A southern boy from Georgia came West seeking the promise Wyoming and the West had to offer.

In 1903 it was raising sheep, later it would be practicing law, and finally it would be leading the state’s men in uniform overseas to France and engaging in the Great War to end all wars.

There his life would be taken under circumstances initially covered up by the U.S. Army and five months later laid out in headlines.

At home, Joseph W. Cavender would be honored and remembered for his skills preparing state men for the world campaign and not for the way he died.

As Veterans Day earlier this month marked the armistice that ended World War I on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11 a.m. 107 years ago, the Wyoming Military Department’s contract historian Mark Johnson agrees that Cavende

See Full Page