"Major" James B. Campbell was born on October 15, 1799, in Tennessee. He moved to Illinois in 1825 and worked as a clerk prior to launching a business career in the new settlement of Chicago. Campbell invested in real estate and became wealthy, although some financial setbacks eventually influenced him to move to Missouri in 1852. In 1863 he traveled to Bannack, Montana Territory, and afterwards claimed land near the three forks of the Missouri River at Gallatin City. He engaged in ranching and operated a mercantile business there until his death on January 3, 1873. Campbell married Sarah A. Kain in 1831 and the couple had seven children, including a son, Gurdon, and daughters Fannie and Anna. The two girls, the youngest of the Campbell children, arrived in Montana after their parents via a Missouri River steamboat in 1865. Fannie eventually took over the operation of her father's ranch and Gurdon was concerned with operating the mercantile business at Gallatin City.
While the family's relationship with the Nimiipu (Nez Perce) is unknown, the Campbell home in Gallatin County, Montana, was near the events in the summer of 1877 when the tribe, fleeing forced relocation, left their homeland in Oregon and Idaho and were pursued by the U. S. Army. After many, including women and children, were killed near Big Hole, Montana, survivors fled through Yellowstone National Park and then north through central Montana before being stopped by the Army in the Bear Paw Mountains, 40 miles south of the Canadian border. It is believed that this is point at which Chief Joseph declared, "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." Allalimya Takanin (Looking Glass), was a leader of the Alpowai band of the Nimiipuu, and appears to have been a friend of the Campbell Family.
The Campbell family papers are positive photocopies of original documents. The collection includes four business related letters written to James B. Campbell from New York, Michigan, Washington D.C., and Virginia City, Montana Territory, from 1836 to 1868. One letter from James B. Campbell to A. J. Jackson of Galena, Illinois, written in 1862 from St. Charles, Missouri, discusses Campbell's plans to move west. An 1873 letter from Gurdon Campbell to his mother, Sarah A. Kain Campbell, describes a flood at Gallatin City, Montana Territory. An unsigned 1877 letter, possibly from Gurdon Campbell to his sister Fannie, contain a sympathetic account of the Nez Perce Flight of 1877 and the writer's friend, Looking Glass (Allalimya Takanin). Two letters from Rebecca Jackson of Galena, Illinois, to Fannie Campbell describe the death of her mother, Sarah Campbell. A folder of legal documents and promissory notes pertaining to the Campbell family dated from 1867 to 1899 completes the collection.
This collection is open for research.
Original letters and legal documents created or collected by the James B. Campbell family were loaned to Montana State University for copying by Mrs. Thelma Dunbar Multz, Three Forks, Montana, on April 23, 1965. The originals were returned to the donor, and their present location is unknown.
This collection was processed 2010 June 25
[Creator Name], [Date of Creation], [Brief Description of Object], Folder [#], Box [#], [Collection Name], [Collection #], Montana State University (MSU) Library, Bozeman, MT