Sixteen US Sailors were honored with Medals of Honor at Fort Fisher, but none for Lt. Roswell Lamson as Naval officers were ineligible for the award until World War I.
He returned to Oregon and worked on his father's farm. His fame and service to his country enabled him to get good government positions and jobs. He was county clerk of Yamhill County in 1973, and taught at Pacific University. In 1877 he was Clerk of the US District Court in Portland.
He and Kate had seven children of which only two survived into adulthood. Kate died in 1893 at age 49. Lamson's health begin to deteriorate from his old wound and he retired from the court in 1894 and applied for military disability in 1895 and began receiving his pension. He was an active member of Portland's GAR Post 13 and died in 1903.
His death made the front page news in the Morning Oregonian. At his funeral, his coffin was covered with the bullet-riddle flag of the USS Mt. Washington which he had commanded (while it was the USS Mount Vernon) and he was buried in Portland's River View Cemetery next to his wife and four children.
A collection of his war-time correspondence was published in the book "Lamson of the Gettysburg: the Civil War Letters of Lt. Roswell H. Lamson."
Three US Naval ships, including a World War II destroyer have been named for him.
Quite a US Naval Officer. --Old B-Runner
No comments:
Post a Comment