For Camp of the Year
Category. Permanent award.
Authority for the Award.
Department Bylaws Chapter VII, Article III, Section D: This award is presented by the Department Commander to the camp within the Department which demonstrated the greatest degree of support to the goals and ideals of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in such areas as community involvement, memorial ceremonies, public education, conduct of camp meetings, and such. The Department Commander shall seek recommendations from the various Camp Commanders for this award.
History of the Award.
This award was created by Department Commander Dean K. Speaks with Department Order 1 (1996-1997), dated October 1996, as the “William W. Nixon Award for Camp of the Year.”
The award was made a permanent award of the Department by the Thirteenth Annual Department Encampment in 2008.
The following account is summarized from the Jewell County Republican, April 10, 1941, and March 23, 1944; the Topeka Capital, April 5, 1941; the Journal of the 62nd National Encampment of the Woman’s Relief Corps, 1944; and the Proceedings of the 78th National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, 1944. It was provided for The Sunflower Picket in 2007 by Brother Blair D. Tarr, Old Abe Camp 16.
William Washington Nixon was the only Kansan to serve as the National Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, having been elected to that post at the Seventy-fourth National Encampment at Springfield, Illinois in 1940.
He was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Samuel and Jane (Steele) Nixon. The day was Washington’s Birthday, February 22, 1846, a fact that gave him his middle name. Because of his age, William did not enlist until January 30, 1864, as a private in Company I, 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. He arrived in Grant’s army just before Cold Harbor and served at Petersburg. Nixon was stationed at Farmville, Virginia, at the time of Lee’s surrender, and was discharged at Philadelphia on January 29, 1866.
Nixon made one visit to Kansas before settling here for a lifetime. In the Spring of 1866, he and three other young veterans made their way by water from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Kansas City, then on to Topeka. But Nixon backtracked to Iowa where he remained until 1869, when he returned to Pennsylvania. There he married Sarah Hope at Mansfield, Pa., on July 20 of that year. The couple moved to Iowa, starting a family. They settled in Jewell County, Kansas in 1879, on a farm in northeast Buffalo Township – a son still farmed it at the time of Nixon’s death in 1944.
Sarah Nixon died on April 1, 1884. William remarried on June 11, 1885, to Maria E. Jones at Bridgeville, Pa. She died in 1927. With both wives, he had a total of eight children. William retired to a home he purchased in Jewell in 1903.
His interest in the Grand Army of the Republic was very strong. He joined in 1880, a member of the S. R. Deach Post 58 of Jewell, Kansas. At its strongest, the Deach post had 154 members. Nixon would be their last member. He was the Commander of the Department of Kansas in 1934-35, and again in 1943. He attended encampments and reunions faithfully, including the 75th reunion at Gettysburg in 1938.
His election in 1940 meant that he would preside over the Seventy-Fifth National Encampment in 1941 at Columbus, Ohio. But his service would not end there. Longevity meant serving in other positions, and at the time of his death he was the National Judge Advocate General. On the completion of his term as National Commander, a reception was held in his honor at the Memorial Building in Topeka, on April 5, 1941, as well as a parade and dinner at the Hotel Kansan. Martin Phillips, the commander of Capitol Post 1 of the American Legion, was master of ceremonies, while Mrs. Grace Wanner, the president of the Woman’s Relief Corps and secretary of the Grand Army of the Republic, both Department of Kansas, made the arrangements. Five other Kansas Civil War veterans were present: J.P. Fair of Mankato; W.E. Applegate and George Ellis of Topeka; Charles Wingrove of Clay Center; and A.T. Williams of Chapman. An address was delivered by the Honorable William A. Smith, a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, who represented Governor Payne Ratner.
Among the gifts presented to Nixon was a copper plaque described as bearing his war record. This may be the plaque placed along his military gravestone, which actually commemorates his term as National Commander. He also received a silk lounging robe and an album containing prints of famous paintings.
William Washington Nixon died at his home in Jewell on March 17, 1944, at the age of 98. The services were held at the Methodist Church in Jewell. The American Legion presented a full military funeral at the Wallace Cemetery. The tributes summed up his life – farmer, banker, good neighbor, devout Christian, ideal father, kind friend, brave soldier, the patriot and patriarch of Jewell. He was the last soldier of Jewell County.
At the time of the 1941 reception, he commented on what he thought about the war then raging in Europe. “There’s nothing today that compares with the Union Army. It’s just a machine fight now – a war of machines. They aren’t doing any real fighting.”
“I wish the world were at peace.”
Recipients.
| Year | Camp of the Year | Awarded By |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 | Corp. Patrick Coyne Camp 1 (recipient not identified) (recipient not identified) Old Abe Camp 16 Old Abe Camp 16 (recipient not identified) Corp. Patrick Coyne Camp 1 Corp. Patrick Coyne Camp 1 Corp. Patrick Coyne Camp 1 Corp. Patrick Coyne Camp 1 Sgt. Samuel J. Churchill Camp 4 Sgt. Samuel J. Churchill Camp 4 Franklin Camp 5 Corp. Patrick Coyne Camp 1 Old Abe Camp 16 Old Abe Camp 16 Corp. Patrick Coyne Camp 1 Old Abe Camp 16 Franklin Camp 5 Humboldt Camp 9 Humboldt Camp 9 Old Abe Camp 16 Old Abe Camp 16 Franklin Camp 5 Old Abe Camp 16 Sgt. Samuel J. Churchill Camp 4 Pvt. John N. Eckes Camp 10 Franklin Camp 5 | Dean K. Speaks Dean K. Speaks Dean K. Speaks Franklin C. Burgquist Kenneth D. Strader Randal L. Thies Alan L. Russ Kenneth R. Spurgeon Thomas E. Schmidty James R. Knopke Randal L. Durbin Roy A. Lafferty Craig A. Sundell James M. Converse James R. Knopke Roy A. Lafferty Roy A. Lafferty Rocky L. Bartlow Rocky L. Bartlow Kent M. Melcher Mark A. Britton Mark A. Britton Michael A. Todd K. Kirk Nystrom Robert D. Boyd II Thomas E. Schmidt Conrad M. Fisher Kent M. Melcher |
Department of Kansas SUVCW 