John Bidwell | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byMathew Bradyc. 1860–1865 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's3rd district | |
| In office March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | James Johnson |
| Member of theCalifornia Senate from theSacramento district | |
| In office December 17, 1849 – January 6, 1851 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Alonzo W. Adams |
| Alcalde ofMission San Luis Rey | |
| In office August 1846 – January 1847 | |
| Appointed by | John C. Frémont |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1819-08-05)August 5, 1819 Chautauqua County, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 4, 1900(1900-04-04) (aged 80) Chico, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Chico Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic(Before 1861) Republican(1861–1875) Prohibition(after 1875) |
| Other political affiliations | National Union(1861–1868) People's Independent(1875) Anti-Monopoly(1875) |
| Spouse | |
| Residence | Bidwell Mansion |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States.svg) California Republic |
| Rank |  Brigadier General |
| Unit | California Battalion |
| Battles/wars | |
John Bidwell (August 5, 1819 – April 4, 1900), known inSpanish asDon Juan Bidwell,[1] was an American pioneer, politician, and soldier. Bidwell is known as the founder of the city ofChico, California.
Born in New York, he emigrated at the age of 22 toAlta California (then a part of Mexico) as part of theBartleson–Bidwell Party, one of the first expeditions of American emigrants along theCalifornia Trail. In California, he became a Mexican citizen and a prominent landowner, receiving multiplerancho grants from thegovernors of Alta California. Following the U.S.Conquest of California, Bidwell went on to serve in theCalifornia Senate and then in theU.S. House of Representatives.
Bidwell was born in 1819 inChautauqua County, New York. His Bidwell ancestors immigrated to North America in the colonial era.[2] His family moved toErie, Pennsylvania, in 1829, and then toAshtabula County, Ohio, in 1831.[3] At age 17, he attended and shortly thereafter became principal ofKingsville Academy.[4]
In 1841, at the age of 22, Bidwell became one of the first emigrants on the California Trail.[5]John Sutter employed Bidwell as his business manager shortly after the younger man reached California. In October 1844, Bidwell went with Sutter to Monterey, where the two learned of an insurrection by leaderJosé Castro and ex-governorJuan Bautista Alvarado.[6] In 1845, Bidwell and Sutter joined GovernorManuel Micheltorena and a group of Americans and Indians to fight the insurrectionists, pursuing them toCahuenga.[6] Micheltorena, Sutter, and Bidwell were imprisoned, and the latter two were shortly thereafter released.[6]
Upon release, Bidwell headed north throughPlacerita Canyon, saw the mining operations, and was determined to search for gold on his way toSutter's Fort, where he metJames W. Marshall.[7] Shortly after Marshall's discovery of gold atSutter's Mill, Bidwell also discovered gold on theFeather River, establishing a productive claim at Bidwell Bar in advance of theCalifornia Gold Rush. Bidwell obtained the four square-leagueRancho Los Ulpinos land grant after being naturalized as a Mexican citizen in 1844, and the two square-leagueRancho Colus grant on theSacramento River in 1845. He later sold the latter grant and boughtRancho Arroyo Chico on Chico Creek to establish a ranch and farm.
Soon after the outbreak of theMexican–American War, Bidwell met with the leaders of theBear Flag Revolt and drafted their constitution.[6] He later attained the rank of major while fighting atFort Stockton. In August 1846, he was appointedAlcalde ofMission San Luis Rey byJohn C. Frémont, where he served until the end of the war.[8] He was appointed brigadier general of theCalifornia Militia in 1863.[3] From 1863 to 1864, Bidwell and other local financiers built theHumboldt Wagon Road connecting Chico to the mining districts of Nevada.[9] Around this time, in 1865, General Bidwell backed a petition from settlers atRed Bluff, California to protect Red Bluff's trail to theOwyhee Mines ofIdaho. TheUnited States Army commissioned seven forts for this purpose. One site was nearFandango Pass at the base of theWarner Mountains, in the north end ofSurprise Valley. On June 10, 1865, what was namedFort Bidwell was ordered to be built there.[10][11] The fort was built amid escalating fighting with theSnake Indians of eastern Oregon and southern Idaho.[12] It was a base for US Army operations in theSnake War, that lasted until 1868, and the laterModoc War. Although traffic dwindled on the Red Bluff route once theCentral Pacific Railroad extended into Nevada in 1868, the Army staffed Fort Bidwell until 1890 to quell various uprisings and disturbances.[10] APaiute reservation and small community maintain the name Fort Bidwell.
