%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en William Gilpin http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-gilpin <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">William Gilpin</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3343--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3343.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/william-gilpin"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/William-Gilpin-Media-1_0.jpg?itok=lCzX42jY" width="900" height="1395" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/william-gilpin" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">William Gilpin</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A gifted speaker and ardent promoter of "Manifest Destiny," William Gilpin of Missouri served as the first governor of Colorado Territory.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-01-15T15:10:31-07:00" title="Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - 15:10" class="datetime">Wed, 01/15/2020 - 15:10</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-gilpin" data-a2a-title="William Gilpin"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fwilliam-gilpin&amp;title=William%20Gilpin"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>William Gilpin (1815–94) served as the first governor of <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a> in 1861–62. A gifted speaker with a flair for the dramatic, Gilpin was a firm believer in <strong>Manifest Destiny</strong> and in Colorado’s importance to the young American West. As governor during the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/civil-war-colorado"><strong>Civil War</strong></a>, Gilpin illegally raised the <strong>Colorado Volunteers</strong>, the Union troops who turned back a Confederate Army at <strong>Glorieta Pass</strong> in 1862. Raising the volunteers cost Gilpin his job but saved the territory and its all-important goldfields from falling into Confederate hands.</p> <p>Before serving as governor, Gilpin was a member of the US Army. He fought in the Seminole Wars in Florida and accompanied army explorer <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-c-fremont"><strong>John C. Frémont</strong></a> through Colorado in 1843. Today, Gilpin is remembered as one of the most bombastic and significant founders of Colorado.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>William Gilpin was born in 1815 into a large Delaware Quaker family. He was home-schooled and became partial to history, poetry, and geography. When he was twelve, his father sent him to school in England for two years, and in 1833 Gilpin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Thereafter, he embarked on a series of military adventures, including a semester at West Point in 1834–35, a participant in Florida’s Seminole Wars in 1836, a journey across the Rockies with John C. Frémont in 1843, and a campaign to protect the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/santa-f%C3%A9-trail-0"><strong>Santa Fé Trail</strong></a> from Indian attacks during the <strong>Mexican-American War</strong> in 1847.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <h2>Champion of the West</h2> <p>By the 1850s, Gilpin had settled in Missouri. There he solidified his reputation as a passionate, if incessant, orator, as well as a premier booster of western settlement. In speeches and writing, Gilpin waxed poetic about America’s Manifest Destiny. According to Gilpin, “to subdue the continent” was a “divine task” that would bring the United States to the pinnacle of world civilization. At a time when many Americans believed that the West was a “<a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article"><strong>Great American Desert</strong></a>,” Gilpin made a habit of emphasizing the immense potential of the land west of the Mississippi.</p> <p>After its <a href="/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Gold Rush</strong></a> in 1858–59, Colorado, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> specifically, lay at the center of Gilpin’s vision for the future of the country. He imagined a worldwide railroad network that spanned from Denver across the Bering Strait to Asia and eventually to Europe. In his mind, Colorado’s mineral wealth would be the linchpin of this industrial American empire.</p> <h2>Governor of Colorado</h2> <p>In the wake of the Colorado Gold Rush, the US government organized Colorado Territory in 1861. Many in the territory believed that the governor post would go to Denver founder <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-larimer-jr"><strong>William Larimer, Jr</strong>.</a> But to gain favor in an important border state ahead of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln chose Gilpin at the recommendation of Missouri governor Frank Blair.</p> <p>Preoccupied with the looming Civil War and without much money to send with him, President Lincoln hastily ordered Gilpin to Denver in the spring of 1861. When Gilpin arrived on May 27, he faced a multitude of challenges: rival cities vied to become the new territory’s capital, immigrants feared Indian attacks, and a nascent southern secession movement threatened Colorado’s future as part of the United States.