Lions of the West

BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF THE WESTWARD EXPANSION ERA

John Quincy Adams born July 11 in Braintree, Massachusetts.

1769

Thomas Jefferson elected to Virginia House of Burgesses.

1774

John Chapman born September 26 in Leominster, Massachusetts.
Jefferson publishes A Summary View of the Rights of British America.

1775

American Revolution begins April 19 with battles at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.
Jefferson serves as delegate to Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Daniel Boone cuts trace through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky.

1776

Jefferson writes Declaration of Independence.

1777

Battles of Saratoga in New York: Freeman’s Farm, September 19; Bemis Heights, October 7. Washington moves his army into winter quarters at Valley Forge.

1779

Joel Roberts Poinsett born March 2 in Charleston, South Carolina.

1780

Battle of Kings Mountain, South Carolina, October 7.

1781

John Quincy Adams serves with legation in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Jefferson writes to George Rogers Clark in Kentucky asking for large fossil bones.
Jefferson begins Notes on the State of Virginia. Battles of Cow- pens, South Carolina, January 17. British surrender at Yorktown, October 17.

1782

Martha Randolph Jefferson dies September 6.

1783

Treaty of Paris, September 3.
Jefferson returns to Continental Congress where he helps draft Ordinance for Government of Northwest Territories.

1784

Alexander McGillivray concludes Creek treaty with Spain.
Zachary Taylor born November 24 in Virginia.

1785

Jefferson succeeds Franklin as minister to France, meets Buffon and other French scientists. Publishes Notes on the State of Virginia.

1786

Winfield Scott born June 13 near Petersburg, Virginia.
David Crockett born August 17 in State of Franklin.

1787

Andrew Jackson admitted to bar in North Carolina.
John Ledyard sets out to walk across Russia and then North America.

1788

Andrew Jackson moves west to Nashville, meets Rachel Robards whom he will later marry.

1790

Jefferson becomes Secretary of State in Washington’s cabinet, begins quarreling with Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists.

1793

Sam Houston born March 2 near Lexington, Virginia. Jefferson commissions André Michaux to explore the West and resigns from Cabinet.

1794

Jay’s Treaty bitterly opposed by Jefferson and others. Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20, near Toledo. Antonio López de Santa Anna born in Mexico.

1795

James Knox Polk born November 2 in Pineville, North Carolina.

1796

Jefferson elected vice president, John Adams president.

1797

John Chapman moves to western Pennsylvania wilderness.

1798

Andrew Jackson serves as judge of Tennessee Superior Court. Jefferson writes the Kentucky Resolutions.

1800

Jefferson elected president. Nicholas P. Trist born June 2 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

1802

Andrew Jackson elected major general of Tennessee militia.

1803

Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson commissions Meriwether Lewis to explore the West to the Pacific, June 20. John Quincy Adams elected to Senate.

1804

John Chapman plants apple trees in Ohio wilderness.

1806

Lewis and Clark return from the Pacific. Nonimportation Act passed by Congress. Zebulon Pike explores headwaters of Arkansas River.
Houston family moves to Tennessee.

1807

Embargo Act passed by Congress. John Quincy Adams breaks with Federalists.

1808

James Madison elected president. Winfield Scott commissioned captain in U.S. Army.

1809

Jefferson returns to Monticello. Kit Carson born December 24 in Madison County, Kentucky.

1810

Mexican revolt against Spain begins.

1811

Tecumseh tours the South. Battle of Tippecanoe River, November 7.

1812

United States declares war on Britain, June 18.

1813

Fort Mims Massacre triggers Creek War, August 30.
Perry’s victory over the British on Lake Erie, September 10.

1814

Jackson defeats Red Stick Creeks at Horseshoe Bend, Alabama, March 27.
Scott’s victory over the British at Chippewa, July 5.
British burn Washington City, August 24. Treaty of Ghent signed December 24.

1815

Jackson defeats British at New Orleans, January 8.

1816

James Monroe elected president.

1817

John Quincy Adams becomes secretary of state.

1818

Treaty with Britain on U.S.-Canada boundary at forty-ninth parallel to Rocky Mountains.

1819

Adams-Oni’s Treaty with Spain.

1820

Missouri Compromise excluding slavery in new states north of 36°30′.

1821

Mexican independence from Spain. Treaty of Cordoba, August 23.

