The post cemetery for Vancouver Barracks became established in 1857.  The Army maintained the cemetery until recently. In 2020, the cemetery became part of the National Cemetery Administration – Department of Veterans Affairs – renamed the Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery.

Fort Vancouver was built in 1824 to serve as a central hub of business for the Hudson Bay Company in the Oregon Country. The company had its way in the region until the late 1830’s when American settlers began to arrive.  Attempts by the company to meet this influx with colonists of their own came to naught and the Oregon Treaty of 1846 set the border far to the north at the 49^th parallel.  The fort, left deep in American territory though the company continued its operations.  However, those operations became more unprofitable and difficult as more and more settlers came into the picture.

A NEW FORT

It was not until 1849 before the American army showed up in the new territory.  Like the company before them, the Army chose Vancouver as its hub in the Northwest.  The new post set up on a ridge just above the company’s fort.  Camp Vancouver, Columbia Barracks, Fort Vancouver or Vancouver Barracks – all different names for the same fort over time – served as a regional headquarters and supply depot through the end of the Indian Wars.  The fort would go on serving a multitude of purposes up until the early 21^st century.

The earliest cemetery at Fort Vancouver was well established by 1833 at a site described by William Tolmie as “situated about a gunshot to N. of fort, in a fertile upland meadow greatly beautified by wild flowers & trees in flower”.  A newer cemetery was added by the Catholic missionaries at the Stellamaris mission in 1839 either as an addition or nearby the older graveyard.  Between 1839 and 1856, 208 burials were recorded.  Most employees of the company, but local converts among the Native Americans lay buried there, as well.  Included among the graves was John McLoughlin’s son and Chief Casino of the local Multnomah tribe.

ARMY CEMETERIES

Meanwhile, the Army began its own cemetery by 1857.  Soldiers and civilians were buried in the cemetery located where the Vancouver Police Station sits today on the west side of the O. O. Howard House.  With the post increasing in size after the Civil War, the cemetery amalgamated with the older Hudson Bay cemetery moving to the presentgrounds occupied today about a half mile to the north in 1882.  The original post cemetery included 314 graves of which six were officers and at least 30 soldiers with the remainder being civilians.  Army records note about 72 civilian relatives claimed the remains of their lost ones. 

Many of the grave markers had been wooden which rotted away with time.  Not all of the graves were moved from the first Army site nor the company cemetery.  They remain undiscovered – the old company cemetery located on the south side of the former Post Theater.  A large number of those whose graves removed to the new cemetery held remains unknown.  They lie beneath the many “Unknown” graves found here.

today

Today over 1,500 gravesites are full.  With the transition from an Army to a National Cemetery, it becomes slightly easier to gain a grave when the time comes.  However, the much smaller scale of the post cemetery – two acres – as compared to nearby Willamette National – almost 295 acres – limits burials to families of those already reposing here.  Otherwise, only cremated remains are allowed, no caskets.

EARLY GRAVES

JOHN JUNIOR

Graves from before 1882 transferred over from either the Hudson Bay Cemetery or the first Post Cemetery.  Included are many civilians among with the soldiers.  There are also the many unknown graves from both the company and army cemeteries.  The son of Dr. John McLoughlin, John McLoughlin, Jr., lies here or somewhere still under the trees of the East Barracks.

John Junior was a chief trader for Hudson’s Bay.  Appointed to Fort Stikine – Wrangell, Alaska today, McLoughlin died at the hands of some of his staff who conspired against him.  His murderers claimed he was killed – 21 April 1842 – in self-defense in the face of drunken rage on the part of John Junior. 

George Simpson, the colonial governor for Hudson’s Bay Company, happened to be passing through Stikine just after the incident.  Convinced after a short trial of the guilt of John Junior, Simpson concluded the murder resulted from John’s mistreatment of his men.  He sent both a letter of condolence and a report blaming John Junior to his father Dr. John McLoughlin, the chief factor at Fort Vancouver.  The doctor blamed Simpson while Simpson simply claimed John Junior a violent “insane” drunk.  The affair poisoned previous good relations between the two men and the doctor was out of the company a year later.

