Captain Walter Henry Powell was born in 1841 in Jackson, Ohio. He attended the Illinois Institute, now known as Wheaton College. Like his brother, Major John Wesley Powell, he taught in a district school. When the Civil War began he enlisted in the home guard and in 1862 joined the artillery unit of which his brother was a member. He fought at the Battle of Shiloh, where his brother lost his right arm and the Battle of Atlanta. At the Battle of Atlanta he was captured with the battery he commanded by the Confederate Army. He was imprisoned at Camp Sorghum where he suffered fever and starvation. He was sent to the prison hospital where he escaped, but was recaptured days later. In 1865 he was returned to the Union in a prisoner exchange. After his experience as a prisoner during the Civil War he became moody and temperamental. He was one of ten men who participated in an expedition led by his brother, Major Powell in May 1869 who traveled 1,000 miles down the Colorado River through uncharted areas of the Grand Canyon beginning at the Green River in Wyoming. Members of the expedition called him Old Shady which was a reference to a popular ballad which he frequently sang with his bass voice.
Sources: Exploring the Colorado River: Firsthand Accounts by Powell and His Crew edited by John Cooley, Dover Publications, Mineola, New York, 1988 and Seeing Things Whole: The Essential John Wesley Powell, edited by William deBuys, Island Press, District of Columbia, 2001.
The Washington Post
Thursday, March 11, 1915
Powell. On Wednesday, March 10, 1915 in this city, Captain Walter H. Powell of Battery F, Second Illinois Light Artillery, aged seventy-one years. Funeral services at the chapel of Joseph Gawler's Sons, 1730 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Thursday, March 11 at 1:30PM. Interment in Arlington National Cemetery.
Sources: Exploring the Colorado River: Firsthand Accounts by Powell and His Crew edited by John Cooley, Dover Publications, Mineola, New York, 1988 and Seeing Things Whole: The Essential John Wesley Powell, edited by William deBuys, Island Press, District of Columbia, 2001.
The Washington Post
Thursday, March 11, 1915
Powell. On Wednesday, March 10, 1915 in this city, Captain Walter H. Powell of Battery F, Second Illinois Light Artillery, aged seventy-one years. Funeral services at the chapel of Joseph Gawler's Sons, 1730 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Thursday, March 11 at 1:30PM. Interment in Arlington National Cemetery.
Captain Walter Henry Powell was born in 1841 in Jackson, Ohio. He attended the Illinois Institute, now known as Wheaton College. Like his brother, Major John Wesley Powell, he taught in a district school. When the Civil War began he enlisted in the home guard and in 1862 joined the artillery unit of which his brother was a member. He fought at the Battle of Shiloh, where his brother lost his right arm and the Battle of Atlanta. At the Battle of Atlanta he was captured with the battery he commanded by the Confederate Army. He was imprisoned at Camp Sorghum where he suffered fever and starvation. He was sent to the prison hospital where he escaped, but was recaptured days later. In 1865 he was returned to the Union in a prisoner exchange. After his experience as a prisoner during the Civil War he became moody and temperamental. He was one of ten men who participated in an expedition led by his brother, Major Powell in May 1869 who traveled 1,000 miles down the Colorado River through uncharted areas of the Grand Canyon beginning at the Green River in Wyoming. Members of the expedition called him Old Shady which was a reference to a popular ballad which he frequently sang with his bass voice.
Sources: Exploring the Colorado River: Firsthand Accounts by Powell and His Crew edited by John Cooley, Dover Publications, Mineola, New York, 1988 and Seeing Things Whole: The Essential John Wesley Powell, edited by William deBuys, Island Press, District of Columbia, 2001.
The Washington Post
Thursday, March 11, 1915
Powell. On Wednesday, March 10, 1915 in this city, Captain Walter H. Powell of Battery F, Second Illinois Light Artillery, aged seventy-one years. Funeral services at the chapel of Joseph Gawler's Sons, 1730 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Thursday, March 11 at 1:30PM. Interment in Arlington National Cemetery.
Sources: Exploring the Colorado River: Firsthand Accounts by Powell and His Crew edited by John Cooley, Dover Publications, Mineola, New York, 1988 and Seeing Things Whole: The Essential John Wesley Powell, edited by William deBuys, Island Press, District of Columbia, 2001.
The Washington Post
Thursday, March 11, 1915
Powell. On Wednesday, March 10, 1915 in this city, Captain Walter H. Powell of Battery F, Second Illinois Light Artillery, aged seventy-one years. Funeral services at the chapel of Joseph Gawler's Sons, 1730 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Thursday, March 11 at 1:30PM. Interment in Arlington National Cemetery.
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