1823

Sam Houston elected to Congress from Tennessee.

1824

John Quincy Adams elected president. Mexican constitution adopted.
Treaty with Russia on boundary of Alaska.

1825

Erie Canal opens. James K. Polk elected to Congress from Tennessee.
Joel R. Poinsett becomes ambassador to Mexico.

1826

Deaths of Jefferson and John Adams, July 4.

1827

David Crockett elected to Congress from Tennessee. Nicholas Trist becomes clerk in State Department. Houston elected governor of Tennessee.

1828

Andrew Jackson elected president.

1829

Houston resigns as governor of Tennessee. Kit Carson explores the Gila River country.

1830

John Quincy Adams elected to Congress from Massachusetts.

1831

Play Lion of the West by James K. Paulding acted in New York by James Hackett.

1832

Houston tried in Congress for attacking legislator. Goes to Texas December 1.

1833

Santa Anna elected president of Mexico.
Nicholas Trist appointed consul in Havana.

1834

A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee published.

1835

R. H. Dana arrives in California. Crockett loses election for Congress, leaves for Texas.

1836

Crockett dies at Alamo, March 6. “Gag law” passed by Congress. Houston elected commander of Texas army, defeats Santa Anna at San Jacinto, April 21.

1837

Smallpox wipes out many Indian villages in the West.

1838

Cherokee Removal to Arkansas Territory. Mexico fights “Pastry War” with France in which Santa Anna loses a leg.

1839

James K. Polk elected governor of Tennessee.

1840

William Henry Harrison elected president. Two Years Before the Mast by R. H. Dana published.

1841

Harrison dies and John Tyler becomes president. Winfield Scott becomes General in chief of the army July 5.

1842

Frémont’s First Expedition along Oregon Trail, with Kit Carson as scout.

1843

Frémont’s Second Expedition to the Far West.

1844

Polk elected president. “Gag law” repealed December 3.

1845

Texas annexed by United States. Frémont’s Third Expedition to the Far West.
John Chapman dies in March at Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Andrew Jackson dies at Hermitage, June 8. Polk begins diary, August 26.
Trist becomes chief clerk of the State Department. “Manifest Destiny” becomes slogan.

1846

United States declares war on Mexico May 13. Bear Flaggers declare independence from Mexico June 14. Battles of Palo Alto, May 8; Resaca de la Palma, May 9; Monterrey, September 20–24. Frémont and Stockton take San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara in August. Kearny claims Santa Fe, August 18, fights at San Pasqual, December 6–11.

1847

Los Angeles retaken January 8–9. Battles of Buena Vista, February 22–23; Veracruz, March 22–26; Cerro Gordo, April 17–18. Trist arrives in Mexico, May 6. Battles of Contreras, August 19–20; Churubusco, August 20; Molino del Rey, September 8; Chapultepec, September 12–13.
Scott enters Mexico City, September 14.

1848

Taylor elected president. Gold discovered in California January 24. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed February 2.
John Quincy Adams dies February 23. Trist arrested in Mexico in April.

1849

Polk dies. Gold rush in California.

1853

Gadsden Purchase establishes the boundary between Mexico and New Mexico and Arizona.

PRESIDENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR

One

THOMAS JEFFERSON

SEEING THE ELEPHANT

THOMAS JEFFERSON’S attention seems always to have been turned toward the West. The West was the place of unexplored riches, the promise of adventure, commerce, the future. The possibilities and hope offered by the waterways and lands over the mountains were never far from Jefferson’s mind, even as events forced him to turn his attention to the political conflicts unfolding in Virginia and the other colonies. Jefferson loathed the crowding of cities and came to believe that the best hope for his society was the movement into the land beyond the Appalachians, even beyond the Mississippi. It was in the West where yeoman farmers could “avoid the miseries of the concentrated urban working classes.”

