Major Stephen Harriman Long: Teacher and Explorer

Stephen H. Long was born on December 30, 1784, and was one of thirteen children born to Moses and Lucy Harriman Long. By the age of 25, he had graduated from Dartmouth College and was teaching school. Stephen joined the United States Army in December 1814 as a second lieutenant of engineers, and taught mathematics for two years at West Point. By 1816, Lieutenant Long had advanced to brevetted (bvt) major in the Corps of Topographical Engineers.

Bvt. Major Long's first expedition was in 1817 to the upper Mississippi region, where he surveyed the portages of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and helped construct Ft. Smith, Arkansas.

Martha Hodkiss was the lucky lady to capture Bvt. Major Long's heart, and on March 3, 1819, they were wed and moved to Philadelphia. But Long couldn't stray from exploration for long, and in July he journeyed to the Rocky Mountains with Henry W. Atkinson on his "Yellowstone Expedition," travelling aboard the US Steamboat Western Engineer, the first steamboat ever to climb the Missouri River that far. Bvt. Major Long's Voyage in a Six-oared Skiff to the Falls of St. Anthony written in 1860 is a written record of this account. On this journey Long studied the mountains, thereby discovering things unknown.

Long then left Engineer Cantonment, their winter quarters, with nineteen men heading to the Platte River and its tributaries, on June 6, 1820. On this expedition, they founded and named Long's Peak. On July 24, Long split up his men, one group to follow Captain John R. Bell on his exploration of the Arkansas River, and the others being led by Bvt. Major Long and heading toward the Red River southward. Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, written by Edwin James, uses some of the notes from Bvt. Major Long's journey. His journey was the first trip across the Panhandle, and the first scientific survey of the area made by a white man.

The Minnesota and Red Rivers were the next expeditions made by Bvt. Major Long and his party. Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter's River in 1824 by W. H. Keating uses some of Bvt. Major Long's notes.

By 1826, Long was a Bvt. Lieutenant Colonel, and was given the important assignment of consulting engineer for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. His Rail Road Manual in 1829 was very important to the B&O Railroad. In 1830, Long left the B&O Railroad, and by 1837 had surveyed two more railroad routes. By 1856, when the Topographical Engineers became a separate corps, he was promoted to major. Major Long was the chief engineer of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroads. From 1838 until 1856, Major Long worked for the railroads and the U.S. Army. In 1856, he was assigned the duty of navigation improvements on the Mississippi River.

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