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The Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery

Probably the greatest online reference on the Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery was compiled by Robert Croch in the early 2000s. His website was http://robert-crouch.com/vanbar.html.  Unfortunately, the website was taken down by 2008.  This section is based in part on Crouch's original document, along with other sources.  Original materials, (c) Jeff Davis 2021

The Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery is now a National Cemetery, administered by the National Cemetery Association, which is part of the VA.  This change took place on March 6, 2020, under Executive Order 13781.  This was the fifth cemetery transferred to the NCA by the Army since June 2019. 

To Be Buried at the Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery: "Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces who have met a minimum active duty service requirement and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. A Veteran's spouse, widow or widower, minor dependent children, and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible for burial. Eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they predecease the Veteran. Members of the reserve components of the armed forces who die while on active duty or who die while on training duty, or were eligible for retired pay, may also be eligible for burial. For more information visit our eligibility web page." https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/VancouverBarracks.asp

The office for the cemetery is located at the Willamette National Cemetery, which oversees  Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery.  For assistance, please call 503-273-5250.

The Vancouver Barracks Military Association conducts interpretive walks at the Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery. To request a tour, please contact us at president@vbma.us.

The Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery hosts ordinary soldiers, general officers, civilians, pioneers, Native Americans, Italian and German Prisoners of War, repatriated Russian soldiers, and most notable four Medal of Honor Recipients. Prior to the establishment of the present cemetery, there was an older military cemetery, and even older cemetery established by the Hudson’s Bay Company within the Vancouver Barracks. At present there are over 1400  graves at the Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery, 210 of which are unknown from the mid 1800's, probably when the older cemeteries at the Vancouver Barracks were moved to the present site.

There were at least three cemeteries within the Vancouver Barracks Military Reservation. Before the U.S. Army arrived, the Hudson’s Bay Company sent for Catholic Missionaries to minister to their spiritual needs, which meant establishing a church, and cemetery. Shortly after the U.S. Army established their post, built their own cemetery; preferring it to the Catholic one.

The Hudson’s Bay Company Cemetery

While at Fort Vancouver, the Catholic missionaries tended the ill, buried the dead, and ministered to the spiritual needs of the diverse Hudson’s Bay Company community. Between January 11, 1839 and January 16, 1856, the priests recorded in the Catholic Church Records 208 burials in a cemetery on the northeast hillside of the church - 108 adults, 87 children, and 12 unidentified.

(Reference: Bryn Thomas and Linda Freidenburg), “A Review of Data Relating to Cemeteries, Human Remains, Burials, and Grave Markers Associated with Fort Vancouver,” Short Report 543, Archaeological and Historical Services (Eastern Washington University, 1998). According to the authors, this is not an inclusive number, which does not inlcude burials between 1829 and 1839.  There are also other burials mentioned in other documents documents, not included the top reference..

On October 27, 1850, Bishop Magliore Blanchet, brother of Norbert, came to Vancouver, and in May of 1853 he filed a 640 acre land claim for the Catholic Mission, resulting in a fifty year conflict with the U.S. government. The cemetery’s treatment by U.S. soldiers is indicative of the increasingly tense relationship between the Church, the Hudson’s Bay Company and the military. Dr. Tuzo, the HBC Fort Vancouver physician between 1853 and 1858 noted a lack of respect by the military for the HBC cemetery:
     “The fences, and some of the head boards in the co’s [HBC] graveyard, were removed by some of the soldiers of the garrison at various times, and portions were used as fuel at their quarters. The graveyard became gradually almost obliterated. The authorities ran a fence though it, enclosing a portion within the parade ground, and excluded the rest.”

The Military Cemetery: in 1857

The following year, the Sisters of Providence founded St. Joseph’s Hospital in Vancouver and the military built a hospital. A majority of people who went to hospitals in the nineteenth century ended their lives there. Since Vancouver had no public cemetery until the end of the decade, the deceased were often buried in the military cemetery near the west boundary of the post, south of the Providence Academy.

The Army Cemetery was located near the site of the present day Evergreen Blvd. Vancouver Police Station. Not only were soldiers buried there, but in the earliest days of the history of the City of Vancouver, many civilians were buried there as well. In the early 1880s, the post was expanded, and the commanders decided to move the the cemetery/cemeteries to a new location along Fourth Plain Boulevard, and encouraged civilians to do the same. In 1881, 72 civilian graves were removed in advance of the military graves being transferred to the new cemetery . Many of the early graves used wooden markers, with rotted away over the years. Some graves were never moved, and on at least one occasion, intact graves have been found below existing Barracks buildings.

According to the National Archive Document No. 351000:
     “The original post cemetery was in the northwest corner of the reserve, area 4 acres, enclosed by a strong picket fence. Total internments to 12 August 1882 was 314. Of these the number of officers, as far as was known was six; number of enlisted men whose record could be obtained 30; the remainder civilians or person whose graves were without headboards or any other marks to designate who they were. Civilians we encouraged to reclaim and remove the remains of their relatives, about 72 disinterments of civilians occurred during the year 1881. The new cemetery, situated about ½ mile north of the old one, area 2 acres, was enclosed with a strong new picket fence. No new internments had been made to 12 August 1882. There was some dissention (local) to the disturbance of the burials for reinterment in the new cemetery. Rather it was recommended that the old post cemetery be declared a national cemetery as been formerly don by GO#4 of 1875 subsequently revoked by GO of 1876. The original post was needed for expansion of the building area of the Reservation."

