Copyright 2001, Janine M. Bork
This page part of Walla
Walla AHGP
Finally, upon the headwaters
of Burnt river, they sighted some of the savages. Lieutenant William Hunter,
with twenty-seven men, was ordered forward; and a skirmish ensued in which
two of the volunteers were killed and one wounded. The Indians surrounded
them; and for twenty-six hours it was necessary to fight on the defensive.
But at last the two companies came to his relief; and the Indians broke
and disappeared. The two men that were killed had ascended a mountain with
a third to keep guard but were ambushed; and this was the
commencement of the fight. The volunteers followed the
fugitives through Powder river and Grande Ronde, where Colonel B.F. Shaw
intercepted them, giving them a severe chastisement.
At Lee's encampment the command met a detachment of men coming to meet
them with supplies, which were greatly appreciated, since they had subsisted
twenty-eight days upon the ten days' rations.
Later Mr. Naught took part in
some of the exciting incidents on the attack on the wagon train, where
the volunteers were moving up Mill
creek from the present site of Walla Walla, after the
six days' council, in which the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Walla Walla
and Cayuse Indians took part. After the close of hostilities, Mr. Naught
returned to Polk county, and resumed work upon his father's farm, and a
year alter learned the blacksmith's trade at Bethel, continuing in that
employment until going to the mines at Oro Fino, driving a freight team.
Late in 1861 he went to the Salmon river mines, and recalls the phenomenal
prices paid for provisions, - two dollars a pound for flour, three dollars
and a half a pound forbacon. Returning to Polk county, he engaged, in 1863,
in packing to the Idaho mines, and in 1864 enlisted in Captain Lafollett's
Company A. Being discharged June 30th, he returned to Polk county, but
in 1871 found his way to the Palouse valley, engaging in the sheep business;
but of late years he has made his home in the Walla Walla valley, Washington
Territory, near the town of Walla Walla, where he has a productive and
beautiful farm, and is one of the leading citizens in his section.
History of Pacific Northwest - Oregon and Washington
1889 Volume II
Page 488, 489
We do not often find distinguished
ability without finding also antecedent capacity in the ancestry. The family
to which our senator
belonged is remotely of Scotch Presbyterian blood, but
as early as 1690 removed to the north of Ireland, becoming thereafter of
the Scotch-Irish
race, who have made themselves famous on both sides of
the Atlantic. In 1718 the family removed to America; and William Morrison
Nesmith,
the father of our subject, connected himself by marriage,
about 1814, to Miss Harriet Willis, of a distinguished old family of New
Jersey, her
father owning the site of Elizabethtown in that state.
The young couple, however, made their home in Maine; and their third child
and only son,
James Willis, was born to them in 1820 in New Brunswick,
while his parents were there on a visit. The childhood of this boy was
in some particulars quite distressful. His mother was drowned while he
was still an infant; and when he was but five years old his father lost
his entire fortune, which was large, by fire. The peril to life was so
imminent in this casualty that the family escaped only by taking refuge
in a marsh, until the city and surrounding woods had ceased burning. Resulting
from the exposure there experienced, his stepmother sickened and died;
and the boy was obliged to live among friends and even strangers. His father
never amassed another fortune.
Young Nesmith's life was consequently
very little in one place; and his education was very desultory. He was,
however, fond of books, and
absorbed the current ideas of the times as he went from
place to place. He early began to earn his own livelihood, and as he attained
manhood
developed the jovial temper and humorous turn which make
care sit so lightly and baffle misfortune. Being detached from an established
life in
the East, he came out to Ohio, stopping at the home of
his cousin, Joseph G. Wilson, late member of Congress from Oregon, and
with him
attended the district school near Cincinnati. He
still felt the westward tide, and soon after came on to Missouri, where
he was joined by his
father, who died and was buried in that state. With the
loss of this loved parent, the young man had no ties to restrain his impatience
to find the
fortune and honor that awaited him on the Pacific coast,
although he probably imagined as little as anyone that his restless longings,
every
warning his solemnly beneath the exterior gaiety of his
life, meant for him the distinction and service to which he attained.
