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East end of parking lot on Water St. at East St. , Prescott
Commemoration
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.
Background
Walsh’s original job in Saskatchewan was to shut down the illegal trade in whisky coming from the United States.
Sitting Bull led a group of Sioux from the U. S. to Canada after the Battle of the Little Bighorn (aka Custer’s Last Stand). They ended up settling at Wood Mountain in Canada. This was despite Walsh’s orders to have the Sioux return to the U. S. As a result, Walsh was transferred to Fort Qu’Appelle in Saskatchewan.
His appointment as Commissioner of the Yukon came at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush. Mount Walsh in the Yukon is named after him.
He died in Brockville in 1905.
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