A Woman’s eye on Washington Territory
"... and before us was a dark sea-wall of mountains..." With those words, Caroline Leighton ended a journey from the civilized eastern states and began recording her responses to fifteen years on the Pacific coast. Born and educated in New England, she worked in a school for former slaves in Washington DC during the Civil War. There she met her future husband, Rufus Leighton. After the war they married and sailed for the Pacific Northwest where Rufus had an appointment as a customs official.