In 1842 he mounted a horse and
rode off to Independence with the intention of joining Doctor White's party
for Oregon. But the train was
ahead of him; and he was prevented from riding after
them by the report of the hostility of the Pawnees. Remaining on the frontier
until the next
season, he gained a year's livelihood by performing carpenter
work at Fort Scott, Kansas, and with the Applegate party of 1843, crossed
the
mountains. Perhaps it was upon this trip that his life-work
was first suggested. To while away the time, the lawyers in this company
conjured up
a legal case, which was argued and put through all possible
transmutations; and Nesmith, one of the principal parties concerned, showed
so
much address in the hand he bore as to win the high praise
of Peter Burnett, who told him he ought to study law. Coming to Oregon
City, and
finding more or less spare time on his hands, he adopted
the suggestion by gathering up what few books on this subject he could
find. He
gained from them a practical and common-sense idea of
jurisprudence, which enabled him two years later to fill the office of
judge under the
Provisional government.
In 1846 he made the home which
he had been lacking nearly twenty years, by his marriage to Miss Pauline
Goff, daughter of the pioneer of
1844. She was a lady whose personal and social attractions
were much appreciated some years later at Washington. His farm was near
the
present Dixie, and is now occupied by his son James.
He was favored at this time by the loan of cattle to the value of a thousand
dollars by
Doctor McLoughlin, who proffered him the lot, telling
him that now he was married he must be wanting a few cows.
In the winter of 1848 he was
one of the number who went to the Cayuse country to avenge the death of
Whitman, for whom he had the
highest regard, and again in 1855 he served with distinction
in the Rogue river and Yakima wars, earning there the title by which he
has ever
been known, that of colonel. In 1857 he was appointed
superintendent of Indian affairs, serving two years. This was a position
of high
responsibility, covering a field which included Oregon,
Washington and Idaho. In the meantime he had been to California in 1848
and dug gold
six months, paying his debt to McLoughlin with the dusty,
and had built two miles about Dallas a gristmill, the operation of which
proved very
remunerative. He made the acquaintance of General Lane
while on the water coming up from San Francisco. From his residence at
Oregon City,
and in Polk county, and at Salem as United States marshal,
and from his services in the state legislature and in the army and among
the Indians,
he was gaining a thorough grip upon the affairs of our
young state, and becoming one of her most popular men. This led the way
to his political
preferment.
The threatened disruption of
the Union in 1861 disturbed parties no less in Oregon than elsewhere; and
life-long political friends became
widely separated. General Lane, then senator from our
state, took the side of the south, accepting a place as Vice-President
of the old
Democratic ticket with Breckenridge. His efforts were
thereby calculated to detach Oregon from the Union, or at least to sever
it from any active
sympathy. Without doubt his purpose looked to an ultimate
if not immediate coalition between the Pacific states and the south in
the great
Southern republic of which the Carolina cavaliers dreamed,
which was to include the West Indies and Mexico. Nesmith, however, was
a
politically strongly attached to Lane, and all the old
Democrats. He was nothing of an Abolitionist, and felt no sympathy with
the anti-slavery
agitation; and for this reason his pro-slavery friends
expected him to unite with them. But he could not brook the destruction
of the Union. That was first, and must be preserved with whatever consequences
to any other institution. He therefore stood out from the regular party
ranks, and in 1860 accepted a position as elector on the Douglas ticket.
In 1861 the Douglas Democrats,
largely in the minority, put him forward as candidate for the Untied States
Senate; and the Republicans, also
a minority, had such confidence in the Colonel, knowing
that he was for the Union to the backbone, that they readily united to
secure his
election. He therefore became senator, to fill the place
left vacant by Lane. In taking this course, Colonel Nesmith assumed a vast
responsibility,
as, in those uncertain times, the whole weight of decision
to preserve or to acquiesce in the division of the Union might turn upon
his single
vote. Nevertheless his convictions upon this one point
of national preservation were so clear that he entered upon his duties
with alacrity and enthusiasm. during the entire period of the war he was
indefatigably on the side of the national authority, and became a trusted
adviser of President Lincoln. He also served on the military committee;
and his military views, picked up on the frontier and in Indian warfare,
were sought by the generals at Washington, and were frequently of essential
service. Hs counsels wren ever for promptness and efficiency and decisive
results. After the war was over, however, he strenuously opposed the reconstruction
measures of the Republican party, and became identified with the Democratic
party of later days. For many years after his return to Oregon he was leader
of his party in our state, and in 1873 was elected to fill the unexpired
term of his cousin, J.G. Wilson, who by death left vacant his seat in the
United States Congress. The history of our senator is therefore written
deeply in national history; and his is a fame which is commensurate with
that of the Union in which he identified his reputation, fortune and life.
