Collection: George M. Shearer papers

Summary

Correspondence, business records, and Idaho Militia records. Including Civil War letters by and to Shearer while in a Union prisoner of war camp at Fort Delaware, Maryland, reports of battles in the Nez Perce War, 1877, and the Sheepeater War, 1878-1879.

Dates

Creation: 1864 - 1890

Biographical Note

George Martin Shearer was born in Virginia in 1841. He served the South during the Civil War, from May 1861 until June 1865. Shearer was captured by the North during the summer of 1864 on his way to Richmond, and was held prisoner in Fort Delaware until his escape in June 1865.

After his escape, Shearer came to Idaho Territory, along the Salmon River. He volunteered for the state militia at Mt. Idaho with the rank of major, to fight the Indians. Shortly before his death, Shearer returned to Virginia to "report" to his Confederate superior, General Bradley T. Johnson, that he was now living in Idaho Territory and had indeed "found" the Yankees. He died in Idaho on January 2, 1890.