James Morrow Walsh (22 May 1840 – 25 July 1905) was a

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

(NWMP) officer and the first

commissioner of Yukon The commissioner of Yukon (french: Commissaire du Yukon) is the representative of the Government of Canada in the Canadian federal territory of Yukon. The commissioner is appointed by the federal government and, in contrast to the governor gene ...

. Born in

Prescott, Ontario Prescott, Ontario is a small town on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Canada. In 2021, the town had a population of 4,078. The Ogdensburg–Prescott International Bridge, east of Prescot ...

, James Walsh was one of the original officers of the NWMP. Superintendent Walsh was assigned in 1875 to establish a post in the Cypress Hills in what is now

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. He named it

Fort Walsh Fort Walsh is a National Historic Sites of Canada, National Historic Site of Canada that was a North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) fort and the site of the Cypress Hills Massacre. Administered by Parks Canada, it forms a constituent part of Cypress ...

after himself. The location of the post was determined by the Cypress Hills Massacre in 1873, an atrocity stemming from the illegal American whiskey trade. Walsh's original role was to shut down this trade, but in June 1876 his position grew in importance when several thousand

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

crossed the border into

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, taking refuge there after the

Battle of Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

. They settled near the Wood Mountain post in present-day Saskatchewan. Walsh developed a strong friendship with the famous Sioux leader

Sitting Bull Sitting Bull ( lkt, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock I ...

and successfully kept peace in the region. By the summer of 1877, Walsh, although still in command of Fort Walsh, spent little time there. His headquarters became the Wood Mountain post, among Sitting Bull and 5,000 Sioux. During this time, Walsh became famous in the American press as "Sitting Bull's Boss." In reality, Walsh was unable to fulfill his orders to convince Sitting Bull to return to the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

The Canadian government decided that Walsh's friendship with Sitting Bull was an obstacle to the Sioux's return to the United States, and in 1880 he was transferred to

Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan Fort Qu'Appelle is a town in Canadian province of Saskatchewan located in the Qu'Appelle River valley north-east of Regina, between Echo and Mission Lakes of the Fishing Lakes. It is not to be confused with the once-significant nearby t ...

. Soon after, he took health leave and returned to Ontario. He reluctantly resigned his commission three years later. In August 1897, during the height of the Klondike Gold Rush, Walsh was appointed Commissioner of the newly created

Yukon Territory Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

. He resigned soon after in 1898. His successor was William Ogilvie. He died in

Brockville, Ontario Brockville, formerly Elizabethtown, is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically independent of the county. It is included with Le ...

in 1905. Mount Walsh, a mountain peak in the

Saint Elias Mountains The Saint Elias Mountains (french: Chaîne Saint-Élie) are a subgroup of the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in southeastern Alaska in the United States, Southwestern Yukon and the very far northwestern part of British Columbia in Canada. The range ...

in the Yukon is named after him.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, James Morrow People of the Klondike Gold Rush Commissioners of Yukon Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers 1840 births 1905 deaths Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Sitting Bull