 | Frank Bergquist graduated from Eddyville, IA, high school in 1958. After graduation, he entered the Army, serving 20 years in Missouri, Maryland, New Mexico, Germany, Iowa, Turkey, Kansas, S.E. Asia, and finally retiring in 1978 in Louisiana. Before retiring, Frank was assigned as an ROTC instructor at WSU and Kemper Military School until 1974. In 1978 he served as the Non-Commissioned officer in charge of operations at Fort Polk, LA. He has served as the Veterans Counselor (DVOP) with the Kansas Job Service Center National Service Office, with the Disabled American Veterans at the VA Regional Office in Wichita; Veterans Employment and Training Coordinator with the US Dept. of Labor at Ft. Riley, KS; Service Coordinator with Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation; Dept Adjutant-Treasurer and the Dept. Executive Director Dept. of Kansas Disabled American Veterans; and past President of the Wichita Civil War Round Table. Currently he is doing graduate work as an instructor in Genealogy and Military History at Wichita State and Kansas State Universities, and is the CEO for the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Stores in Wichita, KS. Bergquist has an AA from Kemper Military School and College from Boonville, MO. and a BGS from Wichita State University. He can be reached by telephone at 316-262-6501. He is located at 926 N. Mosley Wichita 67214. |
Veteran Affairs
2008-08-01 09:35:00
Soldier state?
Question: After the Civil War where did most of the soldiers settle, and what happened to the equipment used?
Answer: Kansas was once known as the “Soldier State”, due to the very large number of Civil War Veterans who settled here. Almost all communities had a camp of the Grand Army of the Republic. Monuments were erected to honor the Civil War Soldier whether lost during the war or a returned Veteran. The Women’s Relief Corps, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, and others also erected memorials and monuments.
Wichita has one main memorial. The Union Soldiers & Sailors Civil War Monument at the Sedgwick County Court House is a ten foot statue of Peace holding a flag, on a shaft atop a granite base, four life-sized figures of a soldier, cavalryman, artilleryman and sailor at corners of the base in sheet bronze. Other items throughout the state are Civil War cannons. The State of Kansas has 78 known civil war cannons still left. These are known cannons, not counting those in private possession, which are usually but not always hidden from public view. I won’t discuss those in private hands, they are hard to keep track of.
The cannons range from a 1.5 Inch Ellsworth Rifle in the Watkins Museum in Lawrence, KS. to a M1845, 42 Pounder Seacoast Gun located in Hiawatha, KS. Of course my favorite is the 32 Pounder Navy gun of 57 that was produced in 1847. It’s at the Alger Foundry in the Highland Park Cemetery in Wichita’s Highland Park Cemetary..
During World War II and maybe even World War I, scrap metal drives did away with a lot of our cannons. It would have been nice if some were left in each community, but the need was there and off they went. VFW and American Legion posts have some in front of their posts, usually newer than the civil war.
Junction City has two eight inch siege mortars on top of a twenty foot civil war Memorial Arch. The arch is surmounted by a Union soldier with a musket at Parade Rest. For a long time it was thought that these mortars were only models. A friend of mine researching the monuments was surprised when he got on top of the monument to find out they were real mortars. The Arch was unveiled September 9, 1898 and is located in a park in the downtown area of Junction City. The inscription on the Memorial reads, ”In God We Trust, In Memory Of The Soldiers And Sailors Of 1861-1865 Who Inspired By Patriotism Freely Offered Their Lives For The Maintenance Of An Undivided Country.” The excellent condition of the memorial is probably due to its location in the downtown area.
As we see the men and women who are serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan and other parts of the world, yes and even in this country we must be ever mindful of the service they are rendering their country. They too deserve memorials that acknowledge their service. But before we do this we should be prepared to take care of those veterans who are returning and for the families of those who can not return.
