William Thomas Hamilton (frontiersman): Difference between revisions
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== Life == |
== Life == |
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Hamilton was born on December 6, 1822 |
His gravestone and obituaries indicated that William T. Hamilton was born on December 6, 1822, and the 1900 Census agrees he was born in December 1822. According on his autobiography, he was born on the [[River Till, Northumberland|River Till]] in the [[Cheviot Hills]] of Scotland. However, while the Cheviot Hills straddle northeastern England and the Scottish borderlands, the River Till is entirely in [[Northumberland, England]], being the major tributary of the [[River Tweed]] which forms the eastern border of England and Scotland. Likely entries for Hamilton on the 1870 and 1880 US Censuses in Montana indicate he was born in Scotland, but the 1900 Census indicates he was born in England, while his father was born in Scotland and his mother in England. His autobiography states he was the youngest child with older brothers, but does not name his parents or siblings. Some secondary sources claim that William was the son of Alexander and Margaret Hamilton. |
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"My Sixty Years on the Plains" explains that his family was among a company of 25 Scottish partners who determined to leave Scotland for either India or America, with a vote determining which, his paternal uncle (who was the Captain of the company, but also note identified by name) casting the tie-breaking vote to go to America. William wrote that he was two years and eleven months old (hence, about October 1825) when the ship arrived at [[New Orleans, Louisiana]]. After traveling around the United States, his family settled in [[St. Louis, Missouri]] where he was raised and attended school for five years.<ref name="Favour1962">{{cite book|author=Alpheus Hoyt Favour|title=Old Bill Williams, Mountain Man|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5UtXauS3rcC&pg=PA140|year=1962|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-1698-3|page=140}}</ref> The son of financially comfortable parents, he grew up on a farm and learned to shoot a weapon and ride a horse.<ref name="obit" /> |
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== Career == |
== Career == |
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{{quote box|align=right|width=33%|In the death of "Uncle Billy" Hamilton the United States loses its greatest Indian fighter and most skillful Indian sign talker and sign reader that this country ever produced. |
{{quote box|align=right|width=33%|In the death of "Uncle Billy" Hamilton the United States loses its greatest Indian fighter and most skillful Indian sign talker and sign reader that this country ever produced. |
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Few men had the adventurous career that was Hamilton's, although because of a modesty that rarely permitted him to talk of himself, comparatively few persons knew his record on the plains.|author=—"Hero of Many Battles Dead". The ''Butte Daily Post''. May 26, 1908.<ref name="obit" />}} |
Few men had the adventurous career that was Hamilton's, although because of a modesty that rarely permitted him to talk of himself, comparatively few persons knew his record on the plains.|author=—"Hero of Many Battles Dead". The ''Butte Daily Post''. May 26, 1908.<ref name="obit" />}} Along with Old Bill Williams, Hamilton worked and was friends of [[John Bozeman]] and [[Jim Bridger]].<ref name="obit" /> |
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He has been described as a mountain man, trapper, and scout of the American West,<ref name="Kokomo Trib">{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/2383492/?terms=Wildcat%2BBill%2BHamilton |title=World Facts Briefly Told |date=December 7, 1946 |work=The Kokomo Tribune |access-date=May 21, 2018|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Thomas-Hamilton|title=William Thomas Hamilton – American mountain man|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> living in the mountains for more than 50 years. He was given the name Wildcat Bill by Native Americans.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/409570245/ |title=Peculiar Names: Customs of the Whites and Indians in the West |date=April 23, 1891 |work=The Billings Weekly Gazette |page=1|access-date=May 20, 2018|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He was considered a healer among Native Americans. Also called Sign Man, he excelled in [[Native American sign language]] according to Favour.<ref name="Favour1962" /> |
He has been described as a mountain man, trapper, and scout of the American West,<ref name="Kokomo Trib">{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/2383492/?terms=Wildcat%2BBill%2BHamilton |title=World Facts Briefly Told |date=December 7, 1946 |work=The Kokomo Tribune |access-date=May 21, 2018|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Thomas-Hamilton|title=William Thomas Hamilton – American mountain man|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> living in the mountains for more than 50 years. He was given the name Wildcat Bill by Native Americans.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/409570245/ |title=Peculiar Names: Customs of the Whites and Indians in the West |date=April 23, 1891 |work=The Billings Weekly Gazette |page=1|access-date=May 20, 2018|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He was considered a healer among Native Americans. Also called Sign Man, he excelled in [[Native American sign language]] according to Favour.<ref name="Favour1962" /> |
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Hamilton left Missouri for the |
