Historical society president's kin enmeshed in U. S. history

One of Quincy Valley Historical Society President Garland "Gar" Pilliar's immediate goals is to get the Pioneer Church on the State Heritage Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1904 by homesteading Germans from Russia immigrants. It was about to converted into a home when St. Paul Lutheran Church bought it in 2006 and gifted it to the QVHS museum. It sits on the museum property.

by <Br> Crescent Bar Chronicle & Ted Escobar
| November 11, 2011 5:15 AM

QUINCY - Up until about the time he joined the Quincy Valley Historical Society, President Garland "Gar" Pilliar didn't give a hoot about history.

"History in grade school and high school was so boring, I couldn't stand it," he said recently.

Then, just before joining the QVHS in 2000, everything changed. Pilliar, 72, started to learn his own family was enmeshed in America's history.

Over the ensuing years, Pilliar learned six of his ancestors fought in the Civil War. Another fought in the War of 1812, and yet another was in George Washington's Army at Valley Forge during the American Revolution.

"He may have shaken hands with George Washington," Garland. "He was there one time when George Washington was shaking hands with his men."

The upshot of all of this is that Pilliar started to see history in a new light. The Revolution and Civil War were no longer events that occurred thousands of years ago. They were part of his family story.

After Pilliar learned about one of these ancestors, he couldn't help but want to know about the rest. He found them all, and seven had survived their wars.

Pilliar was encouraged to learn more about the Civil War. Eventually he located the burial sites of all veterans of that war who died in Grant County.

"There's four here in our cemetery," he said.

Apparently, Pilliar surmised, these men were part of the great migration in the late 1800s and 1900s of homesteaders to Washington Territory and early Washington State.

During his family study, Pilliar found he was eligible for several historical organizations and joined. He's a member of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S., Sons of the American Revolution and Descendants of Washington's Army at Valley Forge.

The ancestor who fought with Washington was Cpl. George Cofer of Virginia. There was not a long military file on him, but he enlisted "just about the day they signed the Declaration of Independence."

The Civil War ancestor of whom Pilliar learned the most was his great-grandfather Edward Pilliar, a private in the 1st Colorado Volunteer Cavalry. He participated at the little known Battle of Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.

When it was discovered a unit from the South was attempting to get to Denver to steal gold to support the Confederate cause, Pilliar's unit went out to engage. The two units met at the pass near Valverde.

Gar Pilliar went to the site on the invitation of a man who knows the area. He found the terrain to be a lot like Grant County's.

Cpl. Pilliar was injured during the engagement, but not by a bullet. His horse fell back onto him when it failed to jump an arroyo during a charge. He was maimed for life.

"I've got some stones I picked out of the bottom (of the arroyo)," Gar Pilliar said.

The North won the battle after three days, and the South skedaddled all the way back to central Texas. The rebels never saw Denver or the gold.

"My great-grandfather's unit shadowed the rebels from this side of the Rio Grande (which separates Texas and New Mexico) until they turned east into Texas," Gar Pilliar said.

One Civil War ancestor, Cpl. Thomas C. Hurst, was captured at the Battle of Chickamauga. He spent 16 months in Confederate prisons, including the infamous Andersonville, and became deathly ill.

"He got back to St. Louis (Jefferson Barracks Hospital) just in time to die," Pilliar said.

Pvt. James Hurst, another Civil War ancestor, came to Spokane years after the war to visit a daughter and stayed. He is buried there.

James Hurst's service was uneventful. He was in just a short time and mostly pulled guard duty. He became seriously ill and was sent home.

Gar Pilliar may have enough information to write a book, but he's not thinking about that. He's thinking about how wonderful history is when you discover your part in it.

Having discovered the family military past, he's even prouder of his own service in the U.S. Navy from 1958-61.