From the January 2009 Oregon Magazine, "Storming the Ramparts" by Randy Fletcher. A very interesting account of two men, their lives, and who were at the same battle, but on two different fronts of it.
Lt. Roswell Lamson, 26, USN, commander of the USS Gettysburg was preparing for a naval assault on Fort Fisher, NC's northeast salient. At the same time, 17-year-old Alaric Chapin was on land and was one of thirteen volunteers who had the job of moving against the fort first and cutting through the palisades.
Both of these men never met at the time, nor did they meet afterwards, but both are buried in Oregon, one as a native and the other having moved there.
Lamson was born in Iowa, and at age 9, his family had moved west on the Oregon Trail. His parents took a Donation Land Claim near present-day Willamina. he got his education at the Oregon institute in Salem. he fought in the Yakima Indian War and at a big battle where La Grande, Oregon is located today. In 1858, he became the first Oregonian appointed to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.
More to Come. --Old B-Runner
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