</p> <p>The lack of funds did not deter Gilpin from his duty. In his first few months as governor, he organized the territorial courts, which legitimized haphazard laws within Colorado’s mining districts, and the legislature, which began its first session on September 9, 1861. The legislature met in Denver, but the mining camp of <strong>Colorado City</strong> (part of present-day <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-springs"><strong>Colorado Springs</strong></a>) was named the territory’s capital because its residents successfully lobbied for the territory’s creation in Washington, DC.</p> <p>In his typical booster fashion, Gilpin waxed poetic in his inaugural address, booming to the legislature that “our territory will be [bi]sected by the grandest work of all time,” a “transcontinental railway” that will “draw the travel and commerce of all the nations, and all the continents of the world.” Copies of the speech were distributed throughout the territory, including a Spanish version in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis-valley"><strong>San Luis Valley</strong></a> that referred to Gilpin as “Guillermo Guilpin.”</p> <p>Moving toward his long-held vision of Colorado as a universal nexus of civilization, Gilpin worked closely with the legislature to establish a tax system, roads, police, schools, and universities, including the <strong>University of Colorado</strong>. He was directly involved in publishing the first map of the territory, developing irrigation systems, and incorporating water companies. The legislature divided the territory into seventeen counties, naming one <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gilpin-county"><strong>Gilpin County</strong></a>.</p> <p>As the territory’s superintendent of Indian affairs, Gilpin leaned on the expertise of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/indian-agencies-and-agents"><strong>Indian agents</strong></a>, such as <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lafayette-head"><strong>Lafayette Head</strong></a>. As a veteran Indian fighter in Florida and along the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/arkansas-river"><strong>Arkansas River</strong></a>, Gilpin feared that Colorado’s Indians would band together to assault the territory or assist the Confederacy. Still, Gilpin generally preferred to deal peacefully with Native Americans, especially those who had agreed to the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/treaty-fort-wise"><strong>Fort Wise Treaty</strong></a>, signed just before he assumed his post.</p> <h2>Confederate Crisis</h2> <p>Of the all the problems in his fledgling territory, the Confederate threat was perhaps Gilpin’s greatest challenge. From Denver to <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fairplay"><strong>Fairplay</strong></a> and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/breckenridge-historic-district"><strong>Breckenridge</strong></a>, Colorado was filled with southerners who had either come during the Gold Rush or fought for slavery in neighboring Kansas during the 1850s. By September 1861, the territory’s chief justice, B. F. Hall, reported to Lincoln that there were about 6,000 Coloradans “with Confederate proclivities.” In response, Gilpin thwarted a Southern sympathizer’s scheme to sell Colorado arms and ammunition to the Confederate Army, and he set up a jail for Confederates in Denver. He also got other army posts to supply guns and ammunition for the territory’s defense.</p> <p>The gravest threat appeared in July 1861, when Confederate general Henry H. Sibley began organizing an army in Texas to invade New Mexico and, ultimately, Colorado. As the Confederates advanced in 1862, Gilpin petitioned the federal government for resources to raise an army. His requests were denied, even though in August 1861 he received orders from the army’s Western Department Headquarters to “increase your force to 1,000 men.” Lacking an alternative and finding plenty of willing recruits in Colorado, Gilpin created two regiments of Colorado Volunteers, illegally offering vouchers amounting to $375,000 from the US Treasury. That March, the Volunteers turned back Sibley’s Confederates at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.