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William Jackson Palmer

William Jackson Palmer (September 18, 1836 – March 13, 1909) was an American civil engineer and veteran of the American Civil War. During the Civil War, he was promoted to brevet brigadier general and received a Medal of Honor for his actions.

William Jackson Palmer
Born(1836-09-18)September 18, 1836
Leipsic, Delaware
DiedMarch 13, 1909(1909-03-13) (aged 72)
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Place of burial
Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, Colorado
AllegianceUnited States
Union
Service/branchUnited States Army
Union Army
Years of service1861–1865
Rank Colonel
Brevet Brigadier General
Commands held15th Pennsylvania Cavalry
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War
AwardsMedal of Honor
Spouse(s)Mary Lincoln Mellen
Other workFounder of Colorado Springs, Colorado and builder of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad

In his early career, Palmer helped develop the expanding railroads of the United States in Pennsylvania; this was interrupted by the American Civil War. He served in colorful fashion as a Union Army cavalry Colonel and was appointed to the brevet grade of Brigadier General. After the war, he contributed financially to educational efforts for the freed former slaves of the South.

Heading west in 1867, Palmer helped build the Kansas Pacific Railway. He befriended a young English doctor, Dr. William Abraham Bell, who became his partner in most of his business ventures. Generally Palmer took the role of president with Bell as vice president. The two men are best known as co-founders of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (Rio Grande). The Rio Grande and its successors eventually operated the largest network of narrow gauge railroad in the United States. They were ultimately absorbed by the 21st century Union Pacific Railroad.

Palmer and Bell are notable for helping introduce to the United States the practices of burning coal (rather than wood) for railroad engines and using narrow gauge railways. He helped develop rail-related industries in Colorado, such as a large steel mill near Pueblo. He founded the city of Colorado Springs, in 1871, as well as several other communities. Palmer founded Colorado Springs as a "dry" community, based on his Quaker and temperance beliefs. He funded institutions of higher education and helped found a hospital for tuberculosis, then incurable. Public schools in Colorado Springs were named for both him and his wife, Mary (née Mellen) Palmer, who was known by her nickname of "Queen". A statue of William J. Palmer still stands in downtown Colorado Springs, across from the school named in his honor.

Early life Edit

William Jackson Palmer was born in 1836 to a Hicksite sect Quaker family on their Kinsdale Farm in 1836, near Leipsic, Kent County, Delaware.[1]: 13  His parents were John and Matilda (Jackson) Palmer.[2]: 8  When he was five years old, his family moved to Germantown, then an independent city outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the private Friends School, and then public schools: Zane Street School and Boys' Central High School.[1]: 13 

Pennsylvania railroads Edit

In 1851, Palmer went to work at the age of 15 in western Pennsylvania as a clerk for Hempfield Railroad's engineering department. Two years later, at age 17, he worked under chief engineer Charles Ellet, Jr. as a rodman. Palmer became transitman for Hempfield in 1854.[2]: 8 

Frank H. Jackson, president of Westmoreland Coal Company and Palmer's maternal uncle, encouraged him to go to England to study coal mining and railroads, which he believed were going to be key to United States development.[1]: 33, 372  The young Palmer was particularly interested in whether railroad engines could run on anthracite coal rather than wood as fuel. He left in the summer of 1855 for a six-month period, having arranged to write paid articles for Miner's Journal of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, to finance the trip abroad. He also borrowed money from his uncle.[1]: 33, 372 [a] While in England, Palmer met with noted railroad engineers such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Robert Stephenson,—and visited railroads, mills, and coal mines.[1]: 372 

In 1856, his uncle Jackson hired Palmer to work at Westmoreland Coal Company as the secretary and treasurer.[2]: 8  The following year he worked at the Pennsylvania Railroad and became private secretary to President John Edgar Thomson,[2]: 8  a successful Quaker businessman.[1]: 372  At this time, future industrialist Andrew Carnegie was a peer and secretary to a company vice president.[4] Palmer wrote, Reports of Experiments with Coal Burning Locomotives and learned about running a railroad from Thomson.[1]: 372  Palmer began an evaluation of converting steam engines to run on coal, which was more abundant[citation needed], rather than wood. His findings were key to changing the type of fuel used to fuel the country's locomotives.[1]: 113–114  He began a relationship with Thomas A. Scott at the Pennsylvania Railroad. Scott was later appointed as Assistant Secretary of War in charge of military transportation during the Civil War.[1]: 114 

Civil War service Edit

 
William Jackson Palmer, American Civil War, 1861. Broadbent & Company, Philadelphia. Courtesy of Starsmore Center for Local History, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

As the American Civil War began in 1861, although his Quaker upbringing made Palmer abhor violence, his passionate abolitionism compelled him in keeping with the dictates of his conscience to enlist in the Pennsylvania volunteers. Palmer took a commission in the Union Army.[1]: 27–28  He organized the Anderson Troop, an independent company of Pennsylvania cavalry, in the fall of 1861[2]: 8  and was elected its captain.[1]: 46–47  Originally formed to act as a bodyguard for Brig. Gen. Robert Anderson, it instead served as the headquarters cavalry for General Don Carlos Buell, commanding the Army of the Ohio. Impressed with the "elite scouts" that Palmer had assembled, Buell detailed Palmer and 12 of his men to go back to Pennsylvania to recruit more men to form a battalion around the Anderson Troop that would be known as the "1st Anderson Cavalry".[3]

In ten days of recruiting, however, Palmer received enough applications for enlistment to form a regiment, which was authorized as the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was appointed the regiment's colonel.[2]: 8 [1]: 47  Before Palmer was able to organize the regiment at Camp Alabama in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he and a portion of it were ordered on September 9 to help the Army of the Potomac resist the Confederates invasion of Maryland. For nearly a week Palmer, accompanied by a telegrapher, personally sought information of Lee's movements every night in civilian clothing, and transmitted his findings to General George B. McClellan via telegraph connections.[citation needed]

Two days after the Battle of Antietam, Palmer was captured while scouting at the personal direction of McClellan, seeking information on any preparations by Lee's army to cross the Potomac River back into Virginia. He was on the Confederate side of the river, again garbed in civilian clothes and accompanied by a local blacksmith and a parson as his guides, attempting to recross to the Union side after midnight when he was captured by Confederate artillerymen sent to guard the dam he used for the crossing.[3] When questioned, Palmer gave his name as "W.J. Peters," and claimed to be an engineer on an inspection trip. He was interrogated by General William N. Pendleton, who thought he was a spy. He was detained and sent to Richmond, Virginia, with a rambling note from Pendleton that was ignored.[3]