At the age of 20, Hamilton left Missouri for the Rocky Mountains to improve his health<ref name=Wausau>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/273038710/?terms=Wildcat%2BBill%2BHamilton |title=Today's Anniversaries |date=December 6, 1935 |work=Wausau Daily Herald |access-date=May 21, 2018 |page=5 |url-access=subscription |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> in 1842 with [[Old Bill Williams]], whom he worked with and became a companion. He was a trapper and trader for six years.<ref name="Heard1987">{{cite book|author=Joseph Norman Heard|title=Handbook of the American Frontier: The far west|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofameric0003hear|url-access=registration|year=1987|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-3283-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbookofameric0003hear/page/128 128]–129}}</ref> His father bought a third interest in the trapping enterprise led by Williams.<ref name="obit" /> With the [[California Gold Rush]],<ref name="obit" /> he moved in 1848 to [[Hangtown, California|Hangtonw (now Placerville), California]], where he married and had a child. In 1851, both his wife and child died.<ref name="Favour1962" /> |
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After protecting miners from Native Americans with the Buckskin Rangers in California, Hamilton worked for the government protecting pioneers from Native Americans in Nevada, Oregon and Montana<ref name="Favour1962" /><ref name="Heard1987" /> and was a scout for [[George Armstrong Custer]]<ref name="obit" /> from the 1850s through the 1870s. During that time period, he also worked as a trader at [[Fort Benton, Montana|Fort Benton]],<ref name="Favour1962" /><ref name="Heard1987" /> |
After protecting miners from Native Americans with the Buckskin Rangers in California, Hamilton worked for the government protecting pioneers from Native Americans in Nevada, Oregon and Montana<ref name="Favour1962" /><ref name="Heard1987" /> and was a scout for [[George Armstrong Custer]]<ref name="obit" /> from the 1850s through the 1870s. During that time period, he also worked as a trader at [[Fort Benton, Montana|Fort Benton]],<ref name="Favour1962" /><ref name="Heard1987" />, around [[Flathead Lake]], and in 1858 he established a trading post along Rattlesnake Creek, being the first cabin built near what would become [[Missoula, Montana|Missoula]].<ref name="obit" /><ref name="Mathews2002">{{cite book|author=Allan James Mathews|title=A Guide to Historic Missoula|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3bZUHBd54tYC&pg=PA164|year=2002|publisher=Montana Historical Society|isbn=978-0-917298-89-9|page=164}}</ref> He also served as the sheriff of [[Chouteau County, Montana]] and a [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshal]].<ref name="Favour1962" /><ref name="Heard1987" /> Continuing his work for the government, he worked with the [[Blackfoot Confederacy|Blackfoot People]] in 1873. Three years later he served under General [[George Crook]] and fought the [[Sioux]] in the [[Great Sioux War of 1876]].<ref name="Heard1987" /> |
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Hamilton lived many years in Montana and trapped and hunted throughout the [[Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone]] area. In [[Montana Territory]] (1864–1889) and state, he was commonly known as "Uncle Billy."<ref name="obit" /> He later assisted the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in translating hundreds of Native American signs and pictographs painted on the cliffs along Lake Flathead near present-day [[Lakeside, Montana]].<ref name="obit" /> |
Hamilton lived many years in Montana and trapped and hunted throughout the [[Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone]] area. In [[Montana Territory]] (1864–1889) and state, he was commonly known as "Uncle Billy."<ref name="obit" /> He later assisted the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in translating hundreds of Native American signs and pictographs painted on the cliffs along Lake Flathead near present-day [[Lakeside, Montana]].<ref name="obit" /> |
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In his later years, he was a guide and hunter.<ref name="Heard1987" /> Hamilton |
In his later years, he was a guide and hunter.<ref name="Heard1987" /> The 1900 U.S. Census enumerated William T. Hamilton, age 77, widower, in Stillwater, Carbon County, Montana, and recorded his occupation as Quartz Miner (indicating a miner who typically mined gold from lode deposits rather than from placer deposits). Hamilton lived in [[Columbus, Montana]] by 1903 when he was one of the co-founders of the Pioneers of Eastern Montana.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/409512685/?terms=%22W.%2BT.%2BHamilton%22 |title=Society of Pioneers of Eastern Montana Elects Officers |date=October 2, 1903 |work=The Billings Weekly Gazette |access-date=May 21, 2018 |page=3 |url-access=subscription |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> |
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== Death == |
== Death == |
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Revision as of 20:01, 15 November 2020
William Thomas Hamilton (December 6, 1822 – May 24, 1908), also known as Wildcat Bill, was an American frontiersman and author of Scottish and English heritage.
Life
His gravestone and obituaries indicated that William T. Hamilton was born on December 6, 1822, and the 1900 Census agrees he was born in December 1822. According on his autobiography, he was born on the River Till in the Cheviot Hills of Scotland. However, while the Cheviot Hills straddle northeastern England and the Scottish borderlands, the River Till is entirely in Northumberland, England, being the major tributary of the River Tweed which forms the eastern border of England and Scotland. Likely entries for Hamilton on the 1870 and 1880 US Censuses in Montana indicate he was born in Scotland, but the 1900 Census indicates he was born in England, while his father was born in Scotland and his mother in England. His autobiography states he was the youngest child with older brothers, but does not name his parents or siblings. Some secondary sources claim that William was the son of Alexander and Margaret Hamilton.
