100 years ago in Spokane: Memorial Day events boosted by outbreak of war; Chief Spokane Garry honored with new headstone at Greenwood Cemetery

Spokane’s Memorial Day Parade struck a particularly patriotic note in this wartime year.

In addition to the usual ranks of veterans from previous wars – including the gray-haired vets of the Grand Army of the Republic (the Union Army in the Civil War) – the parade also included these units:

A troop of 100 Gonzaga University cadets.

A group from the “Citizens School of Military Training.”

A platoon of” women cavalry troopers.”

And the new “colored military company and the colored men’s patriotic club, 35 men, who were warmly applauded.”

The parade was followed by a patriotic program at the First Methodist Church, which was filled to capacity.

From the cemetery beat: One Memorial Day ceremony at a local cemetery was particularly notable.

A new headstone was placed on the grave of Chief Spokane Garry near the entrance to Greenwood Cemetery.

The inscription on the new stone, provided by the Spokane Historical Society, read: “His life spanned the unfolding of the Spokane country from the days of the fur traders at Spokane House, to the activities of a modern city. He is mentioned with esteem by Alexander Ross, Isaac I. Stevens, Colonel George Wright and other publicists.”