From the monthly archives:

July 2010

Where the Regiment Was Scattered During the Mexican War

July 25, 2010

A lack of Mexican War records has vexed historians as they’ve tried to pin down where the ten companies of the 1st Dragoons operated between 1845 and 1848. It wasn’t until 1851, three years after the treaty with Mexico, that the army comprehensively recorded where the units were during the war. Except for five companies [...]

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Quake That Shook The Army’s Adobe

July 19, 2010

The army established Fort Tejon, California, in 1854. In January of 1857, the post was struck by a series of powerful earthquakes. These quakes were, possibly, the worst earthquakes to take place in California in the past 200 years. Inspector General Edward Mansfield noted in his 1859 inspection report that the post, built almost entirely [...]

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From the Wide Missouri to the Pacific Shore: Rufus Ingall’s Report of the Steptoe Expedition

July 19, 2010

In 1854-55, an expedition of dragoon and artillery recruits, under the command of Major Steptoe, left Fort Leavenworth for the Pacific Coast. Steptoe carried with him orders to spend the winter in Salt Lake City and, while there, investigate the murder of Captain John Gunnison and his party. Capt. and Assistant Quartermaster Rufus Ingalls, a [...]

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Rare Stevenson Journal Paints An Enchanting City of Saints

July 19, 2010

James Stevenson, a recruit in Company A of the 1st Dragoons, served as a member of an army expedition that traveled to Salt Lake City in 1854. Twenty-five years later, he wrote of his observations. We descended the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains into the valley of the Green River, while the snowy peaks [...]

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What Flogging Was Like In 1854

July 9, 2010

From a 1854 entry in the previously unpublished journal of soldier James Stevenson, 1st Dragoons: That winter a court martial was convened at the barracks to try a number of deserters, who were under guard, with ball and chains attached to their ankles.  They are found guilty and sentenced to receive fifty lashes each upon [...]

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