One of the many Confederate Veterans that had a large impact on Seattle was James Metcalfe. According to several reference books on Washington State such as A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of Seattle and County of King, ©1903, James Metcalfe was a leader among men. He enlisted in the Confederate States Army (C.S.A.) at the age of fifteen engaging in many battles under General Forrest. After the war, Metcalfe returned to his Mississippi home working as a clerk during the day and studying law at night. He was an experienced lawyer by the time he moved to Seattle in 1884. In 1887, he was appointed the first Attorney-General of Washington Territory. He practiced corporate law and had among his clients many of the largest corporations in the state of Washington. His office held the largest, most complete law library in the Northwest. As one of the originators, he promoted the first cable car line in Seattle. During the anti-Chinese riots, he served on active duty as lieutenant in Company D of the National Guards from the time martial law was proclaimed until the arrival of the US troops.
Another interesting individual Washington pioneer was William Hoyle Collier. He grew up on the ocean traveling the waters with his father beginning at the age of four when his mother died. He school experiences began in Connecticut then New York moving on to Hong Kong, China, and Calcutta. His first visit to a Seattle’s port was in 1859. He served as a Confederate recruiter and in the secret service for the South during the war. In 1876, he arrived again in Seattle to stay. His occupation was engineer on boats running to San Francisco and Alaskan harbors.
As the Confederate Veterans recalled their experiences during the War Between the States, they provided a rich source about our country’s history. Clarence Talbot Gifford, Tacoma Jeweler, stated in his experience that, “the battle of Corinth was the worst kind of a botch, owing to the drunkenness of General Earl Van Dorn. He was an able cavalry commander when sober but it seemed that he could not keep sober. I myself saw him drunk during battle.” He recalled a peculiar incident happened while he was holding a corner of his blanket to a sapling when an enemy’s shell came by his face and cut the sapling in two. He thought the side of his face was gone but it was not touched. He learned his mother residing in Camden, South Carolina, had dreamed the night before that he was in grave danger. She saw the word “Jonesboro” painted on a sign. The accident happened at Jonesboro, GA.
The Veterans instilled in their retelling of their experience the pain of war: having to fight against their brothers. Samuel Height stated he fought against three of his brothers. They were in the 9th Michigan Cavalry and he was in the 4th Georgia Cavalry. Soldiers and civilians experienced cruelty among neighbors. According to Joseph Pritchett in his recollection of being captured while on his way home, “We finally reached their camp where I was held for two days. In this camp I came in contact with 15-20 of their gang. Let me explain to you in the mountain regions many marauding gangs of Southern soldiers and many marauding gangs of Northern soldiers not directly connected with any army but indirectly working with them and always throwing fear into the natives. My captors proved to be deserters from the Southern army. In fact, several of them I knew personally. Likely my life was spared because of the fact that all members of this particular gang knew me, and knew my family connections in the Valley.”
Pritchett stated in his telling of his experience that being only 16 when he entered the army, he was not called on for his bravery, because he was not brave. “I never attempted to cover up the fact I was very much afraid at times. I could not help shrinking when minnie balls were whizzing around my head and shells were bursting about me. I was even afraid to run but I chose to risk death rather than fasten on my kith and kin the stigma of desertion. How many of us stand hitched because of our devotion to loved ones?” Many of the soldiers were very young at enlistment. Starting at the age of 13 years old, the children of the South joined the Confederate Army.
The veterans’ occupations as Washington State citizens encompassed doctors, lawyers, judges, farmers, laborers, merchants, jewelers, shoe maker, hotel workers, boat engineers, tribal reservation agents, lumber business, and ranchers. They were involved with charity organizations such as the Odd Fellows, Good Templars, Masons, Knight of Pythias, Borrowed Time Club, Pioneers’ Club and many others supporting this area.
The John B. Gordon Confederate Veterans Camp #1456 of Seattle sent a letter to President Wilson offering their services to the country during WWI. In Dr. W.R. Inge Dalton’s obituary in the Seattle Times, it stated he was the only War Between the States veteran to also serve in WWI. In 1917, the Daughters turned their efforts to war service. The Washington chapters contributed to the national UDC fund for a hospital bed in Paris, France, for the soldiers. A program of hospitality and aid for the Soldiers and Sailors Club was established and the local ladies dutifully served as hostesses to the soldiers coming through this area. After the war, General John Joseph Pershing, as guest of honor, attended a Lee’s birthday dinner held on January 19, 1920, at the Lincoln Hotel with Confederate Veterans in attendance.
An article about the meeting between two men, one had been captured by the other, met again in the Northwest can be found on www.rootsweb.com/~ilcivilw/scrapbk/125th.html about the 125th Illinois Company. A picture and article ran in the Seattle PI in 1897 reporting a reunion of two soldiers fighting opposite sides meeting thirty years later both living in Snohomish. General Govan, a confederate, was captured by Colonel Langley, union soldier, at Jonesboro, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. Colonel Langley’s introduction of General Govan was given with approbation to the GAR John F. Miller Post. “When I shook the hand of my chief prisoner at the barracks in Atlanta late that night I supposed my acquaintance with him was ended forever… yet in just 30 years from the day of the battle of Jonesboro, I broke the bread of friendship at the family table of my distinguished enemy here on the shores of Puget Sound and we were friends, rejoicing in a restored Union, owing allegiance to one government and giving honor to one flag. I present to you General D. C. Govan, once a daring soldier of the Confederacy, now an honored citizen of the republic.” General Govan, at that time, was a Bureau of Indian Affairs agent for the Tulalip tribe.
The Confederate veterans were routinely invited guests of and shared rides with the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in the Memorial Day parade during those days. The two opposing armies of the past often showed respect for each other.