John S. Mason - Postbellum Career

Postbellum Career

Mason remained in the U.S. Army following the war (reverting to his Regular Army rank of major and transferring to the 35th U.S. Infantry in September 1866 as commander of the new District of Arizona). He subsequently performed garrison duty in a number of outposts on Western frontier in the 1870s and the 1880s. He was transferred to the 15th U.S. Infantry in March 1869. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 4th U.S. Infantry in 1873 and to colonel of the 9th U.S. Infantry in 1883. His stations included the states and territories of Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Washington, D.C., Ohio, and Arizona. Mason was a cousin of President James A. Garfield’s wife Lucretia and during the Garfield administration was Deputy Governor of the Soldiers Home at Washington. He was married twice, first to Anna Worrell Judkins and then to Cornelia (Keller) Wilson.

Mason was active in veterans affairs, particularly in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He retired in 1888 as the colonel of the 9th U.S. Infantry at Fort Whipple, Arizona, and took up residence in Washington, D.C., where he died at home on November 29, 1897, from general paralysis brought about from a stroke. He was buried with full military honors in Section 1, Grave 541, of Arlington National Cemetery.

One of his sons, Captain John S. Mason, Jr., perished at the army post at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation from exposure in the line of duty, and is also buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Another son, Charles, also served in the Army.