Stephen G. Whipple

Stephen Girard Whipple (November 5, 1823 - October 21, 1895) was a 49er, newspaper editor, politician, and a Union officer commanding an all-volunteer "Battalion of Mountaineers" and the Humboldt Military District in the Bald Hills War against the Indians in northwest California, during the American Civil War. After the Civil War he was an officer in the U. S. Army serving in the Apache Wars and in the Nez Perce War and at various frontier posts.

Stephen Girard Whipple, was born on November 15, 1823 in Williston, Vermont. He went to California during the 1849 Gold Rush and entered state politics. He served as a member of the California State Assembly for the 12th District in 1854-55 and 1857-58. He was involved in the California State Militia and was one of several influential men that wrote the Governor of California to establish a volunteer company called the Citizens of Crescent City in 1856 to defend Crescent City against attack by Indians of Klamath County. He was also editor of the Northern Californian, one of two newspapers on the Humboldt Bay. While Whipple was away on business, Bret Harte who worked for Whipple's paper, wrote against the killers of the Indian Island Massacre (in opposition to Whipple's views) and soon left the area due to the threats against his life.

In the early part of the Civil War he wrote to the Department of the Pacific Commander advocating a more active prosecution of the war with the Indians in the Bald Hills War with men used to the hardships of war in the mountainous redwood forests. His idea was adopted and he was appointed as Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 1st Battalion California Volunteer Mountaineers a special light infantry Battalion. This unit was recruited primarily from Californians familiar with the area of the Humboldt Military District for the purpose of "capturing or killing" the Indians.

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