Yellowstone Expedition
Encyclopedia
The Yellowstone Expedition was a frontier expedition authorized in 1818 by United States Secretary of War John C. Calhoun
to establish a military
fort or outpost
near present-day Bismarck, North Dakota
at the mouth of the Yellowstone River
. Sometimes called the Atkinson-Long Expedition, it led to the creation of Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)
, the first United States Army post to be established west of the Missouri River
, but was otherwise a costly failure, stalling near Council Bluffs, Iowa
.
, and this gave the expedition military as well as economic reasons.
Starting from St Louis, Missouri, the expedition aimed to establish a series of forts along the Missouri River on the way upstream to the Yellowstone (principal tributary of the upper Missouri). These forts would increase American presence in the fur trade
and would also counteract British
influence on the northern plains. The first fort was to be at the Council Bluff (not to be confused with Council Bluffs, Iowa
, 20 miles to the south), the site previously used for an 1804 council between the Lewis and Clark Expedition
and members of the Oto
and Missouria
Native American
tribes. William Clark had recommended the high bluff overlooking the Missouri River to the US government as a suitable location to build a fort.
, partner and younger brother of Kentucky Congressman Richard Mentor Johnson
, who would later become U.S. Vice President
. Richard Johnson enjoyed considerable leverage over the expedition's funding as chairman from 1817 to 1819 of the House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War and there was warm public interest in the enterprise. An editorial of the Missouri Gazzette of St Louis said on April 21, 1819 that "there is no measure which has been adopted by the present administration that has received such universal commendation.". The public's later "deep disappointment at their non-fulfilment" was to coincide with an eventual "scandal growing out of the transportation contract", with revelations that James Johnson had been practically guaranteed against loss and had thus taken little care to see his equipment was of sufficient character to ensure a prompt fulfilment of the contract.
The expedition was led by Colonel (later General) Henry Atkinson, commander of the Sixth Infantry, then stationed at Plattsburgh, New York on the Canadian border. In the fall of 1818, he received orders to rendezvous his troops to the south and encamp with the crack Rifle Regiment by the Missouri River near St. Louis. The 6th Infantry hastily traveled the 2,700 miles by land and water down to the area.
The expedition was also chartered to perform science and engineering functions, in conjunction with which a U.S. Army topographical engineer, Major Stephen Harriman Long
was ordered to select and lead a crew of notable specialists in zoology, geology, cartography, journalism, art and botany, to accompany the expedition. It was the first scientific expedition of US government-funded 'Army Engineers' chartered with mapping, studying, documenting and exploring the vast area of uncharted land to be traveled between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.
to transport the task force of scientists as far as possible on the venture. Named the Western Engineer, it was uniquely designed to navigate the expected narrow, shallow, snag-littered channels of the Missouri River and its tributaries, with a particularly strong engine for increased power against swift currents. Another novel feature was a paddlewheel
built into the stern to reduce the danger of damage from snags. It was launched in Pittsburgh in the winter of 1818-19, and was probably the first stern-wheel paddle steamer
ever built.
The boat had a 75-by-13-foot hull with the weight of the machinery carefully distributed to permit increased maneuverability in shallow channels. To protect the vessel from Indian attack, Long installed a bulletproof pilothouse, mounted a cannon on the bow, placed howitzers along the side, and armed the crew with rifles and sabres. Nicknamed "Long's Dragon" because it was decorated as a serpent in order to detract or scare any hostile frontier natives, it was anything but a typical steamboat of its day. Its hull drew only 19 inches of water compared to the five or six feet of most steamboats of that era. But its basic design (shallow draft, rear paddlewheel, narrow beam, amidships engine) became the prototype for western river steam vessels.
