Wyoming Patriot Guard Will Help Escort Civil War Veteran Across Wyoming August 3rd
The Patriot Guard Riders will transport the remains of Jewett Williams from Oregon to Maine starting August 1, 2016. Mr. Williams will arrive in Maine on August 21/22, 2016, and will be buried at Togus National Cemetery in Chelsea, Maine on September 17, 2016, with full Military Honors.
The Patriot Guard Riders of Wyoming will be meeting with members of the Montana riders on the morning of August 3rd and provide escort from the northern Wyoming border along I-90 with fuel stops in Sheridan, Buffalo, Moorcroft and Beulah before turning over the escort to South Dakota Guard riders to continue the journey.
Jewett B. Williams was born in Maine in May 1844 to Jared Williams and Rosaline Jackins, who were actually natives of Canada. He was the oldest of nine children. On Oct. 12, 1864, Jewett enlisted in Company H of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, led by Col. Joshua Chamberlain and Maj. Ellis Spear.
After the war, Williams became a carpenter. In the 1880s he lived in Brainerd, Minnesota and later moved to the Tacoma area in what was then Washington Territory. Williams also lived in Everett, Washington before moving to Portland by 1903.
In the early 1900's Jewett was among Civil War veterans who would speak at Portland-area public schools for Memorial Day events. At the time of the 1920 census, he was listed as a widower in Portland, OR. He was listed as having worked as a “common laborer” at the age of 75.
On April 14, 1922, he was admitted to the Oregon State Hospital. He was in poor health and suffering from “progressive senile dementia,” according to his intake records. He died three months later, on July 17, of arterial sclerosis. He was 78 years old.
Williams died at what is now called the Oregon State Hospital in 1922, just a few months after being admitted. Patients whose bodies were not claimed by family were cremated, the ashes put in canisters and into a shed where his remains were never claimed.
After all these years, with a little help from the Wyoming Patriot Guard, this soldier will finally be laid to rest.