• Mt. Baker from American Camp prairie

    San Juan Island

    National Historical Park Washington

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    The American Camp Visitor Center is closed Thanksgiving Day, re-opening Friday. Winter hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday-Sunday. The English Camp Visitor Center is closed for the winter. Grounds at both units are open from dawn to 11 p.m. daily. More »

James Forsyth

James Forsyth as a young company grade officer.

James Forsyth as a young company grade officer at the start of the Civil War.

National Archives

James W. Forsyth was born August 8, 1835 in Maumee, Ohio. Second, then first lieutenant of Company D, 9th Infantry from December 1856 to July 1861.

He was assigned to Company D, Ninth Infantry at Fort Bellingham, following graduation from West Point. He was a capable officer who was instrumental in the completion of the frontier fort and was to serve as the company's acting when Capt. George E. Pickett was away on leave.

Witnesses reported that the two men did not agree on issues that fueled the growing sectional dispute, but it not interfer with their duties.

During the war, Forsyth served on the staffs of George B. McClellan and Philip H. Sheridan, where he became closely acquainted with a brash young officer named George A. Custer.

His staff skills and valor in battle spurred his rise through brevet ranks culminating in promotion to brigadier general on May 19, 1865. Forsyth earned a colonel’s brevet for his actions at FIVE FORKS on April 1, 1865. In command of the Confederate forces was his past superior officer and close friend, George E. Pickett.

Forsyth remained in the army and closely aligned with Sheridan following the war. As a full colonel, he commanded the Seventh Cavalry (Custer's regiment) at WOUNDED KNEE Creek on December 29, 1890. He survived an attempted censure from Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles, his immediate superior, and retired a major general. He died October 24, 1906.

 
forsyth_custers_others_porters_staff
Younger officers whose nascent antebellum service had shown promise saw their fortunes rapidly accelerate in a war that employed (and consumed) vast citizen armies that required professional leadership. U.S. Army Capt. James W. Forsyth, seated far left in this 1862 photo, had already demonstrated his skill as an acting company commander on San Juan Island. Who could guess then that the self-confident fellow staff officer reclining at right would become the youngest brigadier general of the war?
Library of Congress

Did You Know?

camas

Camas bulbs were so highly prized by Northwest Indians for their creamy potato/baked pear taste that groups sometimes fought over the best growing areas, and people traveled great distances to harvest the bulbs and prepare them into thin, dry cakes. To ensure future harvests, the Indians burned the prairie regularly.