.gif)
Charles H. Bennett (soldier)
Encyclopedia
Charles H. Bennett was present at the discovery of gold
that initiated the California gold rush
in January 1848. Earlier he served in the United States Army
and was captain of a militia unit of the Provisional Government of Oregon
. In later years he operated a hotel in the Oregon Territory
before dying in the Indian Wars
as a captain of a cavalry unit.
, at Fort Leavenworth
, under General Stephen W. Kearny
. He moved to Oregon
from Fort Leavenworth in 1844. In May 1846 while in Oregon he was involved with forming the Oregon Rangers
mounted rifle company, where he was selected as the captain of the group.
In 1847, Bennett moved south from Oregon Country
to California
where he was then employed by James Marshall
as a carpenter at Sutter's Mill
when gold was discovered. Marshall claimed that at the time that he discovered gold in the mill's tail-race Bennett was half a mile away at the house. This version of events is disputed by Stephen Staats, a lifelong acquaintance who was with him at the time, and later wrote a letter to the Oregon Statesman stating:
"In 1847 we furnished Bennett with an outfit and he traveled with us to California. He assisted Marshall in building a mill on the American fork of the Sacramento, and he was the first one that beheld the glittering dust when water was turned into the race for the purpose of clearing it out. Notwithstanding that Marshall has gained worldwide fame as the first discoverer of gold in California, we have always claimed that an Oregon man, Bennett, was the first one whose eagle eye beheld the shining ore as it sparkled through the rippling of the water. Bennett, Salem’s pioneer citizen, first gazed upon and held in his hand the gold which made San Francisco what she is today, and had it not been for that discovery the Bennett house never would have been built."
In 1850 "Charley" Bennett, as his friends knew him, built the Bennett House hotel in Salem, Oregon
. He extended the property by building a High Street frontage to the eastern side in 1852 and it became the town's principal hotel. In the winter of 1852-1853, nearly the entire territorial legislature
was quartered there including Judge Matthew Deady
and Hon. Asahel Bush
, who occupied a room together, Joseph Meek
, Colonel George K. Shiel
, James W. Nesmith
, Delazon Smith
, James K. Kelly
, Benjamin Harding, John Whiteaker
, Nathaniel Ford
of Polk county, and George Law Curry
. In 1854, the U. S. Surveyor General
's office for Oregon was removed to Salem, and occupied rooms at the Bennett House for some time.
Bennett was one of several shareholders who built the steamship Canemah
. He was married to Mary Ann Shannon.
on the Touchet River
in southeastern Washington, near Fort Wallula, in 1855 during the Yakima War
. His body was brought back to Salem aboard the Canemah. It was met by a salute fired by the town's citizens before being buried in the Odd Fellows cemetery
with Masonic
honors. His memorial is a white marble obelisk, 6 feet in height with a square pointed cap, a Masonic carving of the All-seeing eye gazing upon an open book. The inscription reads "Capt. Charles Bennett. Died Dec 7 1855. Aged 41 yrs, 3 mo, 20 days. Capt. Chas. Bennett was the discoverer of gold in California, and fell in defense of his country at Walla Walla."
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
that initiated the California gold rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
in January 1848. Earlier he served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and was captain of a militia unit of the Provisional Government of Oregon
Provisional Government of Oregon
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849. Created at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region, this independent government...
. In later years he operated a hotel in the Oregon Territory
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...
before dying in the Indian Wars
Indian Wars
American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...
as a captain of a cavalry unit.
American West
In 1835 Bennett was a Sergeant in Company A United States Regiment of DragoonsU.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment
The 1st Cavalry Regiment is a unit in the United States Army which has its antecedents in the early 19th Century in the formation of the United States Regiment of Dragoons. To this day, the unit's Special Designation is "First Regiment of Dragoons".-Origins:The "United States Regiment of Dragoons"...
, at Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...
, under General Stephen W. Kearny
Stephen W. Kearny
Stephen Watts Kearny surname also appears as Kearney in some historic sources; August 30, 1794 October 31, 1848), was one of the foremost antebellum frontier officers of the United States Army. He is remembered for his significant contributions in the Mexican-American War, especially the conquest...
. He moved to Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
from Fort Leavenworth in 1844. In May 1846 while in Oregon he was involved with forming the Oregon Rangers
Oregon Rangers
The Oregon Rangers were the first organized militia of settlers in the Willamette Valley of what became the U.S. state of Oregon, but at the time was the Oregon Country. Organized in 1844, the Provisional Government of Oregon never called the troops out to service...
mounted rifle company, where he was selected as the captain of the group.
In 1847, Bennett moved south from Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where he was then employed by James Marshall
James W. Marshall
James Wilson Marshall was an American carpenter and sawmill operator, whose discovery of gold in the American River in California on January 24, 1848 set the stage for the California Gold Rush. The mill property was owned by Johan Sutter who employed Marshall to build his mill...
as a carpenter at Sutter's Mill
Sutter's Mill
Sutter's Mill was a sawmill owned by 19th century pioneer John Sutter in partnership with James W. Marshall. It was located in Coloma, California, at the bank of the South Fork American River...
when gold was discovered. Marshall claimed that at the time that he discovered gold in the mill's tail-race Bennett was half a mile away at the house. This version of events is disputed by Stephen Staats, a lifelong acquaintance who was with him at the time, and later wrote a letter to the Oregon Statesman stating:
"In 1847 we furnished Bennett with an outfit and he traveled with us to California. He assisted Marshall in building a mill on the American fork of the Sacramento, and he was the first one that beheld the glittering dust when water was turned into the race for the purpose of clearing it out. Notwithstanding that Marshall has gained worldwide fame as the first discoverer of gold in California, we have always claimed that an Oregon man, Bennett, was the first one whose eagle eye beheld the shining ore as it sparkled through the rippling of the water. Bennett, Salem’s pioneer citizen, first gazed upon and held in his hand the gold which made San Francisco what she is today, and had it not been for that discovery the Bennett house never would have been built."
