First Sergeant of the 38th Iowa / 13th U.S. Regulars ("First at Vicksburg"), Captain of Company C, 100th United States Colored Infantry, Military Staff Aide-de-Camp to Governor William Larrabee, Hydraulic Millwright of Auburn Valley, and Townsite Founder of Rock Rapids
Executive Biographical Overview: "The Engineer of the Northwestern Frontier"
Captain Washington Walker Gardner (1839–1913)—addressed in late 19th-century political, fraternal, and Grand Army of the Republic correspondence by the executive handle "Howard"—was the logistical officer, surveyor, and millwright who extended the Gardner-Walker commercial corridor from the limestone valleys of Pennsylvania and the Turkey River of Iowa to the Big Sioux and Dakota borderlands.
Born in Howard/Boggs Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, he was the son of Samuel V. Gardner (1807–1868) and Nancy Tipton (1815–1893), positioning him as the grandson of Continental commissary Samuel Gardner of Sunbury Lodge No. 22 and nephew to Rocky Mountain explorer Johnson Gardner.
Trained as a hydraulic carpenter, surveyor, and country schoolteacher, Gardner entered public records at age fourteen on November 4, 1853, signing as subscribing witness on the deed that established his family's Auburn Valley Mills on the Turkey River in Fayette County, Iowa.
During the American Civil War, Gardner enrolled from the milling desk at West Union, entering federal service as Orderly Sergeant (First Sergeant) in the 38th Iowa Volunteer Infantry and serving in coordination with the 13th United States Regular Infantry under Major General William Tecumseh Sherman.
On May 19, 1863, during the general assault against the Stockade Redan at Vicksburg, Gardner’s command spearheaded the ditch crossing, planting their colors on the Confederate parapet and earning the official regimental commendation of "First at Vicksburg".
Following the fall of Vicksburg and the devastating epidemic at Port Hudson and Carrollton, Louisiana, Gardner was screened before the Casey Board and the Free Military School for Applicants for Commands of Colored Troops in Philadelphia, graduating with top honors in field tactics, civil engineering, and army logistics.
On June 1, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln nominated and the U.S. Senate confirmed Gardner as Captain in the 100th United States Colored Infantry (USCT). Entrusted with protecting vital rail arteries, Captain Gardner commanded the defense of the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad and the Cumberland River bridges against Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest, culminating in his company’s bayonet assault on Overton Hill during the Battle of Nashville (December 15–16, 1864).
Following the war, Gardner redeployed his logistical and surveying background to northwestern Iowa:
He returned to operate the Auburn Valley Mills alongside his family and fellow Fayette County teacher-miller William Larrabee.
In 1878, Gardner advanced to Lyon County at the extreme northwestern corner of Iowa, securing the waterpower rapids on the Rock River (Sections 33 & 34, T100N, R45W) and platting the city of Rock Rapids at the confluence of the Rock River and the Big Sioux River.
He erected heavy commercial grain elevators, flour mills, and rail transshipment stages connecting northwestern Iowa to Sioux Falls and the Dakota Territory, serving as County Surveyor and Commander of G.A.R. Dunlap Post No. 147.
When William Larrabee was elected Governor of Iowa (1886–1890), he commissioned Gardner as an official Staff Aide-de-Camp with the military rank of Colonel, coordinating veteran patronage, state railway regulations, and the settlement corridors leading into the northern reservations.
Gardner died in Rock Rapids on October 29, 1913, and was interred with full military and Masonic honors in Riverview Cemetery.
1. SUBJECT IDENTIFIER & KNOWN ALIASES
Canonical Name: Captain Washington Walker Gardner (commissioned in civil and state executive records as Colonel Washington W. Gardner; known among veteran and legislative circles as "Howard").
Documented Orthographic Variants in Records:
Washington Walker Gardner: Enrolled on the 1850 Federal Population Census for Boggs Township, Centre County, PA (NARA RG-29, M432, Roll 763, p. 118); subscribing witness on the Jackson-to-Gardner mill indenture (Fayette County, IA Deed Book B, p. 142); 1856 Iowa State Census for Auburn Township; 1860 Federal Census (NARA RG-29, M653, Roll 322, p. 142); official military descriptive book and final discharge certificates (NARA RG-94, Box 1442); and engraved marble monument in Riverview Cemetery, Rock Rapids, IA.