Palmer was incarcerated at the notorious Castle Thunder prison on Tobacco Row, Richmond where his true identity was never uncovered. Doubts about his identity were apparently reinforced by publication of a fictitious dispatch in the Philadelphia newspapers that purported that Palmer was in Washington, D.C., after scouting in Virginia. When he was freed after four months of confinement, he found that his guide, the Reverend J.J. Stine, had escaped but been arrested by Union authorities, accused of betraying him to the enemy. Rather than risk Palmer's life by publication of the circumstances in the Northern press, Stine had remained imprisoned in Fort Delaware until Palmer's personal application to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton resulted in his release.[citation needed]

Palmer was set free in a prisoner exchange for a prominent Richmond citizen, recuperated two weeks, and rejoined his regiment in February 1863.[3] During his period of imprisonment, the regiment had become mutinous because of a failure to have officers appointed and other enlistment inducements it felt had not been honored. 212 troopers faced court-martial and the possibility of going before a firing squad for refusing to fight in the Battle of Stone's River. Palmer reorganized the regiment, personally appointed officers in whose abilities he had great trust, and had the charges against the confined soldiers dropped on the condition that they behaved going forward.[3] The severely demoralized group of men rallied and distinguished themselves during the 1863 Tullahoma Campaign, the Battle of Chickamauga, the capture of Brig. Gen. Robert B. Vance's raiding cavalry and re-capture of 28 wagons of a foraging train in January 1864, and the Franklin–Nashville Campaign.[3]

At Chickamauga, Palmer's regiment was detailed as headquarters guard for the Army of the Cumberland with many troopers doled out to the various corps as couriers and scouts. When Longstreet unexpectedly attacked the union right near Rosecrans' headquarters, Palmer gathered all the men of his regiment available and prepared to counterattack with a saber charge. The Union right flank dissolved, however, and after attempting to rally the panicked infantry, his regiment crossed the battlefield in good order under Confederate artillery fire to protect the Union artillery. During the army's retreat to Chattanooga, the 15th Pennsylvania provided escort for the army's supply train. Not easily impressed, Major General George H. Thomas (the "Rock of Chickamauga") recommended that Palmer receive a brigadier's star for his success at turning a highly demoralized group of men to an effective group of soldiers.[3]

Palmer was vigorous in pursuing Confederate General John Bell Hood after the Battle of Nashville in 1864. On March 9, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln nominated Palmer for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general of volunteers at the age of 28, with the U.S. Senate confirming the appointment on March 10, 1865.[5]: 754  On March 16 he was promoted to command of the 1st Brigade of the Cavalry Division, District of East Tennessee, consisting of the 15th Pennsylvania, the 10th Michigan, and the 12th Ohio Cavalry Regiments. A month later he assumed command of the division after General Alvan C. Gillem was promoted to command of the District of East Tennessee. Palmer was in the vanguard of Union General George Stoneman’s raid into Virginia and North Carolina in the last two months of the Civil War. At Martinsville, Virginia on April 8, 1865, Palmer's cavalry defeated a Confederate force of Cavalry commanded by Colonel James Wheeler, the cousin of Confederate Cavalry commander Fighting Joe Wheeler. If Palmer had pushed on to Danville, only 20 miles to the north, he might very well have captured Jefferson Davis, who up till then had not left the capital of the Confederacy. Davis subsequently left the next day, upon receiving word of Lee's surrender. This was a little-known campaign immortalized in The Band's epic, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".[citation needed]

Palmer commanded the cavalry pursuit of Jefferson Davis following the surrender by General Joseph E. Johnston. Davis was followed through North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia and driven into the hands of General James H. Wilson.[4]: 9899 [1]: 58  During the pursuit, Palmer's former command overtook and captured wagons carrying millions of dollars of specie, bonds, securities, notes, and other Confederate assets, near Covington, Georgia, that had been kept in the Bank of Macon (Georgia).[1]: 48  Palmer was mustered out of the Union Army on June 21, 1865.[5]: 415 

General George Henry Thomas wrote of Palmer:

There is no officer in the regular or volunteer service who has performed the duties which have devolved upon him with more intelligence, zeal, or energy than General Palmer, whose uniform distinguished success throughout the war places his reputation beyond controversy.[4]: 9899 

On February 24, 1894, Palmer was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions as colonel leading the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry at Red Hill, Alabama, January 14, 1865, where "with less than 200 men, [he] attacked and defeated a superior force of the enemy, captured their fieldpiece and about 100 prisoners without losing a man."[5]: 415  Six former officers of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry had nominated him the previous October to receive the honor, but for the scouting efforts in mufti during the Antietam Campaign that resulted in his capture. The War Department rejected that nomination on the basis that the acts, while valorous, had not been performed of a field of battle. They then submitted a new nomination for the action at Red Hill, which was approved.[1]: 48–50 

Western railroads Edit

Kansas Pacific Railway Edit

 
The Kansas Pacific main line shown on an 1869 map. The thickened portion along the line indicates the extent of the land grants available to settlers. At the time of the map, the line extended only as far as western Kansas (section in green). The extension to the Colorado Territory (section in red) was completed the following year

After the War, Palmer resumed the railroad career he had started previous to the conflict. In 1867, a very optimistic, eager 30-year-old Palmer, and his 21-year-old chief assistant Edward Hibberd Johnson, headed west from their hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[6] Palmer worked the Kansas Pacific Railway first as secretary and treasurer[2]: 8  and then as managing director responsible for extending service through south central Colorado. With Kansas Pacific chief engineer Colonel William Henry Greenwood, Palmer organized a surveying expedition that recommended in 1868 that the route to the coast be diverted at Ellsworth, Kansas, to Pueblo, Colorado, and through the Royal Gorge to the San Luis Valley where it would turn south to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The route was rejected by the Kansas Pacific's board of directors in favor of a line through Denver, which was completed in 1870.[3][2]: 8 [7]

Denver and Rio Grande Railway Edit

While in the Colorado Territory, Palmer went to Colorado City (now Old Colorado City) to consider a north-south route from Denver for his own railway.[1]: 116  Palmer had a vision to build a railroad south from Denver through New Mexico and El Paso to Mexico City.[3] Palmer founded—with Greenwood, Colonel D.C. Dodge, former Colorado territorial Governor Alexander Cameron Hunt, Charles B. Lambord[b] and others—and was elected president of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad in 1870.[4]: 9900 [2]: 8 

The first section of the railway included the first 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad tracks in the West. The line ran south of Denver and across the Palmer Divide, which separates the Platte River and Arkansas River watersheds,[4]: 9900  and to Colorado Springs by 1871. The line went to Pueblo in 1872, and further south to coal fields beyond Trinidad in April 1876.[8] The railroad had service along the Arkansas River canyon to other coal mining locations, to the metal mining town of Leadville, and the iron mines in Saguache County, Colorado. Palmer stepped down as president in 1883 to focus greater attention on developing the Mexican line.[4]: 9900 