A recent book by Dr. Debra Komar, a Canadian forensic scientist who worked for the United Nations and Physicians for Human Rights gives a more modern and thorough look at the murder than Simpson could have thought possible.

NATIVE AMERICANS

Chief Kiesno – also written Cassino – was a leader of Native Americans in what would become the Portland area – then the Wapato Valley.  His tribe centered around the confluence of Columbia and Willamette Rivers with a main village – Gatlakmap – set near today’s St. Helens.  He was an important figure in relations between Native Americans and fur traders.  He died 10 December 1848 and was buried in the Bay Company cemetery.

CHILDREN

From the early period until today, many children’s lives were cut short.  Two such from the original post cemetery were Anna and Clarence Alvord, children of Benjamin Alvord, a major at the time of their deaths and chief paymaster for the District of Oregon.  Alvord became a brigadier general of volunteers in 1862, commanding the district from Vancouver.  Eventually, he retired a brigadier general – Paymaster General of the Army – in 1880 dying in 1884.  Buried in Vermont, the general lies a long way from his children left behind here at Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery.

Another example of a Native American and a child is “Rolla” described as an “Indian boy” who died in 1860.

WOULD-BE EXPLORERS

John Charles Junior died 10 October 1849, a member of a Hudson’s Bay party making their way over the Rocky Mountains to their post at Fort Vancouver.  The story of his journey and death can be found here.  Originally, Charles was buried at the site of his death, but his father was able to have the body retrieved and reburied at the company cemetery. 

Botanist and a Minister of Agriculture in British Columbia James Robert Anderson remarked about the reburial, “A useless, and as it turned out, a most unwise proceeding, as the last time I saw the grave it was in the parade ground of the U.S. troops garrisoned at Fort Vancouver and is now, I suppose, unmarked and unremembered.”  Well, Charles’ grave is remembered and marked with the original headstone mentioning the tragedy of his death due to an accidental gun discharge.  Mr. Anderson, writing in 1912, probably was unaware of the newer cemetery.

PIONEERS

Samuel A. Mowder attached himself to the Whitworth Oregon Trail wagon party in 1853.  George Whitworth would end up in the Puget Sound region starting an academy – he also served as president for the University of Washington or as it was called then, the Territorial University – which eventually became Whitworth College moving to Spokane seven years after Whitworth’s death.  Mowder ended up further to the south in Jackson County of southern Oregon.  He became a merchant in Jacksonville until his death in 1867 and somehow ending in the first Post Cemetery.

CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS – californians

There are several soldiers whose remains were transferred here from the older cemetery.  They represent some of the history the fort saw through the hectic years of the American Civil War.  Second lieutenant F. D. McDougal was a member of the 2^nd California Volunteer Regiment.  With the onset of the Civil War, most Regular Army units were withdrawn from the Pacific Northwest, as well as most of the rest of the West.  Volunteers from the western territories were called for.  With California the most populous state then as now, enough volunteers signed up to cover for the missing Regulars.  Their stay in the Northwest was not long as Oregon and Washington – still a Territory – would eventually sign up their own units.  The 2^nd California was at Fort Vancouver long enough for the lieutenant to die, however.

northwesterners

Captain William F. Mason was a member of one of those later volunteer regiments – the 1^st Washington Territorial Volunteers in his case.  While his headstone is one of the larger ones in the cemetery, he is buried next to the even more dramatic grave. These men were mostly from California

Lieutenant Stephen Watson of the 1^st Oregon Cavalry died in a fight against Paiutes near Mitchell, Oregon.  One of three dying that day, with all buried back at their camp – renamed Camp Watson.  Before the command he served with departed after his death for service further to the south – Harney Lake. His body was exhumed, placed in a metal coffin and transported back to The Dalles from which the regiment was operating out from.  Watson’s remains were subsequently forwarded on to Vancouver Barracks.  A cenotaph was placed on his former grave at Camp Watson in 1932.

other veterans

Franck E. Taylor joined the Union army from his hometown of Washington, D.C. in 1861. He commanded Battery K and L 1st US Artillery (Horse) during the Shenandoah Campaign of Philip Sheridan taking part in the battles of Third Winchester and Cedar Creek. He has two brothers buried at Arlington, Col Daniel M.Taylor served in the Quartermaster Corps while Henry C. Taylor rose to rear admiral in the Navy commanding the USS Indiana – battleship sister of the Oregon – throughout the Spanish American War.