</p> <p>Gilpin’s quick action would save the Colorado and New Mexico territories from falling to the Confederacy. But in the meantime, the soldiers, as well as the merchants who supplied them, wanted their money. The federal government refused to redeem Gilpin’s vouchers, turning his constituents against him. Gilpin’s political rivals in Colorado, including <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-n-byers"><strong>William Byers</strong></a> of the <strong><em>Rocky Mountain News</em></strong>, territorial representative <strong>Jerome B. Chaffee</strong>, and congressional delegate <strong>Hiram Bennet</strong>, seized on the unrest. They argued that Gilpin had raised an unnecessarily expensive force to meet an exaggerated Confederate threat, thus casting his fellow Coloradans as rebels and hurting their business interests. They petitioned Lincoln to replace Gilpin as governor. &nbsp;On March 18, 1862—eight days before the troops Gilpin raised gave the Union a decisive victory at Glorieta Pass—the president acquiesced, replacing him with <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-evans"><strong>John Evans</strong></a> of Illinois. Gilpin remained in office until May, leaving him enough time to welcome his victorious volunteers back to Denver.</p> <h2>Later Life</h2> <p>After the Civil War, Gilpin made a small fortune in land deals in Colorado and New Mexico. In 1874 he married Julia Pratt Dickerson of St. Louis. They had three children: twins named William and Mary, and another son, Louis, who died in a fall in Platte Canyon in 1893.</p> <p>Gilpin’s marriage was reportedly tumultuous, as he and his wife, a devout Catholic, disagreed over everything from child-rearing to where their charitable donations should go. He and Dickerson separated in 1887. He devoted much of his later life to promoting his idea for a global railroad route across the Bering Strait. Gilpin died in Denver on January 20, 1894, and, in a final jab, his wife chose a Catholic cemetery—Mt. Olivet—for her late husband.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>Although a few later observers chose to focus on Gilpin’s financial misadventures and removal, Gilpin biographer Thomas L. Karnes and Colorado historian Thomas J. Noel credit Colorado’s first governor for bringing order to the territory and raising the troops to defend it from the Confederacy. Along with <strong>Horace Greeley</strong>, Gilpin can be considered the quintessential Western “booster” whose writings and speeches undoubtedly helped hasten the Euro-American conquest of the West.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-gilpin" hreflang="en">William Gilpin</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-governors" hreflang="en">colorado governors</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-territory" hreflang="en">Colorado Territory</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/first-governor-colorado" hreflang="en">first governor of colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/territorial-governor-colorado" hreflang="en">territorial governor colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/civil-war" hreflang="en">Civil War</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-volunteers" hreflang="en">colorado volunteers</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Hubert Howe Bancroft, <a href="https://ia903100.us.archive.org/4/items/historylifewill00bancgoog/historylifewill00bancgoog.pdf"><em>History of the Life of William Gilpin: A Character Study</em></a> (San Francisco: History Company, 1889).</p> <p>&nbsp;“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=SPS18940127-01.2.2&amp;srpos=16&amp;e=--1882---1894--en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22William+Gilpin%22-------0-">Important Colorado News—Death of William Gilpin</a>,” <em>Silver Standard </em>(Silver Plume, CO), January 27, 1894.</p> <p>Thomas L. Karnes, <em>William Gilpin: Western Nationalist</em> (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1970).</p> <p>Thomas J. Noel, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2009/10/08/noel-remembering-colorados-windbag/">Remembering Colorado’s ‘Windbag,’</a>” <em>The </em><em>Denver Post</em>, October 8, 2009.</p> <p>Elliott West, <em>The </em><em>Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to the Rockies </em>(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998).</p> <p>“<a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/archives/william-gilpin">William Gilpin</a>,” Colorado State Archives, n.d.</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Clarence S. Jackson, “<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2018/ColoradoMagazine_v26n3_July1949.pdf#page=46">My Recollections of William Gilpin</a>,” <em>Colorado Magazine</em>, July 1949.</p> <p>Kenneth Porter, “<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2018/ColoradoMagazine_v37n4_October1960.pdf#page=4">William Gilpin: Sinophile and Eccentric</a>,” <em>Colorado Magazine</em>, October 1960.</p> <p>J. Christopher Schnell, “<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2018/ColoradoMagazine_v46n2_Spring1969.pdf#page=21">William Gilpin and the Destruction of the Desert Myth</a>,” <em>Colorado Magazine</em>, Spring 1969.</p> <p>Wallace Stegner, <em>Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West</em> (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1954).</p> <p>Amy Zimmer, “<a href="https://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/resource-sharing/state-pubs-blog/colorado-governors-william-gilpin/">Colorado Governors: William Gilpin</a>,” Colorado Virtual Library, March 13, 2017.