Union and Confederate soldiers came into the Mancos Valley to settle, to begin new friendships and plans to bring in their families. A walk through the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Mancos tells the story of some of these early pioneer families.
The Montezuma County Historical Society is pleased to give information on the Civil War soldiers who came into our area. Many of these men later left, but more than 150 stayed to make their homes. The Cortez Journal published the story of these men in the July, August, and September issues titled Looking Back. If information was found through research we have given you a birds-eye glimpse of their life when they came into Colorado.
This year is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. In the 1870s, Colorado experienced a rapid growth that was partly due to the end of the Civil War. Southwest Colorado found Union and Confederate soldiers from all walks of life arriving in the new area to make their homes professional men, cattlemen, stone masons, farmers, miners, ranchers, carpenters and stockmen, to name a few. The pioneers worked together to establish this new country with no thought of their past military history.
In the local cemeteries headstones denoting Union soldiers buried are different than the soldiers who served with the Army of the Confederacy. The markers, furnished by the government for the Union soldiers, have a large shield engraved in the marker with the name, grade, rank and authorization organization. The Confederate soldiers have a cross type of emblem with a circle with the name, rank and grade followed by the letters C.S.A. Union soldiers received a discharge for their service, and some received a pension due to their injuries. The Confederate soldiers received a pardon for their service, and some may have received funds from the state in which they served as a result of their injuries.
The men listed here are buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery at Mancos. If the family furnished a marker for their loved ones, the upright government headstones could not be used; however, some of the families wished to honor their loved ones by asking the government to furnish a bronze plaque denoting their services in the war.
David D. Kramar (1839-1901). Union Army. Co. F 5th Illinois Cavalry. He came to Mancos in 1881 from Ohio. His death came as a result of an accident when he fell from a wagon and was injured by the wagon wheel.
Josiah J. Morefield (1842-1924). Sgt. Union Forces Co. G 11th Illinois infantry. He was awarded a pension of $16 for service. Morefield was placed in the Andersonville prison in 1864. In September, he escaped and made his way back to the Union lines. In 1878-79 he was living in the Mancos Valley per survey by Goodykoontz. Morefield served as the county commissioner from the Mancos area when Montezuma County was still a part of La Plata County; after the county was formed, he served as county treasurer and as county judge.
John E. McCoy (unknown). Mentioned in news article as Civil War Veteran. Possibly served from State of Indiana. No further information is known.
Robert T. McGrew (1836-1924). Served in John Morgans Troops of the Confederate Army and taken captive. Served in Co. F 7th Kentucky Cavalry with Red Canoes Troops. In youth, his health was so delicate he was unable to attend school for a short time. As his health improved, he was an overseer over a number of black laborers on a Kentucky plantation. In 1864, McGrew joined a party in a gold rush to Idaho driving a five yoke team of oxen. In 1873 he purchased a team and with a party of 21 men started to Southwest Colorado with the San Juan Basin as their destination. The snow became too deep, and they were forced to spend the winter with Chief Ouray. McGrew had been an original member of an ill-fated group of prospectors, but fortunately left them before they got into the Gunnison country where all were murdered, robbed and their flesh eaten by Alferd Packer. McGrew left Chief Ourays camp and went to Silverton and Saguache. In 1877, he came to the Mancos area, where he engaged in cattle raising and taking up a homestead. In 1878, he built the first cabin on Chicken Creek. His name is mentioned in the early records of the Mancos area.
Joseph Decatur Patterson (1837-1911). Lured by the gold rush excitement, Patterson was a member of the Green Russell group, which made its first stop in Green Gulch that is now the town of Leadville, where they stayed until the fall of 1860. The group of men moved down into Cherry Creek and built the first log cabin on or near the site of the city of Denver. In 1861 when the Civil War broke out, this little group of pioneers started south to join the Army of the Confederacy. He was taken prisoner of war by Union soldiers at Old Fort Union. Patterson was released from prison and able to serve in the Civil War. It is unknown whether his service was with the Union or the Confederacy after his release from prison.
James Martin Rush Sr. (1819-1917). Confederate Army. Served in Co. E 16th Regular Texas Cavalry. Prior to the Civil War he served for eight years as a Texas Ranger. He was a part of the Rangers during the Mexican War. In 1879, he came to Mancos and was one of the first men to start mining operations in the Mancos District. Later, Rush was road overseer for Montezuma County.
