Charles H. Bennett (soldier)
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Charles H. Bennett (18 August 1811 - 7 December 1855) was present at the discovery of gold that initiated the California gold rush in January 1848. At the time he was employed by James Marshall as a carpenter at Sutter's Mill. 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.[1]
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."[2]
In 1835 Bennett was a sergeant in Company A United States Regiment of Dragoons, at Fort Leavenworth, under General Joseph A. Kearney.[2] He moved to Oregon from Fort Leavenworth in 1844.[3] In May of 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.[4]
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. Sheil, Dr. Elijah White, 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.[5]
Bennett was one of several shareholders who built the steamship Canemah. He was married to Mary Ann Shannon.[3]
Promoted to the captaincy of Company F, Oregon Mounted Volunteers, Bennett was killed in action at Walla Walla 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.[6] 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."[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Sandy Hammond, 'Gold Discovery Date May Not Be Accurate', County Times & Review, {Eldorado, CA: 2004)
- ^ a b Oregon Statesman, 28 March 1931
- ^ a b 'Burial site of Captain Charles Bennett in the Oddfellows Cemetery (now Pioneer Cemetery) in Salem, Oregon', salemcity.org. Retrieved 27 August 2006.
- ^ Brown, J. Henry (1892). Political History of Oregon: Provisional Government. The Lewis & Dryden Printing Co.: Portland. p. 236-237
- ^ 'A Big Blaze. The Bennett House Burnt to ashes', Oregon Statesman, September 4, 1868
- ^ Oregon Statesman, 29 January 1856 p. 3
- ^ Ladd & Bush Quarterly Vol. II, No. 4 (Dec. 1914) pp. 2-4
