The Second Dragoon Expedition of 1835 (also called the Dodge Expedition) left Fort Leavenworth, unorganized territory May 29, 1835, charged with contacting the Indian tribes across the Central

Plains In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. In ...

to the Rockies as far west as the Mexican border. Traveling first up the Platte River they made contact with the

Otoe The Otoe (Chiwere: Jiwére) are a Native American people of the Midwestern United States. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the related Iowa, Missouria, and Ho-Chunk tribes. Historically, t ...

, Omaha, Grand Pawnee, and Arickaree tribes. Continuing south along the front range of the Rockies, they reached

Bent's Fort Bent's Old Fort is an 1833 fort located in Otero County in southeastern Colorado, United States. A company owned by Charles Bent and William Bent and Ceran St. Vrain built the fort to trade with Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Plains Indians and ...

on August 6. At Bent's Fort the expedition held councils with the Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Black Feet, Gros Ventres, and others. On August 12, 1835 the Dragoons began the return march from Bent's Fort, following the Santa Fe Trail eastward. They arrived at

Council Grove, Kansas Council Grove is a city and county seat in Morris County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,140. It was named after an agreement between American settlers and the Osage Nation allowing settlers' wa ...

the evening of September 8, 1835. Between Council Grove and Hundred and Ten Mile Creek the expedition experienced its only loss, the death of 23 year old, Private Samuel Hunt on September 11, 1835. In Colonel Dodge's Journal he wrote, "On the 11th a man of company “A” died—the first death that has occurred on our whole march, and the only severe sickness. The colonel directed him to be buried on a high prairie ridge, and a stone placed at the head of the grave, with his name and regiment engraved thereon. Continued the march; crossed the Hundred-and ten-mile creek, and entered upon the dividing ridge between the Kansas and Osage rivers; passed Round and Elm Groves, and arrived at the crossing of the Kansas, at Dunlap's Ferry, on the 15th; crossed the river, and on the 16th arrived at Fort Leavenworth." Dodge1834

:''Note: The First Dragoon Expedition was from Fort Gibson to the Southern Plains in 1834.''

References

*Dodge, Henry. ''Journal of the March of a Detachment of Dragoons, Under the Command of Colonel Henry Dodge, During the Summer of 1835''. American State Papers. Class V. Military Affairs. Volume VI. 24th Cong, 1st Session, H. Doc., 138. (Serial Set 21). 1836. *

Notes

External links

Dodge's ExpeditionSamuel Hunt Grave (National Register of Historic Places)
History of Colorado Pre-statehood history of Kansas Pre-statehood history of Nebraska American frontier {{US-hist-stub

See also

References

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External links