The Civil War Seattle
Blog

Mar 23
1 min

The Wandering Ghost of the Lost Cause

A searing commentary on Jefferson Davis appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, June 1, 1893. This was part of a piece written about Davis on the occasion of his internment in Richmond VA's Hollywood cemetery after his death. "After Davis' escape from justice in May 1867, there was no 'vicarious suffering for the deeds of the South'on part of any body, and least of all by Davis, who spent the rest of his days posing as the wandering ghost of the lost cause, foam

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The Parson and the Lieutenant, Henry Risley & William Rumsey - Battery A 1st IL Light Artillery

Civil War Seattle

Mar 17
7 min

The Parson and the Lieutenant, Henry Risley & William Rumsey - Battery A 1st IL Light Artillery

The Parson and the Lieutenant, Henry Risley and William Rumsey - Battery A 1st Illinois Light Artillery The story of a pair of Illinois comrades who arrived in Seattle in 1889. William Rumsey was born in Batavia NY in 1838. He moved to Chicago in 1855 and as a young man there worked as a clerk at Rumsey Bros & Co. In 1861, as the threat of Civil War loomed on the horizon, Rumsey committed to joining his friends to enlist in the Chicago Light Artillery in February after read

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The last man to join the G.A.R. in Seattle

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
2 min

The last man to join the G.A.R. in Seattle

By August 1942, Seattle’s Grand Army of the Republic membership was down to just 2 men. Daniel Reams and Hiram Gale were all that remained locally of the Union Army Civil War veterans organization. The ranks of the Union veterans had steadily diminished over the decades and now it seemed the proverbial flame was just about to go out, some 81 years after the outbreak of the war. How then did Seattle’s Grand Army membership INCREASE in 1942? Curiously, the Seattle G.A.R. gained

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Hundreds of Civil War veterans visit the USS Iowa in Bremerton in 1899

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
3 min

Hundreds of Civil War veterans visit the USS Iowa in Bremerton in 1899

The June 1899 annual department encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic was one of the largest in the department of Washington and Alaska's history. The Grand Army of the Republic was the primary Union Civil War veterans organization and an "encampment" was an annual event akin to what we might today call a convention. The encampment being held in Seattle swelled the numbers significantly over typical encampments of the era as many of the veterans from all over the state

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Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

General Gibbon As Ruler Of Seattle

Here is an interesting headline that was part of General John Gibbon’s obituary in a February 1896 Seattle P.I. newspaper. Best known for his time as a general in the Civil War, Gibbon also served in the Indian Wars of the 1870's and commanded the Department of the Columbia in the 1880's. It was during that time that he ordered troops to Seattle to help quell the “anti-Chinese agitation.”

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A Young Woman in Washington State Upholds the Legacy of Union Army Veterans in 1914

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

A Young Woman in Washington State Upholds the Legacy of Union Army Veterans in 1914

SCWL piece for Emerging Civil War" https://emergingcivilwar.com/2021/09/22/a-young-woman-in-washington-state-upholds-the-legacy-of-union-army-veterans-in-1914

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Seattle Civil War vet witnessed 12 great grandchildren enlist in WWII

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

Seattle Civil War vet witnessed 12 great grandchildren enlist in WWII

December 8, 2021 marked the 80th anniversary of the United States' formal entry into World War II. Remarkably, in 1941, there were veterans of the Civil War still living in Seattle. One of the last that remained was Daniel A. Reams, a veteran of the 75th Illinois Infantry, who had been wounded 4 times in combat during the Civil War. By the time of his death in October 1943, just days shy of his 97th birthday, he proudly had 12 great-grandchildren serving in the United States

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An uncommon legacy - Seattle Civil War Veteran saw a great-granddaughter become an officer in WWII

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

An uncommon legacy - Seattle Civil War Veteran saw a great-granddaughter become an officer in WWII

This is the Seattle gravesite of Catherine M. Henry at Evergreen cemetery. Miss Henry was the great-granddaughter of Seattle Civil War veteran Daniel Reams. Reams fought with the 75th Illinois Infantry and was wounded 4 times during the war. He lived until 1943 and saw 12 of his great-grandchildren serve in the US military during WWII, including Catherine. She enlisted in 1942 and was later a Captain in the Womens Army Corps, the first time women formally served in the US mil

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Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

John F Reynolds -"The Romantic Soldier"

On August 10th,1893, The Yakima Herald published an article on the life story of General John F Reynolds from the Associated Press. While almost comically effuse in its romanticized Victorian portrayal of the great Union general, it was undoubtedly a pleasing read for Yakima's veterans just over 30 years removed from the Battle of Gettysburg. "Reynolds' face is a picture in itself. Stripped of all accessories, it would be a classic on canvas, and his statue would cause strang

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Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

"War Relics Go to Scrap Heap"

Two young ladies from Seattle's Franklin High School, Jean Grasser (left) and Lugenia Whitehouse (right), showing a Civil War musket and bayonet that were handed in to melt down for reuse during World War II. The knife was used in World War I and the girl on the right is holding a fired artillery round from the Battle of Seattle in 1856. Photo from a 1942 edition of the Seattle Star Two young ladies from Seattle's Franklin High School, Jean Grasser (left) and Lugenia Whitehou

