The Vigilantes of Montana:
1864 Revisited

The Political Context 1862 - 1864

While John White was panning the first pay dirt on Grasshopper Creek in July, 1862, the Civil War ( see chronology) was raging back in the States. Abraham Lincoln had been elected the first Republican president in the November, 1860. This election is discussed in detail at the web site The Election of 1860. The Democratic Party split prior to this election into northern and southern wings, each fielding a candidate, and a third party nominated a candidate, leaving the field open for a Republican victory. This is important, since Henry Plummer was a Democrat, and the two men sent out from Washington in the fall of 1863, Sidney Edgerton and Wilbur Sanders, were Republicans.

In 1862 only California (1850), and Oregon (1859) were states, where the constitution of the United States applied. In what is now Montana and Idaho, there was little or no federal presence, and what law there was came from miner's courts, set up democratically by the local population. Southern Montana was then part of the Dakota Territory, created in 1861, but no federal presence extended to the area. There simply was no federally authorized government. And, this did not change when in March, 1863, Congress created the Idaho Territory, with capitol at Lewiston, since Bannack was several hundred miles away through some of the most difficult mountains in North America. The fact that Lincoln was a Republican became important in subsequent events, since he chose a former Republican Congressman, Sidney Edgerton, to be the Chief Justice of Idaho Territory. His mission was to travel to Lewiston and set up a system of territorial courts authorized by the elected legislature of Idaho territory. In fact Sidney Edgerton chose instead to travel to Bannack, the site of the first rich gold strike east of the mountains, and near (75 miles) from Virginia City, one of the richest placer strikes ever.

Why Edgerton did not report to the capital of Idaho, Lewiston, to be sworn in as Chief Justice is a mystery. At Fort Hall (near present day Idaho Falls on the Snake River), he should have taken the well-traveled road to Walla Walla, and thence up the Snake River to Lewiston. But just that summer, in June 1863, the richest placer strike ever had been made at Virginia City. Could it be that the attraction of gold swayed the Edgerton - Sanders party to Bannack, which was the administrative capital of the mining district? At any rate he never did get to Lewiston, and the new Idaho territory was deprived of a Chief Justice.

Sidney Edgerton did not set up courts, instead he and his nephew were instrumental in setting up a lynch system of justice, the Vigilante Committee. He then returned to Washington to convince the Republican administration to create a new territory, Montana, with capitol Bannack, and himself as Governor. Sidney Edgerton resigned in 1866 as Governor to return home to Ohio, a rich man, his wealth having come from interests in 75 mining claims and other investments in the territory.

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