A description in the Missouri Gazette of May 26, 1819, also stated that "The Western Engineer is well armed and carries an elegant flag representing a white man and an Indian shaking hands, the calumet of peace and the sword. The boat is 75 feet long, 13 feet beam and draws 19 inches of water. The steam passes off through the mouth of a larger figure-head (a serpent)...". This was the first steamboat to travel up the Missouri River
into the Louisiana Purchase
territory, reaching Nebraska with the expedition.
in May 1819, when Col. Atkinson led his force of 1,126 rifle men upriver on three modern (for 1819) equipped steamboats. Major Long
led the scientific party of 'Army Engineers' on Western Engineer, leaving in June. Notable expedition members included Captain Stephen Kearny (later military governor of California), landscape painter Samuel Seymour, naturalist painter Titian Peale
, and zoologist Thomas Say
.
Atkinson's party suffered through a variety of problems, including an inefficient and corrupt steamboat captain. Five steamboats had been contracted for Atkinson, but two had not reached the Mississippi at all and, of the remainder, a third (the Thomas Jefferson) was unable to survive the snags, sandbars and currents and was eventually abandoned. Sunk at the mouth of the Osage River, it became the first wrecked steamboat on the Missouri. The last two (the R.M. Johnson and the Expedition) could not advance through the treacherous obstacles and were stopped just above the mouth of the Kansas River, to winter at Cow Island and return to St. Louis in the spring. After several days and many miles, Col. Atkinson's troops had to resort back to using keelboats, similar to those used by Lewis and Clark a few years earlier, powered mainly by men rowing, poling or towing upriver with ropes.
. This was on the west side of the river, about 20 miles north of today's Council Bluffs, Iowa
. "The Council Bluffs" was at that time the generic name for the land on both sides of the Missouri River north of the mouth of the Platte River, and Fort Lisa was located, "at a point between five and six miles below the original Council Bluff - where Lewis and Clark had a council with the Missouri and Otoe
Indians, August 3, 1804, and now the site of the town of Fort Calhoun
...".
Atkinson's troops arrived several days later, on September 26. The parties then decided to build two camps for winter quarters, establishing Atkinson's troops in "Cantonment Missouri" near Council Bluff and Major Long's men at an "Engineer Cantonment" five miles down the river near the western riverbank, a half mile upstream from Fort Lisa. Within a month, the quarters were substantially completed and Major Long returned to the east coast for further orders.
(due to poor nutrition and lack of vitamin C
), which claimed the lives of over 200 of the 1,126 men that first winter. Estimates of the civilian deaths is possibly as high as double the military dead; no records were kept of their losses. Finally in the spring of 1820, the Missouri River flooded Cantonment Missouri, so the soldiers built a permanent camp atop Council Bluff, and renamed it Fort Atkinson (just east of present-day Fort Calhoun, Nebraska
, it was soon abandoned in 1827).
and its sources. The expedition left their winter quarters on June 6, 1820. Colonel Atkinson led a further expedition to reach the Yellowstone River in 1825.
John C. Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent...
to establish a military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
fort or outpost
Outpost (military)
An Outpost in military terminology essentially means a detachment of troops stationed at a distance from the main force or formation, usually at a station in a remote or sparsely populated location, positioned to stand guard against unauthorized intrusions and surprise attacks; and the station...
near present-day Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was 61,272 at the 2010 census, while its metropolitan population was 108,779...
at the mouth of the Yellowstone River
Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National...
. Sometimes called the Atkinson-Long Expedition, it led to the creation of Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)
Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)
Fort Atkinson was the first United States Army post to be established west of the Missouri River in the unorganized region of the Louisiana Purchase of the United States. Located just east of present-day Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, the fort was erected in 1819 and abandoned in 1827...
, the first United States Army post to be established west of the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
, but was otherwise a costly failure, stalling near Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs, known until 1852 as Kanesville, Iowathe historic starting point of the Mormon Trail and eventual northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trailsis a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River across...
.
Expedition
Secretary Calhoun stated the expedition was a "part of a system of measures" to maintain northwestern trade, describing its objects as "the protection of our northwestern frontier and the greater extension of our fur trade.". The economic condition had halted in the states due to growing dissent over state issues that were to lead up to the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and this gave the expedition military as well as economic reasons.
