Captain Lawson

After a huge assist from Tom Buecker, the historian and museum curator at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, I was able to rebuild Lawson’s service record from 1866 to the time of his death in 1881 by using the regimental return records. These records, which can be found on Ancestry.com, are from the National Archives and it highlights the actions of the Army regiments. From this, we can take a look at the near day-by-day activities of Lawson and the 3rd Cavalry. Some of it, however, is extremely hard to read, and some of the records are vague. However, it’s a very interesting record and I believe it’s the first time someone has definitively looked at the record of Lawson’s life in the field.

If you read through this there are only four times I’ve counted when he’s on leave, and he is never on sick leave until he dies. Take a look at the timeline here.

ST. GEORGE, Utah — We stayed the night here to spend time with Cherie’s family, and we’re now making our way back to Hemet. It has been a great trip and we’re ready to return home.

As we’ve traveled south, we’ve noticed that gas prices are shooting up to the levels we had gotten used to in California. Here in St. George, the average gas price appears to be about $4.09, which I believe is the national average currently.

In the last 14 days here’s a list of some of the places we’ve visited:

Standing on the Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona

Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park

Santa Fe’s Plaza

Loretto Chapel

Basilica at Santa Fe

San Miguel Church — the oldest church in the United States

La Fonda Inn

New Mexico Museum of Art

Palace of the Governors

Museum of International Folk Art

Museum of the American Indian

Pecos National Monument

Fort Union National Historic Site

Denver’s 16th Street Mall

Denver Museum of Science and Nature

Denver Museum of Art

Denver Public Library

Fort Caspar State Historic Park, Wyoming

Fort Fetterman State Historic Park, Wyoming

Fort Robinson State Historic Park, Nebraska

Rosebud Battlefield State Park, Montana

Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument, Montana

Devil’s Tower National Monument, Wyoming

Deadwood, South Dakota

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Wyoming

Fort Fred Steele State Historic Park, Wyoming

Sundance, Utah

Rail brige over the Platte, originally uploaded by louamestoy.

Check out some of the new photos we’ve posted on Flickr, including this shot of a rail bridge over the surging Platte River in southwestern Wyoming. We’ll have more tonight from around Utah.

Captain’s chimney, originally uploaded by louamestoy.

On the banks of the Platte River, we found our first reference to Captain Lawson at a monument. Lawson was stationed at Fort Fred Steele, just east of Rawlins, Wyoming, from mid 1879 to until his death in early 1881. At the time, it appears, he was the commander of this remote and lonely post. Lawson died Feb. 1, 1881 from paralysis, which I believe was either a massive stroke or a heart attack. He was the only officer buried at the post cemetery, which is also noted in the interpretive material, but was later reburied at the Presidio in San Francisco in 1887. This is the Captain’s residence, or what remains of it. Lawson would have lived here, along with two of this three daughters, in 1880.

We’ve had our first negative lodging experience — a Travel Lodge in downtown Provo, Utah. It kind of feels old and dirty. It appears that some sort of animal, possibly a dog, lizard or badger, was locked in the bathroom. I kid you not, there are claw marks on the wall. Cherie and Alyson barely slept and I fully understand why. As of late, I’ve been dreaming about work and that’s always fun on your vacation.

Today, we are making our way out of here and down toward St. George, Utah, where we will stay the night and visit relatives.

We’re winding down the trip across the West. Today, we’re leaving Casper, heading west toward Rawlins and we’ll call it a day in Provo, Utah. We’re going to stop in Rawlins to visit the site where Captain Lawson died in 1881. More to come.