From the time of his youth the author of the Declaration of Independence had dreamed of exploring and claiming the West—to the Mississippi and maybe all the way to the Pacific. On February 2, 1848, almost twenty-two years after Jefferson’s death, his grandson-in-law, Nicholas P. Trist, special peace commissioner from the United States, signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo near the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe outside Mexico City, ending the Mexican-American War. Both countries pledged to cease hostilities, and for fifteen million dollars the Republic of Mexico agreed to cede to the United States Texas and all of the territory that would become New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, half of Colorado and a chunk of Wyoming. With ports on the Pacific, the American Republic could become a world power, promoting prosperity, democracy, and the pursuit of happiness across North America and beyond. The continental and hemispheric vision Jefferson had contemplated from the height of Monticello was now realized but at a terrific cost.

their relations with other tribes of nations;
their language, traditions, monuments;
their ordinary occupations in agriculture, fishing, hunting,

war, arts, & the implements for these;
their food, clothing, & domestic accommodations;
the diseases prevalent among them, & the remedies they use;
moral & physical circumstances which distinguish them from

the tribes we know;
peculiarities in their laws, customs & dispositions;
and articles of commerce they may need or furnish, & to what extent.

Jefferson also wanted Lewis to gather information about “the state of morality, religion, & information among” the natives. Like most enlightened men of his time, Jefferson believed that those who went among the Indians should seek to “civilize & instruct them,” but he also realized that to do so Europeans must “adapt their measures to the existing notions & practices of those on whom they are to operate.” The last clause of the sentence shows something of Jefferson’s sophistication. English missionaries and administrators usually failed with the native people because they wanted to teach Indians to behave like Europeans. French and sometimes Spanish missionaries were often more successful because they understood that they themselves had to adapt to Indian customs before they could have any effective impact. Had all Americans been as sensitive to this particular issue as Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis, our history might have been very different. To negotiate with others, trade with others, live beside others, we must first know something about who they are and how they view us and their own world. It is a simple principle to state but hard to practice in strange places and on dangerous occasions.

Significantly, Jefferson places study of the indigenous population ahead of his other lists of scientific objects of study. Only after he has described some of the things he wanted to know about the natives did he catalog his other scientific interests. For Jefferson the West was not just the land but also the people who had lived there for thousands of years. The priority of his scientific interest was the study of the people.

One of the most memorable passages in Jefferson’s letter to Lewis is his instructions about the treatment of native people. In no place does Jefferson’s idealism show through more than in this section. “Treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner,” he urged, and “allay all jealousies as to the object of your journey, satisfy them of it’s innocence, make them acquainted with the position, extent, character, peaceable & commercial dispositions of the U.S., . . . & of our wish to be neighborly, friendly & useful to them.” He authorized Lewis to arrange visits of the chiefs to Washington at public expense, if they desired it, and to offer to educate their young. He also told Lewis to carry with him on the expedition “some of the matter of the kine-pox” to inoculate against small pox, which had already killed so many Indians. The inoculation might be especially important in the village where they would pass the winter.

Since it could not be known beforehand whether a given Indian tribe or nation would be welcoming or hostile, it was important for the expedition to have enough men to defend itself. But if a large group of Indians adamantly stood in the way of the expedition, “you must decline it’s farther pursuit, and return.” Not only must the lives of the Corps of Discovery be saved, but the information they have accumulated must be protected.

Jefferson recommended that Lewis commission friendly Indians to carry back letters and copies “of your journal, notes & observations of every kind,” to the settlements at Cahokia and Kaskaskia on the east bank of the Mississippi. That way he could be informed at every stage of the progress of the expedition up the river and to the West Coast. Sensitive messages should be put in code.

And then he gave Lewis a list of his interests in the physical landscape that reads like a passage from a poem by Walt Whitman or a paragraph by Henry David Thoreau.

the soil & face of the country, it’s growth & vegetable
productions, especially those not of the U.S.

the animals of the country generally, & especially those
not known in the U.S.

the remains or accounts of any which may be deemed rare
or extinct;

the mineral productions of every kind; but more particularly
metals, limestone, pit coal, & saltpetre; salines &
mineral waters, noting the temperature of the last,
& such circumstances as may indicate their character;

volcanic appearances;

climate, as characterized by the thermometer, by the proportion
of rainy, cloudy, & clear days, by lightning, hail,
snow, ice, by access & recess of frost, by the
winds prevailing at different seasons, the dates at
which particular plants put forth or lose their
flower, or leaf, times of appearance of particular birds,
reptiles or insects.

