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March 28, 2024

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Clark County History: Benjamin Eulalie de Bonneville

By Martin Middlewood for The Columbian
Published: February 14, 2021, 6:00am

Alive, he was among the famous explorers of the West. Dead, he’s forgotten. His name appears here and there as a reminder — Bonneville Salt Flats and Bonneville Dam. But the Pontiac Bonneville, like him, is now a dusty memory.

Paris-born Benjamin Eulalie de Bonneville (1796-1878) charted and gathered data about the West during the 1830s, including some parts of what would become the Oregon Trail. In 1832, while supposedly on leave from the military, he traveled to the Northwest, assisting fur trader John Jacob Astor. With nearly 100 men, he mapped and gathered intelligence for Astor, whose company competed with the Hudson’s Bay Company. John McLoughlin, chief factor at the company’s Fort Vancouver, forbade his employees from assisting Bonneville. Indigenous tribes unwilling to displease the Hudson’s Bay Company also declined to help.

When Bonneville encountered the Nez Perce, they dubbed him the “Bald Chief.” The troop survived the winters thanks to gracious Indigenous peoples’ aid and returned to the East in 1835. According to Irving, the Army considered Bonneville “dead or lost” and struck him from its rosters. Persistent, Bonneville petitioned Secretary of War Lewis Cass repeatedly and won reinstatement in 1836.

In August 1853, Bonneville took command of Fort Vancouver and was its seventh commanding officer until 1855. The new governor of Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens, visited the fort in November and stayed with then Col. Bonneville.

While in command, Bonneville resurveyed the site, established new boundaries and reduced the property to 640 acres. He also planned the location of the parade ground, barracks, officers’ quarters and esplanade. Previous commandants expanded the post boundaries and let the Catholic Church overlap onto military land. Amos Short filed rights on land mutually claimed by the military, Hudson’s Bay Company and the Catholic Church. It took years to sort out the confusing titles.

In 1861, Bonneville retired from the military. When the Civil War broke out, he was recalled. During the war, he recruited troops in Missouri and commanded Benton Barracks at St. Louis. Then for the second time, he retired and moved to Fort Smith, Ark.


Martin Middlewood is editor of the Clark County Historical Society Annual. Reach him at ClarkCoHist@gmail.com.

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