Group creates memorials for WA Civil War veterans, including heroes buried in Pierce County

May 31—It began with a busted headstone.

Now, a hero, founding father, a nurse and a governor from another state are some of the Pierce County Civil War veterans a Washington state group has found in a decades-long quest to locate and memorialize every veteran from the War Between the States buried in Washington.

The group of four people doesn't have an official name but they run the website civilwarvetswastate.com, where they catalog more than 8,500 names. They believe the total number of Civil War vets buried in Washington could top 10,000.

"It was a cataclysmic time of our society, that we're still dealing with today," said group co-founder Bruce Smith. "It just gives an insight to the people, what motivated them, whether it be patriotism, or money, or just wanting to get off the farm."

Reflecting the draw the Oregon Territory and later Washington had for immigrants and pioneers, few, if any, were born in the West. Smith isn't sure why Washington was a draw for the soldiers or why only one out of 100 buried in the state were Confederates.

"Statistically, it doesn't make sense," Smith said. "There's got to be more (Confederates). They're just hidden."

Beginnings

The memorial project began in the late 1990s, when Civil War reenactor Smith found a broken tombstone in a Snohomish cemetery belonging to a Civil War veteran. With permission, Smith took the pieces home and spent a year repairing it.

When the stone was rededicated, Smith was approached by Karyn Zielasko, who introduced herself as a Civil War researcher.

"We just kind of decided, OK, we've done this one bio on this guy, why don't we do more in this cemetery," Smith recalled. One cemetery became two, then three, then all of Snohomish County and finally, the entire state and a website.

Since then, volunteers have come and gone, according to one of the researchers, Brian Houk.

The goal is to write at least a basic biography of each veteran, Houk said. Some have details. Others are just dates and military service.

"I don't think I'll live long enough to write one on every one of them," Smith said.

The list

The website is the most comprehensive list of its kind, born from long hours looking at historical records and piecing together clues.

"I have virtually visited every cemetery in Find a Grave in Washington to look for obvious signs of veterans, like military ranks, uniformed men in photos, documents, etc.," Houk said.

During Houk's research, he's found 255 veterans who have no grave markers of any kind. Getting that remedied is a challenge tied up in red tape. It took more than five months for Tumwater-based Civil War historian Loran Bures to get a headstone for David Franklin, Tacoma's only Black naval Civil War veteran in 2022.

Franklin was one of 18 "colored troops", as they were called then, buried in Washington.

According to Bures, who is not associated with the Snohomish group, the last Civil War veteran to die in Washington was Hiram Gale who died in Pierce County at age 104.

The children of Civil War vets are dead and any existing grandchildren would be elderly, leaving few family members to contact for help in research.

Many of the veterans, including four Civil War Medal of Honor recipients, are buried in the Washington Soldiers Home Cemetery in Orting. The graveyard dates to 1891. It was relocated in 1907, after officials realized it was in a flood plain of the Puyallup River. The cemetery holds 2,265 graves on eight acres.

In honor of Memorial Day, The News Tribune worked with the researchers to profile four interesting Civil War veterans buried in Pierce County.

Nebraska governor buried in Tacoma

Washington holds the graves of many governors but at least one served in another state.

Ezra Perin Savage was born in Connersville, Indiana but grew up in Iowa.

Savage served as a scout alongside William "Buffalo Bill" Cody and as a soldier in the Union Army under generals Ulysses Grant and William Sherman. He was discharged due to a disability.

He sold seeds, farm implements and raised livestock following his service. He eventually became a lawyer in Iowa.

After moving to Nebraska, Savage was elected to that state's House of Representatives in 1883. He served two terms before becoming the first mayor of South Omaha in 1887.

In 1900, Savage was elected Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska and then took over as governor one year later when then-governor Charles Dietrich resigned to serve in the U.S. Senate. Savage served as governor until 1903.

Shortly after his term ended, Savage moved to Tacoma to work in the lumber industry.

He died on January 8, 1920 and was buried in Tacoma Cemetery.

Teen hero

William H. Sickles was one of the many boy soldiers that enlisted to fight on both sides of the war, often by lying about their age.

Sickles was born Oct. 27, 1844 in Danube, New York.

He enlisted in the Union Army at age 16 on May 11, 1861. He served as a sergeant in Company B of the 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, according to a profile on findagrave.com.

On March 31, 1865, Sickles and a comrade liberated a captured Union officer from a detachment of nine Confederate soldiers at Gravelly Run, Virginia. They also captured three members of the detachment.

He left the Army on July 3, 1865 and was later awarded the Civil War Medal of Honor for his gallantry at Gravelly Run.

He was held prison at the Confederate Army'sLibby Prison but dug his way out and escaped.

Sickles came to Washington around 1900, settling first in Bremerton and then Port Orchard.

Shortly before his death, Sickles attended the 75th anniversary event for the Battle of Gettysburg, according to a News Tribune story from that time. He was wounded twice during that battle.

Sickles died on Spet. 26, 1938 at age 93 at the Soldiers Home in Orting and is buried in the nearby cemetery.

General Sprague

John Wilson Sprague was born April 4, 1817 in White Creek, New York. He entered but did not graduate from a New York polytechnic school.

He worked both as a merchant and the treasurer of Erie County, Ohio.

He joined the 7th Ohio Volunteers as a captain when the war began. He became a captain in 1863 and then a brigadier general of volunteers in 1864. He was awarded the Medal of Honor.

After the war, he worked as general manager of the Winona and St. Peter Railroad in Minnesota.

He moved to Washington territory in 1870 to work as general agent and superintendent of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He resigned that position in 1882 and later served as president of the the National Bank in Tacoma.

He also served as Tacoma's first mayor.

He died Dec. 24, 1893 at age 76. He's buried in Tacoma Cemetery under a tall, double-columned grave marker.

Tacoma's Sprague Avenue and the tiny eastern Washington town of Sprague is named for him.

Nurse

While nurses weren't enlisted in the Union or Confederate armies, the Union allowed women to become part of their medical corps. They were a crucial part of it. Clara Barton was the most famous. Washington researchers have located 13 female nurses who served during the war, including one buried in Tacoma.

Elizabeth "Lib" Pickard was born Nov. 2, 1834, in Parke, Indiana. She married Albert Hunt in Parke. They had at least one son, Henry.

Lib Hunt served as a Union Army nurse. Sometime between 1900 and 1910, according to census data, she and her husband moved from Indiana to Tacoma.

Later, the Hunts' son, Henry, became principal of Tacoma High School (later Stadium High School) with an annual salary of $2,500, according to newspaper records. Hunt Middle School is named after him.

Lib Hunt died April 13, 1912 at age 77. Her husband died later that same year. The Hunts are buried in Tacoma Cemetery.

This story was originally published May 29, 2023, 5:00 AM.

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