Jefferson added that he thought it especially important to know the land between the headwaters of the Rio Brava, meaning the Rio Grande, and the headwaters of the Rio Colorado. He was not sure whether the country between these rivers and the Missouri was mountainous or flat land. Few people had studied the existing maps of the west as thoroughly as Jefferson had, yet he thought that by going up the Missouri Lewis might be able to learn “anything certain of the most Northern source of the Missisipi & of it’s position relatively to the lake of the woods,” which English and French traders had described. And Jefferson wanted to know the distance from the mouth of the “Ouisconsing” (Wisconsin) River to the mouth of the Missouri. But it is not clear how Lewis was expected to acquire that information while going up the Missouri, unless he happened to meet someone who knew the exact distance.

Furthermore, if the Pacific coast was reached, the prospects for the fur trade there should be studied. The present center of the fur trade was farther north, at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, where British and Russian companies were already dominant. Most important, Lewis should find out if the United States could conduct business in the far northwest by going up the Missouri instead of sailing all the way around Cape Horn, as was the present practice.

When Lewis arrived at the Pacific coast he was to look for a port and if possible send two of his crew back to the United States by sea with copies of the journals and notes made crossing the continent. And if Lewis determined that it was too dangerous to return overland, Jefferson urged him to return with all his men by sea, either around the tip of South America or Africa. Since he would be without money, he must use letters of credit to pay for his passage.

If Lewis decided to return by land, Jefferson asked him to again make such observations “as may serve to supply, correct or confirm those made on your outward journey.” Each member of the expedition would not only be paid in full when they returned to the United States but would also be given a grant of land, as other soldiers were. Last he tells Lewis, “Repair yourself with your papers to the seat of government” once other duties were discharged.

And then Jefferson thought of one more contingency. In case Lewis should suffer death on the journey west, he should leave a signed document written in his own hand “to name the person among them who shall succeed to the command on your decease.” But as the voyage continued he should feel free to change the designated successor as he learns more about the character and competence of his men. And such a successor should be given authority to name his successor in case of his own demise. It does seem that Jefferson thought of everything on that day, June 20, 1803. Reading certain passages of the letter to Meriwether Lewis we are reminded that among his many other accomplishments, Jefferson was a gifted if reluctant lawyer.

Two

ANDREW JACKSON

OLD HICKORY AT THE BEND

IT IS probably impossible for us in the twenty-first century to understand what land meant to poor white people in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Newly released indentured servants, called redemptionists, who had never owned a square foot of property of their own looked west at regions where for a few cents an acre they might acquire tracts of rich farmland along streams and running back to picturesque hills. People of ambition who already had land in the East dreamed of gaining even more land and greater riches and prominence in the West.

For those in debt, or in trouble with the law, the frontier offered an opportunity for salvation, to start over, with a clean slate, in a place where no one knew them. Beginning with nothing but two hands, a few tools, and determination, they might clear land and work it and rise to prosperity. Or failing again, they could move on farther into the new territory and try once more. There seemed no end to the wild lands to the west—if only Indians could be cleared away—and no limits to hope. All you needed were an ax, a rifle, and a wife, and maybe a horse or ox. But even if you had no wife, one could be found among the Indians. In fact, for settling down at the edge of the wilderness, an Indian wife might be the best of all. She already knew the land there and the ways of extracting necessities and even luxuries from the forest. And she could do much of the farmwork and make clothes from buckskin with fancy beadwork or colorful clothes from cloth bought from traders. An Indian wife might make it safer also. After all, married to an Indian woman, you were halfway a member of the nation yourself.

To the Scots Irish, such as Andrew Jackson’s ancestors, free or cheap land must have seemed a dream too wonderful almost to believe. Born in Scotland, they had been sent to Northern Ireland to drive away the Catholics and make Ireland Protestant. Later, when that land was needed by the wealthy English for grazing sheep, they were displaced again, and those who could came to the New World in the years before the Revolution. But eastern land was already claimed and expensive by the time they arrived. That left the Appalachian foothills and the farther frontier claimed by Cherokees and other Indian nations, and most attractive of all, the land beyond the mountains, Kentucky and Tennessee, and the vast expanse of land to the southwest, all the way to the Mississippi and New Orleans, much of it controlled by the Creek, or Muscogee, Indian confederacy.

Three

JOHN CHAPMAN

APPLES AND ANGELS

THOMAS JEFFERSON once wrote, “The greatest service which can be rendered to any country is to add an useful plant to its culture.” He could have been thinking of John Chapman, the Johnny Appleseed of American legend.