William Henderson Packwood (October 23, 1832 – September 21, 1917) was an American politician who served at the

Oregon Constitutional Convention The Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857 drafted the Oregon Constitution in preparation for the Oregon Territory to become a U.S. state. Held from mid-August through September, 60 men met in Salem, Oregon, and created the foundation for Oregon ...

in 1857. A

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

veteran from the state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, he was also a school superintendent and acquaintance of President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. He was an early resident of

Baker City Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward D. Baker, the only U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The population was 10,099 at the time of the 2020 census. History Pla ...

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost ...

Early life

William Packwood was born near the community of

Mount Vernon, Illinois Mount Vernon is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,600 at the 2020 census. Mount Vernon is the principal city of the Mount Vernon Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all o ...

, to Larkin Canada Packwood and Elizabeth Cathcart on October 23, 1832.Corning, Howard M. (1989). ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 190. Packwood received two years of formal education and later moved to

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

where he knew future

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United State ...

Abraham Lincoln. In 1848 he enlisted in the U.S. Army with Company B of the U.S. Mounted Rifles. The following year Packwood and the company were sent to the newly created

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. Ori ...

and stationed at

Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading post that was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was located on the northern bank of the ...

Oregon

Packwood went to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

when gold was discovered there, returning to Oregon in 1851 where he was transferred to

Port Orford, Oregon Port Orford (Tolowa: tr’ee-ghi~’- ’an’ ) is a city in Curry County on the southern coast of Oregon, United States. The population was 1,133 at the 2010 census. The city takes its name from George Vancouver's original name for nearby Ca ...

to fight Native American uprisings. In 1853 he was discharged from the Army and became a gold miner for several years. In 1854, he served as a lieutenant for a vigilante group called the Coos County Volunteers. In that role, he helped lead a massacre of the Nasomah band of the

Coquille Indian Tribe The Coquille Indian Tribe ( ) is the federally recognized Native American tribe of the Coquille people who have traditionally lived on the southern Oregon Coast. History Pre-contact through the mid-19th century Beginning in 1847, following th ...

. The Volunteers attacked while the Nasomah people were sleeping, killing between 15 and 21 people. In 1855, Packwood served as captain of the Coquille Guards during the

Rogue River Wars The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue River Valley area o ...

against Native Americans in

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, and Josephine. It includes the Southern Oreg ...

. In 1857, he represented Curry County in southwestern Oregon at the

that met in Salem during August and September, and framed a constitution in anticipation of Oregon becoming a state. He was the youngest of the delegates at the convention. Packwood then moved east of the

Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

where he was involved with establishing the town of

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

in 1862. Auburn was a gold-mining

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

that was briefly the county seat of Baker County, and Packwood helped

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

the town.City of Auburn.
bakercounty.net. Retrieved on March 2, 2008. There he served as the first school superintendent of Baker County in 1862. During the 1864 presidential election he campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in that county. Soon after, he was responsible for another Baker County town receiving the name of

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

.City of Sparta.
bakercounty.net. Retrieved on March 2, 2008. In that town he and his family built and operated a boarding house until 1867.

Later life and family

In later years Packwood mined, was an assistant postmaster, clerk for Baker City, and a police judge before retiring in 1910. In 1862, Packwood married Johanna A. O'Brien, with whom he would father five children. He is the great-grandfather of former

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Robert Packwood Robert William Packwood (born September 11, 1932) is an American retired lawyer and politician from Oregon and a member of the Republican Party. He resigned from the United States Senate, under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of ...

.Baker County Oregon.
The Political Graveyard. Retrieved on March 2, 2008. William Henderson Packwood died on September 21, 1917, in Baker City with interment at Mount Hope Cemetery. He was the last living member of the constitutional convention at his death.

References

External links

Photograph of Sparta, OregonBiographical Sketch of William Packwood
at Oregon State Archives * {{DEFAULTSORT:Packwood, William H. 1917 deaths 1832 births People from Mount Vernon, Illinois Members of the Oregon Constitutional Convention Politicians from Baker City, Oregon Rogue River Wars People of the California Gold Rush