Organizing the Veteran Battalion for the Sioux War
A local editor and former soldiers organize to provide support and military service amidst tensions following the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Following the news of Custer’s massacre, Eldridge Morse, editor of the Northern Star, proposed the organization of a Veteran Battalion and local militia companies in Snohomish to assist in the Sioux War. Response from local veterans was swift. Josiah S. Brown, writing from Fort Wrangell, Alaska, expressed his eagerness to 'answer the roll-call,' detailing his extensive military record including the Modoc War and service in three different branches of the U.S. military. The paper remains a hub for organizing these volunteer forces, emphasizing the readiness of the region's ex-soldiers should their services be required.
“But should a veteran command, such as you contemplate, be organized, it would be my highest ambition to answer the 'roll-call' as one of you.”
This piece reveals the deep ties between the Pacific Northwest and national military conflicts of the 19th century. The organizational role of the newspaper in local civic life underscores the intensity of the frontier era's political and military fervor.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.