William Kelly was born in England. He served with the 3rd US Infantry Regiment during the Mexican War moving to the Northwest afterwards. Kelly served with the Washington Territorial Volunteers during the Yakama War and with the Oregon Cavalry during the Civil War. Commissioned a Captain with the 8th US Cavalry after the war, Kelly was active in campaigns against Native Americans in eastern Oregon and Arizona before his death in 1871 in Denver. He lies buried with his wife near two of his three daughters – curiously separated from his daughters by one of the two headstones of Dr. Wiggin.

Civil war and us 14th infantry regiment

Charles B. Western originally enlisted with the 8th New York Infantry in 1861 as a three month volunteer. With the “First German Rifles“, he was present as the regiment helped cover the retreat of the Federal army after their early defeat at Manassas. Western re-enlisted with the 156th New York Infantry as a sergeant, gaining a commission to lieutenant in February 1864 and a promotion to captain later in October.

After the war, Western accepted a commission as a second lieutenant with the 14th US Infantry Regiment. Initially, the 14th fought in several of the campaigns against Native Americans in the West before moving to Fort Vancouver from 1884 until 1898, the longest serving unit at the fort. Many other members of the 14th lie buried here.

Lots of graves from the late 19^th and early 20^th century included men who fought in the Civil War, their State Volunteer units noted on their gravestones.  Two of those men went on to retire as generals – keep reading.

INDIAN WARS

John Heinemann, Charles Clarke, James Doyle, Charlies Doyle and Alson Compton all died at the Battle of the Clearwater Creek 11 July 1878 against the Nez Perce.  They are all remembered by members of their former company, Company I US 21^st Infantry Regiment – Vancouver Barracks was their headquarters.   I am not sure all of the men are buried here having seen the monument is a cenotaph.  The dead were normally buried on the battlefield, but I know the men who fell at the earlier battle of Whitebird Canyon were exhumed and taken to the Fort Lapwai post cemetery.  When that fort closed, bodies were removed again to Fort Walla Walla.  But these men of the 21^st may have been sent here … or it may indeed be a cenotaph.

A last name to note is Dr. Augustus W. Wiggin.  Wiggin died as a captain in the Army Medical Department 9 March 1875 at Fort Stevens.  His remains became reburied here for some reason on 1 September 1881 at the old post cemetery instead of at the Fort Stevens post cemetery.  A year later, his grave moved once again to the new cemetery.  Wiggin is one of several with more than one headstone.  He is unique in that his two headstones are separated by other graves, however.

MEDALS OF HONOR

Four awardees of the Medal of Honor lie buried in the Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery – one from the Civil War, two from the Indian Wars and one from the Spanish American War.

WILLIAM W. MCCAMMON

William McCammon was with Company E 24^th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment as a first lieutenant at Corinth, Mississippi.  A spirited Confederate attack over 3-4 October 1862 saw McCammon serving as Provost Marshal.  As the attack took place, he took command of his company and led them in their efforts to repulse the Rebel attack.  For his role in the defense, he gained the Medal of Honor in 1896.

McCammon continued the war gaining the rank of captain with a brevet to major upon mustering out.  After the war, he signed up with the 14^th US Infantry Regiment as a second lieutenant.  After long service, McCammon made captain in 1891.  During the Spanish American War, McCammon moved over to the 4^th Infantry Regiment as a major in the volunteers.  Returning to the Regular Army, he served with a new rank of major in the 6^th Infantry Regiment at Bacolod in the Philippines before retiring 28 May 1902.  He died a year later.

MOSES WILLIAMS

Moses Williams served with the 9^th US Cavalry Regiment, a Buffalo Soldier unit, meaning the soldiers were African American.  He was a first sergeant with Company I when on 16 August 1881, he held an exposed position with his commanding officer under heavy fire in the foothills of the Cuchillo Negro Mountains of New Mexico saving the lives of at least three of his soldiers during the 3-4 hour fight against Apaches.  The medal issued in 1896, one of three given for the fight.  Williams went on to become an Ordnance Sergeant retiring in 1899.  Just like William McCammon, retirement did not prove to be long as he also died only three weeks after leaving the army.