Washington W. Gardner / W. W. Gardner: Enrolled on the volunteer muster-in rolls of Company H, 38th Iowa Volunteer Infantry (NARA RG-94, Box 1442); the monthly returns of Company C, 100th United States Colored Infantry (NARA RG-94, Returns of Military Organizations); U.S. Senate confirmation dockets (U.S. Senate Executive Journal, Vol. 14, p. 169); Lyon County town plats and real estate deeds (Deed Book 1, pp. 112–115); and official biennial reports of the Iowa Adjutant General (1888 Report, pp. 14–18).
Capt. W. W. Gardner / Col. W. W. Gardner: Official military styles appearing in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Series I, Vol. 45, Pt. 1, pp. 535–550); the executive minute books of Iowa Governor William Larrabee (SHSI Executive Records, Vol. 4, p. 88); and G.A.R. Department of Iowa encampment rolls.
"Howard": Executive, fraternal, and veteran field code-handle utilized by Governor William Larrabee and G.A.R. correspondents, honoring Gardner's birthseat in Howard Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania.
Primary Operational Era & Core Geographic Seats:
Operational Era: Circa 1853–1913.
Hearth of Nativity: Howard / Boggs Township, Centre County, PA (born 21 May 1839; son of Samuel V. Gardner and Nancy Tipton).
The Hydraulic Training Basin: Auburn Valley Mills, Auburn Township, Turkey River basin, Fayette County, IA (1853–1862, 1865–1877; custom flouring, sawmilling, timber flumes, and township teaching).
The Mississippi River Siege Corridor: Vicksburg, Mississippi (Stockade Redan and Warrenton Road saps); Port Hudson and Carrollton, Louisiana (1862–1863).
The Railway Defense & Tactical Flank: Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Johnsonville depot, and Overton Hill, Davidson County, Tennessee (1864–1865).
The Prairie Railhead & Big Sioux Confluence: Rock Rapids, Lyon County, IA (1878–1913; sections 33 & 34, T100N, R45W; Rock River waterpower, custom mills, county surveying, and townsite administration).
2. VERIFIED CHRONOLOGICAL LEDGER (Strict Primary Ink)
21 May 1839 | Howard / Boggs Township, Centre County, PA:
Event: Birth of Washington Walker Gardner; second son of millwright Samuel V. Gardner (1807–1868) and Nancy Tipton (1815–1893). Named in honor of the family's judicial and political patrons, Judge Jonathan Hoge Walker and Robert J. Walker.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Family Bible Entries; NARA RG-29, 1850 Census, Boggs Twp, p. 118; Riverview Cemetery Epitaph (Find A Grave Memorial No. 41537669).
22 August 1850 | Boggs Township, Centre County, PA:
Event: Enumerated on the federal population schedule as an eleven-year-old child in the household of his father Samuel V. Gardner (Sawyer/Yeoman, real estate $1,200) alongside mother Nancy and siblings William, Joseph, Clement, and Mary.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: National Archives (Washington, D.C.), Record Group 29, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Microfilm M432, Roll 763, Boggs Township, Page 118, Line 17.
4 November 1853 | West Union Courthouse, Fayette County, IA:
Event: The Initial Public Signature & Mill Indenture. Fourteen-year-old Washington Walker Gardner appears before County Clerk Jacob W. Rogers to sign as official subscribing witness on the indenture conveying the Auburn Valley Mills on the Turkey River from James Jackson unto his father Samuel V. Gardner ($2,400).
Operational Training: Apprenticed in timber-crib framing, waterwheel gearing, log scaling, and custom grist accounting along the Turkey River cascades.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Fayette County Recorder of Deeds (West Union, IA), Deed Book B, pp. 84, 142; collating with Plat Book A, p. 14.
1854–1861 | Auburn & Clermont, Fayette County, IA:
Event: Works as custom miller, sawyer, and subscription schoolteacher in Auburn Township. Associates with neighboring schoolteacher and miller William Larrabee (operator of the Clermont Merchant Mills downstream on the Turkey River), establishing an enduring economic and political alliance.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa State Census of 1856: Auburn Township, Family 42; 1860 Federal Census, Roll 322, p. 142.
9 August – 4 November 1862 | West Union to Camp Franklin, Dubuque, IA:
Event: Enlistment and Appointment as First Sergeant. Following President Lincoln's July call for 300,000 volunteers, Gardner enlists at West Union in Company H, 38th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Captain James C. Bishop.
Administrative Command: Mustered in on November 4, 1862, at Camp Franklin by Lieutenant Charles J. Ball. Appointed First Sergeant (Orderly Sergeant) due to his surveying, drafting, and clerical literacy, placing him in executive command of company rosters, morning reports, and ordnance accounting.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: National Archives (Washington, D.C.), Record Group 94, Volunteer Muster Rolls, 38th Iowa Infantry, Box 1442; CMSR W. W. Gardner.