</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>William Gilpin (1815–94) was the first governor of Colorado Territory during the Civil War. Gilpin raised the Colorado Volunteers. The Volunteers were Union troops. They turned back a Confederate Army at Glorieta Pass in 1862. Raising the Volunteers cost Gilpin his job. However, it saved the territory and its goldfields from falling into Confederate hands.</p> <p>Gilpin is remembered as one of the most important founders of Colorado.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>William Gilpin was born in 1815. He had a large Delaware Quaker family. He was home-schooled. He became partial to history, poetry, and geography. After he graduated from college, Gilpin went on a series of military adventures. These included a semester at West Point in 1834–35. Gilpin then took part in Florida’s Seminole Wars in 1836. He journeyed across the Rockies with John C. Frémont in 1843. He helped protect the Santa Fé Trail from Indian attacks during the Mexican-American War.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h2>Champion of the West</h2> <p>By the 1850s, Gilpin had settled in Missouri. He gained a reputation as a speaker. He was also a booster of western settlement. At the time, many Americans believed the West was a “Great American Desert.” Gilpin spoke about the potential of the land.</p> <p>After its Gold Rush in 1858–59, Colorado lay at the center of Gilpin’s vision for the future of the country. He imagined a worldwide railroad network. The network would run from Denver across the Bering Strait to Asia and Europe. Gilpin thought Colorado’s mineral wealth would help create an industrial American empire.</p> <h2>Governor of Colorado</h2> <p>The US government organized Colorado Territory in 1861. Many believed that the governor post would go to Denver founder William Larimer, Jr. However, President Abraham Lincoln needed to gain favor in Missouri before the Civil War. Lincoln chose Gilpin at the recommendation of Missouri governor Frank Blair.</p> <p>Lincoln was preoccupied with the looming war. The president didn't have much money to send to Colorado. President Lincoln ordered Gilpin to Denver in the spring of 1861. When Gilpin arrived, he faced a many challenges. Rival cities were vying to become the new territory’s capital. Settlers feared Indian attacks.</p> <p>The lack of funds did not stop Gilpin. He organized the courts. The legislature began its first session on September 9, 1861. They met in Denver.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Gilpin said, “our territory will be [bi]sected by the grandest work of all time,” a “transcontinental railway” that will “draw the travel and commerce of all the nations, and all the continents of the world.” Copies of the speech were given out across the territory. There was even a Spanish version in the San Luis Valley that referred to Gilpin as “Guillermo Guilpin.”</p> <p>Gilpin worked with the legislature. Together they created a tax system, roads, police, and schools. Gilpin was involved in publishing the first map of the territory. He also developed irrigation systems. The legislature divided the territory into seventeen counties. They named one Gilpin County.</p> <p>Gilpin leaned on Indian agents, such as Lafayette Head. Gilpin feared that Colorado’s Indians would band together. If they did, the Indians could assault the territory or assist the Confederacy. Gilpin preferred to deal peacefully with Native Americans, especially those who had agreed to the Fort Wise Treaty.</p> <h2>Confederate Crisis</h2> <p>The Confederate threat was perhaps Gilpin’s greatest challenge. Colorado was filled with southerners. They had come during the Gold Rush. Some had arrived after fighting for slavery in Kansas during the 1850s. By September 1861, there were about 6,000 Coloradans “with Confederate proclivities.” Gilpin stopped a scheme to sell Colorado guns and ammunition to the Confederate Army. He set up a jail for Confederates in Denver. He also got army posts to supply guns and ammunition for the territory’s defense.</p> <p>The gravest threat appeared in July 1861. Confederate general Henry H. Sibley began organizing an army in Texas. Sibley intended to invade New Mexico and Colorado. Gilpin asked the federal government for resources to raise an army. His requests were denied. In August 1861 he received orders from the army’s Western Department Headquarters. He was to “increase your force to 1,000 men.” Gilpin created two regiments of Colorado Volunteers. He illegally offered vouchers amounting to $375,000 from the US Treasury. The Confederates advanced in 1862. The Volunteers turned back Sibley’s men at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.</p> <p>Gilpin’s actions saved the Colorado and New Mexico territories from falling to the Confederacy. But the soldiers wanted their money. The federal government refused to redeem Gilpin’s vouchers. This turned people against Gilpin. Gilpin’s political rivals seized on the unrest. They argued that Gilpin had raised an expensive force and the Confederate threat was exaggerated. They petitioned Lincoln to replace Gilpin as governor.