author
J. Howard (John Howard) Pugh
1827–1905
A 19th-century physician, public speaker, and congressman, he wrote with the energy of someone deeply invested in the American experiment. His surviving works capture the civic spirit and patriotic rhetoric of the Civil War and Reconstruction era.
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About the author
Born in Unionville, Pennsylvania, on June 23, 1827, he studied at Friends' School in Westtown and later earned a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He practiced medicine in Pennsylvania before settling in Burlington, New Jersey, where he became active in public life.
Alongside his medical career, he was known as an orator and writer. Works associated with him include Our Union and Its Defenders and The Success and Promise of the American Union, which reflect the tone of public addresses delivered during and just after the Civil War.
He also served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New Jersey's 2nd district from 1877 to 1879. He died in Burlington on April 30, 1905, remembered as a physician and civic-minded speaker whose writing preserves a distinctly 19th-century American voice.