James Morrow Walsh

James Morrow Walsh, born on May twenty-second, eighteen forty, in Prescott, Ontario, was a distinguished officer of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) and the inaugural commissioner of the Yukon Territory. His early military service included participation in the 1866 Fenian Raid with the 2nd Prescott Rifle Company and the 1870 raid with the 56th Grenville Battalion, for which he was awarded the Canada General Service Medal with two clasps.

In eighteen seventy-five, Superintendent Walsh was tasked with establishing a post in the Cypress Hills, now part of Saskatchewan, which he named Fort Walsh. This post was a direct response to the tragic Cypress Hills Massacre of eighteen seventy-three, linked to the illegal whiskey trade. His mission was to curtail this trade, but the situation escalated in June eighteen seventy-six when thousands of Sioux crossed into Canada seeking refuge after the Battle of Little Big Horn.

During this tumultuous period, Walsh formed a notable friendship with the Sioux leader Sitting Bull, which helped maintain peace in the region. By the summer of eighteen seventy-seven, Walsh had shifted his headquarters to the Wood Mountain post, where he was surrounded by Sitting Bull and approximately five thousand Sioux. His relationship with Sitting Bull earned him the moniker 'Sitting Bull's Boss' in the American press, although he struggled to persuade the Sioux leader to return to the United States.

In eighteen eighty, due to concerns that his friendship with Sitting Bull was hindering the Sioux's repatriation, Walsh was reassigned to Fort Qu'Appelle. After taking a health leave and returning to Ontario, he resigned his commission three years later. In August eighteen ninety-seven, amidst the Klondike Gold Rush, he was appointed as the Commissioner of the newly established Yukon Territory, a position he held briefly before resigning in eighteen ninety-eight. He passed away in Brockville, Ontario, in nineteen oh-five, leaving a legacy that includes Mount Walsh, a peak in the Saint Elias Mountains named in his honor.