Wheel Boats on the Missouri

The Journals and Documents of the Atkinson-O'Fallon Expedition, 1824–26 edited by Richard E. Jensen and James S. Hutchins

In 1824, Brigadier General Henry Atkinson and Indian Agent Benjamin O'Fallon traveled up the Missouri River, accompanied by 475 soldiers of the First and Sixth Infantry regiments. Their mission was to negotiate peace treaties with tribes along the Missouri River, and to secure these tribes' promise to trade exclusively with American traders. It was hoped this combination of military power and proffered friendship would put an end to Indian attacks on American fur trappers and traders. The full record of this early military expedition is now available in Wheel Boats on the Missouri. The journals of General Atkinson and Major Stephen Watts Kearny describe the trip from St. Louis to Fort Atkinson in the fall of 1824, the expedition from the fort to the Yellowstone River and back in 1825, and the return of a portion of the troops to St. Louis in 1826. In addition, the diary of Angus Lewis Langham, the expedition's secretary, describes the passage of the wheel boat Antelope from St. Louis to Fort Atkinson in early spring of 1825. This fully annotated volume also includes a discussion of the early use of the wheel boat to travel the Missouri River and the expedition's financial records.