The Oregon legend of “Little Phil”
Sheridan
By BILL MILLER
For the Mail Tribune
Long before the Civil War split
ranks between north and south, the Oregon frontier was the proving ground for
future leaders.
Isolated and lonely at Fort
Vancouver, U. S. Grant fought against the bottle, wishing he was home with his
beloved wife, Julia.
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| Ft./ Vancouver, Oregon Territory |
With him was Captain Rufus Ingalls.
Ingalls had supervised the construction of the fort and with Grant had opened a
side business, growing 100 acres of potatoes.
George McClellan, Joe Hooker, and
Philip Kearny were just a few of the future Yankee generals who would share
time in Oregon with their Confederate counterparts, George Picket, John Walker,
and John Bell Hood.
Of all the men who served here,
perhaps no one stood taller than “Little Phil” Sheridan—that’s how early
Oregonians remembered him.
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| West Point Cadet Philip Henry Sheridan |
Phil was short even for his day. He
claimed to be 5 feet 5 inches, but, then again, Phil was always claiming
something. He told some he was born in Albany, New York; others that it was
Ohio, and, shortly before he died, he told the Sheridan Monument Association
that he first saw light of day on the seas between Ireland and America.
Little Phil didn’t like his
nickname and, even though he was a scrawny 115 pounds, he was also a tenacious
fighter. A rough scuffle during his third year at West Point got him a one-year
suspension and delayed his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.
Phil graduated in 1853, 34th in a
class of 52. He headed west to Texas and, a few years later, it was on to the
Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in Yamhill County. Here he would watch over
Southern Oregon Indians brought to the reservation after the Rogue River Wars.
 |
| Lt. Philip Henry Sheridan |
In his memoir, Phil remembered
entering Oregon with Lt. Williamson’s railroad survey party, trekking northward
through the Klamath Basin. This was the closest that Phil would come to the
Rogue Valley for nearly 20 years.
His memoir continued with stories
of Indian battles and his official duties on the reservation. But it was his
description of the American Indians on the reservation that added fuel to his
Oregon legend.
“Many of them were handsome in
feature below the forehead, having fine eyes, aquiline noses, and good mouths,”
he said.
Although whispered rumors and
written exposés of his illicit affair with an Indian girl have never been
confirmed, the contemporary Jacksonville newspaper had no doubt at all.
They glibly wrote of “Sheridan’s
Widow,” and how she had captured the heart of “the youthful, impressionable,
and susceptible Lieutenant. … It was a case of love at first sight.”
The newspaper claimed the couple
married in a ceremony sanctioned by the tribe, yet denied by the whites. Within
the year, “their union was blessed by a beauteous daughter.”
 |
| General Philip Henry Sheridan |
As he left for the Civil War, the
newspaper mockingly compared Sheridan to a Greek warrior who was forced to
choose between love and duty, “leaving his bride and their fat little child
behind.”
The day he left for war and
immortality, he puffed himself up as large as possible and, with a finger that
marked every word, he yelled. “When you see me again boys, I’ll be wearing the
shoulder strap of a General!”
His circle of cronies nodded in
agreement. Little Phil might be short, but he never lacked confidence and no one
doubted he could do whatever he said he would.
When Sheridan and his wife finally did
pass through Jacksonville on a stage in 1875, the newspaper was politely
cautious. They never mentioned the Indian “widow” and only reported that he
stayed overnight and stopped in Ashland to have lunch with an old friend.
That was it. He was gone for good—but
Little Phil had left Oregon a genuine legend.
Writer
Bill Miller is the author of “History Snoopin’,”a collection of his previous
history columns and stories. Reach him at newsmiller@live.com or
WilliamMMiller.com.