JAMES M. HILL

Serving as a commissary sergeant, James Hill with Company A 5^th US Cavalry Regiment was at the Battle of Turret Peak in Arizona 25 March 1873.  For “gallantry” during the action – against either Apache or Yavapai, depending on the source you read – he was one of at least three soldiers to gain the Medal of Honor.  His headstone mentions previous service in the Civil War, as well, but I was unable to ascertain his unit.

HERMAN PFISTERER

Herman Pfisterer was a musician with the Us 21^st Infantry Regiment.  Interestingly, both the careers of Pfisterer and McCammon overlapped for a short time in the same regiment at the end of McCammon’s career.  Pfisterer is thought to have been a bugler and gained his Medal of Honor for rescuing wounded soldiers from the battlefield at San Juan Hill on 1 July 1898.  The 21^st attacked on the left side of the hill.  Pfisterer did not survive his elder comrade McCammon by long dying two years later at the age of 39 in 1905.

19^th CENTURY WEST POINTERS

Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery remains an active burial ground.  That means a subsection on West Pointers cannot be conclusive.  Additionally, a number of officers buried here from World War II and beyond for whom internet material becomes scant and hard to come by.  So, here I limit myself to two whom I know for sure graduated from the gray ranks of the Hudson River.

william s. starring

First up is Captain William Sylvanus Starring.  He graduated from West Point a member of the Class of 1865.  The Civil War – and chance for rapid promotion over – Starring served in many forts on the western frontier, first with the 18^th Infantry Regiment and later with the 36^th.  After a stint back at his alma mater as an Assistant Instructor of Tactics, he transferred to the artillery corps becoming a Captain of Ordnance in 1879.  He had served at Fort Stevens before and after his West Point assignment.  Starring returned to the Department of the Columbia in 1887 as chief Ordnance Officer serving until his death in 1889. He died a few days before he was to be married when his horse threw him onto a picket fence,

Starring’s real claim to fame comes from his first assignment out of West Point at Fort Laramie.  There, he co-authored the first book published in Wyoming, a dictionary of the Sioux language.  A copy of the book selling for $84,000 in 2005.

henry f. kendall

Major Henry Fletcher Kendall graduated from West Point with the class of 1878.  He was born in Paris, Franc, his mother French, and his father on of the first war correspondents covering the Mexican American War exclusively.  His father already founded the New Orleans Picayune newspaper in 1837 working as a correspondent.

Henry Kendall served a different posts including Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands with the 12^th Infantry from 1902-1904.  He became sick en route to Manila and never totally recovered.  He retired as a major 22 April 1905, though he did not die until 1913.

clarence e. dentler

Clarence E. Dentler graduated from West Point in 1884.  He served initially on the western frontier with the 6^th US Infantry Regiment and later the 20^th and the 11^th before becoming the professor of military science and tactics at the Oregon Agricultural College – now Oregon State University – in 1894.  Dentler gained Oregon roots by marrying an Oregon lady in 1894.

During the Spanish American War, he served in Puerto Rico before shipping to the Philippines with the 11^th Infantry in 1899.  Dentler went next to Cuba from 1906-1907, before going to the War College and becoming a major in 1909.  After War College, he returned for a stint with the Oregon National Guard – 1911-1912 – before returning to the Philippines as a lieutenant colonel – 1913-1915.  World War I saw Dentler at a variety of training positions before heading back to Oregon as Inspector-Instructor for the Oregon National Guard in 1919.  He retired from the Army in 1923 becoming a life insurance salesman in Portland.  Dentler was not only the last surviving member of his class, but at his death in 1955, he was the oldest living West Point graduate.

henry h. robert

Henry Harris Robert graduated from West Point in 1904 – slightly late for this category but close enough.  He ranked number six in his class meaning he had his choice of branch assignments, and he chose engineers.  Before his appointment to the Academy, Robert already completed his junior year at Mississippi A&M College – today’s Mississippi State University. 