Starting from St Louis, Missouri, the expedition aimed to establish a series of forts along the Missouri River on the way upstream to the Yellowstone (principal tributary of the upper Missouri). These forts would increase American presence in the fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
and would also counteract British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
influence on the northern plains. The first fort was to be at the Council Bluff (not to be confused with Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs, known until 1852 as Kanesville, Iowathe historic starting point of the Mormon Trail and eventual northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trailsis a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River across...
, 20 miles to the south), the site previously used for an 1804 council between the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
and members of the Oto
Otoe tribe
The Otoe or Oto are a Native American people. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the related Iowa and Missouri tribes.-History:...
and Missouria
Missouri tribe
The Missouria or Missouri are a Native American tribe that originated in the Great Lakes region of United States before European contact. The tribe belongs to the Chiwere division of the Siouan language family, together with the Iowa and Otoe...
Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes. William Clark had recommended the high bluff overlooking the Missouri River to the US government as a suitable location to build a fort.
Preparations
In 1818, Calhoun awarded the expedition's transportation and supply contract to James JohnsonJames Johnson (Kentucky)
James Johnson was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky, brother of Richard Mentor Johnson and John Telemachus Johnson and uncle of Robert Ward Johnson....
, partner and younger brother of Kentucky Congressman Richard Mentor Johnson
Richard Mentor Johnson
Richard Mentor Johnson was the ninth Vice President of the United States, serving in the administration of Martin Van Buren . He was the only vice-president ever elected by the United States Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment. Johnson also represented Kentucky in the U.S...
, who would later become U.S. Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
. Richard Johnson enjoyed considerable leverage over the expedition's funding as chairman from 1817 to 1819 of the House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War and there was warm public interest in the enterprise. An editorial of the Missouri Gazzette of St Louis said on April 21, 1819 that "there is no measure which has been adopted by the present administration that has received such universal commendation.". The public's later "deep disappointment at their non-fulfilment" was to coincide with an eventual "scandal growing out of the transportation contract", with revelations that James Johnson had been practically guaranteed against loss and had thus taken little care to see his equipment was of sufficient character to ensure a prompt fulfilment of the contract.
The expedition was led by Colonel (later General) Henry Atkinson, commander of the Sixth Infantry, then stationed at Plattsburgh, New York on the Canadian border. In the fall of 1818, he received orders to rendezvous his troops to the south and encamp with the crack Rifle Regiment by the Missouri River near St. Louis. The 6th Infantry hastily traveled the 2,700 miles by land and water down to the area.
The expedition was also chartered to perform science and engineering functions, in conjunction with which a U.S. Army topographical engineer, Major Stephen Harriman Long
Stephen Harriman Long
Stephen Harriman Long was a U.S. army explorer, topographical engineer, and railway engineer. As an inventor, he is noted for his developments in the design of steam locomotives. He was also one of the most prolific explorers of the early 1800s, although his career as an explorer was relatively...
was ordered to select and lead a crew of notable specialists in zoology, geology, cartography, journalism, art and botany, to accompany the expedition. It was the first scientific expedition of US government-funded 'Army Engineers' chartered with mapping, studying, documenting and exploring the vast area of uncharted land to be traveled between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.
Steamboat Western Engineer
Long immediately planned the construction of an experimental steamboatSteamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
to transport the task force of scientists as far as possible on the venture. Named the Western Engineer, it was uniquely designed to navigate the expected narrow, shallow, snag-littered channels of the Missouri River and its tributaries, with a particularly strong engine for increased power against swift currents. Another novel feature was a paddlewheel
Paddle wheel
A paddle wheel is a waterwheel in which a number of scoops are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several usages.* Very low lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than about height above the water source....
built into the stern to reduce the danger of damage from snags. It was launched in Pittsburgh in the winter of 1818-19, and was probably the first stern-wheel paddle steamer
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
ever built.