Rio Grande Western Railway Edit

Palmer was president of the Rio Grande Western Railway from 1881[2]: 8  or 1883 to 1901. He built lines from the terminus of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway in Grand Junction to the Utah cities of Ogden and Salt Lake City. This provided direct service from Denver to Utah via narrow-gauge railway.[4]: 9900 

Mexican National Railway Edit

In the spring of 1880, Palmer was made president of the Mexican National Railway (now National Railroad of Mexico). He hired Greenwood again as chief engineer in May, only to have Greenwood robbed and murdered on a survey near Mexico City on August 29. Most of the line was completed by 1883[2]: 8  when the railroad reached Mexico City.[9]

Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs Edit

 
Statue of General William Jackson Palmer, 1929, intersection of Platte and Nevada Avenues, Colorado Springs. The statue was funded through donations to the William Jackson Palmer Memorial Association.[10]

Palmer came to the Colorado Territory as a surveyor with the Kansas Pacific Railway in search of possible railroad routes. Dr. William Abraham Bell from England was also part of the survey party.[11]: viii [1]: 110  On July 31, 1871, Palmer and Bell founded Fountain Colony (later Colorado Springs), downstream of Colorado City, and it was laid out by the Colorado Springs Company that year.[11]: viii [2]: 8 [c] It was named for springs found along Monument Creek as early as 1871.[14] Four chalybeate mineral springs were later discovered along Monument Creek in October 1880.[15]

He also founded the town of Manitou (later Manitou Springs) as a resort town at the base of Pikes Peak.[4]: 9900  Palmer spent about $1,000,000 (equivalent to $33,356,552 in 2022) on the construction of roads and development of parks in Manitou Springs, Old Colorado City, Colorado Springs, and Manitou Park.[4]: 9901 

In Colorado Springs, Palmer provided funding for Colorado College[4]: 9901–9902  and within two years, Colorado Springs the town had 1,500 residents, schools, churches, banks, and a newspaper.[3] Palmer donated land to establish the first city park, Acacia, and additional parks: Antlers Park, Monument Valley Park, North Cheyenne Cañon Park, Palmer Park, Pioneer Square Park (South Park), Prospect Lake and Bear Creek Cañon Park. He donated a total of 1,270 acres of land, some of which was also used for scenic drives, tree-lined roadways and foot and bridle paths.[16] Palmer also provided the land and funding for the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, a tuberculosis sanatorium, and multiple libraries.[3] With the land that he gave for parks, churches, libraries, hospitals, and schools, he donated a total of 1,638 acres. Palmer also founded the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper.[9]

In 1883, he built the Antlers Hotel. When it burned down in 1898, he rebuilt the hotel with Italian Renaissance architecture.[3][d] In 1901 Palmer honored Zebulon Montgomery Pike with a marble statue placed near the main entrance of the hotel.[17] In 1904, Palmer located a mineral spring that had been used by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad company in 1871, but was covered in sands by flooding along Monument Creek;[18] he next directed engineers to install a concrete vault to maintain the spring water's purity and a hand pump to bring water to the surface.[19] Palmer announced his intention to build a pavilion[20] and to name the spring after Zebulon Pike’s Indian guide, Chief Tahama, also known as "Rising Moose."[21]

Other towns were founded by Palmer along his railroad lines, include Salida, Alamosa, and Durango.[9]

Colorado Coal and Iron Company Edit

Palmer envisioned "an integrated industrial complex based on steel manufacturing" in which all necessary resources were controlled by one company.[22] In 1880, Palmer constructed Colorado Coal and Iron Company's (CC&I) steel mill south of Pueblo and laid out the town of Bessemer (now incorporated in Pueblo). The Minnequa plant became one of the greatest iron and steel plants in the country. His dream became a reality for his successors when, in 1892, CC&I merged with the Colorado Fuel Company to form Colorado Fuel and Iron.[22][4]: 9900 

Personal life Edit

Over the course of his life, Palmer was a member of the Denver Club, Colorado Springs Country Club, El Paso Country Club, City Midday Club (New York), and the Metropolitan Club (New York).[2]: 8 

Marriage Edit

 
Mary Lincoln (Queen) Mellen Palmer, wife of William Jackson Palmer

Palmer met Mary Lincoln (Queen) Mellen in April 1869 while she and her father, William Proctor Mellen, were on a train returning from a trip to see the West.[1]: 69, 116–117  They were married November 7, 1870, in Flushing, New York, where the Mellen family lived at the time. They spent their honeymoon in Europe.[1]: 71  They had three daughters, Elsie, Dorothy, and Marjory.[2]

 
Miss Elsie Palmer, John Singer Sargent, painted at Ightham 1889-90

Palmer built a house that would eventually become Glen Eyrie Castle, Scottish for "Valley of the Eagle's Nest," in 1871 near Colorado Springs, as a home for his wife and family.[4]: 9901 [1]: 215, 221  While they lived there, Queen taught at Colorado Springs' first school.[9]

 
Glen Eyrie, Colorado Springs

Palmer had apartments in London and New York, a castle near Mexico City, and property throughout Colorado.[1]: 75  The Palmers traveled frequently with their children and governesses to New York and London for William's business and lived part-time at Glen Eyrie in Colorado.[1]: 75 

Queen was of frail health, possibly aggravated by living at high altitude. While pregnant with their middle daughter Dorothy in 1880, Queen suffered a heart attack in Leadville during a vacation. Dorothy was born a few weeks later at Glen Eyrie. Then, their third daughter, Marjorie, was born in England. Two maids and a doctor had accompanied them on the trip.[1]: 75  Over the next four years, Queen often lived on the East Coast or England, with visits by Palmer. In 1885, she left Glen Eyrie permanently, due to ongoing health concerns, and needing to live at a lower altitude, she returned to her home in England. In about 1887, Queen began renting Ightham Mote in Kent, where she lived for 3 years.[1]: 75  William and Queen vacationed in France and Italy in the spring of 1889. Following other heart attacks which prevented any return to Colorado, Queen died in England on December 27, 1894, at the age of 44.[1]: 78 

Retirement Edit

 
William Jackson Palmer's grave, Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, Colorado

When Palmer retired from business, he devoted himself to philanthropic endeavors, giving away $4 million (equivalent to $130,281,481 in 2022). In the autumn of 1906, Palmer suffered a fall from a horse and was partially paralyzed.[4]: 9902  Left with a broken spine, Palmer was thereafter confined to a wheelchair. Palmer sustained a C6 incomplete spinal cord injury, which would have paralyzed him from the neck down, making him a quadrapalegic.[3]

