[Vision2020] Civil War Hero Who Settled in Idaho Will Finally Get His Medal

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (March 25, 2006) Lewiston Tribune -

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Civil War hero who settled in Idaho will finally get his medal

Photo:
http://www.lmtribune.com/03252006/STONE.jpg

By DAVID JOHNSON
of the Tribune

VIOLA -- The Medal of Honor headstone stands smart as a salute over his
grave in the Viola Cemetery, 106 years after he died.

Today, more than 300 miles away in Boise, Civil War Navy veteran Gurdon H.
Barter will be honored posthumously for valor during a battle more than 140
years ago while serving aboard the USS Minnesota off the coast of North
Carolina.

"I wanted to make sure he had the recognition he never had," said Gayle
Alvarez, spokeswoman for the Idaho Military History Museum who organized the
ceremony.

U.S. Rep. C.L. (Butch) Otter will be placing Barter's Medal of Honor on
public display at the museum at 10 a.m. The medal, which had been kept by
the Navy all these years in Washington, D.C., was issued June 22, 1865.

Barter, said Alvarez, apparently was never aware he'd earned the honor.

"This is a special thing. This is the first time we've ever done anything
like this," said Alvarez, who is a civilian administrator for the Idaho
National Guard and volunteers on the museum's board of directors. "He chose
Idaho as his home, so why should his medal stay in Washington, D.C.?"

Barter died June 22, 1900, and was buried in the cemetery on a hill
overlooking Viola in Latah County. His grave is one of the oldest in the
cemetery. Alvarez said she and other ceremony organizers have been unable to
locate any relatives. There are no known photos of Barter.

"It's an honor to be associated, in any small way, with the valor of a true
American hero," Otter said in a prepared statement announcing the ceremony.
Alvarez said she began doing research on Idaho's Medal of Honor recipients
about six years ago and ran across Barter's story.

As a landsman aboard the USS Minnesota, Barter was part of an assault party
that landed on the beach on Jan. 15, 1865, and attacked Fort Fisher near the
mouth of Cape Fear River.

The fort was located about 15 miles from Wilmington, N.C., a port city that
served as headquarters for Confederate blockade runners. Closing the port
would be "akin to severing the Confederacy's jugular vein," according to a
military account.

Barter was one of 241 men from the Minnesota who joined an assault force of
more than 2,000 Union sailors and Marines. James Parker, lieutenant
commander of the Minnesota, filed a report about the battle.

"We left the ship at 11 a.m. and landed on the beach about one mile and a
half from Fort Fisher," he wrote. "... the order was given to the sailors
and Marines to advance. This they gallantly and rapidly did, under a very
heavy fire of musketry and occasional grape from the enemy, which became
very hot as soon as the fire from the fleet ceased."

Parker's account tells of officers and men being killed in "large numbers"
as the assault stalled near the palisades of the fort. "I gave the order to
advance," Parker wrote in his account, and about 60 did, while the others
retreated in fear.

"The Confederates broke into cheers believing that they had been victorious
but soon discovered that this was not the main attack," Parker wrote. The
battle continued into the night until the fort was taken and the port to
Wilmington secured. Barter was counted among those who stayed to fight and
the few who survived.

"It gives me great pleasure to testify to the gallant conduct of all the
officers and most of the men from this ship," Parker wrote. "The
following-named sailors and Marines of this ship greatly distinguished
themselves by their bravery. They deserve promotion and medals."

Barter is number six on a list of nine named.

But by the time his medal was approved, Barter had apparently left his ship
and never knew of the honor he'd earned, according to the account.

The next record of Barter's post-war life surfaced in 1889, when he was 46.
In early May, Barter and a woman named Silvia A. Sanders ended up in a
Moscow court charged with unlawful cohabitation, according to records. They
were fined $100 each and got married immediately afterward.

Some of Barter's homestead documents and pension papers also remain,
according to historical notes. Sylvia Barter died 10 years after her
husband. When she applied for a widow's pension, according to records, she
listed two daughters.

Barter, according to records, enlisted in the Navy in 1860 at the age of 18.
His occupation was listed as a baker. His eyes were gray, hair brown, and he
stood 5 feet, 2 inches tall.

The rank of landsman was for entry-level recruits. The enlistees were
dispatched immediately and all education and training was aboard ship. "The
landsmen did all the heavy, brainless, boring, or real dirty work while they
learned the ropes," according to a historical report.

Before going aboard the USS Minnesota, Barter also served on the USS North
Carolina and the USS Niagara, according to records.

The Medal of Honor headstone on Barter's grave was placed in 1994. The grave
site is located in the southeast corner of the cemetery.

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Next time you are in Viola, stop by and pay tribute to a veteran that has
waited 141 years to hear it.  I know I will.

Pro patria, Seaman Barter.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.