"My Sixty Years on the Plains" explains that his family was among a company of 25 Scottish partners who determined to leave Scotland for either India or America, with a vote determining which, his paternal uncle (who was the Captain of the company, but also note identified by name) casting the tie-breaking vote to go to America. William wrote that he was two years and eleven months old (hence, about October 1825) when the ship arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana. After traveling around the United States, his family settled in St. Louis, Missouri where he was raised and attended school for five years.[1] The son of financially comfortable parents, he grew up on a farm and learned to shoot a weapon and ride a horse.[2]
Career
In the death of "Uncle Billy" Hamilton the United States loses its greatest Indian fighter and most skillful Indian sign talker and sign reader that this country ever produced.
Few men had the adventurous career that was Hamilton's, although because of a modesty that rarely permitted him to talk of himself, comparatively few persons knew his record on the plains.
—"Hero of Many Battles Dead". The Butte Daily Post. May 26, 1908.[2]
Along with Old Bill Williams, Hamilton worked and was friends of John Bozeman and Jim Bridger.[2]
He has been described as a mountain man, trapper, and scout of the American West,[3][4] living in the mountains for more than 50 years. He was given the name Wildcat Bill by Native Americans.[5] He was considered a healer among Native Americans. Also called Sign Man, he excelled in Native American sign language according to Favour.[1]
At the age of 20, Hamilton left Missouri for the Rocky Mountains to improve his health[6] in 1842 with Old Bill Williams, whom he worked with and became a companion. He was a trapper and trader for six years.[7] His father bought a third interest in the trapping enterprise led by Williams.[2] With the California Gold Rush,[2] he moved in 1848 to Hangtonw (now Placerville), California, where he married and had a child. In 1851, both his wife and child died.[1]
After protecting miners from Native Americans with the Buckskin Rangers in California, Hamilton worked for the government protecting pioneers from Native Americans in Nevada, Oregon and Montana[1][7] and was a scout for George Armstrong Custer[2] from the 1850s through the 1870s. During that time period, he also worked as a trader at Fort Benton,[1][7], around Flathead Lake, and in 1858 he established a trading post along Rattlesnake Creek, being the first cabin built near what would become Missoula.[2][8] He also served as the sheriff of Chouteau County, Montana and a U.S. Marshal.[1][7] Continuing his work for the government, he worked with the Blackfoot People in 1873. Three years later he served under General George Crook and fought the Sioux in the Great Sioux War of 1876.[7]
Hamilton lived many years in Montana and trapped and hunted throughout the Yellowstone area. In Montana Territory (1864–1889) and state, he was commonly known as "Uncle Billy."[2] He later assisted the Smithsonian Institution in translating hundreds of Native American signs and pictographs painted on the cliffs along Lake Flathead near present-day Lakeside, Montana.[2]
In his later years, he was a guide and hunter.[7] The 1900 U.S. Census enumerated William T. Hamilton, age 77, widower, in Stillwater, Carbon County, Montana, and recorded his occupation as Quartz Miner (indicating a miner who typically mined gold from lode deposits rather than from placer deposits). Hamilton lived in Columbus, Montana by 1903 when he was one of the co-founders of the Pioneers of Eastern Montana.[9]
Death
He died of stomach cancer on May 24, 1908 in a hospital in Billings, Montana[1][2] and was buried in Columbus, Montana.[2]
Bibliography
His books include:
- My sixty years on the plains: trapping, trading, and Indian fighting. Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 1905.
- Spying on the Blackfoot: A Mountain Man's Secret Mission Across the Rockies Into Blackfoot Country
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Alpheus Hoyt Favour (1962). Old Bill Williams, Mountain Man. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-8061-1698-3.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Hero of Many Battles Dead". The Butte Daily Post. May 26, 1908. pp. 1, 8 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "World Facts Briefly Told". The Kokomo Tribune. December 7, 1946. Retrieved May 21, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "William Thomas Hamilton – American mountain man". Encyclopedia Britannica.
- ^ "Peculiar Names: Customs of the Whites and Indians in the West". The Billings Weekly Gazette. April 23, 1891. p. 1. Retrieved May 20, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Today's Anniversaries". Wausau Daily Herald. December 6, 1935. p. 5. Retrieved May 21, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f Joseph Norman Heard (1987). Handbook of the American Frontier: The far west. Scarecrow Press. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-0-8108-3283-1.
- ^ Allan James Mathews (2002). A Guide to Historic Missoula. Montana Historical Society. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-917298-89-9.
- ^ "Society of Pioneers of Eastern Montana Elects Officers". The Billings Weekly Gazette. October 2, 1903. p. 3. Retrieved May 21, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
Further reading
- Federal Writers' Project (23 October 2013). The WPA Guide to Montana: The Big Sky State. Trinity University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-59534-224-9.
- Forest and Stream. Forest and Stream Publishing Company. 1905. pp. 347–348.
- Paul T. Hellmann (14 February 2006). Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Routledge. p. 657. ISBN 1-135-94859-3.
- W. C. Jameson (1993). Buried Treasures of the Rocky Mountain West: Legends of Lost Mines, Train Robbery Gold, Caves of Forgotten Riches, and Indians' Buried Silver. august house. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-87483-272-3.
External links
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| National | |
