Charles H. Bennett (soldier)

Charles H. Bennett (18 August 1811 – 7 December 1855) was present at the discovery of gold that initiated the California gold rush in January 1848. Earlier he served in the United States Army and was captain of a militia unit of the Provisional Government of Oregon. In later years he operated a hotel in the Oregon Territory before dying in the Indian Wars as a captain of a cavalry unit.

American West
In 1835 Bennett was a Sergeant in Company A United States Regiment of Dragoons, at Fort Leavenworth, under General Stephen W. Kearny. He moved to Oregon from Fort Leavenworth in 1844. In May 1846 while in Oregon he was involved with forming the Oregon Rangers mounted rifle company, where he was selected as the captain of the group.

In 1847, Bennett moved south from Oregon Country to California where he was then employed by James Marshall as a carpenter at Sutter's Mill when gold was discovered. Marshall claimed that at the time that he discovered gold in the mill's tail-race Bennett was half a mile away at the house. This version of events is disputed by Stephen Staats, a lifelong acquaintance who was with him at the time, and later wrote a letter to the Oregon Statesman stating: "In 1847 we furnished Bennett with an outfit and he traveled with us to California. He assisted Marshall in building a mill on the American fork of the Sacramento, and he was the first one that beheld the glittering dust when water was turned into the race for the purpose of clearing it out. Notwithstanding that Marshall has gained worldwide fame as the first discoverer of gold in California, we have always claimed that an Oregon man, Bennett, was the first one whose eagle eye beheld the shining ore as it sparkled through the rippling of the water. Bennett, Salem’s pioneer citizen, first gazed upon and held in his hand the gold which made San Francisco what she is today, and had it not been for that discovery the Bennett house never would have been built."

Capt. Edward von Pfister was one of Benicia’s early settlers. He was born in 1813 in Albany, N.Y., and engaged in the seagoing trade. Reaching the California coast in 1846, von Pfister decided California was the place to settle. He sailed to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) to pick up cargo to establish a general store. On returning, Semple sought him out to convince him to bring his cargo and move to Benicia. Von Pfister agreed. A timely arrival, he furnished the swallow-tail coats and white linen pants at $15 apiece for the 12 men in Benicia’s first big wedding, Robert Semple to Frances Ann Cooper.

Von Pfister opened his store in 1848. The building was a 40-by-25-foot adobe: a portion of the adobe remains to this day. It is thought to be the first store in Solano County. It was a gathering place by day and bar and hotel at night. Von Pfister often accepted “California Bank Bills,” cow hides valued at $1.50 each. Barley, corn and produce were also traded for merchandise.

It was in this adobe the first word of the discovery of gold was leaked. Charley Bennett, a trusted messenger of Sutter’s, was on his way to Monterey with gold samples and a land-lease agreement between Sutter and the Indians of Coloma. While waiting for the boat to San Francisco, Bennett stopped in at von Pfister’s. In the course of conversation with some men, he spilled the beans about the gold discovery. The Gold Rush was on! Immediately, the majority of the male population of Benicia headed for the hills. http://www.solanoarticles.com/history/index.php/weblog2/more/benicia_born_as_port_spurred_by_gold_rush/

In 1850 "Charley" Bennett, as his friends knew him, built the Bennett House hotel in Salem, Oregon. He extended the property by building a High Street frontage to the eastern side in 1852 and it became the town's principal hotel. In the winter of 1852-1853, nearly the entire territorial legislature was quartered there including Judge Matthew Deady and Hon. Asahel Bush, who occupied a room together, Joseph Meek, Colonel George K. Shiel, James W. Nesmith, Delazon Smith, James K. Kelly, Benjamin Harding, John Whiteaker, Nathaniel Ford of Polk county, and George Law Curry. In 1854, the U. S. Surveyor General's office for Oregon was removed to Salem, and occupied rooms at the Bennett House for some time.

Bennett was one of several shareholders who built the steamship Canemah. He was married to Mary Ann Shannon.

Death
Promoted to the captaincy of Company F, Oregon Mounted Volunteers, Bennett was killed in action at Walla Walla on the Touchet River in southeastern Washington, near Fort Wallula, in 1855 during the Yakima War. His body was brought back to Salem aboard the Canemah. It was met by a salute fired by the town's citizens before being buried in the Odd Fellows cemetery with Masonic honors. His memorial is a white marble obelisk, 6 feet in height with a square pointed cap, a Masonic carving of the All-seeing eye gazing upon an open book. The inscription reads "Capt. Charles Bennett. Died Dec 7 1855. Aged 41 yrs, 3 mo, 20 days. Capt. Chas. Bennett was the discoverer of gold in California, and fell in defense of his country at Walla Walla."