Civil War vets graves scattered across Washington

[thedrifter]

May 30, 2003

Civil War vets graves scattered across Washington

Associated Press


WENATCHEE, Wash. ? It was a challenge Fred Pflugrath, a genealogy sleuth, couldn?t pass up: Find the Civil War veterans buried in Chelan and Douglas counties.
In response to a request from the Sons of the Grand Army of the Republic ? descendants of members of the Union forces ? Pflugrath pored over obituaries and church records, talked to family members and hiked through cheat grass, sagebrush and timber in search of long-forgotten cemeteries.

Over the course of a couple of years, he learned that about 400 Civil War veterans had lived in Chelan and Douglas counties, and at least 158 of them are buried in the two counties.

?This is something that better be gathered now or it won?t be gathered,? said Pflugrath, 62, of Peshastin.

The Civil War claimed about 620,000 lives in battle and from disease between 1861 and 1865. Many of the survivors scattered across the country.

Dozens of Web sites commemorating Civil War vets list cemeteries from the Puget Sound region to Yakima and Spokane as final resting places for the boys in blue and gray.

North-central Washington veterans of the conflict include Entiat?s George Washington Shearon, a drummer boy for the 143rd Ohio Infantry, who enlisted when he was 12.

Shearon was the last surviving Civil War veteran in Chelan County when he died in 1942.

The majority of the veterans fought for the Union Army, but there are about 10 buried here who wore the Confederate gray.

A Reverend Big fought for the North, and David Treadwell fought for the South, but both men are buried a few feet apart at the Briskey-Treadwell Cemetery near Cashmere.

Capt. James Andrews of the Union Army is buried in a rural Douglas County cemetery a few miles north of U.S. 2.

Finding the identities of some of the soldiers wasn?t easy. Many headed West after receiving land for their military service. Ten to 15 of the veterans don?t even have headstones, and some of their names remain a mystery.

At the Wenatchee Cemetery, there are four unknown Union soldiers marked by gravestones that say only ?GAR veterans.?

The information gathered by Pflugrath also helped relatives of one Civil War veteran find his gravesite. David Montgomery?s family contacted Pflugrath after the list of veterans was published in the Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society?s bulletin last year.

The family members, most of whom live in Oregon and California, knew their relative was buried somewhere in Douglas County.

Pflugrath had found a handmade marker in a small cemetery north of Waterville with the initials ?D.M.? In the cemetery?s records, he discovered the person buried there was a David Montgomery.

The family is now planning a reunion for next month and has ordered an official military headstone for Montgomery?s grave.




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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.


Sempers,

Roger

[Jerry D]

BIG Thanks to Fred Pflugrath for taking the effort to make sure some of our forgotten veterans aren't forgotten anymore.