 During the Civil War, he enlisted as a private in Company K, One-Hundred and Forty-ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in 1862 and served until 1865, when he was mustered out with the rank of captain.He attended Belfast Seminary, New York, and subsequently studied law at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan, but never practiced.With an elder brother, he was engaged extensively in the lumber business in Sinnamahoning, Pennsylvania.