Unable to travel, Palmer hosted the veterans of his 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment troopers for their annual reunion in August 1907 at Glen Eyrie. He provided a special train and paid the travel expenses for 208[3] of about 260 surviving veterans.[4]: 9902  Mrs. J.A. Hayes, the wife of a prominent Colorado Springs banker and daughter of Jefferson Davis, was an honored guest at the reunion.[4]: 9902–9903 

William Jackson Palmer died on March 13, 1909, at the age of 72.[1]: 78  On the day of his death schools, businesses, and trains stopped and flags flew at half mast in Colorado Springs. The mayor said Palmer was "the soldier, the builder of an empire, the philanthropist, the friend of the people, whose life was a blessing." Gazette journalist Dave Philipps said that he was "an ardent pacifist, humanitarian and champion of preserving wildlands at a time when conservation was almost unheard of."[9] His and Queen's ashes are buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[1]: 78 

Legacy Edit

Medal of Honor citation Edit

 
Colonel William J. Palmer of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry received the Medal of Honor on February 24, 1894 for his service on Red Hill, Alabama on January 14, 1865: "With less than 200 men, attacked and defeated a superior force of the enemy, capturing their fieldpiece and about 100 prisoners without losing a man."[27][28]

The medal is on permanent display at the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum.[1]: 53 

See also Edit

Notes Edit

  1. ^ There are differing opinions about when Palmer went to Europe. The National Cyclopedia of American Biography says that he studied in England about 1854.[2]: 8  Lowry says that Thomson sent him to Europe.[3]
  2. ^ Lambord had been lieutenant colonel of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry under Palmer.
  3. ^ In reaction to the saloons, prostitution, and opium dens of Colorado City, Palmer purchased the land for the new town east of the wild town and outlawed the consumption of alcohol within the new town's borders. Alcohol was sold, however, by druggists for "medicinal purposes". In 1933, at the end of Prohibition, Colorado Springs lifted the ban of the sale and consumption of alcohol.[12][13]
  4. ^ The Antlers, built in 1898, was replaced about 1948 with the current, modern Antlers Hotel.[3]

References Edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab Tim Blevins; Dennis Daily; Chris Nicholl; Calvin P. Otto; Katherine Scott Sturdevant (2009). Legends, Labors & Loves: William Jackson Palmer, 1836-1909. Pikes Peak Library District. ISBN 978-1-56735-262-7.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "William Jackson Palmer". The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. J.T. White. 1904. p. 8.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Thomas P. Lowry (August 2, 2007). . Civil War Times. Archived from the original on March 16, 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2014 – via Weider History Network.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Page, Walter Hines; Page, Arthur Wilson (February 1908). "Gen. William J. Palmer, A Builder of The West". The World's Work: A History of Our Time. XV: 9898–9903. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c John H. Eicher & David J. Eicher (2001). Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
  6. ^ Dave Philipps (January 2, 2014). "Ask Gen. Palmer: Assistant helped light up the world". The Gazette. Colorado Springs, Colorado. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  7. ^ Glenn Danford Bradley (1920). History of the Santa Fe. R.G. Badger. p. 168. royal gorge canon city and san juan.
  8. ^ "A Recent Trip To El Moro. — Colorado Springs Gazette August 5, 1876 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection". www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  9. ^ a b c d e Dave Philipps (March 8, 2009). . The Gazette. Colorado Springs, Colorado. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
  10. ^ "General William Jackson Palmer Equestrian Statue" (PDF). Colorado Cultural Resource Survey. City of Colorado Springs. March 2004. p. 2. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  11. ^ a b Deborah Harrison; Manitou Springs Heritage Center (2012). Manitou Springs. Arcadia Publishing. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-7385-9596-2.
  12. ^ Jan MacKell (2007). Brothels, Bordellos, and Bad Girls: Prostitution in Colorado, 1860-1930. UNM Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-8263-3343-8.
  13. ^ Inner Source Designs; Kathy and Lee Hayward (1 November 2009). Drinking and Driving in Colorado: A Guide to Colorado's Brewpubs. Inner Source Designs. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-9822571-1-1.
  14. ^ "Used Spring 33 Years Ago". Colorado Springs Gazette. December 26, 1904. p. 5.
  15. ^ "Chalybeate Springs". Colorado Springs Gazette. October 30, 1880. p. 5.
  16. ^ "Parks, Trails and Open Spaces". City of Colorado Springs. Retrieved May 23, 2013.
  17. ^ "William J. Palmer". Facts Illustrated. Vol. 9, no. 13/14. January 1, 1902. pp. 31–32.
  18. ^ "Used Spring 33 Years Ago". Colorado Springs Gazette. December 26, 1904. p. 5.
  19. ^ "Would Erect Fountain in Park as Palmer Memorial". Colorado Springs Gazette. July 26, 1923. p. 12.
  20. ^ "Pavilion for New Spring". Sunday Gazette and Telegraph. April 23, 1905. p. 5.
  21. ^ "Would Erect Fountain in Park as Palmer Memorial". Colorado Springs Gazette. July 26, 1923. p. 5.
  22. ^ a b James Whiteside (1990). Regulating Danger: The Struggle for Mine Safety in the Rocky Mountain Coal Industry. University of Nebraska Press. p. 7. ISBN 0-8032-4752-4.
  23. ^ F. Erik Brooks; Glenn L. Starks (September 30, 2011). Historically Black Colleges and Universities: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-313-39415-7.
  24. ^ See also: Tuberculosis treatment in Colorado Springs
  25. ^ General Palmer Hotel
  26. ^ "Hall of Great Westerners". National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  27. ^ "Palmer, William J., Civil War Medal of Honor recipient". American Civil War website. 2007-11-08. Retrieved November 8, 2007.
  28. ^ . Medal of Honor citations. United States Army Center of Military History. August 3, 2009. Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved July 1, 2010.

Further reading Edit

  • John Stirling Fischer (1939). A Builder of the West: The Life of William Jackson Palmer. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers.

