Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Moses Williams with Greg Shine :- Thursday, March 14 at 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 14, 2019
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Location
Cannon Beach History Center & Museum
Categories
Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Moses Williams :- Thursday, March 14, 2019 at 4:00 p.m.
A little-known part of Oregon history will be explored at the Cannon Beach History Center & Museum on Thursday, March 14 at 4:00 p.m. with Greg Shine. Shine has recently written an article on Buffalo soldiers in the Pacific Northwest and their time in Washington and Oregon. His presentation will focus primarily on Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Moses Williams and his connections to Fort Stevens.
Born in rural Louisiana in 1845, Moses Williams joined the U.S. Army in 1866 and embarked on a thirty-one-year military career in the American West, leading troopers of the 9th U.S. Cavalry’s Buffalo Soldiers and receiving the army’s highest award, the Medal of Honor. From his posting as ordnance sergeant at Fort Stevens on the Oregon coast, Williams petitioned the War Department for the honor of fifteen years after demonstrating what the assistant secretary of war later called “most distinguished gallantry in action with hostile Apache Indian in the foothills of the Cuchillo Negro Mountains” in August 1881. Williams’s was posted at Fort Stevens on October 15, 1895 and served for three years.
Gregory Shine is a historian and author probably best known to Cannon Beach History Center & Museum members for his research, publications and 2009 presentation related to the US Schooner Shark, believed to be the source of the carronade preserved at the History Center. In addition to his work in the Oregon/Washington State Office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Greg serves as a lecturer in the History Department at Portland State University and volunteers on the editorial board of the Oregon Encyclopedia and the board of the Friends of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site nonprofit organization. For nearly 30 years, Greg has produced studies, reports, presentations, technical papers, and digital media for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. National Park Service; contributed chapters to books including Exploring Fort Vancouver (UW Press, 2011) and The Civil War Remembered (Eastern National, 2011); edited and co-written books including Revealing Our Past: A History of Nineteenth Century Vancouver Barracks through 25 Objects (National Park Service, 2013); appeared on PBS’s History Detectives and OPB’s Oregon Experience episodes; and written numerous articles for journals and the online Oregon Encyclopedia, including “Respite from War: Buffalo Soldiers at Vancouver Barracks, 1899-1900,” for the Oregon Historical Quarterly which he will draw upon for his History Center presentation. Greg and his family live in Portland but can often be found exploring the Oregon Coast — especially Cannon Beach.
This event is free to the public and has been sponsored by the Inn at Cannon Beach, Clatsop County and Martin Hospitality. Seating for Shine’s presentation is very limited so please arrive a little early to get a seat, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and peruse the museum before the lecture starts at 4:00 p.m. Doors are closed at 4:15 p.m.
This event has been sponsored by the Inn at Cannon Beach, Clatsop County, and Martin North.