Major James Morrow Walsh 1840-1905

Born and educated in Prescott, Walsh was trained at military schools at Kingston and by 1873 had attained the rank of Major in the militia. In that year he was commissioned in the newly formed North-West Mounted Police. While in charge at Fort Walsh, in present-day Saskatchewan, he became known for his influence and friendship with Sitting Bull, chief of the approximately 5,000 Sioux who sought refuge in Canada 1876-77, and for his role in the negotiations for their return to the United States. Walsh retired in 1883 but fourteen years later, at the height of the Klondike gold rush, he was appointed first Commissioner of the Yukon and Superintendent of the North-West Mounted Police there. In 1898 he retired to his home in Brockville.