Many veterans came to Grays Harbor County to start new lives after the Civil War. One of them was Joseph Ingram, a Union veteran from Indiana.
Joseph Ingram: From Orphan to Private in Civil War
Joseph Shackleford Ingram was born to Irish immigrant parents in Newburgh, Indiana, on April 12, 1842. His mother died a few days after his birth and he was adopted by Rev. John Wilson Youngblood (1796-1883) and Ann Musgraves Youngblood (1790-1868), who had 11 children. A Methodist circuit preacher, “Uncle Johnny” was an orphan himself, originally from South Carolina.
Joseph grew up working on his father’s farm in Anderson, Warrick County. Then the Civil War began. Southern Indiana, including Warrick County, suffered major raids by Confederate forces. Newburgh was even briefly occupied.
Only 18 years old, Ingram enlisted into Company I of the 25th Indiana Infantry on August 19, 1861. Private Ingram reenlisted on February 29, 1864.
Serving five difficult years, Ingram later recalled that he had fought in 61 engagements, including the Battles of Iuka, Corinth, Shiloh, and Vicksburg as well as Sherman’s March to the Sea. For a time, he served in General Joseph Mower’s Fourth Division of the 17th Army Corps, Army of Tennessee.
According to his obituary, Ingram attributed his lifelong ill health to drinking from a poisoned well in Georgetown, Missouri. He would later receive an army invalid pension.
Ingram was mustered out on July 17, 1865 in Louisville, Kentucky with the rank of sergeant.
Joseph Ingram: Making a Life in Indiana
Ingram returned home to Warrick county and went back to farming. He married Amanda Baker (1849-1888) in 1866. They had a large family: Sylvia Alice (1866-1944), William Thomas (1869-1941), John (1872- before 1909), George Union (1876-1909), Charles (1878-1951), and Roy Rolle (1887-1940). Their farm was located in Boon or Anderson, depending on the record.
Life was hard. In October 1879, 6-year-old John’s arm was crushed in a cane mill and had to be partially amputated. Amanda died in 1888.
Grieving, Ingram decided to make a new start out West in a place called Grays Harbor.
Joseph Ingram: Farming on the Wishkah in Grays Harbor
Ingram arrived in Grays Harbor in 1889 with his children. He took a land claim on property once owned by the Northern Pacific Railway Company, making final claim in 1897. He eventually settled on his “Wishkah Ranch” along the Wishkah River near Grand Forks.
The farm’s location brought conflict with the Wishkah Boom Company, who used the river to transport logs. In 1903 he successfully sued the company for property damage after a log jam caused flooding. The State Supreme Court struck down the company’s appeal. In 1910 the Company had to pay him $600 after they condemned a section of his land to create artificial freshets for their transportation system.
Ingram also owned property in Westport but spent much of his time in Aberdeen, owning a home at the corner of Second and B Streets.
Ingram stayed out of politics but regularly helped oversee elections in Aberdeen’s second ward. He did the same in Grand Forks other years. In 1898 Ingram was elected supervisor for Chehalis County road district 26, a position he served for several years—the County was renamed Grays Harbor County in 1915. In 1903 Ingram was voted onto the council of the Chehalis County Farmers’ Institute.
His son William was elected to the Aberdeen City Council and was later mayor of Westport.
Joseph Ingram: Healing the Wounds of War
Ingram was active in Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a Union veteran organization. He was a charter member of Aberdeen’s George Crook Post No. 63 and served in various offices, including officer of the day and senior vice commander. Furthermore, he helped organize annual Memorial Day commemorations.
He also managed the GAR grounds in Westport, now home to GAR Baseball Park. Every summer the Pacific Soldiers’ Reunion Association encampment met there. Ingram led the Association as commander for several years, and also served as a trustee.
Through his veteran activities he met and befriended Jacob Heater, a former Confederate soldier. Despite being on opposite sides of the war—and Ingram blaming his poor health on being poisoned by Confederate sympathizers—the two became best friends.
Joseph Ingram: Honored by Friends and Former Foe
Ingram’s final years were plagued by ill health but he kept working. In January 1911 he bought Westport’s Lundvalt Hotel from Captain Hans Lundvalt.
After suffering from a bad case of the flu in late February 1911, Ingram died suddenly at his Westport home on March 8 from an internal hemorrhage.
Veterans from around the County, including Jacob Heater, banded together to honor their former comrade, packing Aberdeen’s Methodist Church for his service. The Grays Harbor Post praised him as “a man of kindly, upright nature and admired by everyone who knew him.”
Come Memorial Day his former comrades never failed to put a wreath and flag on his grave in Fern Hill Cemetery. In 1913, his friend Jacob Heater left a personal note as well. The note encapsulated the peace and reconciliation that Joseph Ingram and his friend had worked so hard to build.
“Old comrade,” the Aberdeen Herald quoted, “When we try to lift the veil that hides the mystery behind the silent tomb, we hear only the echo of our own voice. The joyous watchword of fraternity throughout this land today is, ‘One flag and one country.’ While we opposed each other in legitimate conflict, we were friends in life. When mother nature has taken us back to her bosom in peaceful sleep may we clasp hands again.”
