William Henry Russell

Background

William Henry Russell was born in Nicholas County, Ky. , the son of Robert Spottswood and Deborah (Allen) Russell and grandson of Gen. William Russell.

Career

Russell practised law in his native county and in 1830 represented it in the legislature. He early came to the attention of Henry Clay, who befriended him, and it is said that for a time he was Clay's secretary.

In 1831 he emigrated to Callaway County, Mo. , and in the following year served in the Black Hawk War; in 1841 he was appointed United States marshal of the District of Missouri, which included the Indian Country. He had by this time acquired the courtesy title of "colonel. " His term ended in 1845, and in May 1846, near Independence, Mo. , he joined a wagon-train of California emigrants, among whom was Edwin Bryant, later the author of What I Saw in California (1848), in which Russell figures. He was elected captain of the company but near Fort Laramie was displaced. With Bryant and seven others he continued the journey on muleback by way of Fort Bridger to the site of the future Salt Lake City and then across the Great Salt Desert, the first to follow Fremont's track of the year before. Arriving at Sutter's Fort on Sept. 1, and proceeding to Yerba Buena and Monterey, Russell joined Fremont's California Battalion with the rank of major. Fremont a few days later appointed him secretary of state.

On the downfall of the Fremont administration in March, Russell left for the east by way of Santa Fe, reaching the Missouri settlements in July and thence going to Washington; he was one of Fremont's principal witnesses in the court-martial, which began in November. In 1849 he returned to California and practised law at San Jose and elsewhere until at least 1854.

Later he went east again and in 1861 was appointed consul at Trinidad, Cuba. By 1865 he was back in the United States, and two years later sought vainly to get the post of consul-general at Havana. He died in Washington and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Russell appears as "Col. R----" in one passage in Parkman's The California and Oregon Trail (1849, ch. x) and in many passages in other Western books of the time. He was a large man, expansive in manner, boastful and bombastic in speech. His egotism sometimes made him the sport of his companions. In a story often told about him, he is said to have mistaken the chorus of "tu-whoo's" from a flock of owls for a challenge of "Who are you?" and to have thundered back, "Col. William H. Russell, of Kentucky--a bosom friend of Henry Clay!" Ever after he was known as "Owl" Russell. He was, however, a man of many substantial and endearing qualities, and was widely popular. He is sometimes confused with William Hepburn Russell, the founder of the Pony Express.

Achievements

• Russell was distinguished for organizing the largest wagon train to California in 1846. He was a volunteer for the United States Army's conquest of California in the Mexican War. He was also one of the peace commissioners who framed the treaty of Cahuenga, January, 13, 1847.

Connections

Russell married Zanette Freeland of Baltimore.

Father:

Robert Spottswood Russell

Mother:

Deborah (Allen) Russell

Spouse:

Zanette Freeland

Grandfather:

William Russell

References

• Colonel William H. Russell, Sir