John W. Shaw (1827-1909). Union Army. Co. A 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry. A family stone marks the graves of John Shaw and Almina B. Shaw, but his grave does not signify his service in the Union Forces. No further information is known.
Joseph Sparks Sheek (1826-1909). Lieut. Confederate Forces, Co. H 33rd Texas Cavalry. One source stated his rank as captain. In 1879, he settled on a ranch in the Mancos Valley and was known as Uncle Joe.
Lyman O. Smalley (1849-1927). Union Army. Served in 19th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. Enlisted in the Indian Wars in 1868-69. Served under Generals Custer and Sheridan. Lived in Mancos and Telluride, and followed his trade as a carpenter.
George W. Spencer (unknown). Union Army. Co. A 2nd Kansas. A relative living in Chicago said that Spencer was a scout and hunter for the army and furnished his own saddle and horse to provide game for the troops. He suffered multiple injuries during the war. He came to Farmington and was a merchant. He would buy hides, taking them to Dodge City, Kan., and on the way back, bring the supplies for his store. Spencer had oxen and did freighting also. It is unknown when he came to the Mancos area.
Warren Tingley (1846-1922). Union Army. Co. C 12th Indiana Cavalry. Tingley lived in the Mancos area and was a very healthy person until about three years prior to his death. No other information found.
John James Wade (1848-1925). Bugler Union Army. Co. B 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry. At the age of 17, he volunteered and remained for two years. In the fall of 1865, he came west to Iowa and worked on construction crews on the Union Pacific until its completion. In 1881, Wade built a home in Mancos and was the first mail carrier to Dolores.
Francis H. Wagner (1840-1923). Private. Union Army. Co. E 8th Illinois Cavalry. Wagner came to America from Saxony, Germany, in 1864 and, as evidence that this country had become his country by adoption, he enlisted in the Union Army. His regiment captured the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, and Wagner was an honorary guard over the body of President Lincoln. He came to Colorado in 1880 and lived in the Canon City area. He arrived in Mancos in 1894 and engaged in the shoemakers trade a trade he had learned in his native land and in Norway. For many years, Wagner served as the local mortician in the Mancos area. To family and friends, he was known as Daddy Wagner.
Theodore W. Wattles (1840-1912). First Sgt. Union Army. Co. D 5th Kansas Cavalry Volunteers. Received pension for services. After leaving Kansas with his parents, he moved to Fort Defiance in 1875, and in 1878-79 Wattles was living at Parrott City per survey by Mr. Goodykoontz. In 1888 he served as Montezuma County treasurer. He was a member of the fraternal organization of Grand Army of the Republic Post (for Union soldiers) in Durango. Information found in the records in Durango states that Wattles was a freighter.
James Dudley Weaver (1838-1913). Confederate Army. 27th North Carolina Infantry. Weaver was age 22 when he joined the Confederate Army. In the 1860s, Weaver and wife came to Colorado and stayed in the Walsenburg area for about six years. On June 4, 1904, he arrived in the Mancos Valley to make his home, but lived only about eight years before his death.
David Willis (1845-1881). Confederate Army. Served in 2nd North Carolina Infantry. Willis, age 36, was one of the men killed in a battle with Native Americans at Pinhook, Utah, in 1881. His body was brought back by some of the men who went from Dolores, Cortez and Mancos. Willis gravesite does not evidence his military service.
James K.P. Wright (1849-1924). Union Army. Co. F 45th Missouri Infantry. Wright was married in 1868, but no information was found of when he arrived in the Mancos Valley.
If you have information on any of the soldiers where it is indicated no information was obtained, please contact June Head immediately. Previous phone calls giving information have been appreciated, and the information is needed. The Montezuma County Historical Society is finalizing Volume 4 of Great Sage Plain to Timberline Our Pioneer Ancestors. Plans are to have this available for sale in early November.
Membership in the historical society is open to any person interested in Preserving Our History to Enhance the Future. Please contact Louise Smith (membership) at 564-1815 or Kelly Wilson (chairman) at 565-9242. The membership year is Sept. 15, 2011, to Sept. 15, 2012. The cost is $15 for a single person, and $25 for a family or business.
June Head is the historian for the Montezuma County Historical Society. She can be contacted for comments, corrections or questions at 565-3880.