Montavilla’s Civil War Veterans

By PATRICIA SANDERS

Joseph A. Braden, one of Montavilla’s many Civil War veterans, stands second from the left in this photograph taken just before the Battle of Bull Run (July 21, 1861).

Source: The Sunday Oregonian, May 28, 1911

A surprising aspect of Montavilla history is the number of Civil War soldiers who settled here in the community’s early years. Some were here around 1890, barely a year after the first Montavilla subdivision, Mount Tabor Villa Addition, was platted.

Exactly how many Civil War veterans lived here is hard to say exactly, but the local veterans’ group had reduced to 19 by 1895 and up to 53 by 1910.

All the veterans I have identified individually or by group had belonged to the Union Army. The 1900 U. S. Census for Montavilla indicates that almost all Americans came to Montavilla from Midwestern Northeastern states. I found only four from the South of eligible age, and one of those was Black and another was a soldier in the Tennessee Union Army.

The earliest veterans did not rest on their laurels; they helped build the new Montavilla community. Several helped establish Montavilla’s first school and then served on its school board. Daniel Webster Butler (1848 – 1938), who said he moved to Montavilla “when there wasn’t much else but himself” there helped to organize the Montavilla voting district.

In 1893 German-born George Reichwein (1841 – 1900), a Rhode Island veteran, constructed a three-story building in Montavilla and dedicated its top floor— called Independence Hall— to local organizations. He also started one of Montavilla’s two early water companies that served households before Bull Run water arrived in 1907.

Missouri veteran James Downing (1836/1837 – 1927) established Montavilla’s first post office and served as its first postmaster. He operated the post office in his grocery store, one of several early veteran-owned businesses on Baseline Road (now Stark Street) that helped to establish Montavilla’s “downtown.”

By searching newspaper articles and the 1910 U. S. census, which identifies Union soldiers, I was able to identify 50 Union veterans living in Montavilla in the 1890s and early 20th Century. They and their families helped to keep Civil War memories alive.

Union-army veterans and their families organize in Montavilla

By 1891, Montavilla’s veterans had established a branch of the Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.). This national organization for Union Civil War veterans began in 1866 to remember the war experiences and to help needy veterans, widows, and orphans. G. A. R.

The Col. Torrence Post 25 was the 25th post established just in Oregon. Its members named it to honor a Union soldier killed in battle, Col. William M. G. Torrence (1821 – 1963) of the 30th Iowa Infantry.

About the same time, the wives, mothers, and children of veterans founded G. A. R. auxiliaries in Montavilla: The Montavilla Woman’s Relief Corps Colonel Torrence Post 31 and the Montavilla Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Coleman Camp No. 20.

Veterans’ groups commemorate the Civil War in the early 1890s

Montavilla’s G. A. R. put on its first recorded event on November 9, 1891. For this and two other early events, the Montavilla G. A. R. groups decided on a popular 19th Century form of entertainment: the tableau vivant (French for “living picture”).

A tableau vivant consisted of costumed “actors” posed to represent a scene from history or literature. The “actors” remained silent and motionless for seconds or even minutes. Usually, the scene was accompanied by a reading or song. Below is an example of a tableau vivant performed in San Francisco in 1897.

The tableau vivant of May 29, 1897 at the San Francisco Girls’ High School. Men in uniform on the right represent a camp scene from the Civil War. The girls on the left are singing “Tenting on the Old Campground.”

Source: Wikimedia

The Oregonian described the Montavilla G. A. R. tableaux vivants of 1891, 1892, and 1893 that were uplifting themes of healing. The 1891 tableau featured the Goddess of Liberty surrounded by all 33 states reunited after the war. The one in1892 commemorated the secession of the Southern states and their return to the Union. The 1894 tableau illustrated the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, signaling the end of the War.

Celebrating Independence Day in 1892

For July 4, 1892, the G. A. R. groups organized an all-day event to celebrate both Independence Day and the completion of Montavilla’s first school building.

The Oregonian’s July 3, 1892 edition described the program in detail, providing a glimpse of ways Montavilla celebrated in the 1890s:

Montavilla’s July 4th program

Source: The Oregonian, July 3, 1892

Celebrating Decoration Day

By May 1895, Montavilla’s Torrence post was down to 19 members and they decided to disband. The East Portland’s G. A. R. Sumner Post No. 12 welcomed them to join their group, offering a celebratory soldier’s meal of beans and coffee.

In 1910, Montavilla veterans began a new G. A. R. post. They named it the McKinley Post No. 45 in honor of President William McKinley, who was assassinated in 1901. This post reached a high of 53 members but, by 1915, it was down to 34, mostly due to deaths.

The McKinley Woman’s Relief Corps No. 45 was also founded in 1910. In 1915, they had 35 members.

Every year, beginning in 1911 and continuing to at least 1929, these two groups celebrated Decoration Day on May 30. The national G. A. R. had decreed this a national day of commemoration for Union soldiers killed in the Civil War. Oregon adopted it as a legal holiday in 1880. On this day, soldiers’ graves were customarily decorated with flowers.

In 1911, the Montavilla’s G. A. R. veterans and its Woman’s Relief Corps began celebrating Decoration Day at Montavilla’s Brainard Cemetery, located on NE Glisan Street between NE 89th and NE 90th Avenues.

