by Susan Couso
The Civil War, our nation’s nastiest assault on itself, was mainly played out in the eastern and middle parts of our country, but its influence quickly spread here to the Honey Lake Valley, and locals chose which passion to follow. Even though many Confederate veterans moved into the Honey Lake Valley (and established the Tulle Confederacy on the north side of Honey Lake), the area was predominately a Union stronghold.
Dr. Zetus Spalding, who moved to Susanville in 1864, held the position of Acting Assistant Surgeon of the Union Army along California’s coast until the close of the war. Susanville’s founder, Isaac Roop, along with his brother, Ephraim and many others, were drafted into the Union Army from here, but never saw action.
Jerome Gillman, who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg, was Lassen County’s last remaining Civil War veteran, when he died in 1933.
These veterans had seen things that they could never have dreamed of before the war. Civil War medical services were not nearly as advanced as the weapons of war. The carnage had been unbelievable and brutal, and they had been forced to kill so many people. The bodies and body parts lay on the battlefields for days, festering and decaying, and the then unrecognizable men were hastily buried. It was a time of horror, shock and disbelief.
When the war was over, these soldiers returned to their families as different men. And as their families wished to forget the war and get back to their normal lives, the soldiers could not. The only people who truly understood were other veterans.
Out of the need for camaraderie, the Grand Army of the Republic, or G. A. R., was established in 1866. Its motto of ‘Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty’ enticed many, and the veterans gathered to help each other get through the transition back into civilian life. As the G. A. R. widened throughout the country, it swelled into a strong force to lobby the U. S. Government for support for these men.
It also became securely attached to the Republican Party and supported Republican views and candidates. The G. A. R. strongly upheld the of rights of all veterans, promoted the right of Black veterans to vote, and advocated for pension plans, along with many other reform issues. In 1868, the Commander-in-Chief of the G. A. R., declared May 30th to be designated as Memorial Day (formerly Decoration Day), a day to pay tribute to war causalities.
The G. A. R. never ceased working to help the veterans who served their government between 1861 and 1865. They founded old soldier’s homes and set up pensions for widows and orphans. But even the best intentions could not erase the damage that the Civil War had done to many men.
Samuel Watson, who lived in the town of Bieber, and who was a very well-liked fellow, fell on difficult times in 1912. Watson had fought at Bull Run and several other engagements, and now, he was done. His brother had died in the ‘poor house’, and he had vowed to commit suicide before ending up that way. But, as a last effort, he decided to give it all up and travel to the Old Soldier’s Home in Yountville. The Yountville facility had been built by the G. A. R. in 1884, and still serves veterans today. But for Watson, it was a desperate measure, and one that was not taken lightly.
By the time he reached Durham, south of Chico, he needed help. Watson stopped at a place and asked for assistance but was waved away… just a dirty old bum, asking for a handout. So, Samuel Watson walked over behind a warehouse and shot himself in the head. The local G. A. R. took care of his funeral.
Strangely enough, there were at least two women who became G. A. R. members through proof that they served in the war. One of these, Sarah Edmonds, was just 16 years old when she disguised herself as a man and joined the fight as a battlefield nurse. She was later asked, because of her feminine look, to disguise herself as a woman and spy on the enemy, so she was a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman! She complied, but her deception was undone when she became ill and her true gender was revealed by a medical examination.
The G. A. R. organization grew into a strong political force which helped to secure the election of many officials, including U. S. presidents, and ‘posts’ were set up throughout the country.
The Ladies of the G. A. R. became very active in community affairs, fundraising and support for local issues. In 1890, the G. A. R. boasted 410,000 members, and ‘National Encampments’, were held each year throughout the country from 1866 to 1949. These encampments were necessary for voting new officers into the group, but mostly, they were a time of reminiscing around the campfire and general enjoyment of the fellowship of the Civil War veterans and their families. And as these stories were told and retold, the camaraderie of the war outlasted the horror.
But the G. A. R. had built-in closure, and membership began to decline as the old soldiers died. In 1956, with the death of the last member, Albert Woolson, of Minnesota, the Grand Army of the Republic was no more. Albert Woolson was 106 years old at his death. As the G. A. R. dissolved, new organizations sprang forth, like the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, but the hard work had already been done by the G. A. R.
Today, in Lassen County, you can walk through our local cemeteries, especially the old Pioneer Susanville Cemetery, on Court Street, and see mention of the Civil War on gravestones. The G. A. R. members, and their wives may have just a small white marble marker with their initials or names, but other larger headstones show their affiliation to the war. Take a stroll among the graves and remember that these old veterans saw things that we will never see and did things that we will never do. But they were just like us.