External links Edit

  Media related to William Jackson Palmer at Wikimedia Commons

william, jackson, palmer, september, 1836, march, 1909, american, civil, engineer, veteran, american, civil, during, civil, promoted, brevet, brigadier, general, received, medal, honor, actions, born, 1836, september, 1836leipsic, delawarediedmarch, 1909, 1909. William Jackson Palmer September 18 1836 March 13 1909 was an American civil engineer and veteran of the American Civil War During the Civil War he was promoted to brevet brigadier general and received a Medal of Honor for his actions William Jackson PalmerBorn 1836 09 18 September 18 1836Leipsic DelawareDiedMarch 13 1909 1909 03 13 aged 72 Colorado Springs ColoradoPlace of burialEvergreen Cemetery Colorado Springs ColoradoAllegianceUnited StatesUnionService wbr branchUnited States ArmyUnion ArmyYears of service1861 1865RankColonel Brevet Brigadier GeneralCommands held15th Pennsylvania CavalryBattles warsAmerican Civil WarAwardsMedal of HonorSpouse s Mary Lincoln MellenOther workFounder of Colorado Springs Colorado and builder of the Denver and Rio Grande RailroadIn his early career Palmer helped develop the expanding railroads of the United States in Pennsylvania this was interrupted by the American Civil War He served in colorful fashion as a Union Army cavalry Colonel and was appointed to the brevet grade of Brigadier General After the war he contributed financially to educational efforts for the freed former slaves of the South Heading west in 1867 Palmer helped build the Kansas Pacific Railway He befriended a young English doctor Dr William Abraham Bell who became his partner in most of his business ventures Generally Palmer took the role of president with Bell as vice president The two men are best known as co founders of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Rio Grande The Rio Grande and its successors eventually operated the largest network of narrow gauge railroad in the United States They were ultimately absorbed by the 21st century Union Pacific Railroad Palmer and Bell are notable for helping introduce to the United States the practices of burning coal rather than wood for railroad engines and using narrow gauge railways He helped develop rail related industries in Colorado such as a large steel mill near Pueblo He founded the city of Colorado Springs in 1871 as well as several other communities Palmer founded Colorado Springs as a dry community based on his Quaker and temperance beliefs He funded institutions of higher education and helped found a hospital for tuberculosis then incurable Public schools in Colorado Springs were named for both him and his wife Mary nee Mellen Palmer who was known by her nickname of Queen A statue of William J Palmer still stands in downtown Colorado Springs across from the school named in his honor Contents 1 Early life 2 Pennsylvania railroads 3 Civil War service 4 Western railroads 4 1 Kansas Pacific Railway 4 2 Denver and Rio Grande Railway 4 3 Rio Grande Western Railway 4 4 Mexican National Railway 5 Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs 6 Colorado Coal and Iron Company 7 Personal life 7 1 Marriage 7 2 Retirement 8 Legacy 9 Medal of Honor citation 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External linksEarly life EditWilliam Jackson Palmer was born in 1836 to a Hicksite sect Quaker family on their Kinsdale Farm in 1836 near Leipsic Kent County Delaware 1 13 His parents were John and Matilda Jackson Palmer 2 8 When he was five years old his family moved to Germantown then an independent city outside Philadelphia Pennsylvania He attended the private Friends School and then public schools Zane Street School and Boys Central High School 1 13 Pennsylvania railroads EditIn 1851 Palmer went to work at the age of 15 in western Pennsylvania as a clerk for Hempfield Railroad s engineering department Two years later at age 17 he worked under chief engineer Charles Ellet Jr as a rodman Palmer became transitman for Hempfield in 1854 2 8 Frank H Jackson president of Westmoreland Coal Company and Palmer s maternal uncle encouraged him to go to England to study coal mining and railroads which he believed were going to be key to United States development 1 33 372 The young Palmer was particularly interested in whether railroad engines could run on anthracite coal rather than wood as fuel He left in the summer of 1855 for a six month period having arranged to write paid articles for Miner s Journal of Pottsville Pennsylvania to finance the trip abroad He also borrowed money from his uncle 1 33 372 a While in England Palmer met with noted railroad engineers such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Robert Stephenson and visited railroads mills and coal mines 1 372 In 1856 his uncle Jackson hired Palmer to work at Westmoreland Coal Company as the secretary and treasurer 2 8 The following year he worked at the Pennsylvania Railroad and became private secretary to President John Edgar Thomson 2 8 a successful Quaker businessman 1 372 At this time future industrialist Andrew Carnegie was a peer and secretary to a company vice president 4 Palmer wrote Reports of Experiments with Coal Burning Locomotives and learned about running a railroad from Thomson 1 372 Palmer began an evaluation of converting steam engines to run on coal which was more abundant citation needed rather than wood His findings were key to changing the type of fuel used to fuel the country s locomotives 1 113 114 He began a relationship with Thomas A Scott at the Pennsylvania Railroad Scott was later appointed as Assistant Secretary of War in charge of military transportation during the Civil War 1 114 Civil War service Edit nbsp William Jackson Palmer American Civil War 1861 Broadbent amp Company Philadelphia Courtesy of Starsmore Center for Local History Colorado Springs Colorado As the American Civil War began in 1861 although his Quaker upbringing made Palmer abhor violence his passionate abolitionism compelled him in keeping with the dictates of his conscience to enlist in the Pennsylvania volunteers Palmer took a commission in the Union Army 1 27 28 He organized the Anderson Troop an independent company of Pennsylvania cavalry in the fall of 1861 2 8 and was elected its captain 1 46 47 Originally formed to act as a bodyguard for Brig Gen Robert Anderson it instead served as the headquarters cavalry for General Don Carlos Buell commanding the Army of the Ohio Impressed with the elite scouts that Palmer had assembled Buell detailed Palmer and 12 of his men to go back to Pennsylvania to recruit more men to form a battalion around the Anderson Troop that would be known as the 1st Anderson Cavalry 3 In ten days of recruiting however Palmer received enough applications for enlistment to form a regiment which was authorized as the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry He was appointed the regiment s colonel 2 8 1 47 Before Palmer was able to organize the regiment at Camp Alabama in Carlisle Pennsylvania he and a portion of it were ordered on September 9 to help the Army of the Potomac resist the Confederates invasion of Maryland For nearly a week Palmer accompanied by a telegrapher personally sought information of Lee s movements every night in civilian clothing and transmitted his findings to General George B McClellan via telegraph connections citation needed Two days after the Battle of Antietam Palmer was captured while scouting at the personal direction of McClellan seeking information on any preparations by Lee s army to cross the Potomac River back into Virginia He was on the Confederate side of the river again garbed in civilian clothes and accompanied by a local blacksmith and a parson as his guides attempting to recross to the Union side after midnight when he was captured by Confederate artillerymen sent to