US Congressman. Elected as a Democrat to represent Pennsylvania's 12th District in the Thirty-Fifth Congress, he served for seven weeks (March 4 to April 24, 1857). Today he is noted more for his mysterious demise than for his political career. An 1824 graduate of what is now Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, he was admitted to the bar in 1827 and set up practice in Danville. He was a one-term member of the State House of Representatives (1855) before being elected to Congress. In late February 1857, Montgomery attended a pre-inaugural dinner for President-Elect James Buchanan at the popular National Hotel in Washington, DC. In an occurrence that was soon dubbed the "National Hotel Disease", scores of people became seriously ill from this event, including Montgomery and Buchanan himself. The most likely cause was tainted food stemming from the hotel's unsanitary conditions, though conspiracy theorists asserted that the gathering had been poisoned by abolitionists. Montgomery's condition did not improve and he was taken home to Danville, where he died. He and Mississippi Congressman John Quitman were the most prominent of the several deaths attributed to the outbreak. There is a cenotaph in his memory at Washington, DC's Congressional Cemetery.
US Congressman. Elected as a Democrat to represent Pennsylvania's 12th District in the Thirty-Fifth Congress, he served for seven weeks (March 4 to April 24, 1857). Today he is noted more for his mysterious demise than for his political career. An 1824 graduate of what is now Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, he was admitted to the bar in 1827 and set up practice in Danville. He was a one-term member of the State House of Representatives (1855) before being elected to Congress. In late February 1857, Montgomery attended a pre-inaugural dinner for President-Elect James Buchanan at the popular National Hotel in Washington, DC. In an occurrence that was soon dubbed the "National Hotel Disease", scores of people became seriously ill from this event, including Montgomery and Buchanan himself. The most likely cause was tainted food stemming from the hotel's unsanitary conditions, though conspiracy theorists asserted that the gathering had been poisoned by abolitionists. Montgomery's condition did not improve and he was taken home to Danville, where he died. He and Mississippi Congressman John Quitman were the most prominent of the several deaths attributed to the outbreak. There is a cenotaph in his memory at Washington, DC's Congressional Cemetery.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
Gravesite Details
A cenotaph is at the Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
Family Members
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Records on Ancestry
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