The boat had a 75-by-13-foot hull with the weight of the machinery carefully distributed to permit increased maneuverability in shallow channels. To protect the vessel from Indian attack, Long installed a bulletproof pilothouse, mounted a cannon on the bow, placed howitzers along the side, and armed the crew with rifles and sabres. Nicknamed "Long's Dragon" because it was decorated as a serpent in order to detract or scare any hostile frontier natives, it was anything but a typical steamboat of its day. Its hull drew only 19 inches of water compared to the five or six feet of most steamboats of that era. But its basic design (shallow draft, rear paddlewheel, narrow beam, amidships engine) became the prototype for western river steam vessels.
A description in the Missouri Gazette of May 26, 1819, also stated that "The Western Engineer is well armed and carries an elegant flag representing a white man and an Indian shaking hands, the calumet of peace and the sword. The boat is 75 feet long, 13 feet beam and draws 19 inches of water. The steam passes off through the mouth of a larger figure-head (a serpent)...". This was the first steamboat to travel up the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
into the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
territory, reaching Nebraska with the expedition.
Expedition departure
The 6th US Infantry and 1st Rifle Regiments made up the expedition's military portion. They departed from St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
in May 1819, when Col. Atkinson led his force of 1,126 rifle men upriver on three modern (for 1819) equipped steamboats. Major Long
Stephen Harriman Long
Stephen Harriman Long was a U.S. army explorer, topographical engineer, and railway engineer. As an inventor, he is noted for his developments in the design of steam locomotives. He was also one of the most prolific explorers of the early 1800s, although his career as an explorer was relatively...
led the scientific party of 'Army Engineers' on Western Engineer, leaving in June. Notable expedition members included Captain Stephen Kearny (later military governor of California), landscape painter Samuel Seymour, naturalist painter Titian Peale
Titian Peale
Titian Ramsay Peale was a noted American artist, naturalist, entomologist and photographer. He was the sixteenth child and youngest son of noted American naturalist Charles Willson Peale.-Biography:...
, and zoologist Thomas Say
Thomas Say
Thomas Say was an American naturalist, entomologist, malacologist, herpetologist and carcinologist. A taxonomist, he is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States. He described more than 1,000 new species of beetles and over 400 species of insects of other...
.
Atkinson's party suffered through a variety of problems, including an inefficient and corrupt steamboat captain. Five steamboats had been contracted for Atkinson, but two had not reached the Mississippi at all and, of the remainder, a third (the Thomas Jefferson) was unable to survive the snags, sandbars and currents and was eventually abandoned. Sunk at the mouth of the Osage River, it became the first wrecked steamboat on the Missouri. The last two (the R.M. Johnson and the Expedition) could not advance through the treacherous obstacles and were stopped just above the mouth of the Kansas River, to winter at Cow Island and return to St. Louis in the spring. After several days and many miles, Col. Atkinson's troops had to resort back to using keelboats, similar to those used by Lewis and Clark a few years earlier, powered mainly by men rowing, poling or towing upriver with ropes.
Autumn 1819
The expedition left the mouth of the Kansas River on August 13 and arrived at the mouth of the Grand Nemaha River two weeks later. On September 17, the steamboat Western Engineer arrived at Fort Lisa (Nebraska), a trading fort belonging to William Clark's Missouri Fur CompanyMissouri Fur Company
The Missouri Fur Company was one of the earliest fur trading companies in St. Louis, Missouri. Dissolved and reorganized several times, it operated under various names from 1809 until its final dissolution in 1830. It was created by a group of fur traders and merchants from St...
. This was on the west side of the river, about 20 miles north of today's Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs, known until 1852 as Kanesville, Iowathe historic starting point of the Mormon Trail and eventual northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trailsis a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River across...
. "The Council Bluffs" was at that time the generic name for the land on both sides of the Missouri River north of the mouth of the Platte River, and Fort Lisa was located, "at a point between five and six miles below the original Council Bluff - where Lewis and Clark had a council with the Missouri and Otoe
Otoe
Otoe may refer to*Otoe tribe, a Native American people*Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, a federally recognized tribe in Oklahoma*Otoe, Nebraska*Otoe County, Nebraska...