One of his first assignments was to the Philippines where he directed early defenses for Subic Bay -1907.  Later – 1909 – he was given charge of constructing defenses on Carabao Island in Manila Bay close to the south shore of the bay.  During his time, he contracted tuberculosis.  Robert spent the better par of a year recovering. Next stop, the District Engineer office of the Portland District where he led construction of the Dalles-Celilo Canal in 1910.  Next, he served in Texas and then, promoted to major, he helped build and lead the training camp at Fort Riley, Kansas in 1917.  Reassigned to the 4^th Engineers – with whom he would get an early command in France – at Vancouver Barracks in August 1917, Robert died of a reactivation of tuberculosis, probably result of stress.  He died five days after reaching Vancouver.

PHILIPPINES

You can find several men who were veterans of the Spanish American War lying here at Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery.  Most men on the West Coast made their ways to the Philippines.  The war with the Spanish was over quickly there, those that died in that time died from disease.  Fighting in the islands continued, however, for several years between the U.S. and Filipino revolutionaries.

Two men buried here next to each other died in the islands.  Corporal Guy B. Sodden died 5 February 1899 as a member of Company E 14^th US Infantry during the American counterattack during the Battle of Manila in the initial battle of the Fil-Am War. 

Thomas Laws was one of 75 Americans who lost their lives 13 June 1899 in a fight for a bridge across the Zapote River, the last set piece the Philippine army involved itself in.  With the loss of the bridge and heavier casualties, the Philippines resorted to guerilla warfare thereafter.

William T Morris, a little further away, died of dysentery later 14 May 1901, a principal musician of the 16^th US Infantry.

Sergeant Michael Brady of Company H 28^th US Infantry died from bolo hacks in Zamboanga in June of 1904.  His body transferred here after his death.  William Hertenstein was another from the 28^th Infantry Company B to die in 1904 – 22 June – but in the hills of northern Luzon of Benguet Province.

THE GREAT WAR

spanish flu

Many of the men buried here fought in the Great War, though few had a direct impact.   Several died probably of complications of the Spanish flu.  Both Gustave Young – 8^th Trench Mortar Battery – and Claude A French – 85^th Aero Squadron (Observation) – barely reached in France with their units not yet deployed when both died 10 November 1918.

Several enlisted members with the Air Service lie buried here near each other dying in the end of 1918 or early in 1919:  Earald Degraph Mouser, Gust Saratides, and Albin Johnson.  Others dying of the Spanish flu stateside or in Europe are in evidence, as well.

repatriation

Clinton Myron Bovee died in action in France, one of the earliest American deaths on 9 May 1918.  His family elected to have his body repatriated here to Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery in 1921.

distinguished service cross

Only one grave marker records a soldier awarded the Distinguished Service Cross – second highest award in the Army. That soldier was Captain Ward M. Ackley of the 363^rd Infantry Regiment, part of the 91^st Division, also known as the Wild West Division.  He earned his medal for actions taken near Very, France during the opening of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.  His citation reads: “Exposing himself to heavy machine-gun and artillery fire in leading his platoon forward, First Lieutenant Ackley himself captured a machine-gun nest, killing seven of the enemy with, his automatic pistol.”  Ackley survived the war only to die at 39 years of age in 1927. His headstone erected on behalf of his wife with whom he eloped in 1911 making for good newspaper copy.

GENERALS

john m. bacon

Four generals lie in rest at the Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery.  John Mosby Bacon is the oldest.  He enlisted in the 11^th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment 20 October 1862.  A few days later, he was with the 4^th Kentucky Cavalry with whom he served the duration of the Civil War mustering out as a major of volunteers 21 August 1865.  Bacon must have enjoyed his time in the army for he signed up for Regular Army service dropping back in rank.  Bacon served for the next 34 years with the Army attaining the rank of colonel.  He led Army forces in one of the last battles of the Indian Wars at the Battle of Sugar Point in Minnesota in October 1898.  The not so satisfactory result luckily overshadowed by events from the Spanish American War.  Bacon retired the following year as a brigadier general.

