Where Ripley Calkins left off on the “Old Settlers” photograph series, Frank Posegate took it up.
The project continued on with Capt. Frank M. Posegate, postmaster of St. Joseph. Posegate was a veteran of the Civil War and, as a Unionist, fought for the North. He thought the existing photographs commissioned by Calkins would look very nicely displayed in the rotunda of the post office. Posegate did not stop with the Calkins photographs, however. In 1879, Posegate commissioned a series of photographs of the “Old Settlers” of St. Joseph. Photographer Alexander Lozo volunteered his talents, free of charge, to take the photographs. Likewise, T.F. Indermill offered to print them for free, so that the city might have this record of their early history.
Posegate contributed much to early St. Joseph’s prosperity as one of the earliest printers in the city, as well as being associated with multiple St. Joseph newspapers. He was particularly notable within the community for his presence at the first day of the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded. He recorded the events of that day in a letter to his wife, Sarah.
“When we about faced and were moving tolerably steady thro’ the woods, when the enemy succeeded in gaining the range of our left flank and poured a destructive fire along our whole line. In its [sic] this fire I was wounded, the ball striking me on the left shoulder blade, making a wound some two and a half inches long and perhaps an inch and a half deep. No bones were broken and the wound is fast getting well. The ball when it struck me did not seem to hurt much, and I supposed it was a mere scratch. It did not knock me down, though it twisted me round considerably. I went on with the Regiment, about a quarter of a mile to where we gained the shelter of a small ravine, made a stand and once more repulsed the Rebels - shooting their colors down, and causing them to fall back some little. Their battery however soon came up and commenced firing into us with shell and grape, and we were again compelled to give way. By this time my wound was hurting me severely, and I was quite sick from its effect. I took off my blouse and Tom Hessler examined it and tied it up the best he could with a silk handkerchief.”
Camp Shiloh, Near Pittsburg Land[ing]
April 11, 1862
Letter from Capt. Frank Posegate to his wife, Sarah Johnson Posegate
After the war, Posegate returned to St. Joseph and resumed the profession of newspaper editor and printer. In 1877, he was appointed Post Master of St. Joseph by President Rutherford B. Hayes.
Capt. Frank M. Posegate passed away in 1917 and is buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Lemay, Missouri.
Sources:
Union Historical Company, The History of Buchanan County, Missouri (St. Joseph: Union Historical Company, 1881).
St. Joseph Gazette
St. Joseph Weekly Herald