Kansas History - Spring 2021
(Volume 44, Number 1)
SANTA FE TRAIL: SPECIAL ISSUE
Guest edited by Leo E. Oliva and Juti Winchester
“The Santa Fe Trail and National Expansion: Commerce, Conquest, and Commemoration”
by Leo E. Oliva
The 200th anniversary of the opening of the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and New Mexico in 1821 is a time to review the history and significance of the route of commerce and conquest that lasted six decades. The road of international trade began in 1821 when Mexico secured independence from Spain and Missouri became a state. The “commerce of the prairies” involved three cultures (Indigenous peoples, Hispanos of Mexico, and Euro-Americans from the United States). During the U.S.-Mexican War, from 1846 to 1848, the overland trail became a route of conquest by which the United States took more than half of Mexico in the name of “Manifest Destiny.” The conquest of Indigenous nations began before the Civil War and was completed during and after that conflict. Following the Civil War, railroads replaced the wagon road, connecting the Missouri valley with Santa Fe in 1880. The historic trail was an important part of national expansion, including the conquest of much of Mexico and Indigenous lands and the subjugation of Indigenous cultures. It has been commemorated by several projects and organizations to the present day, and it became a National Historic Trail in 1987.
“Lt. Simon Bolivar Buckner’s Letters to His Wife, Mary, on the Santa Fe Trail, 1851–1852”
edited by Leo E. Oliva
Simon Bolivar Buckner (1823-1914) is best known as a Confederate general during the Civil War and the governor of Kentucky from 1887 to 1891. As a young lieutenant, in 1851, he was appointed commanding officer of a small military post, Fort Atkinson, on the Santa Fe Trail just west of present Dodge City. When he traveled from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to his new assignment in the autumn of 1851, he wrote a letter to his wife every night, describing the route and his experiences. These letters, owned by the Filson Historical Society and published here for the first time, provide the most detailed description of the road connecting Fort Leavenworth via the crossing of the Kansas River on Papin’s Ferry at present Topeka, to the main Santa Fe Trail near present Wilmington, Kansas. His observations about the portions of the main route from that point to Fort Atkinson add to descriptions by many other travelers of the historic road. Buckner Creek, a tributary of the Pawnee Fork of the Arkansas River in western Kansas, was named in his honor.
“‘Meat as a Matter of Form’: Food, Exchange, and Power on the Santa Fe Trail”
by David C. Beyreis
Food does more than just nourish the physical body. For nearly two hundred years, peoples in the southern plains fought over access to food, gained social and political power through its distribution, and forged social bonds around its consumption. In this work, historian David Beyreis analyzes how these processes shaped relations between the Comanche, Southern Cheyenne, and Euro-Americans who inhabited the southern plains and Santa Fe Trail corridor through Kansas. Hunters acquired social prestige through their skill in procuring and distributing meat, and warriors clashed over rich bison grounds. While at places like Bent’s Fort, white traders used meals to enhance their reputations and impress important guests. For thirty years after the beginning of the U.S.-Mexican War, shrinking food resources precipitated increasingly violent interactions between the American government and Native nations. With the destruction of the southern plains bison herds, the Comanche, Kiowa, and Southern Cheyenne found their political and economic power dramatically diminished.
“‘Having a Grand Time’: Rebecca Cohen Mayer on the Santa Fe Trail, 1852”
by Alice Anne Thompson
In 1852, fifteen-year-old bride Rebecca Cohen Mayer accompanied her merchant husband, Henry Mayer, on his annual journey with thirty wagons of merchandise to Chihuahua, Mexico, where he had mercantile stores. The trip lasted six months and took them from Ohio to Kansas, across the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico, and southward along El Camino Real to Chihuahua. Rebecca was remarkably observant for her age, and her diary, letters, and memoirs of her journey allow the reader to follow along with her and learn of the scenes, people, adventures, and challenges she experienced during her overland honeymoon. In contrast to other women who followed their merchant husbands across the southwestern frontier, Rebecca wrote her mother that she was “having a grand time” and closed with “your very happy daughter.” Unfortunately, her journey ended in Mexico with a mishap when she was thrown from her horse and had a miscarriage. She was among the few Anglo-American women to travel much of the journey on horseback, wearing trousers, riding alongside her husband and the teamsters.
“‘A Long and Trying Journey’: The Arizona Territorial Governor’s Party on the Santa Fe Trail, 1863”
by Juti A. Winchester
In this article, Juti A. Winchester of Fort Hays State University examines the Arizona Governor’s party journey over the Santa Fe Trail during the American Civil War. Amidst political wrangling between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress, both vying for control over western territories, the new territorial governor and his party joined a mile-long wagon train and spent five months in the saddle on their way to Arizona. The trip that took them over the Santa Fe Trail played a part in the successful completion of the Union’s mission to establish a territorial government, to deny the Confederacy a connection to the Pacific Ocean, and to maintain Union control over New Mexico. Two of the officials—Joseph Allyn and Jonathan Richmond—left records of their adventure that are especially useful for understanding their experiences on the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas.
Book Reviews
Book Notes
