Plumas
County
Biographies
JAMES P. BECKWOURTH
One
of the outstanding figures in the early history of California—and indeed of the
entire west—was James P. (“Jim”) Beckwourth noted
trapper, frontiersman, scout, guide and Indian chief, whose name is preserved
not only in the archives of history, but in the name of one of the best known
passes of the Sierra mountains and that of one of the thriving towns of Plumas
County. The story of his life is the
record of successive thrilling experiences, narrow escapes, and courageous
service on the frontiers, extraordinary relations with the Indians and physical
endurance and stamina almost unbelievable.
Beckwourth was born in Fredericksburg,
Virginia, in 1798, and came of sterling old American stock, his father having
been an officer in the Revolutionary War.
In 1805, when he was seven years of age, his family moved to Missouri,
locating at what is still known as Beckwourth’s
Settlement, about twelve miles below St. Charles. There he grew to sturdy young manhood and
when he was only nineteen years of age was attached to Colonel R. M. Johnson’s
expedition to treat with the Sacs and Foxes, and to work lead mines in the
Galena region. Not long afterward he
joined General Ashley’s Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and from 1817 until he
started for California in 1844, his life was a succession of hairbreadth
escapes, Indian battles and fortunes made and lost. He served under Bent and Sublette in the west
and was with General Jessup during the Seminole war in Florida. Jim Beckwourth
acquired a wide reputation for courage, honor and sagacity, whereby he became
first counselor of the Crow Indian Nation, and finally was made head
chief. He led that tribe in countless
forays against the Sioux and Blackfeet Indians, and while with the Crows
effectually protected the lives and property of white people. He ruled his tribe with a rod of iron, his
popularity and power being due to his intimate knowledge of Indian nature and
his unsurpassed mass-trooper instinct.
He was never more pleased than when in the saddle, leading a war party
by night marches to assault Liban or Comanche
encampment, or to stampede their horses and dash away again like a
whirlwind. One of the dozen or more
Indian names which had been given him meant in English “Enemy of horses.”
One
of Beckwourth’s most noted physical feats was
performed about 1822 while he was engaged in trapping beaver near the Snake
River. He was pursued by over two
hundred Indians and ran all day without food or water, covering a distance of
not less than ninety-five miles before he reached Sublette’s camp. This feat ranks in the tales of the west with
Bent’s famous ride twenty years later.
In 1836, while Beckwourth was in St. Louis and
was still chief of the Crows, a foolish trapper told
the tribe that he had been killed. The Indians at once surrounded Fort Cass
with thousands of warriors determined to take immediate vengeance. After much parleying a truce of three months
was agreed upon, until word could be sent to Beckwourth
to come and rescue the beleaguered fort, which contained one hundred thousand
dollars’ worth of goods. A trapper named
Pappen was paid one thousand dollars to deliver the
message to Beckwourth and the Crows encamped to await
results. The fur company paid Beckwourth five thousand dollars and all expenses to return
at once and, with two companions, he rode the entire distance in fifty days,
thus saving the fort from destruction.
Afterward
Beckwourth traded in New Mexico and in 1844 he led an
expedition to California, reaching Los Angeles in January of that year. He was one of the most active of the
revolutionists in 1845 under General Castro.
He was the leader of thirteen American riflemen who first joined Castro
and was lieutenant of the subsequent corps of one hundred and sixty men which
captured the Pueblos of Santa Barbara and Monterey, defeating Sutter’s
forces. In 1847, when war was declared
between the United States and Mexico, Beckwourth and
his company of troopers numbering less than a dozen, collected over eighteen
hundred horses in the Los Angeles region and drove them to Arkansas in
safety. He then carried dispatches from
Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe and other points and on one occasion covered nine
hundred and thirteen miles in fifteen days.
In
1848 Beckwourth returned to California, and here
assisted in bringing to justice the perpetrators of the Reed murders near San
Miguel, when a respected English family and their servants, eleven in all, were
killed by fourteen desperadoes in order to secure a thousand dollars’ worth of
gold dust. The Englishman’s ranch was
twenty-five miles from the nearest house and Beckwourth
was the person who discovered the dead, less than an hour after the outrage was
committed. He rode seventy-two miles
that night and collected a band of forty men and twenty more the following
day. They separated and Beckwourth with twenty men overtook the desperadoes. In the ensuing attack two of the murderers
were killed and the others were captured, tried by lynch law and shot. After this Beckwourth
became a familiar figure in the gold camps of the Sierras, from Hangtown to Shasta.
In 1851 Beckwourth
discovered what has since been known as Beckwourth
Pass, the lowest gap in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and through which the
Western Pacific Railroad has been built on a maximum grade of one per cent
between Salt Lake City and San Francisco.
For a number of years Jim lived in what was long known as Beckwourth’s valley, a fertile and attractive locality, now
known as the Sierra valley. He died in
his lonely cabin in Colorado many years ago, without the attendance of kindly
friends, but respected by all who knew him and his heroic deeds. The Native Daughters of the Golden West are
now preparing to erect a suitable monument to his memory. He was rather under medium size, but was
possessed of remarkable strength and endurance.
He was fearless and courageous in the face of danger, and was proud of
the part he had played in the great drama of the west, being well known for his
vivid descriptive powers in relating his adventures.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 123-125. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.