Daniel Eberly
by Amber Evans

Reverend Daniel Eberly was born in the year 1834. In 1858 Daniel Eberly graduated from Otterbein college with a Bachelor of Art's degree in the Classical Course. After graduation Eberly was appointed assistant preacher of the Carlisle Circuit in Pennsylvania. He worked the Carlisle Circuit until 1859 when he joined the Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Brethren in Christ. For this Eberly was appointed Junior preacher under Bishop Dickson. Then in 1860 he was appointed to the Littlestown circuit for two years. During that time he was able to receive his Master of Arts degree. By 1862 Eberly gained position of the York Springs Circuit where he was in charge for one year.

Then in 1863 he joined the armed forces. He was the chaplain of the Eighth Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry until the end of the Civil War. Throughout the war the eighth regiment reserves had several encounters. In January 1863 they were in the "Mud March." In Alexandria they were in the Rapidan Campaign. In Virginia 1864 they were in the Battle of the Wilderness May fifth through the seventh, Laurel Hill on May eighth, Spotsylvania on May ninth through the seventeenth. On May twelfth they were in the Assault on the Salient. And that is the summary of conflicts that the Eighth Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry was in during the years that Eberly was with them.

After the war in 1865 Eberly became the pastor of the Scott Street Church in Baltimore Maryland. In the next year, 1866, he was elected president of the Cottage Hill College in York Pennsylvania. He held this position until 1872, and under his leadership the college "grew in importance." Before Eberly left Cottage Hill he was offered a position as president at Otterbein University but he declined that so he could continue at Cottage Hill. In 1973 Eberly was appointed to fill a position at the Girard Ave Mission in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. But a year later he moved to Lebanon Pennsylvania where he took a position in the Trinity Church. He was with Trinity church for two years, until in 1876 he was elected Professor of Latin Language and Literature at the Lebanon Valley College. In 1884 Eberly's wife Josephine Bittinger-Eberly died. In 1910 Daniel Eberly died in Hanover Pennsylvania at the age of 76. He finally gave in and died of "nervous prostration." Eberly was "Healthy until he visited Westerville Ohio where he gave his Annual address to the Otterbein Alumni Association." (The Religious Telescope July 27, 1910). Throughout his life Eberly attended Mt Pleasant University, Otterbein University and Brown University. From this little amount of information it is easy to see that Reverend Daniel Eberly was a busy man who seemed to enjoy traveling, he must have helped so many people with his religious knowledge.

Bibliography
Biography hand written by an unknown Otterbein student, Courtright Memorial Library, Otterbein archives.

www.civilwararchive.com

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