Headstone rededication ceremony

[Wawyasto]

Old Abe Camp #16 Dept. Of Kansas Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will hold a headstone rededication ceremony for two Civil War veterans laid to rest in Osage City Cemetery & you are warmly invited.

Saturday, August 8, 2026, at 9:00AM
Women's Relief Corps monument on the north side of the:

Osage City Cemetery
22828 W. Highway 31 in lovely Osage City, Kansas

Patriot dead to honor;

Private William Beckler, Company C, 8th Maine Infantry, was buried in the Odd Fellows section of the cemetery in 1896. While traveling east from California, Beckler's train was involved in a wreck north of Osage City. In the aftermath of the tragedy, he took his own life.

Private Joel E. Haworth, Company M, 20th New York Cavalry, died in 1891 after battling pneumonia, following years of debilitating illness that had afflicted him since his discharge from military service in 1865.

Over the decades, the headstones marking both men's final resting places became severely damaged and eventually unreadable. During Memorial Day weekend, members of SUVCW Old Abe Camp #16 replaced them with new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs markers, ensuring their service and sacrifice will continue to be remembered.

The public is cordially invited to attend as we honor these two Union veterans and help preserve their place in Kansas history.

 

[Library Lady]

I think it's lovely that you can still get the Civil War-style headstones from the VA to mark Civil War graves.

The full story behind Private Beckler's death has to be heartbreaking.

 

[bdtex]

Old Abe Camp #16 Dept. Of Kansas Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will hold a headstone rededication ceremony for two Civil War veterans laid to rest in Osage City Cemetery & you are warmly invited.

Outstanding. I had the pleasure and honor to be very involved in the same process and dedication ceremony for 2 Union veterans last year at a local cemetery I volunteer at. 2 veterans with temporary markers got permanent military gravestones and were dedicated on Veterans Day with the help of an Honor Guard from a local SUVCW Camp. They were delivered to my house in August and me and another gentleman set them in September.

 

[Wawyasto]

I think it's lovely that you can still get the Civil War-style headstones from the VA to mark Civil War graves.

The full story behind Private Beckler's death has to be heartbreaking.

Sad proof that Veteran suicide is not a new thing.

He was enroute to Chicago on a Santa Fe train then "back East" to secure some inherited property. While on the way, the train he was on was robbed in New Mexico and per the local story, the crew decided in order to try and make up lost time they skipped taking on water before leaving Osage City, KS. That decision was fatal, as the locomotive exploded when the boiler ruptured about 2 miles Northeast of town. 5 were killed outright and 4 injured. About an hour after the wreck Beckler took a pocket pistol he was carrying and shot himself. He was buried in American Cemetery (now known as Osage City cemetery) in the Odd Fellows section. Beside him are 2 headstones marked, "Unknown", believed to be 2 of the 3 unidentified tramps who were killed in the wreck as well.