- Writing parking tickets with a friendly smile (4/23/24)2
- Mayor Ford, Kiwanis light up Capaha Park's diamond (4/16/24)1
- The rise and fall of Capaha Park's wooden grandstand (4/9/24)
- Death of Judge Pat Dyer, prosecutor of the famous peonage case here in 1906 (4/2/24)2
- A third steamer Cape Girardeau was christened 100 years ago (3/26/24)
- Cape Girardeau christens its namesake (3/19/24)
- The humanist philosophy of Lester Mondale (3/12/24)1
Identity of Civil War vet revealed
As WPA laborers worked to finish the restored Fort D in July 1937, a mystery presented itself: Who was the Civil War veteran who quietly visited the fortification, walked its ramparts, inspected the new stone building there, and just as quietly left without telling anyone his name?
A story about the mysterious vet was printed on the front page of The Southeast Missourian July 10, 1937:
It would take almost three weeks before the old warrior's identity was learned:
Members of the Louis K. Juden Post of the American Legion planned to dedicate Fort D on Oct. 17, 1937, but for some reason that didn't happen. A later Missourian story indicated the dedication was to take place during the city's 1938 Memorial Day program. The article also reviewed the work that had been done at Fort D through the efforts of the American Legion and the WPA:
Davis apparently didn't attend that "Decoration Day" ceremony. An article about the event noted the "only remaining Civil War veteran in Cape Girardeau known to the Sons of Veterans ... was present. He is Peter Niswonger, who served in Fort A..." The story doesn't mention Davis.
Fred Davis died June 5, 1939, almost two years after his visit to Fort D:
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