Nathaniel Sisson
Veteran & Businessman
(1845-1932)
Image from FindaGrave
Nathaniel Sisson was born on May 25th, 1845 in Meigs County, Ohio. Upon the breakout of the Civil War in 1861, Sisson immediately attempted to enlist because he believed that no state had the right to simply secede from the Union. However, he was turned down for being too young at the time. He returned home to continue school and began working in carpentry. Two years later and upon the secession of the western counties of Virginia, which formed the state of West Virginia, Sisson once again enlisted. Now eighteen years old, he was accepted and joined the 18th Volunteer Cavalry of West Virginia. He was assigned the role of bugler for the company under General Capehart. Sisson saw combat on thirteen different occasions and had a few close calls, including having his horse shot out from underneath him. On April 9th, 1865, at Appomattox Courthouse, Sisson was ordered to sound a charge. However, before they could begin, the Confederates came forward with a white flag of surrender. The battle never took place, and General Robert E. Lee instead surrendered his army. Accordingly, Nathaniel Sisson is credited with blowing the last bugle charge of the Civil War. His bugle is currently on display at West Point.
After the war, Sisson returned to Meigs County to continue his education. In 1866, he made his way to Nodaway County to teach school at Orrsburg and to work on a farm. In 1871, Sisson was working for a bridge building company out of St. Joseph which saw him go to Texas to oversee the building of a bridge that would later be destroyed when a hundred and fifty head of cattle were driven across. A few years later in 1874, Sisson married Mary Hughes in Lexington, Missouri. They had two children together, a son named Paul and a daughter named Laura. Upon his return to Maryville, he joined Morehouse and Fisher Land and Title Company. It was there that he developed a standard abstract form used for over a century throughout the United States. In 1887, Sisson went to Colorado where he surveyed and developed the town of Wray. He once again returned to Nodaway County where he surveyed and plotted the town of Parnell.
Image Genealogy Trails
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Image from Cosmos Mariner.
By 1890, Nathaniel Sisson was a city clerk, an alderman, and served on the school board. He was quite active in the Missouri State Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a fraternal organization consisting of Civil War veterans. He was able to get the convention to come to Maryville where a small pillar was dedicated on the courthouse grounds. This memorial was removed in 1990. Nathaniel Sisson also tried to enter politics in these years, with a run for congress in 1882 for the Greenback party and again in 1892 for the Republicans. He was not be successful in either, so he continued his efforts with the GAR and never missed a convention for the group. Locally, Sisson was an active participant in getting the 5th District Normal School established in Maryville, and he continued his work at the Land & Title Company until his death on September 17th, 1932, at his son’s house. He was laid to rest a Miriam Hill Cemetery in Maryville, Missouri.
Resources
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Stairway of Stars Booklet, Nodaway County Historical Society.
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Nathaniel Sisson Display, Nodaway County Historical Society.
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