&nbsp; On March 18, 1862, the president agreed. Gilpin was replaced with John Evans of Illinois.</p> <h2>Later Life</h2> <p>After the Civil War, Gilpin made a small fortune on land deals in Colorado and New Mexico. In 1874 he married Julia Pratt Dickerson of St. Louis. They had three children.</p> <p>Gilpin and his wife disagreed over everything. The couple separated in 1887. Gilpin devoted his later life to promoting a global railroad route across the Bering Strait. He died in Denver on January 20, 1894.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>Gilpin brought order to the Colorado Territory. He raised the troops to defend it from the Confederacy. Gilpin was a Western “booster.” His writings and speeches helped hasten settlement of the West.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>William Gilpin (1815–94) served as the first governor of Colorado Territory in 1861–62. As a governor during the Civil War, Gilpin raised the Colorado Volunteers. The Volunteers were Union troops. They turned back a Confederate Army at Glorieta Pass in 1862. Raising the Volunteers cost Gilpin his job. However, it saved the territory and its goldfields from falling into Confederate hands.</p> <p>Today, Gilpin is remembered as one of the most significant founders of Colorado.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>William Gilpin was born in 1815 into a large Delaware Quaker family. He was home-schooled. He became partial to history, poetry, and geography. In 1833 Gilpin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Afterwards, he went on a series of military adventures. These included a semester at West Point in 1834–35. Gilpin then took part in Florida’s Seminole Wars in 1836. He journeyed across the Rockies with John C. Frémont in 1843. He helped protect the Santa Fé Trail from Indian attacks during the Mexican-American War.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h2>Champion of the West</h2> <p>By the 1850s, Gilpin had settled in Missouri. He gained a reputation as a speaker. He was also a booster of western settlement. At the time, many Americans believed the West was a “Great American Desert.” Gilpin spoke about the potential of the land.</p> <p>After its Gold Rush in 1858–59, Colorado lay at the center of Gilpin’s vision for the future of the country. He imagined a worldwide railroad network. The network would run from Denver across the Bering Strait to Asia and Europe. Gilpin thought Colorado’s mineral wealth would help create an industrial American empire.</p> <h2>Governor of Colorado</h2> <p>The US government organized Colorado Territory in 1861. Many believed that the governor post would go to Denver founder William Larimer, Jr. However, President Abraham Lincoln needed to gain favor in an important border state before the Civil War. Lincoln chose Gilpin at the recommendation of Missouri governor Frank Blair.</p> <p>Lincoln was preoccupied with the looming Civil War. The president didn't have much money to send to Colorado with Gilpin. President Lincoln ordered Gilpin to Denver anyway in the spring of 1861. When Gilpin arrived, he faced a many challenges. Rival cities were vying to become the new territory’s capital. Settlers feared Indian attacks.</p> <p>The lack of funds did not deter Gilpin. He organized the courts. The legislature began its first session on September 9, 1861. They met in Denver. However, the mining camp of Colorado City (part of present-day Colorado Springs) was named the territory’s capital. Its residents had successfully lobbied for the territory’s creation in Washington, DC.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Gilpin said, “our territory will be [bi]sected by the grandest work of all time,” a “transcontinental railway” that will “draw the travel and commerce of all the nations, and all the continents of the world.” Copies of the speech were given out across the territory. There was even a Spanish version in the San Luis Valley that referred to Gilpin as “Guillermo Guilpin.”</p> <p>Gilpin worked closely with the legislature. Together they created a tax system, roads, police, schools, and universities. Gilpin was involved in publishing the first map of the territory. He also developed irrigation systems. The legislature divided the territory into seventeen counties. They named one Gilpin County.</p> <p>Gilpin leaned on the expertise of Indian agents, such as Lafayette Head. Gilpin feared that Colorado’s Indians would band together. If they did, the Indians could assault the territory or assist the Confederacy. Gilpin preferred to deal peacefully with Native Americans, especially those who had agreed to the Fort Wise Treaty.</p> <h2>Confederate Crisis</h2> <p>The Confederate threat was perhaps Gilpin’s greatest challenge. Colorado was filled with southerners who had come during the Gold Rush. Some had arrived after fighting for slavery in Kansas during the 1850s. By September 1861, there were about 6,000 Coloradans “with Confederate proclivities.” Gilpin stopped a scheme to sell Colorado guns and ammunition to the Confederate Army. He set up a jail for Confederates in Denver. He also got army posts to supply guns and ammunition for the territory’s defense.