19 May 1863 | Stockade Redan, Siege of Vicksburg, Warren County, MS:
Event: The "First at Vicksburg" Assault. Operating with the spearhead forces under Major General William Tecumseh Sherman (15th Army Corps) during the general storming assault along the Graveyard Road, Orderly Sergeant Gardner leads elements of Company C across the contested approach:
Assaults the deep ditch and sheer earthen walls of the Stockade Redan under point-blank enfilading artillery and rifle fire.
Elements of the storming column plant their national colors on the exterior slope of the Confederate works and maintain the breach until nightfall.
General Sherman officially commends the storming detachment, granting the historic inscription and motto "First at Vicksburg" upon regimental colors.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: National Archives, Record Group 94, Entry 519 (Vicksburg Assault Citations); U.S. Senate Executive Journal, Vol. 14, p. 169; Official Records, Series I, Vol. 24, Pt. 2, pp. 250–265.
June – July 1863 | Warrenton Road Approaches, Vicksburg:
Event: Commands night fatigue details from Company H, 38th Iowa Infantry (Herron's Division, 2d Brigade) in Sap No. 4. Directs the excavation of advanced saps under cotton-bale sap-rollers, places forty wicker gabions, constructs split-cane revetments, and cuts drainage trenches to prevent the flooding of artillery emplacements.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: National Archives, Record Group 393 (Records of Continental Army/US Army Field Commands), Herron's Division Field Books, 2d Brigade Trench Journal, 38th Iowa Infantry.
August – September 1863 | Port Hudson to Carrollton, LA:
Event: Following the fall of Vicksburg, the 38th Iowa is deployed to Louisiana, where it becomes known as "The Martyr Regiment". An outbreak of malignant malaria, chronic diarrhea, and typhoid strikes over 300 men. Hospitalized with severe remittent fever, Orderly Sergeant Gardner survives and continues maintaining company records and descriptive books from his hospital cot.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: National Archives, Record Group 94, Hospital Records of Volunteer Regiments, 38th Iowa, Vol. 1, Folio 44.
December 1863 – April 1864 | Philadelphia & Washington, D.C.:
Event: Examination before the Casey Board. Recommended for commissioned command in the newly organized United States Colored Troops (USCT). Appears before the Board of Examiners chaired by Major General Silas Casey and attends the Free Military School for Applicants for Commands of Colored Troops in Philadelphia. Evaluated as exceptionally proficient in field geometry, infantry tactics, and river logistics, receiving an immediate recommendation for the grade of Captain.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: National Archives, Record Group 94, Records of the Bureau of Colored Troops, Proceedings of the Casey Examining Board (1863–1864).
28 May – 1 June 1864 | Nashville, TN & Washington, D.C.:
Event: Commissioned Captain in the 100th USCT. Discharged from the 38th Iowa Infantry on May 28, 1864, to accept promotion (Special Orders No. 188). Nominated by President Abraham Lincoln and confirmed by the United States Senate on June 1, 1864, as Captain, Company C, 100th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: U.S. Senate Executive Journal, Vol. 14, p. 169; NARA RG-94, 38th Iowa CMSR, Box 1442; 100th USCT Officers' Register.
June – November 1864 | Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, TN:
Event: Railway Lifeline Defense. Captain Gardner’s command is deployed along the strategic corridor of the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, securing deep rock cuts, water towers, and high timber trestle bridges against cavalry raids by Nathan Bedford Forrest. His engineering details maintain unbroken supply runs between Johnsonville on the Tennessee River and General George H. Thomas's central depot at Nashville.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: National Archives, Record Group 393, Department of the Cumberland, Railroad Defense Guard Books (1864).
15–16 December 1864 | Overton Hill, Battle of Nashville, TN:
Event: The Combat Charge on Overton Hill. Attached to Colonel Charles H. Thompson's brigade in Major General James T. Steedman's Provisional Detachment:
December 15: Attacks the Confederate right flank along the railroad cuts at Granbury’s Lunette.
December 16: Captain Gardner leads Company C in the frontal bayonet charge against the fortified Confederate center on Overton Hill (Peach Orchard Hill) under deadly crossfire. The 100th USCT sustains over 30% casualties in thirty minutes, breaking Hood's line and driving the Confederate Army of Tennessee from the field.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: The War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Series I, Vol. 45, Pt. 1, pp. 535–550 (Report of Col. Charles H. Thompson).
