buried in the Episcopal cemetery adjacent to the church. After his post-graduate studies at Dickin-
son Prep, Powless returned to Oneida, Wis., and secured a teaching position at the newly established government school. In 1893, as a result of the lobbying of missionary Solomon Burleson, the Episcopal Church established a hospital on the reservation, although the facility was not fully functional until 1898. In addition, a small infirmary was established at the government school. Burleson, before his death in 1897, had
encouraged Powless to pursue a career in medicine. Three years later, Powless entered Milwaukee Medical College. Upon graduation in 1904, Powless was appointed as the mission hospital’s doctor and the physician at the gov- ernment school. Two of his greatest challenges were fight-
ing tuberculosis and trachoma, scourges that were widespread through Indian Country. A federal public health study published in 1913 indicated that approximately 30 percent of Wisconsin’s Natives suffered from tubercu- losis. Nearly seven percent had contracted trachoma, a viral disease of the eye caused by unsanitary conditions that often led to blind- ness. In 1912, there were more than 39,000 cases of trachoma, and nearly 30 percent of all children in federal Indian boarding schools had contracted the disease. With U.S. involvement in World War I, the
fourth great influence took hold, the Oneida military tradition. The Oneidas as allies of the United States had answered the call for military service many times before. Their im- pressive war memorial, found today near their Cultural Heritage Center on the reservation, honors those who served from the American Revolution to the wars in Iraq and Afghani- stan.
Indeed, Josiah Powless’ grandfather
Peter Powless served in Company K of the 17th
Wisconsin during the Civil War. Josiah’s
oldest brother Emmanuel served in the Armed Forces during the Spanish American War. In March 1918, 45-year-old Josiah Powless volunteered for military service. Dr. Powless joined the Army’s Medical De-
partment that had been terribly understaffed when the country entered the war in April, 1917. He was first assigned to the 305th
Infan-
try Regiment and sent for six weeks of train- ing to Fort Riley in Kansas. In June 1918, he was shipped out for the battlefields of France and assigned to the 308th
Infantry Regiment.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 29
PHOTO COURTESY ROBERT UTH/AMERICAN BATTLE MONUMENTS COMMISSION
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