Granville Haller

This is a stub article. You are encouraged to add content and remove the stub notation {{Stub}} when you feel it has enough content to qualify as a full article. Granville Owen Haller (1819-1897) - born 31 Jan 1819 in York, Pennsylvania. Died 2 May 1897 in Seattle, Washington. He was a noted Indian fighter and military officer, as well as a wealthy antebellum businessman in the Seattle, Washington, area. During the U.S. Civil War, he was charged with the defense of south-central Pennsylvania during the early days of Gettysburg Campaign prior to the arrival of the Army of the Potomac.

Early life and career

Haller was born and raised in York, Pennsylvania. After Haller graduated in 1838 from the York County Academy, the board of trustees recommended him for an appointment to the United States Military Academy. Not receiving Senator James Buchanan’s appointment to West Point, Haller responded to a summons to go to Washington DC, where he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry.

He fought in the second Seminole War and later served with distinction at the battles of Monterrey, Veracruz, and other actions during the Mexican War, officering in the same regiment as Ulysses S. Grant. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Churubusco, where he took a key part in the assault on Molino del Rey. In 1852 Haller was promoted to major and transferred to the Washington Territory, where he joined the 7th U.S. Infantry and hunted down Indians who were part of localized insurrections.

In Jul 1853 he was stationed at Fort Dalles, Oregon. In Aug 1854 he marched 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 U.S. Infantry were transferred to Fort 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.

Civil War and later career

After the Civil War started, Haller commanded George B. McClellan’s headquarters guard during the Peninsula Campaign and again in the Maryland Campaign. In May of 1863, he returned to his native York to recover from illness contracted in the field. In June, Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch appointed Haller to command the defenses of Adams County, Pennsylvania and York County, Pennsylvania counties in south-central Pennsylvania. During the Gettysburg Campaign, Haller retreated from Gettysburg to Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, where his militia burned the covered bridge to prevent passage over the Susquehanna River by a Confederate States Army brigade under John B. Gordon.

Accused by naval officer Lt. Clark Henry Wells of disloyal conduct and sentiments after the Battle of Fredericksburg, Haller was dismissed from the service in July 1863 by Special Order 331. Haller was not told he had been accused of disloyal comments to the Union.

He eventually returned to the Northwest and became prominent in Seattle business and industry. Congressional friends convinced the Army in 1873 to convene a court of inquiry, which exonerated him. President Rutherford B. Hayes helped him secure the regular army rank of colonel.

In May 1880 he was assigned to command the 23rd U.S. Infantry Regiment at Fort Supply in Oklahoma. He then served in Kansas and New Mexico. He retired at age 64 and moved back to Seattle.

Haller built a mansion called Castlemont in Seattle’s fashionable First Hill neighborhood. After his death 2 May 1897 at the age of 78, he was buried in Seattle's Lakeview Cemetery.

Haller Lake in the state of Washington is named for Haller's son, Theodore Haller.

Father:

Mother:

Marriage:

Children:

• Theodore Haller (-)

Assignments:

• (-) Rank (dor), Unit, Job
• (1852-1853) Maj. (dor), Unit, Job
• (1853-1859) Maj., 7th U.S. Infantry, Fort Dalles, Oregon
• (1859-1861) Maj., Fort Mojave
• (1861-1861) Maj., San Diego Barracks, California
• (-) Rank (dor), Unit, Job
• (-) Rank (dor), Unit, Job
• (-) Rank (dor), Unit, Job

Personal Description:

• Height:
• Build:
• Hair Color:
• Eye Color:

Sources:

• Haller, Granville O., The Dismissal of Maj. Granville O. Haller of the Regular Army of the United States by Order of the Secretary of War in Special Orders, 331, of July 25, 1863. Patterson, NY: Daily Guardian Offices, 1863.
• Haller, Theodore, “Granville O. Haller,” The Washingtonian, Vol. 1, No. 3, (Tacoma: Washington State Historical Society, 1900).

Links:

• Washington Wars - biography of Granville Haller
• History of the Haller mansion, "Castlemount"
• Grave of Granville Haller and his wife