On February 5, 1856, Bidwell was one of several passengers traveling down theSacramento River on the steamboatBelle when the ship's boiler exploded, killing several people instantly.[13] Bidwell was sitting by the stove reading a newspaper when the explosion sent a piece of shrapnel the size of aquarter directly into his skull. Bidwell survived, but spent the rest of his life with a visible hole in his head.[14]
Bidwell was selected as a delegate to the1849 California Constitutional Convention, but did not attend because of mining business. Later that year, he was elected to theCalifornia State Senate, serving a single one-year term.[15] He ran for State Senate again in 1855, but lost to incumbentKnow Nothing John B. McGee by just 187 votes.[16] He supervised conducting the federal census of California in1850 and1860, under national direction byJoseph C. G. Kennedy. Bidwell was a delegate to the1860 Democratic National Convention inCharleston. He was the onlyWest Coast delegate opposed to secession.[17] He left the party soon after the outbreak of theCivil War, and in 1864 was a delegate to theNational Union National Convention. That year, he was alsoelected to theHouse of Representatives as aRepublican, serving from 1865 to 1867. Rather than seek re-election, he chose to run forGovernor of California in1867,[17] but due to his anti-monopoly stance lost theUnion Party nomination to railroad lobbyist[18]George Congdon Gorham by a vote of 167 to 132.[19]
In1875, Bidwell ran forGovernor of California on theAnti-Monopoly Party ticket.[3] As a strong advocate of thetemperance movement, he presided over the state convention of theProhibition Party in 1888 and was their nominee for governor in1890.[3] In the1892 presidential election, Bidwell was the nominee of the Prohibition Party.[3] The ticket of Bidwell andJames B. Cranfill ofTexas finished fourth nationwide, receiving 271,058 votes, or 2.3%. It was the largest total vote and highest percentage of the vote received by any Prohibition Party national ticket. Their strongest result was inMinnesota, where they received over five percent of the vote.
John Bidwell's autobiography,Echoes of the Past, was published in 1900. That same year, on April 4, Bidwell died of natural causes at the age of 80.
In 1868 Bidwell was about 49 when he marriedAnnie Kennedy, whom he had courted for years. She was 20 years younger and a daughter ofJoseph C. G. Kennedy. Her father was socially prominent, a high-rankingWashington official who supervised theU.S. Census Bureau. Bidwell had met him while working on the California census. The senior Kennedy was active in theU.S. Whig party. Annie Kennedy was deeply religious, joining the Presbyterian Church, and committed to a number of moral and social causes. She was very active in thesuffrage andprohibition movements.[3]
The couple married April 16, 1868, in Washington, D.C., withPresidentAndrew Johnson and future presidentUlysses S. Grant among the guests. After he returned with her to Chico, the Bidwells used their mansion extensively for entertainment of friends and official guests. Among them were PresidentRutherford B. Hayes, GeneralWilliam T. Sherman,Susan B. Anthony,Frances Willard, GovernorLeland Stanford,John Muir,Joseph Dalton Hooker, andAsa Gray.
The Bidwell Family Papers are held at theBancroft Library.
The actor Howard Negley (1898–1983) played Bidwell in the 1953 episode, "The Lady with the Blue Silk Umbrella" on thesyndicated television anthology series,Death Valley Days, hosted byStanley Andrews. In the story line, Helen Crosby (Kathleen Case) carries official California statehood papers in her umbrella to shield them from ruffians who want to destroy the documents.Rick Vallin played Lieutenant Bob Hastings.[20]
Bidwell was aFreemason for a time but left the group. He said that allegiance to the fraternity "was pointless" in an October 17, 1867, letter toAnnie Kennedy, whom he had been courting. His signature appears in the Book of By-Laws of the Chico-Leland Stanford Lodge No. 111 in Chico, California.[21]
| California Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of theCalifornia Senate from theSacramento district 1849–1851 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| New constituency | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 3rd congressional district 1865–1867 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Agriculture Committee 1865–1867 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Prohibition nominee forPresident of the United States 1892 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
