George E. Pickett

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George E. Pickett (1825-1875) - Long time friend of President Lincoln, a graduate of West Point, veteran of the Mexican War and veteran of the U.S. Civil War on the Confederate side..

George and Morning Mist Pickett's home

Pickett built the home in 1856 when he was stationed at Fort Bellingham; today, it is the oldest house in Bellingham. Pickett and his wife had one child, James Tilton Pickett, born in the home in 1857. Morning Mist died when James was an infant.

Capt. Pickett was transferred in 1859 to San Juan Island to defend America's claim in a territory dispute with Great Britain. When the Civil War began, he returned to his native Virginia, leaving his 4-year-old son with family friends in Mason County, the Tiltons. Pickett reportedly feared his son would be ostracized in Virginia because of his half-white, half-Indian ancestry.

George Pickett reportedly had contact with his son, but Pickett's new wife declined to acknowledge him. The father died in 1875 when James was 18.

James Pickett's requests for the deed to the Bellingham home were denied by his stepmother, compelling him to threaten a lawsuit. The stepmother ultimately acquiesced.

James Tilton Pickett became a prominent newspaper illustrator and lithographer; among his employers were the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Portland Oregonian. He died in 1889.

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• Fort Bellingham, Washington (1856-1861)- Captain Pickett was sent to Bellingham to build Fort Bellingham. Soon after his arrival in Bellingham, Washington, Captain Pickett began building a house on the bluff above Henry Roeder's lumber mill using planks from the mill. Pickett's house has the distinction of being the oldest building in Bellingham. Pickett left Bellingham in 1861, returning to Virginia to become a Confederate General in the U.S. Civil War.