Colonel Nesmith's natural and
moral characteristics are worthy of much study, as well as illustrating
the kind of mind developed on the
frontier. First of all stands out clearly his confidence
in his own mental operations and conclusions. He took no steps except upon
his own
judgment, and felt certain that what he worked out for
himself was practically correct. This led to his astonishing independence.
It is not an easy
thing to withstand one's life-long associates, to take
up with a cause which may throw one down from a well-earned
popularity, and to identify
one's self with a cause which is, for the present, and
may ever be, the weaker. This is a moral quality of the highest value,
and to men with the
qualities of leadership, like Nesmith, to whom popularity
is worth something, is one of the most difficult to attain. It involves
a certain
truthfulness with one's self, and shows a commanding
self-respect which compels fidelity to principle. Coupled with this high
quality, he had a
breadth and common sense which forbade narrowness.
He had not only respect for,
and loyalty to, his own opinions, but respect and charity for the conviction
of others. He had peculiarly that
large view which prefers to see men and their ideas go
for what they are worth, and, if they cannot be reconciled when in conflict,
to expect that
the best will survive the struggle. Not a contentious
man, he was nevertheless combative, and, while careful to be right, felt
no hesitancy in
trying his views by the final arbitrament. With this
martial spirit, he had very broad sympathies, and never lost his warm personal
regard for
General Lane, for whom he had named his eldest son. it
was the request of the general that, at his funeral, Colonel Nesmith pronounce
a few
words; and no one can read this classic oration in the
light of all the memories involved without great admiration. Furthermore,
at the request of
the Senate, he pronounced a eulogy upon the unbending
Abolitionist, Charles Sumner. That great senator from Massachusetts was
worlds
farther than Lane from Nesmith's own personal sentiments;
yet that speech was so broad and just as to attract universal attention.
The substratum of his character,
it will be seen, was earnest and rugged, involving a self-respect and sturdy
truthfulness which is found
alone in the best men. To this he added an intellect
of exceptional clearness and vigor, remarkable for its ready reasoning
and wonderful
memory. To ease the way of life he developed a natural
streak of Scotch humor; and his ready memory served him quaint anecdotes
and
illustrations for every occasion, and made him one of
the most interesting conversationalists. The same quality made of him a
successful
speaker and a fluent writer, although in neither of these
fields he was so perfectly at home as among a group of friends where he
could indulge
in jest or repartee. He was in no respect a man of wide
learning; but his own life and experience had served him a world of facts;
and he was
fertile and quick in resources. His character is well
defined in the portrait which we present.
His death occurred in 1885; and
of none of her sons may Oregon feel more proud. His public career was without
taint or corruption, as his
private life had been without stain of dishonestly; and,
in this respect, he is a most worthy example for all of the public servants
of our state.
Of his children, the eldest,
Joseph Lane, died in infancy; Mary J., the wife of Levi Ankeny, resides
at Walla Walla; Harriet, the wife of L.L.
McArthur, resides at Portland; Valena, the wife of W.W.
Molson, lives at Derry; and James and William reside upon the old place
by the
Rickreal
History of Pacific Northwest - Oregon and Washington
1889 Volume II
Page 491 - 493
Edward H. Nixon, one of the earliest of Walla Walla pioneers now living and for many years a dominant factor in civic affairs, was born in Guyandotte, West Virginia, on the 26th of May, 1842. When he was ten years of age his parents removed to Jackson county, Iowa, settling on a farm about eight miles west of Sabula. He was there educated in the district schools and at his mother's knee, she having been educated for a teacher in the West Virginia schools and it was there that she was married. After mastering the early branches of learning Mr. Nixon continued his studies in the high school at Maquoketa, Iowa, and at the age of twenty years he was elected to the office of constable in his district, but the commissioners refused him a commission because he was not of legal age. He began reading law at Maquoketa, Iowa, and advanced sufficiently to try cases before a justice of the peace.
