Adventure in Red River - Report on the Exploration of the Headwaters of the Red River by Captain Randolph Marcy and Captain McClellan

By Grant Foreman

Any fan of exploration will find this diary of two soldiers exploring the western United States trying to map territory to place a reservation. Some of the language and attitudes in this book are hard to read from a modern perspective, native Americans treated as savages and moved and shunted around so the land could be exploited for material gain, if anything this makes this book an important book for anybody interested in how mindsets have changed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473383562

Book preview

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CHAPTER I

ORDER FROM HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY—FAILURE OF FORMER EXPEDITIONS IN REACHING THE SOURCES OF RED RIVER—CAUSES OF FAILURE—DEPARTURE FROM WASHINGTON—ARRIVAL AT FORT BELKNAP—THE LITTLE WITCHITA—BIG WITCHITA—DEPARTURE FROM CACHE CREEK—COPPER ORE—INDIAN SIGNS

NEW YORK, December 5, 1852.

Col. S. Cooper, Adjutant General U. S. Army:

SIR: I have the honor herewith to submit a report of an exploration of the country embraced within the basin of Upper Red river, made in obedience to the following orders:

[Special Orders No. 33]

ADJUTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE,

WASHINGTON, March 5, 1852.

Captain R. B. Marcy, 5th Infantry, with his company as an escort, will proceed, without unnecessary delay, to make an examination of the Red river, and the country bordering upon it, from the mouth of Cache creek to its sources, according to the special instructions with which he will be furnished. On completing the exploration, Captain Marcy will proceed to Washington to prepare his report.

Brevet Captain G. B. McClellan, Corps of Engineers, is assigned to duty with this expedition.¹ Upon the completion of the field service, he will report to Brevet Major General Smith, the commander of the 8th department.

The necessary supplies of subsistence and quartermasters’ stores will be furnished from the most convenient depots in the 7th or 8th military department.

By command of Major General Scott:

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