By some estimates, there are over 1,400 people buried at the Vancouver Barracks. Many of them rest in graves with the simple name marker of UKNOWN above them. Most of those resting in marked graves were soldiers and their families, and show a sampling of all levels of military life. There are privates and generals, soldiers who died in combat, and many more who died after retirement; to be buried among their former comrades. There are many military wives, and unfortunately their children as well.

There are many civilians, among them are pioneers, and Hudson’s Bay Company employees, and their families. These include Hawaiians, French Canadians, and Native Americans. As with Army families, sadly at least one Native American child died, and was buried at the cemetery. In another twist of fate, a handful of Italian and German Prisoners of War are buried in the military cemetery. During the war, many Italian, and a few German prisoners were kept at the Vancouver Barracks, and nearby Camp Bonneville. After the war, most were repatriated to their home countries, but a small number died while they waited for the war to end, and remained at the Barracks forever.

Probably the largest number of burials at the cemetery came from World War II. Some of these were people survived the war, and were buried there years later. Others died during the war, and their bodies were returned to Vancouver for burial. A small number of soldier buried at the Vancouver Barracks were not Americans. During the war, several thousand Italian and German soldiers were interred in the northwest. Most survived the war, and returned home. A handful died before that could happen, and were buried among their former enemies, but suddenly at peace, and equal in death.

 

The Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is oftentimes called the Congressional Medal of Honor, because it is presented to soldiers by the President of the United States on behalf of Congress. It the highest award bestowed by the Army: to a person who, while a member of the Army, distinguishes himself or herself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. The deed performed must have been one of personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his or her comrades and must have involved risk of life...
     "[It began]…after the Revolutionary War. Decorations, as such, were still too closely related to European royalty to be of concern to the American people. However, the fierce fighting and deeds of valor during the Civil War brought into focus the realization that such valor must be recognized. [The U.S. Senate] provided that: "The President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause two thousand "medals of honor" to be prepared with suitable emblematic devices, and to direct that the same be presented, in the name of Congress, to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities during the present insurrection…” Department of the Army, Institute of Heraldry

Since it was created in 1863, less than 3,600 Medals of Honor have been awarded. Although the medal began as a way to recognize the bravery of individual soldiers, mostly enlisted privates and sergeants, many officers have been awarded it as well. Four soldiers who received the Congressional Medal of Honor were buried at the Vancouver Barracks Cemetery. They were William W. McCammon, James M. Hill, Moses Williams, and Herman Pfisterer. Some of the citations written about their actions sometimes seem understated…

James Madison Hill

During the Arizona Indian Campaign of 1873, First Sergeant James Madison Hill served with Company A, 5th U.S. Cavalry. His unit engaged the enemy at Turret Mountain, in Arizona on 25 March 1875. His medal citation simply says, “Gallantry in action,” leaving the reader to wonder what else was going on. Hill stayed in the Army, and became the Commissary Sergeant at Vancouver until he retired in 1899. He died in Vancouver on Sept. 17, 1919 of “arterio sclerosis.”

William W. McCammon

In the Civil War, First Lieutenant William McCammon was a member of Company E. of the 24th Missouri Infantry. On October 3, 1862, his unit engaged Confederate forces near Corinth, Mississippi. And, “While on duty as provost marshal, voluntary assumed command of his company, then under fire, and so continued in command until the repulse and retreat of the enemy on the following day, the loss to the company during the battle being very great.” McCammon continued in the Army, eventually coming to the Vancouver Barracks. At one point, he was temporary commander of the Vancouver Barracks, but his normal position was commander of Company D, of the 14th Infantry.

Herman Pfisterer

Courage can come to anyone, when they need it, even to musicians. Private Herman Pfisterer came a long way from his native Brooklyn to become the bugler for Company H., 21st U.S. Infantry, during the Spanish American War in Cuba, in 1898. On 1 July of that year, his unit was heavily engaged in an attack at Santiago, Cuba, and suffered heavy losses. Private Pfisterer “Gallantly assisted in the rescue of the wounded from in front of the lines and under heavy fire from the enemy.” Later Pfisterer served as a bugler with the Company D, 14th U.S. Infantry at Vancouver Barracks. For at time at least, Pfisterer served in the same unit as William McCammon.

Moses Williams

First Sergeant Moses Williams was a “Buffalo” soldier, serving in Company I, 9th U.S. Cavalry during the Apache War in 1881, a unit made up primarily of African American troops. On 16 August 1881, while on patrol near the Cuchillo Negro Mountains of New Mexico, the Apache attacked. First Sergeant Williams: “Rallied a detachment, skillfully conducted a running fight of 3 or 4 hours, and by his coolness, bravery, and unflinching devotion to duty in standing by his commanding officer in an exposed position under heavy fire from a large party of Indians saved the lives of at least 3 of his comrades.” Williams remained in the Army, and became the Ordinance Sergeant at Fort Stevens, delivering supplies to various Coastal Artillery Batteries along the Washington and Oregon Coasts. When he retired in 1899, Williams moved to Vancouver, and died in bed, of heart failure, three weeks later.

Children’s Graves

There was no children’s cemetery at the 1880s Vancouver Barracks Cemetery. There are a few collections of children’s graves though. There are several children’s graves clustered in Section 5W. These children all died at different times, most before 1881. This suggests that there was a children’s cemetery section in the older Post Cemetery. And when the present cemetery was founded, and older graves moved, the children’s cemetery was uprooted and moved at the same time. Several of the children buried there were the offspring of many (now) famous soldiers and their wives.

For more information on the cemetery, view/download the following document:
Cemetery Handout