Rank: Private
Unit: I Co, 2d Cavalry
Enlisted: September 11, 1865 in Albany, New York. He was 18.
Date of birth: 15 Nov 1848
Hometown: Hinesburg, Vermont
Occupation prior to enlistment: Farmer
Campaign: Plains Indian War (post Civil War)
Died: 8 July 1867
Age at death: 18
Cause of death: Drowned
Location of fatality: Platte River at Red Butte near Fort Caspar, Dakota Territory,
Place of interment: Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Dunlap, Iowa
Click to open a new window to view Soldier’s grave site on the Find A Grave website.
Note: While on advanced guard duty scouting for Indians on a bank overlooking the Platte River in the Dakota Territory (now Wyoming), there was a fatal cave-in burying Walter and his horse. The muster roll taken on August 31, 1867 stated: “Drowned at Red Buttes near Fort Casper in the Platte River.” A pension application filed by his mother in 1895, further stated, “Drowned while on advanced guard of a squadron of the 2nd Cavalry in the line of his duty.”