Eaton, Joseph Horace
From Salem Links and Lore
- Joseph Horace Eaton (1815-1896) was an American artist and career officer in the United States Army who served as a brevet brigadier general in the
Union Army during the American Civil War. Eaton was born in Salem. He graduated from West Point in 1835. During the Mexican-American War he was an aide to Gen. Taylor.
- Following the Mexican War, Eaton was stationed on the frontier where he painted a series of landscapes in New Mexico
in the 1850's. Those paintings are highly sought after by art collectors and museums today. Among his important watercolors are Don Fernandez de Taos and Canoncito Bonito.
- After the Civil War, Eaton was assigned to Fort Vancouver where he was the Army's Chief Paymaster of the Dept.
of the Columbia until his retirement in 1881. The son of Dr. Joseph Eaton, he married the former Susan Blaney in 1845. He died in Portland, Oregon and is buried in River View Cemetery.
