GRANVILLE HALLER
Born January 31, 1819 in York, PA. At the age of 20 he applied for admission to West Point; passed his examinations and was directly commissioned to the US Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th Infantry Regiment. He served in the Seminole Indian War in Florida; during the Mexican War he participated in the capture of Monterery, Vera Cruz, and Mexico City. He also participated in the Battle of Churubusco and was assigned to the assault party, commanded by Col. George Wright, on Molino del Rey.
In July 1853 he was stationed at The Dalles. August 1854 was ordered to march to assist the survivors of the Alexander Ward party killed by the Snake Indians on the Oregon Trail. Out of 20 members of the party 18 were killed. Haller buried the bodies and returned to the Fort Dalles. The next spring Haller was ordered to find the party responsible for the Ward killings. He found the Win-nas band of the Snakes and pursed them as far as the headwaters of the Missouri River. During this pursuit he killed the same number of Indians and whites had been killed.
After the Yakima and Pig wars Haller and his Company I, 4th Infantry were transferred to Ft. Mojave, on the bank of the Colorado River, in August 1859. The fort was abandoned in 1861 and Haller and men marched 387 miles to San Diego and assumed command of the barracks there.
The Civil War found Haller commanding the headquarters guard of General McClellan. In 1863 Haller was on sick leave when Confederate forces invaded Pennsylvania. Haller volunteered his services and was assigned the duties of mustering volunteers in York. After the battle of Gettysburg Haller received Special Order 331 which said that he was dismissed from the service. Haller had been dismissed in secret and was never even told he had been accused of disloyal comments to the Union.
Unable to get his name cleared he moved to Whidbey Island a year later. There he opened a general store at Coupeville. He was appointed postmaster in 1868 and served as county treasurer from 1870-71.
Finally, in 1879 by efforts of friends Congress passed a joint resolution requiring the Secretary of War to order a court of inquiry for Haller. After reviewing the documents the court found nothing disloyal in what Haller was alleged to have said. They also found that Haller had be dismissed on lack of evidence and therefore the court annulled the sentence. President Rutherford Hayes approved the findings and nominated Haller to the rank of colonel in the infantry. The US Senate confirmed this back to 1873 (which would have been the year Haller would have been considered for promotion if he had stayed in the military).
In May 1880 he was assigned to command the 23rd Infantry Regiment at Ft. Supply in Oklahoma. He then served in Kansas and New Mexico. He then retired at the age of 64 and moved back to Seattle.
On First Hill he built the largest house in Seattle and called it Castlemont (which is now a parking lot). He lived there and became a prominent citizen of Seattle. He died on May 2, 1897.
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