guard the dam he used for the crossing 3 When questioned Palmer gave his name as W J Peters and claimed to be an engineer on an inspection trip He was interrogated by General William N Pendleton who thought he was a spy He was detained and sent to Richmond Virginia with a rambling note from Pendleton that was ignored 3 Palmer was incarcerated at the notorious Castle Thunder prison on Tobacco Row Richmond where his true identity was never uncovered Doubts about his identity were apparently reinforced by publication of a fictitious dispatch in the Philadelphia newspapers that purported that Palmer was in Washington D C after scouting in Virginia When he was freed after four months of confinement he found that his guide the Reverend J J Stine had escaped but been arrested by Union authorities accused of betraying him to the enemy Rather than risk Palmer s life by publication of the circumstances in the Northern press Stine had remained imprisoned in Fort Delaware until Palmer s personal application to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton resulted in his release citation needed Palmer was set free in a prisoner exchange for a prominent Richmond citizen recuperated two weeks and rejoined his regiment in February 1863 3 During his period of imprisonment the regiment had become mutinous because of a failure to have officers appointed and other enlistment inducements it felt had not been honored 212 troopers faced court martial and the possibility of going before a firing squad for refusing to fight in the Battle of Stone s River Palmer reorganized the regiment personally appointed officers in whose abilities he had great trust and had the charges against the confined soldiers dropped on the condition that they behaved going forward 3 The severely demoralized group of men rallied and distinguished themselves during the 1863 Tullahoma Campaign the Battle of Chickamauga the capture of Brig Gen Robert B Vance s raiding cavalry and re capture of 28 wagons of a foraging train in January 1864 and the Franklin Nashville Campaign 3 At Chickamauga Palmer s regiment was detailed as headquarters guard for the Army of the Cumberland with many troopers doled out to the various corps as couriers and scouts When Longstreet unexpectedly attacked the union right near Rosecrans headquarters Palmer gathered all the men of his regiment available and prepared to counterattack with a saber charge The Union right flank dissolved however and after attempting to rally the panicked infantry his regiment crossed the battlefield in good order under Confederate artillery fire to protect the Union artillery During the army s retreat to Chattanooga the 15th Pennsylvania provided escort for the army s supply train Not easily impressed Major General George H Thomas the Rock of Chickamauga recommended that Palmer receive a brigadier s star for his success at turning a highly demoralized group of men to an effective group of soldiers 3 Palmer was vigorous in pursuing Confederate General John Bell Hood after the Battle of Nashville in 1864 On March 9 1865 President Abraham Lincoln nominated Palmer for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general of volunteers at the age of 28 with the U S Senate confirming the appointment on March 10 1865 5 754 On March 16 he was promoted to command of the 1st Brigade of the Cavalry Division District of East Tennessee consisting of the 15th Pennsylvania the 10th Michigan and the 12th Ohio Cavalry Regiments A month later he assumed command of the division after General Alvan C Gillem was promoted to command of the District of East Tennessee Palmer was in the vanguard of Union General George Stoneman s raid into Virginia and North Carolina in the last two months of the Civil War At Martinsville Virginia on April 8 1865 Palmer s cavalry defeated a Confederate force of Cavalry commanded by Colonel James Wheeler the cousin of Confederate Cavalry commander Fighting Joe Wheeler If Palmer had pushed on to Danville only 20 miles to the north he might very well have captured Jefferson Davis who up till then had not left the capital of the Confederacy Davis subsequently left the next day upon receiving word of Lee s surrender This was a little known campaign immortalized in The Band s epic The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down citation needed Palmer commanded the cavalry pursuit of Jefferson Davis following the surrender by General Joseph E Johnston Davis was followed through North Carolina South Carolina and Georgia and driven into the hands of General James H Wilson 4 9899 1 58 During the pursuit Palmer s former command overtook and captured wagons carrying millions of dollars of specie bonds securities notes and other Confederate assets near Covington Georgia that had been kept in the Bank of Macon Georgia 1 48 Palmer was mustered out of the Union Army on June 21 1865 5 415 General George Henry Thomas wrote of Palmer There is no officer in the regular or volunteer service who has performed the duties which have devolved upon him with more intelligence zeal or energy than General Palmer whose uniform distinguished success throughout the war places his reputation beyond controversy 4 9899 On February 24 1894 Palmer was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions as colonel leading the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry at Red Hill Alabama January 14 1865 where with less than 200 men he attacked and defeated a superior force of the enemy captured their fieldpiece and about 100 prisoners without losing a man 5 415 Six former officers of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry had nominated him the previous October to receive the honor but for the scouting efforts in mufti during the Antietam Campaign that resulted in his capture The War Department rejected that nomination on the basis that the acts while valorous had not been performed of a field of battle They then submitted a new nomination for the action at Red Hill which was approved 1 48 50 Western railroads EditKansas Pacific Railway Edit nbsp The Kansas Pacific main line shown on an 1869 map The thickened portion along the line indicates the extent of the land grants available to settlers At the time of the map the line extended only as far as western Kansas section in green The extension to the Colorado Territory section in red was completed the following yearAfter the War Palmer resumed the railroad career he had started previous to the conflict In 1867 a very optimistic eager 30 year old Palmer and his 21 year old chief assistant Edward Hibberd Johnson headed west from their hometown of Philadelphia Pennsylvania 6 Palmer worked the Kansas Pacific Railway first as secretary and treasurer 2 8 and then as managing director responsible for extending service through south central Colorado With Kansas Pacific chief engineer Colonel William Henry Greenwood Palmer organized a surveying expedition that recommended in 1868 that the route to the coast be diverted at Ellsworth Kansas to Pueblo Colorado and through the Royal Gorge to the San Luis Valley where it would turn south to Santa Fe New Mexico The route was rejected by the Kansas Pacific s board of directors in favor of a line through Denver which was completed in 1870 3 2 8 7 Denver and Rio Grande Railway Edit While in the Colorado Territory Palmer went to Colorado City now Old Colorado City to consider a north south route from Denver for his own railway 1 116 Palmer had a vision to build a railroad south from Denver through New Mexico and El Paso to Mexico City 3 Palmer founded with Greenwood Colonel D C Dodge former Colorado territorial Governor Alexander Cameron Hunt Charles B Lambord b and others and was elected president of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad in 1870 4 9900 2 8 The first section of the railway