Civil War Veteran-Pvt. Sanford A. Arnold, Larned Cemetery, Larned, Pawnee County, Kansas

On September 30, 1864, Pvt. Sanford Arnold enlisted in Co. F 95th OH Infantry. He was wounded twice and honorably discharged after eleven months of service. Pvt. Arnold was Pawnee County’s last Civil War veteran.

Sanford Alonzo Arnold was born in Licking County, Ohio, on February 14, 1846. He helped his parents with their farm and attended the local school. When Civil War broke out, Sanford was 15 years old and desperately wanted to join. Unfortunately, by the time his father consented, the war was in its final year.

In his first battle, Pvt. Sanford was wounded in the leg. The injury was not severe, and he continued with his regiment to Tennessee, where he received a wound in the hip. At the end of the war, Sanford returned to Ohio and learned the trade of stonecutter.

On December 15, 1868, Sanford married Margaret Swihart, where six of their nine children were born. In 1875, Sanford came to Pawnee County and purchased a relinquishment in Pleasant Ridge Township a few miles southwest of Larned. He built a two-room frame house with a basement for his family, who came by train in the fall of 1875.

Sanford came to Pawnee County with little money. He tried many ways to make a living, but they all ended up not panning out. Finally, after three years of struggling with the bleak land, he could harvest a crop. However, the next few years were difficult. Sanford resorted to digging wells to support his family, picking up bleached buffalo bones, and using buffalo chips to heat the home. Sanford also found a job as a freighter hauling goods from Dodge City to the Texas Panhandle and selling his wares to whoever needed them.

After five years of hard work and struggling to make a living, the tide turned, and Sanford had become a successful farmer and stockman. He paid $800.00 for his first quarter section of land. Sanford eventually acquired land in Pawnee, Haskell, Ford, and Gray counties. When the Santa Fe railroad built the Jetmore branch, a station was named Sanford in his honor.

Margaret passed away in 1934 and Sanford in 1942. They are buried in Larned Cemetery with four of their children.