Notes Of A Military Reconnaissance From Fort Leavenworth In Missouri To San Diego, In California Including Part Of The Arkansas, Del Norte, And Gila Rivers

LT. COL W. H. EMORY

Publication: Wendell and Van Benthuysen Printers, 1848, Washington

Second issue. Full calf, 614 pp., 3 plans, 3 maps. House Executive Document 41. This second issue is often the "preferred issue" due to its inclusion of Capt. Johnston's journal, and Col. Cooke's full, unabridged report, as well as the report of Lt. Abert. "At the outbreak of war with Mexico in 1846, President Polk ordered the capture of New Mexico and the extension of the conquest to the Pacific Coast. Gen. Stephen Kearny took to the field in command of the"Army of the West", to proceed from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe, and then to San Diego in Upper California. When the General left Santa Fe for California, his "Army" consisted of 300 dragoons and a 14-man topographical detachment led by Brevet Major Emory, plus a few civilian scouts and rangers in charge of the celebrated Kit Carson. The country west of Santa Fe had been crossed by occasional herdsmen and trappers. Parts of it were sketchily known to the Navajo and to wandering bands of Apache, but none of it had received a systematic examination by a trained observer. Military necessity limited the extent of Emory's investigation, but nevertheless his report was a major contribution to the geographical knowledge of North America. His map, in which he limited himself to recording only the data which he and his assistants had actually observed, was the first accurate depiction of that vast area, and it is still regarded as one of the landmarks of American cartography....as an explorer, observer, and reporter of the virtually unknown, newly-won territory of the Southwest, he performed an outstanding service for his country. He was truly the right man in the right place at the right time."----Wagner Camp 148:1. Of this important work, Zamorano Eighty 33 states: "Source material for the Southwest and Mexican border. A library of Western Americana is incomplete without it." "This work contains some interesting particulars concerning the Pima, Apache, Navajo, and Maricopa Indians, with several engravings of Indians. Fine copy housed in a matching slipcase.

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