July Marks 100th Anniversary Of Powder River County's Last Civil War Veteran

By Jaeger Held

This month, July 2021, marks the 100th anniversary of the burial of the last Civil War veteran in Powder River County, Montana. Pvt. John Helman, Company D, 178th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment (Drafted Militia), died in July 1921 and was buried at the Bowers Creek Cemetery nine miles southwest of Biddle. Helman was living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania when he was drafted as a substitute into the 178th Pennsylvania Infantry, and he mustered in on November 4, 1862, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania before being discharged on November 21, 1862, after seventeen days in service. In the summer of 2020, members of the Montana and Wyoming camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War dedicated a marker at his gravesite that recognized Helman as the last Union veteran buried in the county.

The other Civil War veterans (all of whom were Union soldiers) known to have died or been buried within present-day Powder River County include Pvt. Andrew J. Baucom, Pvt. Elijah Bradshaw, Pvt. William Lucas, Pvt. William P. Long, Pvt. Henry Duffey, and Pvt. Isaac Tracy, members of the 2nd Missouri Light Artillery, 12th Missouri Cavalry, and 16th Kansas Cavalry who lost their lives between September 7-10, 1865 during the Powder River Expedition, Pvt. George Schneider, Company K, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, who served with Company G, 5th U.S. Cavalry during the Civil War and was killed in action during the Battle of Powder River on March 17, 1876, and Pvt. Reuben J. Miller, a veteran of Company M, 2nd California Volunteer Cavalry who died at his family's ranch near Stacey on August 26, 1916, and is buried at the North Stacey Cemetery. Powder River County was created from southern Custer County on March 17, 1919.