Did you know that Alice Applegate Sargent was the first American woman to receive a full military funeral? Her name should sound familiar. She was the daughter of Lindsey Applegate, who with his brother Jesse, created the Applegate Trail.
Alice led an unconventional life. After growing up in the toll house on the first toll road over the Siskiyous, she married Herbert Howland Sargent, a newly commissioned West Point graduate. As a military wife, she accompanied Herbert on all his assignments–forts, teaching positions, and active war duty in Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish American War. Herbert by then was Col. Sargent. He authored 3 highly acclaimed books on military science and became friends with Theodore Roosevelt. Alice chronicled her experiences in a memoir, ‘Following the Flag.”
In 1911 the Sargents temporarily retired to Medford and became active in civic affairs. Herbert served as a Medford City Councilor, Alice as head of the Republican Club. Then World War 1 recalled Herbert to active duty, and Alice, of course, followed him.