included the first 3 ft 914 mm narrow gauge railroad tracks in the West The line ran south of Denver and across the Palmer Divide which separates the Platte River and Arkansas River watersheds 4 9900 and to Colorado Springs by 1871 The line went to Pueblo in 1872 and further south to coal fields beyond Trinidad in April 1876 8 The railroad had service along the Arkansas River canyon to other coal mining locations to the metal mining town of Leadville and the iron mines in Saguache County Colorado Palmer stepped down as president in 1883 to focus greater attention on developing the Mexican line 4 9900 Further information Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad Rio Grande Western Railway Edit Palmer was president of the Rio Grande Western Railway from 1881 2 8 or 1883 to 1901 He built lines from the terminus of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway in Grand Junction to the Utah cities of Ogden and Salt Lake City This provided direct service from Denver to Utah via narrow gauge railway 4 9900 Mexican National Railway Edit In the spring of 1880 Palmer was made president of the Mexican National Railway now National Railroad of Mexico He hired Greenwood again as chief engineer in May only to have Greenwood robbed and murdered on a survey near Mexico City on August 29 Most of the line was completed by 1883 2 8 when the railroad reached Mexico City 9 Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs EditMain articles History of Colorado Springs Colorado and Manitou Springs Colorado nbsp Statue of General William Jackson Palmer 1929 intersection of Platte and Nevada Avenues Colorado Springs The statue was funded through donations to the William Jackson Palmer Memorial Association 10 Palmer came to the Colorado Territory as a surveyor with the Kansas Pacific Railway in search of possible railroad routes Dr William Abraham Bell from England was also part of the survey party 11 viii 1 110 On July 31 1871 Palmer and Bell founded Fountain Colony later Colorado Springs downstream of Colorado City and it was laid out by the Colorado Springs Company that year 11 viii 2 8 c It was named for springs found along Monument Creek as early as 1871 14 Four chalybeate mineral springs were later discovered along Monument Creek in October 1880 15 He also founded the town of Manitou later Manitou Springs as a resort town at the base of Pikes Peak 4 9900 Palmer spent about 1 000 000 equivalent to 33 356 552 in 2022 on the construction of roads and development of parks in Manitou Springs Old Colorado City Colorado Springs and Manitou Park 4 9901 In Colorado Springs Palmer provided funding for Colorado College 4 9901 9902 and within two years Colorado Springs the town had 1 500 residents schools churches banks and a newspaper 3 Palmer donated land to establish the first city park Acacia and additional parks Antlers Park Monument Valley Park North Cheyenne Canon Park Palmer Park Pioneer Square Park South Park Prospect Lake and Bear Creek Canon Park He donated a total of 1 270 acres of land some of which was also used for scenic drives tree lined roadways and foot and bridle paths 16 Palmer also provided the land and funding for the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind a tuberculosis sanatorium and multiple libraries 3 With the land that he gave for parks churches libraries hospitals and schools he donated a total of 1 638 acres Palmer also founded the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper 9 In 1883 he built the Antlers Hotel When it burned down in 1898 he rebuilt the hotel with Italian Renaissance architecture 3 d In 1901 Palmer honored Zebulon Montgomery Pike with a marble statue placed near the main entrance of the hotel 17 In 1904 Palmer located a mineral spring that had been used by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad company in 1871 but was covered in sands by flooding along Monument Creek 18 he next directed engineers to install a concrete vault to maintain the spring water s purity and a hand pump to bring water to the surface 19 Palmer announced his intention to build a pavilion 20 and to name the spring after Zebulon Pike s Indian guide Chief Tahama also known as Rising Moose 21 Other towns were founded by Palmer along his railroad lines include Salida Alamosa and Durango 9 Colorado Coal and Iron Company EditPalmer envisioned an integrated industrial complex based on steel manufacturing in which all necessary resources were controlled by one company 22 In 1880 Palmer constructed Colorado Coal and Iron Company s CC amp I steel mill south of Pueblo and laid out the town of Bessemer now incorporated in Pueblo The Minnequa plant became one of the greatest iron and steel plants in the country His dream became a reality for his successors when in 1892 CC amp I merged with the Colorado Fuel Company to form Colorado Fuel and Iron 22 4 9900 Personal life EditOver the course of his life Palmer was a member of the Denver Club Colorado Springs Country Club El Paso Country Club City Midday Club New York and the Metropolitan Club New York 2 8 Marriage Edit nbsp Mary Lincoln Queen Mellen Palmer wife of William Jackson PalmerPalmer met Mary Lincoln Queen Mellen in April 1869 while she and her father William Proctor Mellen were on a train returning from a trip to see the West 1 69 116 117 They were married November 7 1870 in Flushing New York where the Mellen family lived at the time They spent their honeymoon in Europe 1 71 They had three daughters Elsie Dorothy and Marjory 2 nbsp Miss Elsie Palmer John Singer Sargent painted at Ightham 1889 90Palmer built a house that would eventually become Glen Eyrie Castle Scottish for Valley of the Eagle s Nest in 1871 near Colorado Springs as a home for his wife and family 4 9901 1 215 221 While they lived there Queen taught at Colorado Springs first school 9 nbsp Glen Eyrie Colorado SpringsPalmer had apartments in London and New York a castle near Mexico City and property throughout Colorado 1 75 The Palmers traveled frequently with their children and governesses to New York and London for William s business and lived part time at Glen Eyrie in Colorado 1 75 Queen was of frail health possibly aggravated by living at high altitude While pregnant with their middle daughter Dorothy in 1880 Queen suffered a heart attack in Leadville during a vacation Dorothy was born a few weeks later at Glen Eyrie Then their third daughter Marjorie was born in England Two maids and a doctor had accompanied them on the trip 1 75 Over the next four years Queen often lived on the East Coast or England with visits by Palmer In 1885 she left Glen Eyrie permanently due to ongoing health concerns and needing to live at a lower altitude she returned to her home in England In about 1887 Queen began renting Ightham Mote in Kent where she lived for 3 years 1 75 William and Queen vacationed in France and Italy in the spring of 1889 Following other heart attacks which prevented any return to Colorado Queen died in England on December 27 1894 at the age of 44 1 78 Retirement Edit nbsp William Jackson Palmer s grave Evergreen Cemetery Colorado Springs ColoradoWhen Palmer retired from business he devoted himself to philanthropic endeavors giving away 4 million equivalent to 130 281 481 in 2022 In the autumn of 1906 Palmer suffered a fall from a horse and was partially paralyzed 4 9902 Left with a broken spine Palmer was thereafter confined to a wheelchair Palmer sustained a C6 incomplete spinal cord injury which would have paralyzed him from the neck down making him a quadrapalegic 3 Unable to travel Palmer hosted the veterans of his 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment troopers for their annual reunion in August 1907 at Glen Eyrie He provided a special train and paid the travel expenses for 208 3 of about 260 surviving veterans 4 9902 Mrs J A Hayes