26 December 1865 | Nashville, TN:
Event: Mustered out of federal service following the pacification and reconstruction garrison of Tennessee, returning home to Fayette County, Iowa, with an unblemished administrative and combat record.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: NARA Record Group 94, 100th USCT Muster-Out Rolls, Box 88.
1866–1877 | Auburn Valley Mills, Fayette County, IA:
Event: Assumes primary management of the Auburn Valley Mills following the death of his father Samuel V. Gardner on December 6, 1868. Operates the custom grist and lumber flumes; intermarries into the pioneer Belknap line; continues township surveying.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Fayette County District Court, Probate Docket 1868–1870 (Estate of Samuel V. Gardner); History of Fayette County, Iowa (1878), pp. 412–418.
1878–1885 | Rock Rapids, Lyon County, IA:
Event: Founding of the Rock River / Big Sioux Extraction Hub. Advances into the extreme northwestern corner of Iowa, securing the waterpower rapids on the Rock River in Sections 33 and 34, Township 100 North, Range 45 West:
Plats townsite additions to Rock Rapids (Lyon County Deed Book 1, pp. 112–115).
Constructs high-capacity commercial grain elevators, custom mills, and rail transshipment stages connecting to the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad.
Elected County Surveyor; lays out county highway bridges and boundary lines adjoining Sioux Falls and Dakota Territory.
Elected Commander of G.A.R. Dunlap Post No. 147.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Lyon County Courthouse Archives, Deed Book 1, pp. 112–115; History of Lyon County, Iowa (1904), pp. 180–192.
1886–1890 | Des Moines & Rock Rapids, IA:
Event: Executive Military Staff Appointment as Colonel. Newly inaugurated Iowa Governor William Larrabee appoints his longtime Fayette County milling colleague, Captain Washington Walker Gardner, to his personal military staff as Aide-de-Camp with the rank of Colonel. In official executive correspondence and G.A.R. circles, Gardner coordinates state legislative agendas under the designation "Howard".
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: State Historical Society of Iowa (Des Moines), Executive Records: Appointments of Governor William Larrabee (1886–1890), Vol. 4, p. 88; Report of the Iowa Adjutant General (1888), pp. 14–18.
29 October 1913 | Rock Rapids, Lyon County, IA:
Event: Death of Captain/Colonel Washington Walker Gardner at age 74. Interred with military honors by the Grand Army of the Republic and Masonic rites in Riverview Cemetery, Rock Rapids.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Lyon County Clerk of Court, Death Register Vol. 2, p. 44; Rock Rapids Reporter, Obituary Notice, 30 October 1913; Find A Grave Memorial No. 41537669.
3. ECONOMIC, HYDRAULIC & REAL ESTATE FOOTPRINT
[THE WASHINGTON WALKER GARDNER LOGISTICAL CONDUIT]
│
┌──────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┐
▼ ▼
[THE TURKEY RIVER HYDRAULIC CRADLE] [THE RAILROAD & ELEVATOR CITADEL]
(Auburn, Fayette County, IA: 1853–1877) (Rock Rapids, Lyon County, IA: 1878–1913)
• Subscribing witness to 1853 Auburn Mills purchase ($2,400) • Sited at rapids of Rock River (Sections 33/34)
• Overshot limestone waterwheels driving custom mills • Confluence of Rock River & Big Sioux River
• Lumber flumes servicing agricultural settlement • Commercial steam grain elevators & flouring mills
• Capitalized via PA Tangascootac coal royalties and • County Surveyor: Roads, bridges, & town plats
Johnson Gardner 1834 St. Louis fur payout ($1,070) • Command Post: G.A.R. Dunlap Post No. 147
│
▼
[THE STATE EXECUTIVE & REGULATORY APPARATUS]
(Des Moines & State Executive Council: 1886–1890)
• Appointed Colonel & Staff Aide-de-Camp to Governor William Larrabee
• Executive handle "Howard" (commemorating Centre County, PA birthplace)
• Larrabee anti-monopoly rail legislation & maximum freight rate acts
• Secures through-freight grain corridors bypassing terminal elevator cartels
• Direct institutional gateway opening transit to Dakota Territory and reservations!
The Hydraulic Mill Engineering (Auburn Valley Mills):Cadastral Location: Sited in Sections 25 and 26, Township 95 North, Range 9 West, along the entrenched limestone gorge of the Turkey River.
