William H. Packwood
| William Packwood | |
|---|---|
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| Member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention | |
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In office 1857–1857 |
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| Constituency | Curry County |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
William Henderson Packwood October 23, 1832 Mount Vernon, Illinois |
| Died | September 21, 1917 Oregon |
| Spouse(s) | Johanna A. O'Brien |
William Henderson Packwood (1832 – 1917) was an American politician who served at the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857. A United States Army veteran from the state of Illinois, he was also a school superintendent and acquaintance of President Abraham Lincoln. He was an early resident of Baker City in Eastern Oregon.
William Packwood was born near the community of Mount Vernon, Illinois, to Larkin Canada Packwood and Elizabeth Cathcart on October 23, 1832. Packwood received two years of formal education and later moved to Springfield, Illinois where he knew future United States President Abraham Lincoln. In 1848 he enlisted in the U.S. Army with Company B of the U.S. Mounted Rifles. The following year Packwood and the company were sent to the newly created Oregon Territory and stationed at Fort Vancouver.
Packwood went to California when gold was discovered there, returning to Oregon in 1851 where he was transferred to Port Orford, Oregon to fight Native American uprisings. In 1853 he was discharged from the Army and became a gold miner for several years.
In 1854, he served as a lieutenant for a vigilante group called the Coos County Volunteers. In that role, he helped lead a massacre of the Nasomah band of the Coquille Indian Tribe. The Volunteers attacked while the Nasomah people were sleeping, killing between 15 and 21 people.
In 1855, Packwood served as captain of the Coquille Guards during the Rogue River Wars against Native Americans in Southern Oregon. In 1857, he represented Curry County in southwestern Oregon at the Oregon Constitutional Convention that met in Salem during August and September, and framed a constitution in anticipation of Oregon becoming a state. He was the youngest of the delegates at the convention.
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