forrest h. hathaway

Another Civil War veteran, Forrest Henry Hathaway, enlisted in the 16th Vermont Infantry Regiment.  This was a nine-month regiment who saw the best day helping to crush Pickett’s Charge on the third day of Gettysburg – 3 July 1863.  Hathaway re-enlisted as an officer of the 102^nd Colored Infantry Regiment with whom he mustered out at the war’s end as a major.  Like Bacon, military life appealed to Hathaway, and he enlisted in the Regular Army as a second lieutenant serving on the frontier.  Promotions were slower in the post-Civil war era.  He finally made captain in 1882.  With the Spanish American War, Hathaway served in Cuba and then the Philippines attaining the rank of colonel in 1903.  The next year he retired as a brigadier general making his home in Portland. His family including a son who was a major, lie next to him.

hubert a. allen

A graduate of Iowa State College, Hubert Allen enlisted with the 49th Iowa Volunteers as a captain in 1898 during the Spanish American War. Returning to Iowa after service in Cuba, Allen gained promotion to major in the new Iowa National Guard. Staying with the Guard as he worked as a manager for the Iowa Telephone Company, Allen went up in rank to through colonel to become a brigadier general in 1916. He served with his men on the Mexican border during 1916.

With World War One, Allen commanded the 67th Brigade 34th Division at Camp Cody, Deming, New Mexico going overseas with them to France in 1918. Arriving in France, with the brigade broken up as replacement soldiers and he commanded the 54th Regiment 27th Division serving in the Thiaucourt area where the ABMC St Mihiel Cemetery lies. After a short period of occupation after the war in Luxembourg, Allen returned with his regiment to the US in 1919.

Staying with the Regular Army, after tour stops in the Philippines, Ohio National Guard and Panama, Allen finished his career as the senior instructor with the Oregon National Guard starting in 1928, retiring in 1935.

gilbert g. parker

Gilbert Parker is one of the latter general officers buried here at Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery. There is not a lot of online information about the general, but he and his wife did raise a robust family of eight children, many still living.

jack h. king

The highest-ranking soldier buried here at Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery is Major General Jack Howard King.  King is a graduate of engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology from where he also gained a master’s degree.  Most of his service was in the reserve units of the army with a successful civilian career as a main figure in the engineering firm of Reidel International.  He was also commanding general of the 104^th Training Division, a division which saw hard fighting during World War Two in northwestern Europe.  Operating out of Vancouver Barracks, the division was responsible for training new recruits.  With the closure of Vancouver Barracks, the division headquarters relocated to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.  King died in 2002.

In addition to the generals, there are ten colonels resting here.

OTHERS

A majority of the remains here at Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery come from the period of World War Two and later.  Many served in World War Two and Korea while a few served in Vietnam and beyond.  An active cemetery, soldiers serving in the Middle East conflicts also lie in rest here.

Most of the soldiers, dependents, and civilians here at Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery have stories a little more difficult to develop from mere internet searches.  Unlike many other newer military cemeteries, Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery has headstones not found in a normal national cemetery where they are uniform.  All newer headstones are uniform – you notice the graves closer together, too, a result of allowing only cremated remains to create more room for those to come.

pow’s

Hidden away in the back of the cemetery are three graves of prisoners of war from World War Two.  Friederick Leonhardt and Jakob Planker are two German soldiers who died in 1945 – Private Leonhardt dying 17 April and Corporal Planker committed suicide 3 August awaiting repatriation.  Nearby is Italian Sergeant Vincenzo Dioguardi who died 22 December 1945.

Included among the other graves, two Russians described in places as “POW’s” – Elibar Elibaraschwilli and Biambick Burbien.  They also died in 1945 awaiting return to the USSR.

suicides

Private William James Henrici’s grave is here.  He committed suicide 20 June 1917 because after two weeks of being in the Army, he wrote his final note to his father, “I am so slow learning that I am going to leave the army.  I have got nothing to fight for anyway. … By the time you receive this I will be in Hell.”

Colonel George Shafer Young lies buried here.  He served in the Army from 1875 until retired for disability in 1917 and dying a couple of years later.  Next to him is his son Captain Harold Wheelock Young.  The younger Young died 3 October 1923 in Klamath Falls.  He worked as an assistant construction engineer for the Southern Pacific Railroad at the time of his death.