Journal of Stephen Watts Kearny

This journal of the famous soldier, Stephen Watts Kearny, now printed for the first time, has unusual interest in being the only known record or account, it is believed, of an early military exploration that was an incident of the pioneer movement of United States troops into the great trans-Mississippi region. Until 1818 no effort had been made to establish army posts beyond the Mississippi. Following the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory in 1803, the Americans had re-garrisoned a few minor cantonments evacuated by the Spanish, and had planted a few new posts, but practically all of these were along the middle and lower river. The War of 1812 coming on soon afterward, and having its theatre east of the river, delayed the time when the military occupation of the new territory should begin, a necessary measure before it could safely be opened up for settlement. In that war what the western people had most to combat was not the British but their allies, the Indian savages, whose depredations had kept the settlements in constant dread, if not in actual danger, and had interfered seriously with the important fur trade, the chief frontier industry. Just as soon as the Americans had recovered sufficiently from the exhaustion of the war to consider the future, they were prompted by the budding spirit of nationalism to adopt a system of measures for their general security. Included in these was the erection of coast fortifications and a chain of military posts on the western frontier, beyond the Mississippi, in the populous Indian region. Thus began, in 1818, the movement of United States troops into that vast territory, where for many years they were to have their most characteristic service, and where by hard experience they were to develop certain methods of warfare that have come finally to exert an appreciable influence on all modern armies. The military occupation of the north-west was undertaken in two independent expeditions. One had as its destination the head of navigation of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the St. Peter's (now the Minnesota) River. The other was directed to ascend the Missouri as far as the mouth of the Yellowstone River. They had as their immediate objects the protection of the north western frontier against Indian attacks, the extension of the great fur trade, and the checking of the influence of British traders with the Indians.