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Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

"I wouldn't be in favor"

January 4th, 1941, Seattle Civil War veteran Rustan O. Reed celebrated his 94th birthday. On the occasion, he offered some thoughts on global affairs at the time, imploring the single young men of the United States to volunteer to help Britain in its fight against Germany. The old veteran suggested that they should "go to the help of England." Reed himself knew a thing or two about answering the call to fight, having served in the Civil War in the 43rd Wisconsin Infantry. He

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Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
2 min

---An Old Wound Opened---

The Confederate battle flag, to put it bluntly, was generally not welcomed by Union veterans of the Civil War. While great strides had been made in reconciliation between the former soldiers of the blue and gray starting in earnest in the mid-1890’s, certain things remained contentious until the end and still continue to linger with us to this day. The public display of the “Stars and Bars” flag was a frequent flashpoint for ill feelings. The troublesome issue boiled over for

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Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
5 min

“We Have No Use For Their Kind”

Despite the turmoil of a nation embroiled in a Civil War, the traffic of emigrants moving westward on the Oregon Trail remained high. An estimated 12,000 people made the journey westward in 1862 alone. While portions of the Oregon Trail’s wartime emigrants branched off for Denver, Utah or California, the largest portion continued on to Oregon and Washington Territory, according to Captain Medorem Crawford, who commanded Federal troops in 1862 and 1863 assigned to the role as

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Lincoln's Birthday becomes a holiday in Washington State in 1895

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

Lincoln's Birthday becomes a holiday in Washington State in 1895

On February 12, 1895 Washington State became the second state, following Illinois, to recognize Abraham Lincoln’s birthday as a legal holiday with the passage and approval of S.B. No. 99. The effort was led by Washington's Civil War veterans. The state legislature was petitioned in January by members of the leading veterans' organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Washington and Alaska.

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Benjamin Best - A Bellevue Civil War veteran with a tragic ending

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
5 min

Benjamin Best - A Bellevue Civil War veteran with a tragic ending

The life of Benjamin Best is an interesting one to say the very least. It is filled with remarkable details, many mysteries and a sad and tragic end. Born in Hudson, New York the middle child in a family of 7, Benjamin grew up in a seemingly average family life during a period of some decline in Hudson. The town had been a busy whaling port and center of merchant trade but by the 1860’s was languishing as the 1850 railroad from New York City to Albany had transected the Nort

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Seattle's Confederate Olympic Gold Medalist

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
2 min

Seattle's Confederate Olympic Gold Medalist

***The only Civil War soldier to win Olympic Gold*** Seattle's Will H. Thompson was the only man to have fought in the Civil War and win an Olympic medal. He didn't just win one. He won a total of three, one gold and two bronze in archery at the 1904 Olympics. As a boy of just 15 years old, he served in the Confederate army with the 4th Georgia Infantry. He fought in such famously violent battles as the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. After the war, he and his broth

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Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

Lincoln's Birthday, Seattle 1921

101 years ago, on this very same evening, the Union Civil War veterans of the John F Miller post Grand Army of the Republic and the women of the Miller Post Woman's Relief Corps gathered at Seattle's Armory building for an event to commemorate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. February 19, 1921 at 8pm, the GAR veterans and the ladies of the WRC met in "Veterans' Hall" at the Seattle Armory building which was located at Western Ave and Lenora just north of the Pike Place Market

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Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
1 min

SCWL's latest for Emerging Civil War

https://emergingcivilwar.com/2022/02/28/the-lost-1890-census-and-the-surviving-special-schedule/

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A Seattle talk that “carried the boys back some thirty years”

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
2 min

A Seattle talk that “carried the boys back some thirty years”

—March 7, 1893 in Seattle— On the evening of March 7, 1893, the men of Seattle’s John F Miller post of the Grand Army of the Republic met at their regular meeting location in what was then called the Frye Block, located at 1st Avenue and Marion Street in Seattle. The Grand Army of the Republic was the nation’s most prominent organization for Union Civil War veterans. Posts existed all around Washington State by the early 1890's with multiple around Seattle with the Stevens a

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"Gleeful As A Band Of Children"- Civil War veterans’ Christmas at the Orting Soldiers’ Home

Civil War Seattle

Mar 15
3 min

"Gleeful As A Band Of Children"- Civil War veterans’ Christmas at the Orting Soldiers’ Home

"Gleeful As A Band Of Children" - Civil War veterans’ Christmas at the Orting Soldiers’ Home - In the early 1900’s, Washington State women’s patriotic organizations took great care to help provide a warm and cheerful Christmas for the former Civil War soldiers who resided at the state Soldiers’ Home in Orting. The residents of the Soldiers’ Home, referred to as “inmates” at the time, were most often aged or infirm but it was not simply a hospital. The facility was more akin

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The Civil War Seattle Blog

The Civil War Seattle
Blog