Thanks Clinton Trimmer

A couple of days ago I published the picture (left) and asked if anyone could shed any light on it. Rob Reardon put me in touch with the wonderful Clinto Trimmer who came up with the following:

According to the research I’ve done I believe it was taken in the summer of 1883 in Oakland California. When Major Wells (on one knee by the drum), first Salvation Army officer in the west, arrived in June of 1883 he met with the members of the Pacific Coast Holiness Association. The PCHA had come across a War Cry possibly as early as 1881 and decided to model their organization after The Salvation Army. They even went so far as to ask William Booth to send someone to the west to open the work in California. (California at this time wasn’t exactly tamed. Most images of the Wild West with stage coaches, saloons, cowboys and miners certainly apply to California at the time.)

The group in Oakland was called the #1 regiment because the PCHA was trying to keep the spirit of the military structure that was used in London. Oakland had the #1 regiment, San Francisco had the #2 regiment, and San Jose (a town on the southern end of the bay) had the #3 regiment. When Wells arrived he met with all these groups who were part of the PCHA and rolled them into The Salvation Army. Sadly by the time Henry Stillwell, Wells’ partner who had stayed in New York to handle some business matter before crossing the continent, arrived in October of 1883 most of the members of the PCHA had left the Army. One of the members, who stayed though, although not in the photograph, was John Milsaps who became the first American Salvation Army Officer in the American West.

This is possibly one of the first photos ever taken of Salvationists in the American West. This photo is definitely a treasure of the Army's past, especially the Western Territory's past.

Thank you Clinton

Love and prayers

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