On September 5, 1862, a father and son separated by war commemorated their reunion at Willard’s Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Colonel Edward Herrick Castle, 51, had made a fortune before the war. He left his native New York in 1839 for Chicago, where he succeeded in retail and real estate. He moved west again, to California, during the 1849 Gold Rush, opening a successful hotel in San Francisco in 1850, before returning to Chicago to invest in the railroad industry. When the Civil War began, Castle was in Missouri, involved in a rail project that was disrupted by Rebel forces. He went to St. Louis, where he met Major General John C. Frémont and he and his railroad crew enlisted in the army. Castle joined Frémont’s staff as a colonel and superintendent of railroads for the Western Department.
Photograph of Civil War Colonel Edward Herrick Castle
Ronald S. Coddington Collection
In early 1862, Frémont’s sweeping emancipation edict landed him in hot water with President Abraham Lincoln and led to his reassignment to western Virginia. Castle followed him and was dubbed “Colonel Pontoon” for his ability to rapidly construct pontoon bridges. Frémont did not fare as well: After losing to Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Cross Keys and being reassigned to the command of Major General John Pope, Frémont resigned and went to New York City to await new orders that never came.
Castle headed to Washington and reunited there with his son, Ephraim, 17. The two commemorated the reunion in a photographer’s studio, with Ephraim wearing an enlisted soldier’s frock coat. There’s no evidence the boy served officially, but Ephraim may have acted as an unofficial aide-de-camp to his father.
The elder Castle returned to Chicago in 1865 and worked in real estate until his death in 1894 at 82. Ephraim died in 1926 at 81.
Ronald S. Coddington is publisher of Military Images, a magazine dedicated to showcasing and preserving photos of Civil War soldiers and sailors.
