford County schools, and Margaret Shisler, a 16-year-old domestic worker.
Re-elected in 1860 to a second term as Crawford County's school superintendent, he resigned that same year when he was appointed as deputy state superintendent of schools for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under Governor William F. Packer. During his six-year tenure, Bates restructured state office operations and improved school records maintenance functions statewide while advocating not just for increased teacher training, but for the standardization of that training so that all teachers across the commonwealth received the same basic level of training in their respective subject areas in order to ensure that each Pennsylvania student received a consistent educational experience regardless of his or her place of residence.
Although he did not fight in the American Civil War, Bates' name became one of those most closely associated with his adopted state's involvement in that conflict due to his research and writing about the war's combatants and key battles. According to Ruth E. Hodge, former associate archivist at the Pennsylvania State Archives, Bates had abolitionist leanings:
Bates made several references to slavery in his sermons, stating one "should patiently and prayerfully study his word and approach the subject (principles) and bigotry and all those hindrances which hampers and bind us to low . . . thought." In such sermons he frequently refer[red] to the overthrow of slavery and the "sin of slavery."