In 1850 "Charley" Bennett, as his friends knew him, built the Bennett House hotel in Salem, Oregon
Salem, Oregon
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood...
. He extended the property by building a High Street frontage to the eastern side in 1852 and it became the town's principal hotel. In the winter of 1852-1853, nearly the entire territorial legislature
Oregon Territorial Legislature
Oregon’s Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1848 as the legislative branch of the government of the Oregon Territory...
was quartered there including Judge Matthew Deady
Matthew Deady
Matthew Paul Deady was a politician and jurist in the Oregon Territory and the state of Oregon of the United States. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1853 to 1859, at which time he was appointed to the newly created federal court of the state...
and Hon. Asahel Bush
Asahel Bush
Asahel Bush was an American newspaper publisher and businessman in Salem, Oregon. As publisher the Oregon Statesman newspaper, he moved the paper to Salem when the territorial capital moved to that city...
, who occupied a room together, Joseph Meek
Joseph Meek
Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek was a trapper, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A pioneer involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek would play a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843...
, Colonel George K. Shiel
George K. Shiel
George Knox Shiel was a Democratic U.S. congressman from Oregon.-Early life:Born in Ireland in 1825, Shiel immigrated to the United States and settled in New Orleans. He moved to Ohio where he was admitted to the bar and began a law practice. He moved to Salem, Oregon in 1854 and continued his law...
, James W. Nesmith
James W. Nesmith
James Willis Nesmith was an American politician and lawyer from Oregon. Born in Canada to American parents, he grew up in New Hampshire and Maine...
, Delazon Smith
Delazon Smith
Delazon Smith was a Democratic Party politician who briefly represented the state of Oregon in the U.S. Senate in 1859. He served for less than one month , making his term among the shortest on record in the Senate...
, James K. Kelly
James K. Kelly
James Kerr Kelly was an American politician born in Pennsylvania. He was a United States Senator for Oregon from 1871 to 1877, and later Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court...
, Benjamin Harding, John Whiteaker
John Whiteaker
John Whiteaker was an American politician, soldier, and judge primarily in Oregon. A native of Indiana, he joined the Army during the Mexican-American War and then prospected during the California Gold Rush. After moving to the Oregon Territory he served as a judge and member of the legislature...
, Nathaniel Ford
Nathaniel Ford
Nathaniel Ford was an American politician and Oregon pioneer during the time of the Oregon Territory. A native of Missouri, he worked as a sheriff in that state before moving to the Oregon Country where he was selected as judge in the Provisional Government of Oregon and served in the Oregon...
of Polk county, and George Law Curry
George Law Curry
George Law Curry was a United States political figure and newspaper publisher predominately in what became the state of Oregon. A native of Pennsylvania, he published a newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, before traveling the Oregon Trail to the unorganized Oregon Country...
. In 1854, the U. S. Surveyor General
Surveyor General
The Surveyor General is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Originally this would often have been a military appointment, but is now more likely to be a civilian post....
's office for Oregon was removed to Salem, and occupied rooms at the Bennett House for some time.
Bennett was one of several shareholders who built the steamship Canemah
Canemah (sidewheeler)
Canemah was one of the first steamboats to run on the Willamette River above Willamette Falls. Canemah was the first steamboat to load grain at Corvallis, the first to carry the mail on the Willamette River, and the first steamboat in Oregon to suffer a fatal boiler explosion.-Design and...
. He was married to Mary Ann Shannon.
Death
Promoted to the captaincy of Company F, Oregon Mounted Volunteers, Bennett was killed in action at Walla WallaWalla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
on the Touchet River
Touchet River
The Touchet River is the largest tributary of the Walla Walla River in southeastern Washington in the United States.The upper Touchet was a traditional summer meeting place for trade and games for the Palus, Nez Perce and Walla Walla tribes. The name Touchet derives from the similarly pronounced...
in southeastern Washington, near Fort Wallula, in 1855 during the Yakima War
Yakima War
The Yakima War was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama, a Sahaptian-speaking people on the Northwest Plateau, then Washington Territory and now the southern interior of Eastern Washington, from 1855 to 1858.- Naming :...
. His body was brought back to Salem aboard the Canemah. It was met by a salute fired by the town's citizens before being buried in the Odd Fellows cemetery
Salem Pioneer Cemetery
Salem Pioneer Cemetery is a cemetery in Salem, Oregon, United States.-Overview:...
with Masonic
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
honors. His memorial is a white marble obelisk, 6 feet in height with a square pointed cap, a Masonic carving of the All-seeing eye gazing upon an open book. The inscription reads "Capt. Charles Bennett. Died Dec 7 1855. Aged 41 yrs, 3 mo, 20 days. Capt. Chas. Bennett was the discoverer of gold in California, and fell in defense of his country at Walla Walla."
External links
- Photograph of the burial site of Captain Charles Bennett from Salem Public Library