Paul Ambrose Oliver was the youngest of five children of Capt. Paul Ambrose Oliver and Mary Van Dusen. He was born in the English Channel on board the Louisiana, a vessel built by his grandfather, Matthew Van Dusen, shipbuilder of Kensington, Pennsylvania, and owned and commanded by his father. Shortly after the birth of his youngest child, Captain Oliver settled with his family at Altona, Germany, and remained there ten years.
In Germany Paul Ambrose imbibed a knowledge of German military science at the local gymnasium which he later made of practical use.
Paul Oliver came to the United States in 1849, settled in New Orleans, and engaged in the cotton export trade. Later he settled at Fort Hamilton, New York, where he was also engaged in the shipping business. In 1856 he organized and was made president of the Fort Hamilton Relief Society, an association instrumental in preventing an epidemic of yellow fever in New York City. He joined the army and on October 29, 1861, was commissioned second lieutenant in the famous 12th New York Volunteers. His promotion was rapid, owing largely to the fact that he perfected in his own company a German bayonet drill which was widely approved by his superiors. He rose to the captaincy, was successively offered commissions as major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel of the 5th New York Volunteers, all of which he declined, and served as aide on the staffs of Generals Butterfield, Meade, Hooker, and Warren. He was a principal witness at an investigation of the conduct of Gen. Carl Schurz, during which Schurz criticized Oliver for presuming to give as his own orders which really came from Hooker. By order of General Grant, Oliver was assigned to duty with General Patrick, Headquarters Armies of the United States, January 1865. As provost-marshal, he assisted in paroling the Confederate army at Appomattox, a service which General Sharpe called "invaluable and highly meritorious. " Oliver left the service on May 6, 1865; two days later he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers. He had taken part in twenty-five battles and was favorably mentioned in the official reports of Hooker, Butterfield, and others for the coolness, bravery, and intelligence he displayed in action . At Resaca, Georgia, on May 15, 1864, Oliver "assisted in preventing a disaster caused by Union troops firing into each other. " The brigade being fired into was led by Col. Benjamin Harrison. Appropriately enough, when Harrison became president, Oliver was decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honor.
After the war Oliver engaged in the anthracite coal trade but soon gave that up to experiment in the manufacture of explosives. Between 1868 and 1889 he secured several patents for formulas for explosives and for machines for their manufacture. His machines were designed to mix the ingredients in small quantities with an excess of moisture so as to prevent violent explosions; his powders were especially adapted for blasting in coal mining. He is generally credited with the invention of dynamite and black powder; but his discoveries in this field were contemporaneous with, and probably independent of, the similar inventions of Nobel in France, Schultze in Germany, and Von Lenck in Austria. Oliver settled in Wilkes-Barré, Pennsylvania, in 1868, and set up a small powder mill. As he was in close touch with the coal operators in the anthracite region, his business "grew to a large importance. " His mill experienced several disastrous fires and explosions, but by 1873 he was regularly employing 100 men and producing 900 kegs of powder per day.
His mills were purchased in 1903 by E. I du Pont de Nemours & Company, and are still in operation; the principles of manufacture evolved by him have continued in use with some modifications. The enormous expansion of the anthracite coal trade following the Civil War and the increasing industrial uses of explosives meant a corresponding expansion in his business, and Oliver was enabled to retire after amassing a considerable fortune. Among other things, he was interested in the forestry movement in his state, being stimulated, no doubt, by the denuding of thousands of acres of virgin timber in the adjacent mountains. Oliver was a communicant of the Episcopal Church. Genial in manner, of distinguished presence, he made his home at Fern Lodge, overlooking the historic Wyoming Valley, typical of the resplendent hospitality and luxury of the new industrial order which he had done much to advance.
For his services in the army Paul Oliver was decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honor. Oliver secured several patents for formulas for explosives and for machines for their manufacture (1868 and 1889). Oliver is credited with the invention of dynamite and black powder; but his discoveries were contemporaneous with the similar inventions of Nobel in France, Schultze in Germany, and Von Lenck in Austria.
Paul Oliver was a member of the Episcopal Church.
He never married.
