First Dragoon Expedition

The First Dragoon Expedition of 1834 (also known as the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition) was an exploratory mission of the United States Army into the southwestern Great Plains of the United States. It was the first official contact between the American government and the Southern Plains Indians.[1]

The United States Dragoon Regiment arrive at Comanche Village, 1834. Painting by George Catlin who accompanied the expedition.

History

The United States Dragoon Regiment left Fort Gibson, Indian territory, on 20 June 1834, under the command of General Henry Leavenworth. In addition to the troops, there were 30 Cherokee, Delaware, Osage, and Seneca tribesmen who served as guides. The expedition entered the Cross Timbers region on July 10.[2] The difficult terrain of the Cross Timbers region, together with summer heat, sickness, and death slowed the progress of the expedition; one hundred fifty of the five hundred men died on the march. The expedition stopped at Camp Leavenworth, where General Leavenworth, sick and injured from a buffalo hunt, sent the troops onward under the command of Colonel Henry Dodge. On July 16, 1834, the expedition left 75 sick men, including American traveling artist George Catlin, at Camp Comanche; Colonel Dodge and the rest of his men continued onward. General Leavenworth died on July 21, 1834.[2]

On July 21, 1834, Colonel Dodge and the remaining men reached a village of Wichita Indians at Devils Canyon. One of the Wichita men was the father of a woman travelling with the expedition. The reunion resulted in easing Dodge's negotiations with the tribe on the next day, during which Dodge invited the tribe to send representatives to Washington, D. C. He also won the release of a white boy that the Washitas had captured during the previous Spring.[lower-alpha 1]

Dodge also met with some Kiowas, who had arrived with some Comanches. Another woman traveling with the Leavenworth-Dodge group was a Kiowa, who had been kidnapped by Osages in 1833. Dodge returned her to her tribe, winning their friendship. He urged the three tribes to avoid attacking white and Eastern Indian people. A few days later, the main body of the expedition left for Fort Gibson which they reached on August 15, 1834.[2]

General Henry Leavenworth the commander of the United States Regiment of Dragoons
George Catlin sketch of Colonel Henry Dodge, commander of the United States Mounted Rangers, 1833.[3]
Lieutenant Colonel Stephen W. Kearny was second in command of the Dragoons and later died in the Mexican–American War
Nathan Boone the youngest son of Daniel Boone was on the expedition and served with Henry Dodge in the War of 1812
First Lieutenant Jefferson Davis was in command of Dragoon company F who later became the President of the Confederate States of America.

Notable expedition members

In addition to Dodge, Leavenworth and Catlin, notable members of the expedition included:

George Catlin paintings

All of the following are produced from Catlin's paintings and other published images, which originated with sketches that he made on the expedition.

  • Wun-pan-to-mee (the white weasel) and Tunk-aht-oh-ye (the thunderer), Kiowa brother and sister rescued by the expedition. Shortly after this sketch was taken, the boy was killed in a stock yard accident.
  • Colonel Henry Dodge first meets a Comanche emissary, July 14, 1834. Note the leather dragoon helmets of the soldiers and Dodge's buckskin outfit.
  • Residents of the Comanche village, approximately July 16, 1834. Catlin notes in his text, and depicts in the drawing, the fear of the dogs and children.
  • Comanches capturing wild horses with lassos, approximately July 16, 1834.

See also

References
  1. Pelzer 1911.
  2. Agnew, Brad. Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition." Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Accessed March 21, 2016.
  3. Jung, Patrick J. (2007). The Black Hawk War of 1832. University of Oklahoma Press, p. 102.
Sources
  • Catlin, George (1876). Illustrations of the manners, customs & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 2. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. 36–96. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  • Hildreth, James (1836). Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains: Being a History of the Enlistment Organization and First Campaigns of the Regiment of U S Dragoons. New York: Wiley & Long. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  • Pelzer, Louis (1911). Henry Dodge. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa. pp. 94–112. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  • Perrine, Fred S. "The Journal of Hugh Evans," Chronicles of Oklahoma 3:3 (September 1925) 2-215 (retrieved August 16, 2006).
  • Salter, William. "Henry Dodge. Colonel U.S. Dragoons, 1833-6. Part I." Iowa Historical Record. Iowa City State Historical Society. 7, 8, 9: 101–119. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  • Shirk, George H. "Peace on the Plains," Chronicles of Oklahoma 28:1 (January 1950) 2-41 (retrieved August 16, 2006).
  • Wheelock, T.B. (1860). "Journal of Colonel Dodge's Expedition from Fort Gibson to Pawnee Pict Village, August 26, 1834". American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, Congress of the United States, from the First Session of the Twenty-second to the First Session of the Twenty-fourth Congress, Inclusive, Commencing March 15, 1832, and Ending January 5, 1836, Class V Military Affairs, Volume V. Washington: Gales and Seaton. pp. 373–382. Retrieved August 26, 2014.

Notes
  1. Dodge was unsuccessful in getting another prisoner released, a Ranger private who had been captured during the 1833 expedition.[2]
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.