Indians, August 3, 1804, and now the site of the town of Fort Calhoun
Fort Calhoun, Nebraska
Fort Calhoun is a city in Washington County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 856 at the 2000 census.Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station is built on...
...".
Atkinson's troops arrived several days later, on September 26. The parties then decided to build two camps for winter quarters, establishing Atkinson's troops in "Cantonment Missouri" near Council Bluff and Major Long's men at an "Engineer Cantonment" five miles down the river near the western riverbank, a half mile upstream from Fort Lisa. Within a month, the quarters were substantially completed and Major Long returned to the east coast for further orders.
Winter 1819-20
"Cantonment Missouri", set along the river bottom below the bluffs, was short-lived. The winter of 1819-20 was very harsh, and a shortfall of government contractors left the garrison without sufficient supplies. The soldiers suffered widespread scurvyScurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
(due to poor nutrition and lack of vitamin C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
), which claimed the lives of over 200 of the 1,126 men that first winter. Estimates of the civilian deaths is possibly as high as double the military dead; no records were kept of their losses. Finally in the spring of 1820, the Missouri River flooded Cantonment Missouri, so the soldiers built a permanent camp atop Council Bluff, and renamed it Fort Atkinson (just east of present-day Fort Calhoun, Nebraska
Fort Calhoun, Nebraska
Fort Calhoun is a city in Washington County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 856 at the 2000 census.Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station is built on...
, it was soon abandoned in 1827).
Failure of expedition
Due to its financial costs and general lack of first season results, the expedition became a resounding failure upon stalling at Fort Lisa. Congressional economy measures and difficulties in supplying such far-flung outposts prevented the completion of the expedition and the force was halted there. In May 1820, Long returned to "Engineer Cantonment" with his own orders from the Secretary of War to cease work along the Missouri and turn instead to exploring the Platte RiverPlatte River
The Platte River is a major river in the state of Nebraska and is about long. Measured to its farthest source via its tributary the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi River which flows to...
and its sources. The expedition left their winter quarters on June 6, 1820. Colonel Atkinson led a further expedition to reach the Yellowstone River in 1825.
Problems with cost
The Yellowstone expedition had departed from St. Louis just as the panic of 1819 brought postwar economic expansion to a halt, and soon afterwards Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford issued a December 1819 report projecting a $5 million budget deficit. Added to this, the costs of the expedition grossly exceeded those anticipated, mostly due to James Johnson's "malfeasance" and his brother Richard's influential pleas for further funding. The political reputation of James and Richard Johnson was mostly maintained however, due to their respective popularity in their home district.Over-extravagant planning
Writer H.M. Chittendem in 1905 summarised the expedition as "an unqualified failure if not a huge fiasco... Although the troops could with ease have marched three times as far as the boats carried them, it was considered necessary to transport them in a manner becoming the dignity of so vast an enterprise. As a result it took an entire season to reach a point that could have been reached in two months at most." He wrote further that "The same spirit of absurd extravagance pervaded the scientific branch of the enterprise. If Major Long had been content with a sentible field equipment transported on pack mules, or on a keelboat while on the Missouri, he could have kept his party in the field for five years,, and have explored the entire region east of the mountains, for less money than his actual operations took in 1819 alone. The insignificant results of the first season's work, and the scandal growing out of the transportation contract, disgusted Congress with the whole enterprise and that body declined to appropriate any further funds for it."See also
- Stephen Harriman LongStephen Harriman LongStephen Harriman Long was a U.S. army explorer, topographical engineer, and railway engineer. As an inventor, he is noted for his developments in the design of steam locomotives. He was also one of the most prolific explorers of the early 1800s, although his career as an explorer was relatively...
for his 1820 and 1823 expeditions up the Platte and the Red River of the North.