</p> <p>The gravest threat appeared in July 1861. Confederate general Henry H. Sibley began organizing an army in Texas. Sibley intended to invade New Mexico and Colorado. Gilpin petitioned the federal government for resources to raise an army. His requests were denied. In August 1861 he received orders from the army’s Western Department Headquarters to “increase your force to 1,000 men.” Gilpin created two regiments of Colorado Volunteers. He illegally offered vouchers amounting to $375,000 from the US Treasury. The Confederates advanced in 1862. The Volunteers turned back Sibley’s men at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.</p> <p>Gilpin’s actions saved the Colorado and New Mexico territories from falling to the Confederacy. But the soldiers wanted their money. The federal government refused to redeem Gilpin’s vouchers. This turned people against Gilpin. Gilpin’s political rivals seized on the unrest. They argued that Gilpin had raised an expensive force to meet an exaggerated Confederate threat. They petitioned Lincoln to replace Gilpin as governor.&nbsp; On March 18, 1862, the president agreed. Gilpin was replaced with John Evans of Illinois. Gilpin remained in office until May. This left him enough time to welcome his victorious volunteers back to Denver.</p> <h2>Later Life</h2> <p>After the Civil War, Gilpin made a small fortune on land deals in Colorado and New Mexico. In 1874 he married Julia Pratt Dickerson of St. Louis. They had three children.</p> <p>Gilpin and his wife disagreed over everything. The couple separated in 1887. Gilpin devoted his later life to promoting a global railroad route across the Bering Strait. He died in Denver on January 20, 1894.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>Gilpin is credited for bringing order to the territory. He raised the troops to defend it from the Confederacy. Gilpin was a Western “booster.” His writings and speeches helped hasten the Euro-American settlement of the West.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>William Gilpin (1815–94) served as the first governor of Colorado Territory in 1861–62. As governor during the Civil War, Gilpin illegally raised the Colorado Volunteers. They were Union troops who turned back a Confederate Army at Glorieta Pass in 1862. Raising the volunteers cost Gilpin his job. However, it saved the territory and its goldfields from falling into Confederate hands.</p> <p>Before serving as governor, Gilpin was a member of the US Army. He fought in the Seminole Wars in Florida. Gilpin also accompanied army explorer John C. Frémont through Colorado in 1843. Today, Gilpin is remembered as one of the most significant founders of Colorado.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>William Gilpin was born in 1815 into a large Delaware Quaker family. He was home-schooled and became partial to history, poetry, and geography. When he was twelve, his father sent him to school in England for two years. In 1833 Gilpin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Afterwards, he went on a series of military adventures. These included a semester at West Point in 1834–35. Gilpin then took part in Florida’s Seminole Wars in 1836. He journeyed across the Rockies with John C. Frémont in 1843. He participated in a campaign to protect the Santa Fé Trail from Indian attacks during the Mexican-American War in 1847.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h2>Champion of the West</h2> <p>By the 1850s, Gilpin had settled in Missouri. He gained a reputation as a passionate orator and booster of western settlement. In speeches, Gilpin talked about America’s Manifest Destiny. According to Gilpin, “to subdue the continent” was a “divine task” that would bring the United States to the pinnacle of world civilization. At the time, many Americans believed the West was a “Great American Desert.” Gilpin emphasized the potential of the land west of the Mississippi.</p> <p>After its Gold Rush in 1858–59, Colorado lay at the center of Gilpin’s vision for the future of the country. He imagined a worldwide railroad network that spanned from Denver across the Bering Strait to Asia and Europe. In his mind, Colorado’s mineral wealth would be the linchpin of this industrial American empire.</p> <h2>Governor of Colorado</h2> <p>The US government organized Colorado Territory in 1861. Many in the territory believed that the governor post would go to Denver founder William Larimer, Jr. However, President Abraham Lincoln needed to gain favor in an important border state before the Civil War. Lincoln chose Gilpin at the recommendation of Missouri governor Frank Blair.</p> <p>Preoccupied with the looming Civil War and without much money to send with him, President Lincoln ordered Gilpin to Denver in the spring of 1861. When Gilpin arrived on May 27, he faced a multitude of challenges. There were rival cities vying to become the new territory’s capital. Immigrants feared Indian attacks. A southern secession movement threatened Colorado’s future as part of the United States.