William J. Morand
Until age limited his activities, William J. Morand was a familiar participant in Memorial Day and Fourth of July parades and other patriotic occasions in Hamilton. Although only five of his more than 82 years were spent in the U. S. Army, Morand's public image in Hamilton for about 50 years was that of a stately military figure.
The simple military tombstone in Greenwood Cemetery states that he was a trumpeter in Company G, Sixth U. S. Infantry.
But Morand — who died Jan. 31,1945 — was more than a soldier.
The veteran of one of the nation's last campaigns against the Indians contributed much more to the community than leading parades and conducting military ceremonies.
As an 18-year-old, Morand enlisted in the Army in August 1880, four years after George Armstrong Custer's debacle on the Little Big Horn in Montana Territory.
Morand's five-year service took him to the western territories of the United States.
Morand later recalled leaving Columbus, Ohio, with the temperature topping 100 degrees, and, after a four-night trip, stepping off a Union Pacific train in Rawlings, Wyoming Territory, on Aug. 30, "in the midst of a snow blizzard and a furious sand storm."
His stint began in the White River country (now in northwest Colorado and eastern Utah), where the Sixth Infantry's assignment was to control the Ute Indians.
During his first year, his unit went into winter quarters in October 1880 at Fort Lyons, Colo., on the Santa Fe Trail and the Arkansas River, which he described as being "in the heart of longhorn cattle country."
"When the winter really did set in," Morand wrote, "those miserable cattle died by the tens of thousands, literally starved to death.
"When the snow began to melt and the ice in the river broke up, the stench was almost unbearable, from the thousands of cattle that died along the banks and polluted the stream when the thaw came," Morand recalled.
His frontier service ranged from the Santa Fe Trail to the Green River Valley of Utah, the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Yellowstone National Park and Bozeman in Montana Territory.
"Transportation, like many other things, was not at all what it is today, so to go to places then, it was march, march, march and more marching," he explained in a newspaper feature.
In August 1883, while on duty in Yellowstone National Park, Morand met President Chester A. Arthur, a park visitor.
After his discharge in 1885, Morand returned to Hamilton, where he married Emma Van Ausdall (who died in 1944, a year before her husband).
In civilian life, Morand was a part-time teacher for more than 45 years, teaching language courses at the YMCA, YWCA and Hamilton High School night school.
Morand's linguistic ability also helped local industries gain and maintain international customers.
For many years he was an office employee of the Niles Tool Works Company.
Niles and other Hamilton industries often utilized his services as an interpreter while conducting business with their many foreign customers.
Besides English, Morand was conversant in at least four languages — French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
His knowledge of French can be traced to his childhood when his parents, William H. and Florence Wurmser Morand, employed a French governess for their children.
While serving in the frontier army, Morand began expanding his language skills, learning Spanish.
"The passing of Mr. Morand closes a most interesting and diversified life, a life which left its good mark upon the history of the community," observed an obituary writer in 1945.
The simple military tombstone in Greenwood Cemetery states that he was a trumpeter in Company G, Sixth U. S. Infantry.
But Morand — who died Jan. 31,1945 — was more than a soldier.
The veteran of one of the nation's last campaigns against the Indians contributed much more to the community than leading parades and conducting military ceremonies.
As an 18-year-old, Morand enlisted in the Army in August 1880, four years after George Armstrong Custer's debacle on the Little Big Horn in Montana Territory.
Morand's five-year service took him to the western territories of the United States.
Morand later recalled leaving Columbus, Ohio, with the temperature topping 100 degrees, and, after a four-night trip, stepping off a Union Pacific train in Rawlings, Wyoming Territory, on Aug. 30, "in the midst of a snow blizzard and a furious sand storm."
His stint began in the White River country (now in northwest Colorado and eastern Utah), where the Sixth Infantry's assignment was to control the Ute Indians.
During his first year, his unit went into winter quarters in October 1880 at Fort Lyons, Colo., on the Santa Fe Trail and the Arkansas River, which he described as being "in the heart of longhorn cattle country."
"When the winter really did set in," Morand wrote, "those miserable cattle died by the tens of thousands, literally starved to death.
"When the snow began to melt and the ice in the river broke up, the stench was almost unbearable, from the thousands of cattle that died along the banks and polluted the stream when the thaw came," Morand recalled.
His frontier service ranged from the Santa Fe Trail to the Green River Valley of Utah, the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Yellowstone National Park and Bozeman in Montana Territory.
"Transportation, like many other things, was not at all what it is today, so to go to places then, it was march, march, march and more marching," he explained in a newspaper feature.
In August 1883, while on duty in Yellowstone National Park, Morand met President Chester A. Arthur, a park visitor.
After his discharge in 1885, Morand returned to Hamilton, where he married Emma Van Ausdall (who died in 1944, a year before her husband).
In civilian life, Morand was a part-time teacher for more than 45 years, teaching language courses at the YMCA, YWCA and Hamilton High School night school.
Morand's linguistic ability also helped local industries gain and maintain international customers.
For many years he was an office employee of the Niles Tool Works Company.
Niles and other Hamilton industries often utilized his services as an interpreter while conducting business with their many foreign customers.
Besides English, Morand was conversant in at least four languages — French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
His knowledge of French can be traced to his childhood when his parents, William H. and Florence Wurmser Morand, employed a French governess for their children.
While serving in the frontier army, Morand began expanding his language skills, learning Spanish.
"The passing of Mr. Morand closes a most interesting and diversified life, a life which left its good mark upon the history of the community," observed an obituary writer in 1945.