Josiah Gregg is a famous trader who used the Santa Fe Trail for many years. He published "Commerce of the Prairies" in 1844, which leaves us great information on the geography, geology, and ethnology of the trail. He did very well in school and was studying law when he became ill in 1830. He had been a sickly child so it was not really a surprise. His doctors advised
him to take the next train to Santa Fe.
He made eight trips on the Santa Fe Trail between 1831-40. He had had training in medicine while in Kentucky, so he used his skills among the poor people of New Mexico. His first love,
though, was recording the events he saw, and so we have his book. He was one of the first writers to realize the importance of the bison to Indians and that killing them for sport and hide would lead to their extinction. He described the best camping places along the trail and told the distance between them. He documented the number of people that traveled the route and the amount of merchandise that was traded. He told about mining, the Mexican government, Indians, agriculture, wildlife, and history. Eventually he left Santa Fe and served in the Mexican War as a newspaper correspondent.
The Mexican War broke out between the U.S. and Mexico in May 1846. Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney was ordered to lead his command from Fort Leavenworth to capture New Mexico and
California from Mexico. Kearney's force was supposed to protect the Americans in Santa Fe. The force rode out in June 1846 with 1,658 men. They traveled the Santa Fe trail via Bent's Fort. There, Thomas "Broken Hand" FitzPatrick warned Kearney that General Manuel Armijo was preparing soldiers in Santa Fe. The governor had also issued a call to arms to the citizens of New Mexico. So Kearney rested his men awhile at the fort. Kearney wrote a note that he would hand out to natives along the way. The message stated that the U.S. Army would leave them alone and protect their rights as long as they didn't interfere or help Mexico in any way. If they did they
would be considered enemies of the U.S. and would be treated as such.
On August 2, 1846, they left Bent's Fort and started toward Raton Pass, with FitzPatrick as scout. They received daily reports of the unrest in New Mexico and of the large forces of
