Lansford Warren Hastings (1819–1870) was an American explorer and Confederate soldier. He is best remembered as the developer of

Hastings Cutoff The Hastings Cutoff was an alternative route for westward emigrants to travel to California, as proposed by Lansford Hastings in ''The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California''. The ill-fated Donner Party infamously took the route in 1846. De ...

, a claimed shortcut to California across what is now the state of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, a factor in the

Donner Party The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...

disaster of 1846. He was a Major in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

Early life

Born to Dr. Waitstill and Lucinda (Wood) Hastings in

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, he was a descendant of Thomas Hastings who came from East Anglia in England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634. Hastings was trained as a lawyer. In 1842, he traveled overland to

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. While there, he briefly represented Dr. John McLoughlin, preparing his land claim near

Willamette Falls The Willamette Falls is a natural waterfall on the Willamette River between Oregon City, Oregon, Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, in the United States. It is the largest waterfall in the Northwestern United States by volume, and the seventeen ...

and surveying

Oregon City, Oregon ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

(which would become the first incorporated city west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

). He left in the spring of 1843 for Alta California, a sparsely populated province of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. By the time he returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1844, he had decided to help to wrest California from Mexico and establish an independent Republic of California, with himself holding high office.

The Republic of California

The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California Lansford Hastings

Hastings wrote ''The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California'' to induce Americans to move to California, hoping they could effect a bloodless revolution by sheer numbers. He described California in glowing terms and gave practical advice to overland travelers. In his book he wrote: "The most direct path would be leave the Oregon route, about two hundred miles east of Fort Hall; thence bearing west-south west, to the Salt Lake; and thence continuing down to the bay of San Francisco." (Hastings, pp. 137–138). Hastings wrote this statement before he had traveled the route himself, and he was unaware of the difficulties in crossing the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...

and the

salt flats Salt flats, Salt flat, Salt Flats, or Salt Flat may refer to: Geology *Salt pan (geology), a flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals *Dry lake, an ephemeral lakebed that consists of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salt ...

of western Utah. His first attempt was only from Salt Lake City to Fort Bridger, which he did in mild weather, without time constraints, and without ever attempting to cross the desert portion. Afterward, he eagerly spread the word that his overland route was faster and better than any other. According to historian Thomas F. Andrews, "It was Hastings’s renown as an author and trail leader, coupled with his presence on the trail…that helped persuade the onneremigrants to undertake the cutoff that now bears his name.""Lansford W. Hastings and the Promotion of the Salt Lake Desert Cutoff: A Reappraisal," Western Historical Quarterly Vol. 4 No. 2 (Apr. 1973) Hastings's dream of empire soon collapsed when California was conquered by the United States military during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

. In 1848, Mexico ceded California to the United States under the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...

. A home of his in California, the Hastings Adobe, is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Later years

Petition to President Abraham Lincoln requesting appointments in Arizona circa 1863

After serving as a captain in the California Battalion during the Mexican War, Hastings again took up the practice of law. He married Charlotte Toler in 1848 and was a delegate to the

1849 California Constitutional Convention The California Constitutional Conventions were two separate constitutional conventions that took place in California during the nineteenth century which led to the creation of the modern Constitution of California. The first, known as the 1849 ...

. In the late 1850s he moved his family to

Yuma, Arizona Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...

, where he served as postmaster and as a territorial judge. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Hastings sided with the South. In 1864, he travelled to Richmond, Virginia, where he met with Confederate President Jefferson Davis to gain his support for a plan to separate California from the Union and unite it with the Confederacy. Upon meeting him, President Davis promoted Hastings to the rank of Major in the

, and asked him to assemble a military unit in Arizona, with the aim of defending California. However, the so-called Hastings Plot came to little, as the war ended early the following year. After the end of the war, many disgruntled former Confederates left the United States to establish colonies in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Hastings visited the region, made arrangements with the Brazilian government, and wrote ''The Emigrant's Guide to Brazil'' (1867) to attract potential colonists. He died at St. Thomas in the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Cro ...

in 1870, possibly of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

, while conducting a shipload of settlers to his colony at Santarém.

References

* Hastings, Lansford W. ''The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California''. Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Books, 1994. (Facsimile of the 1845 ed.) * Bagley, Will. "Lansford Warren Hastings: Scoundrel or Visionary?" ''Overland Journal'' 12:1 (Spring 1994): 12-26. * Cumming, John. "Lansford Hastings' Michigan Connection." ''Overland Journal'' 16:3 (Fall 1998): 17-28. * Andrews, Thomas Franklin. The Controversial Career of Lansford W. Hastings: Pioneer California Promoter and Emigrant Guide. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California, 1970. * Dawsey, Cyrus B. and James M. Dawsey, eds. ''The Confederados: Old South Emigrants in Brazil.'' Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama, 1995.

External links

Roy Tea's Hastings Cutoff Page

by Roy D. Tea *

from American Studies at the University of Virginia.
Descendants of Thomas Hastings website

Descendants of Thomas Hastings on Facebook

The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California by Lansford Hastings
digitized book {{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, Lansford 1819 births 1870 deaths People from Mount Vernon, Ohio Writers from Ohio Donner Party American explorers People of the American Old West Confederate States Army officers