In sentiment he was strongly anti-slavery at the beginning of the Civil war and as his sympathies were with the north, he determined he would not fight for any country that would uphold slavery, but after the Emancipation Proclamation he offered his services to the country and was accepted in December, 1863, being mustered into the service as a member of Company A, Ninth Regiment of the Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for one year, five months and eleven days. He then received an honorable discharge, the war having been brought to a close. He had participated in the battles of Snake Creek Gap, Resaca (?), Dallas and New Hope Church, Ackworth or Big Shanty, and the seven days' siege of Kensaw Mountain and many skirmishes. He was also in the battle of Atlanta on the 22nd of July, 1864, in the battle of Ezra Church and many others, taking part in every engagement in which his regiment participated until the fall of Atlanta. At close of the war he received an honorable discharge and return to his home with a most creditable military record, having nobly done his part to preserve the Union. He afterward pursued a course in Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, and subsequently he engaged in farming until 1873, when he started for the far west with Walla Walla as his destination. He arrived here on the 16th of March of that year and took up the profession of teaching. He also engaged in farm work and in fact accepted any employment that would yield him an honest dollar.
On the 2d of April, 1876, Mr. Nixon was united in marriage to Miss Kate Stewart, a daughter of Daniel and Margaret Stewart, and to them have been born three children, two daughters and a son: Stella, now the wife of H.L. Wilson, who is state highway contractor and a resident of Walla Walla; Laura, the wife of H.H. Hadley, who is engaged in the automobile business in Dayton, Washington; and Edward S., who is associated with his father in the real estate and insurance business under the firm style of E.H. Nixon & Son.
In 1877, soon after his marriage, Mr. Nixon removed to Whitman county and took up a homestead and tree claim and preempted another one hundred and sixty acres of land. He also rented a section of school land and for eight years or more was extensively and successfully engaged in farming. He laid out the first road ever laid out in Whitman county and was well known as the pioneer settler of that county, instituting much of the progressive work which has brought about its present-day progress and prosperity. In 1885 he returned to Walla Walla, and while he has disposed of his landed interests in Whitman county, he still owns valuable farm property and since 1892 he has conducted a real estate and insurance business, the firm of E.H. Nixon & Son maintaining an office in the Jaycox building. For many years Mr. Nixon was one of the most conspicuous figures in the civic affairs of Walla Walla. he served as road overseer, was also United States deputy postmaster, was justice of the peace two years and was police judge one year. He was also city assessor one term and was police judge one year. He was also city assessor one term and was a member of the city council and at all times exercised his official prerogatives in support of many well defined plans and measures for the general good. He looked beyond the exigencies of the moment to the opportunities and possibilities of the future and labored not only for the welfare of the passing hour but for future time as well. He was responsible for the establishment of the perpetual care system in the city cemetery and later the same system in the Odd Fellows cemetery, serving as president of the cemetery committee for a number of years. Mr. Nixon has long been a faithful and prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has filled all of the offices in the local post. He has also been honored with the position of assistant adjutant general and assistant quartermaster general of the Department of Washington and Alaska. He has membership in Blue Mountain Lodge, No. 13, A.F.&A.M., and is a member of Washington Lodge, No. 19, I.O.O.F., in which he has filled all of the chairs, including that of noble grand. In 1890 he joined with F.W. Paine and others in forming the Interstate Building Loan & Trust Association, and he is a member of its board of trustees and vice president of the association. In a word his activities are broad and varied. He is a liberal minded man, recognizing the duties and obligations of the individual to his fellowmen and to his country. At all times he has been actuated by a progressive spirit and in business affairs has been stimulated by a laudable ambition. His purposes have been well defined and promptly executed and the course which he has pursued has at all times measured up to the highest standards of manhood. his work has been of great benefit to the community at large as well as a source of individual success, and Walla Walla county honors him as one of her best known pioneers. His religious faith is that of the Unitarian church.
Lyman's History of Old Walla Walla County - 1918
Page 62, 65, 66