Squire, Watson C. (Watson Carvosso), 1838-1926

Watson C. Squire was born in 1838 in New York and graduated from Wesleyan University in 1859. He was principal of the Moravia Institute in New York when the Civil War began. Over the next two years he fought as a Union soldier in the New York Volunteers 19th Infantry Regiment and served at Harper's Ferry under Gen. Nathaniel Banks. Following his graduation from Cleveland Law School in 1862, he answered the call for more men, raised the 7th Independent Company of Ohio Sharpshooters, and was commissioned as captain. His company fought on the Tennessee River and escorted Gen. Sherman on his march to the sea. Squire participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Resaca, and Missionary Ridge and served as judge advocate of the district of Tennessee and during the siege and battle of Nashville. He left the army in 1865, after attaining the rank of brevet colonel, and joined the E. Remington & Sons Arms Company in New York. Squire, who married Ida Remington, the daughter of company president Philo Remington, became manager, treasurer, and secretary of the company, traveling extensively and selling arms in many countries. In 1879 he moved to Seattle and developed real estate in the Puget Sound region. He left Remington in 1884 and was appointed governor of Washington Territory by President Chester Arthur. During Squire's term he declared martial law in Seattle to maintain order during the anti-Chinese riots in Seattle and Tacoma, and later investigated property losses of the Chinese. He was president of the Washington Statehood Convention in 1889 and served as a Washington State senator from 1889-1897. After he retired from politics Squire practiced law, managed his properties, and founded the Union Trust Company. He died in 1926.