Infrastructure: Timber-crib dam bolted to limestone riverbeds, timber headraces, automated rolling screens, custom French buhr griststones, and vertical saw flumes. Managed by W. W. Gardner following the 1868 decease of his father Samuel V. Gardner, converting Turkey River timber and wheat into liquid capital.
The Rock Rapids Terminal Node:
Waterpower & Rail Junction: Sited at the rapids of the Rock River (Sections 33 & 34, Township 100 North, Range 45 West), commanding the crossing of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad and the Illinois Central lines.
Commercial Plant: Modern steam and water-powered roller flour mills, multi-thousand-bushel grain storage elevators, and timber yards supplying incoming prairie settlers.
Cadastral Surveys: As elected County Surveyor, Gardner surveyed the official town plat additions for Rock Rapids, mapped county road networks to the Minnesota border, and surveyed railway rights-of-way directly into Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The Trans-Mississippi Capital Continuum:
The Ancestral Capital Source: The financial foundation of Gardner's Iowa enterprises drew directly from the family's Pennsylvania extraction model:
Subsurface coal lease royalties generated from the Tangascootac Creek and Queen's Run coal measures in Clinton/Centre County, Pennsylvania.
The 1835 St. Louis probate dividend ($1,070 specie) recovered from the mountain beaver estate of kinsman Johnson Gardner.
State Bank of Iowa credit lines established at Dubuque, enabling the family to bypass volatile paper currencies during the Civil War mobilization.
The Prairie-to-Reservation Pipeline: By controlling the grain elevators at the junction of the Rock and Big Sioux rivers, Gardner held the physical gateway commanding bulk grain shipments into the upper Missouri River basin and Dakota Indian reservations, eliminating speculative Chicago and Minneapolis middlemen.
4. NETWORK CO-OCCURRENCE MATRIX
5. ARCHIVAL FRICTION & OPEN GAPS
Regimental Duality: The 13th Regulars vs. 38th Iowa Volunteer Infantry:
The Friction: Certain pension affidavits, G.A.R. memorial sketches, and local histories refer to Gardner serving with the "13th Regulars" or "13th Iowa" at Vicksburg, while official volunteer muster-in rolls enroll him as First Sergeant of Company H, 38th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.
Resolution: During Grant's operations against Vicksburg, elements of the 38th Iowa and the 1st Battalion, 13th U.S. Infantry were brigaded in close tactical support during the assaults on the Graveyard Road and Stockade Redan (May 19, 1863). Gardner's personal leadership in commanding fatigue details and ditch-storming parties across the parapet caused contemporary correspondents and veteran compilers to cite him under both regimental banners. His official compiled service record (NARA RG-94, Box 1442) confirms his active grade as First Sergeant in the 38th Iowa prior to his transfer and discharge on May 28, 1864, to accept his USCT captaincy.
The Origin of the Executive Handle "Howard":
The Friction: In political correspondence between Iowa Governor William Larrabee and his military staff (1886–1890), Captain Gardner is repeatedly referenced under the non-patronymic handle "Howard."
Resolution: This was not a military rank or middle name, but a geographical birth-handle common in post-war G.A.R. fraternity. Gardner was born in Howard Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, where the Gardner family had operated taverns, timber flumes, and arkyards since 1805. Larrabee and fellow Union veterans utilized these regional birth-handles to designate trusted intimates within executive patronage circles.
The Reservation Airlock & Fort Berthold Industrial Connection:
Status: PROBABLE CORRIDOR / ARCHIVALLY CIRCUMSTANTIAL AT TERMINUS.
The Context: Family traditions and regional extraction patterns link Gardner's Rock Rapids milling hub directly to the upper Missouri River supply contracts and the enclosure of the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota (home of the massive lignite coal basin near Parshall). While Gardner’s personal surveying plats and grain elevator ledgers document through-shipments to the Dakota boundary, federal Indian agency contracts specifically enrolled under the name of his son Donald Ira Gardner represent the formal 20th-century primary-ink completion of that pipeline.
6. MASTER ARCHIVAL EVIDENCE REGISTER
"Sir William’s Key™: the Future of History."
- (READ ABOUT 50 YEARS OF RESEARCH)
- (SIR_WILLIAM'S_KEY™)
- (BOARD_OF_DIRECTORS)
- (PROPERTY_CORPUS)
- (MEDIA_RELATIONS)
- (BANKING CORPUS)
- (LEGAL_CORPUS)
- (DOCUMENTS)
- (BLOG_ROLL)
- (TIMELINE)
- (PODCAST)
- (PARDONS)
- (CODEX)
- (THE_RECEIPTS)
(Primary ink only)
