, 1865-08-18
General George WRIGHT.


The appalling calamity that happened to the
steamer Brother Jonathan near Crescent City,
on the 3Oth July has caused deep feeling of
sorrow to pervade many anxious breasts
Among the list of those two hundred passen-
gers who found watery grave, the telegraphic
dispatches sent from Jacksonville to Portland
inform US, were Brigader General Wright, wife,
and military staff. General Wright was well
known in Walla Walla, where his name had be-
come to be used by our people as household
word, having been stationed at the Post here
during 1859, and CO. The older portion of the
community will remember the cordial senti-
ments that passed between him and the City Of
fcials, upon the reception of an order directing
him to proceed to Fort Vancouver, and the be-
coming manner in which our citizens eyinced
their high appreciation of him as an able and
efficient commander. In 1853, after the intelli-
gence Of the memorable defeat of Colonel Step
toe on the Spokane Plains was received here, he
Immediately took the field in person at the head
of several Companies of the Sd Artillery and the
lst Dragons, making successful campaign
against the hostile Indians. At the time of the
disaster to the Inflated steamer, General Wright
was on his way up to Oregon to assume com
mand of the newly created department of Coll
umbia bia"-Headquart at Vancouver. As to
his age we know not--it must have been over
sixty years. Referring to an old Army Register
in our Office, we find that he was born in YER
mont, from which State he entered the West
Point Academy as Cadet; graduating there
from July the lst, 1922 he entered the Third
Regiment of Infantry as Secoad Lieutenant
During the war with Mexico he served as Lieu
tenant Colonel of his regiment, and fought with
distinguished gal!antry in the battles of Cerro
Gorde, Cherubusco, Monterey, Palo Alto, and
Resca de la Palma; was brevetted Colonel on the
8th September, AZ, and made full Colonel
March Sd, '55. In the summer of 55, when Con
gress increased the regular army by the addi-
tion of two regiments of infantry (the 9th and
lOth) and two regiments of cavalry, Ia new arm
of the service, the General was appointed to
the command of the 9Th, organized at Fortress
Monroe, Virginia, under his supervision, and
5dlltu lIOu -NcW lOIh lhS odAh0 OoA lOh IA0 -
cifc Coast He remained at Vancouver as Com
mander of the District of Oregon until the sum
m er of '61, when be was ordered to California
At the outbreak of the war he was commission
ed Brigadier General of Volunteers, and was
placed at the head of all the military forces of
the Pacific until the arrival last year of General
Mcdowell, whose advent placed him in command
of the District Of California, headquarters in
Sacramento,) which place be left about the last
of July on his way up to assume command of
the New Department.
General Wright was decided and fixed in his
devotion to the Union. In letter addressed to
the people of San Francisco, entreating them to
uphold the laws and assist the military in put
ting down the rebellion, be said "Wers to
desert the 'Old Flag, under whose benign folds
I was reared and educated the Green Mountains
of my native State would rise up in judgment
against me-" He was no partisan, and studi-
ously avoided taking any part in the affairs
of political factions He sought to allay ev
erything that tended to stir up strife and blood
shed on the Pacific Coast. He was a tried and
true soldier, and gentleman in every sense of
the word. His services to the Pacific coast can
not be over-estimated. His loss is deeply Ia
mented by the people, who appreciated his pa
triohsm, his gentemanly characteristics, and
his able military qualifications