Newspapers described the standard Montavilla Decoration Day program, which continued until at least 1929. In the morning participants gathered in the Oddfellows’ (I. O. O. F.) Hall at the southwest corner of Glisan and 80th Avenue. From there, a drum corps led everyone along Glisan to the cemetery.

At the cemetery, they marched around the cenotaph, an empty tomb dedicated to to unknown soldiers (now gone), and decorated the graves of deceased veterans. Then there was a program with patriotic and religious songs, speeches, the recitation of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and prayers. Then it was back for a group luncheon at the I. O. O. F. Hall.

Gravestones of Montavilla Civil War Union Veterans in Brainard Cemetery: Henry Marble (1848 – 1915), 11 Michigan Cavalry and Henry W. Miller (1837 – 1905), 4 Minnesota Infantry.

Photo by Thomas Tilton

The Oregon Journal published the speech given by Thomas. D. Pollock (1843 – 1923), commander of McKinley Post 5, at the 1911 Decoration Day celebration. It gives us a rare first-person view of the war nearly 50 years later:

“Tells of Struggle of Great Nation,” The Oregon Journal, May 31, 1911, page 10

Montavilla’s most famous veteran

Although he was never in a Civil War battle, Montavilla’s most famous Civil War veteran was undoubtedly Salmon Brown (1836 – 1857), the last surviving son of abolitionist John Brown (1800 – 1859).

Salmon Brown in the backyard of his Montavilla home.

Photo courtesy of Louis A. DeCaro, Jr.

Salmon did not take part in his father’s and brothers’ raid on the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in 1859. They believed this would spark a slave rebellion. But the attack failed. Ten men, including two of Salmon’s brothers, were killed and John Brown was tried and hanged. His memory lived on in the famous Union Army marching-song, “John Brown’s Body.”

Although not at Harper’s Ferry, Salmon shared his father’s abolitionist views. In 1855 – 1859, he fought alongside his father and brothers in the “Bleeding Kansas” battles, waged to determine whether Kansas would be a slave state or free.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Salmon enlisted in the 96th New York Infantry, but he never saw action. His fellow officers, fearing he would make their unit a target for Confederates, persuaded Lieutenant Brown to resign. 

In 1864, Salmon and his family migrated to Humboldt County, California, where he became a successful sheep farmer. When he lost 8,000 sheep in the harsh winter of 1890 – 1891, they moved to Salem, Oregon.

In 1901 he settled in Portland and, in 1906, he arrived at his final destination: Montavilla. He and his wife Abbie lived at 8052 NE Couch Street (formerly 24 Pearl) in a house that still exists.

Salmon Brown’s house at 8052 NE Couch Street.

Source: Google maps

When John Brown’s last surviving son arrived in Portland in 1901, he was an instant celebrity. Reporters sought out Salmon Brown, who bore a striking resemblance to his father.

A conversation between Salmon Brown and a fellow 1850s Kansas freedom fighter, August Bondi.

Source: The Morning Oregonian, September 3, 1903

Local newspapers published long articles about Salmon’s life. He was invited to speak at public events. At the celebration of Montavilla’s successful annexation to Portland, he reportedly “convulsed” the audience with his short but racy speech,” according to the July 20 edition of The Oregon Daily Journal of July 20, 1906.

After more than a decade in Montavilla, 82-year-old Salmon Brown committed suicide at his Montavilla home on May 10, 1919 one day after the anniversary of his father’s birth. The Coroner, Earl Smith, identified the cause of death as a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Brown had been bedridden for years, so newspaper reporters assumed this explained Salmon’s action.

Brown’s service took place at the Montavilla funeral chapel owned by William Henry Hamilton (1858-1922), son of the recently deceased Montavilla G. A. R. member William H. H. Hamilton (1833 – 1918). Salmon Brown was never a G. A. R. member, according to an Oregon Journal article of May 14, 1919. Yet six Civil War pallbearers carried him to his grave in Portland’s G. A. R. cemetery.

Montavilla’s last Civil War veteran

As far as I know, the last Montavilla Civil War veteran was Daniel Webster Butler (1848 – 1938), who lived to be 94. Like several other G. A. R. members, he was buried in Brainard Cemetery. Seven years earlier he related his story to an Oregonian reporter, who published it in the August 13, 1931 edition.

Daniel Webster Butler, Montavilla’s last living Civil War veteran.

Source: The Oregonian, August 13, 1931

His father was killed in the Battle of Shiloh (April 6 – 7, 1862) and a year later he and his twin brother, Henry Clay Butler, lied about their age to get into the 7th Iowa infantry. While Daniel was with General Sherman in Georgia, he was wounded in the thigh and the bullet was still there at the time of the 1931 interview.

At the end of the war, Butler marched in the celebratory grand review in Washington, D. C. 

Grand Review of the victorious Armies on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C., May 23-24, 1865. Over 145,000 men marched, including Montavilla G. A. R. members Daniel Webster Butler and Charles H. Welch (1839-1924) participated in this post-war celebration.

Source: Wikipedia

Sources:

There is no comprehensive source for the history of the G. A. R. groups in Montavilla. This article was compiled mostly from notices in old Portland newspapers— mainly The Oregonian and The Oregon Daily Journal and from military service records on Fold3.com.

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Historical story ideas? Questions about Montavilla’s past? Also share a love for neighborhood history? 

Comment on the article at the link in the heading. Or you can reach out to Pat Sanders at pat.montavilla.history@gmail.com.

Read all of the “Montavilla Memories” articles by Pat Sanders here.