</p> <p>The lack of funds did not deter Gilpin. He organized the territorial courts. The courts legitimized laws within Colorado’s mining districts. The legislature began its first session on September 9, 1861. The legislature met in Denver. However, the mining camp of Colorado City (part of present-day Colorado Springs) was named the territory’s capital. Its residents had successfully lobbied for the territory’s creation in Washington, DC.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Gilpin said, “our territory will be [bi]sected by the grandest work of all time,” a “transcontinental railway” that will “draw the travel and commerce of all the nations, and all the continents of the world.” Copies of the speech were distributed throughout the territory. There was even a Spanish version in the San Luis Valley that referred to Gilpin as “Guillermo Guilpin.”</p> <p>Gilpin worked closely with the legislature to establish a tax system, roads, police, schools, and universities, including the University of Colorado. He was directly involved in publishing the first map of the territory, developing irrigation systems, and incorporating water companies. The legislature divided the territory into seventeen counties, naming one Gilpin County.</p> <p>As the territory’s superintendent of Indian affairs, Gilpin leaned on the expertise of Indian agents, such as Lafayette Head. Gilpin feared that Colorado’s Indians would band together to assault the territory or assist the Confederacy. Gilpin preferred to deal peacefully with Native Americans, especially those who had agreed to the Fort Wise Treaty.</p> <h2>Confederate Crisis</h2> <p>The Confederate threat was perhaps Gilpin’s greatest challenge. Colorado was filled with southerners who had come during the Gold Rush. Some had arrived after fighting for slavery in neighboring Kansas during the 1850s. By September 1861, the territory’s chief justice, B. F. Hall, reported to Lincoln that there were about 6,000 Coloradans “with Confederate proclivities.” Gilpin thwarted a Southern sympathizer’s scheme to sell Colorado arms and ammunition to the Confederate Army. He set up a jail for Confederates in Denver. He also got other army posts to supply guns and ammunition for the territory’s defense.</p> <p>The gravest threat appeared in July 1861. Confederate general Henry H. Sibley began organizing an army in Texas to invade New Mexico and Colorado. As the Confederates advanced in 1862, Gilpin petitioned the federal government for resources to raise an army. His requests were denied, even though in August 1861 he received orders from the army’s Western Department Headquarters to “increase your force to 1,000 men.” Gilpin created two regiments of Colorado Volunteers. He illegally offered vouchers amounting to $375,000 from the US Treasury. That March, the Volunteers turned back Sibley’s Confederates at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.</p> <p>Gilpin’s quick action saved the Colorado and New Mexico territories from falling to the Confederacy. But in the meantime, the soldiers wanted their money. The federal government refused to redeem Gilpin’s vouchers. This turned his constituents against him. Gilpin’s political rivals in Colorado seized on the unrest. They argued that Gilpin had raised an expensive force to meet an exaggerated Confederate threat. They petitioned Lincoln to replace Gilpin as governor.&nbsp; On March 18, 1862—eight days before the troops Gilpin raised gave the Union a decisive victory at Glorieta Pass—the president agreed. Gilpin was replaced with John Evans of Illinois. Gilpin remained in office until May. This left him enough time to welcome his victorious volunteers back to Denver.</p> <h2>Later Life</h2> <p>After the Civil War, Gilpin made a small fortune in land deals in Colorado and New Mexico. In 1874 he married Julia Pratt Dickerson of St. Louis. They had three children.</p> <p>Gilpin’s marriage was tumultuous. He and his wife disagreed over everything from child-rearing to where their charitable donations should go. Gilpin and Dickerson separated in 1887. He devoted much of his later life to promoting his idea for a global railroad route across the Bering Strait. Gilpin died in Denver on January 20, 1894.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>Although a few later observers chose to focus on Gilpin’s financial misadventures and removal, Gilpin biographer Thomas L. Karnes and Colorado historian Thomas J. Noel credit Colorado’s first governor for bringing order to the territory and raising the troops to defend it from the Confederacy. Along with Horace Greeley, Gilpin can be considered the quintessential Western “booster” whose writings and speeches undoubtedly helped hasten the Euro-American conquest of the West.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:10:31 +0000 yongli 3115 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org