Brig Gen William Jackson Palmer, Colorado Springs
Posted by: 
ronjean
N 38° 49.026 W 104° 48.109
13S E 517205 N 4296498
Palmer founded Colorado Springs, and earned the Medal in the Civil War
Waymark Code: WM7BQ0
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 10/01/2009
Views: 17
General Palmer was a member of the 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry. As a Union spy, he was captured and later released in a prisoner exchange from Castle Thunder prison in Virginia. The citation for his medal read "With less than 200 men, attacked and defeated a superior force of the enemy, capturing their fieldpiece and about 100 prisoners without losing a man."
After the war,he resumed his railroad career and built railroads from Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, and of course, Colorado. He found an ideal location at the foot of Pikes Peak for a settlement that would offer visitors from the east the clean air needed to restore their health from tuburculosis, and was also near the steel ore and coal needed for his rail lines. He built his dream home in Colorado Springs, a castle he hoped would entice his new bride to stay in the west.
He donated land in the new town for schools, parks, churches, and the tuberculosis sanatarium (where now stands University of Colorado - Colorado Springs campus).
Armed Service: Army
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