the wife of a prominent Colorado Springs banker and daughter of Jefferson Davis was an honored guest at the reunion 4 9902 9903 William Jackson Palmer died on March 13 1909 at the age of 72 1 78 On the day of his death schools businesses and trains stopped and flags flew at half mast in Colorado Springs The mayor said Palmer was the soldier the builder of an empire the philanthropist the friend of the people whose life was a blessing Gazette journalist Dave Philipps said that he was an ardent pacifist humanitarian and champion of preserving wildlands at a time when conservation was almost unheard of 9 His and Queen s ashes are buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs Colorado 1 78 Legacy EditPalmer made significant donations to the Hampton University in Virginia a university built after the end of the Civil War for African Americans and Palmer Hall was named in his honor 23 Palmer was the land grantor of several institutions in Colorado Springs including the International Typographical Union s Union Printer s Home the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind several churches in central Colorado Springs and Cragmor Sanatorium a tuberculosis sanitarium which later was re founded in 1965 as the University of Colorado Colorado Springs UCCS 24 He provided land and funding for the creation of Colorado College and was one of its founding trustees 4 9901 Palmer Hall the main social science building on the Colorado College campus is named for the General 4 9902 Queen Palmer Elementary School in Colorado Springs is named in honor of Palmer s wife Mary Queen Mellen Palmer General William J Palmer High School in downtown Colorado Springs and Lewis Palmer High School in nearby Monument are named for the general himself citation needed Palmer Divide a geographic feature north of Colorado Springs and the community of Palmer Lake Colorado are named after him as is Palmer Park in Colorado Springs citation needed In 1952 Paramount Pictures released the film Denver and Rio Grande a fictional dramatization of the building of the railroad during the Royal Gorge War using research material provided by the railroad Palmer is flatteringly portrayed by Dean Jagger Palmer founded the General Palmer Hotel in 1898 originally the Palace Hotel in Durango Colorado where it is still in operation 25 In 1962 he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy amp Western Heritage Museum 26 Medal of Honor citation Edit nbsp Colonel William J Palmer of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry received the Medal of Honor on February 24 1894 for his service on Red Hill Alabama on January 14 1865 With less than 200 men attacked and defeated a superior force of the enemy capturing their fieldpiece and about 100 prisoners without losing a man 27 28 The medal is on permanent display at the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum 1 53 See also Edit nbsp Biography portal nbsp American Civil War portalList of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients M P List of American Civil War brevet generals Union Notes Edit There are differing opinions about when Palmer went to Europe The National Cyclopedia of American Biography says that he studied in England about 1854 2 8 Lowry says that Thomson sent him to Europe 3 Lambord had been lieutenant colonel of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry under Palmer In reaction to the saloons prostitution and opium dens of Colorado City Palmer purchased the land for the new town east of the wild town and outlawed the consumption of alcohol within the new town s borders Alcohol was sold however by druggists for medicinal purposes In 1933 at the end of Prohibition Colorado Springs lifted the ban of the sale and consumption of alcohol 12 13 The Antlers built in 1898 was replaced about 1948 with the current modern Antlers Hotel 3 References Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab Tim Blevins Dennis Daily Chris Nicholl Calvin P Otto Katherine Scott Sturdevant 2009 Legends Labors amp Loves William Jackson Palmer 1836 1909 Pikes Peak Library District ISBN 978 1 56735 262 7 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o William Jackson Palmer The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography J T White 1904 p 8 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Thomas P Lowry August 2 2007 William J Palmer Forgotten Union General of America s Civil War Civil War Times Archived from the original on March 16 2008 Retrieved February 8 2014 via Weider History Network a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Page Walter Hines Page Arthur Wilson February 1908 Gen William J Palmer A Builder of The West The World s Work A History of Our Time XV 9898 9903 Retrieved July 10 2009 a b c John H Eicher amp David J Eicher 2001 Civil War High Commands Stanford University Press ISBN 0 8047 3641 3 Dave Philipps January 2 2014 Ask Gen Palmer Assistant helped light up the world The Gazette Colorado Springs Colorado Retrieved February 9 2015 Glenn Danford Bradley 1920 History of the Santa Fe R G Badger p 168 royal gorge canon city and san juan A Recent Trip To El Moro Colorado Springs Gazette August 5 1876 Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection www coloradohistoricnewspapers org Retrieved 2020 09 15 a b c d e Dave Philipps March 8 2009 Palmer A Founder A Father Figure The Gazette Colorado Springs Colorado Archived from the original on March 29 2015 via HighBeam Research General William Jackson Palmer Equestrian Statue PDF Colorado Cultural Resource Survey City of Colorado Springs March 2004 p 2 Retrieved February 9 2015 a b Deborah Harrison Manitou Springs Heritage Center 2012 Manitou Springs Arcadia Publishing p 9 ISBN 978 0 7385 9596 2 Jan MacKell 2007 Brothels Bordellos and Bad Girls Prostitution in Colorado 1860 1930 UNM Press p 72 ISBN 978 0 8263 3343 8 Inner Source Designs Kathy and Lee Hayward 1 November 2009 Drinking and Driving in Colorado A Guide to Colorado s Brewpubs Inner Source Designs p 112 ISBN 978 0 9822571 1 1 Used Spring 33 Years Ago Colorado Springs Gazette December 26 1904 p 5 Chalybeate Springs Colorado Springs Gazette October 30 1880 p 5 Parks Trails and Open Spaces City of Colorado Springs Retrieved May 23 2013 William J Palmer Facts Illustrated Vol 9 no 13 14 January 1 1902 pp 31 32 Used Spring 33 Years Ago Colorado Springs Gazette December 26 1904 p 5 Would Erect Fountain in Park as Palmer Memorial Colorado Springs Gazette July 26 1923 p 12 Pavilion for New Spring Sunday Gazette and Telegraph April 23 1905 p 5 Would Erect Fountain in Park as Palmer Memorial Colorado Springs Gazette July 26 1923 p 5 a b James Whiteside 1990 Regulating Danger The Struggle for Mine Safety in the Rocky Mountain Coal Industry University of Nebraska Press p 7 ISBN 0 8032 4752 4 F Erik Brooks Glenn L Starks September 30 2011 Historically Black Colleges and Universities An Encyclopedia ABC CLIO p 47 ISBN 978 0 313 39415 7 See also Tuberculosis treatment in Colorado Springs General Palmer Hotel Hall of Great Westerners National Cowboy amp Western Heritage Museum Retrieved November 22 2019 Palmer William J Civil War Medal of Honor recipient American Civil War website 2007 11 08 Retrieved November 8 2007 Civil War Medal of Honor recipients M Z Medal of Honor citations United States Army Center of Military History August 3 2009 Archived from the original on February 23 2009 Retrieved July 1 2010 Further reading EditJohn Stirling Fischer 1939 A Builder of the West The Life of William Jackson Palmer Caldwell Idaho Caxton Printers External links Edit nbsp Media related to William Jackson Palmer at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title William Jackson Palmer amp oldid 1174854696, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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