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Expedition to the Southwest: An 1845 Reconnaissance of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma

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In 1845, with war with Mexico immanent, the US government authorized three expeditions to explore the boundary territory between the two countries: two of them were relatively famous (Kearny's survey along the Oregon Trail to South Pass and Fremont's expedition to California), but the third (Abert's exploration of the Canadian River in New Mexico, the Texas panhandle, and Oklahoma) was much less known; this interesting and well-annotated book is the official report of that expedition.

Leaving Bent's Fort near the end of August, with the legendary Thomas Fitzpatrick acting as guide, the command of about 30 men made their way through Raton Pass, then southeast to the Ute River, which they followed to where it enters the Canadian near present-day Logan. Turning east, the men marched through the Canadian River Valley across the panhandle of Texas, where Abert reiterated Stephen Long's opinion that this part of the West was a "great American desert." Fearing the Indians at first, Abert writes of pleasant, friendly encounters with the Kiowas and Comanches. After making an unintended detour when the North Fork of the Red was mistaken for the Wichita River, the party got back on course again and by the third week in October had reached their destination of Fort Gibson in eastern Oklahoma.

Abert was a clear, observant writer, and he describes much of the natural scenery encountered, including plant and animal life; he also writes intriguing accounts of the Indians and traders he met along the way. H. Bailey Carroll's excellent and detailed annotations made for the 1941 reprint (which this version copies) are a chief highlight of the book. The only things wanting in this book are good, detailed maps (only one rather cursory map is included). But as an early first-hand description of this part of the country, Abert's official report is magnificent.