2 SMITHSOMAN .M ISCELLANKOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



here yesterday on my way to WashingtcJii." He next wrote to i'rof. 

 Baird from "261 Greene Street, New York, Feb. 5. i(S6i/' soon 

 after he reached his home. 



The correspondence between (iil)l)s and Professor Baird ctjntinued 

 through many years, botli while Gibl)s was in the west and after his 

 return to New York, and later when he lived in Washington. The 

 letters are most interesting, and many refer, in addition to the work 

 in which both were engaged, to places and persons now known only 

 in history. 



WITH THE MOUNTED RIFLE REGIMENT TO OREGON, 1849 



As previously mentioned, Gibbs accompanied the Mounted Rifle 

 Regiment to Oregon in 1849, being one of many civilians who 

 reached the valley of the Columbia at that time.' The regiment was 

 under command of Brevet-Col. W. W. Loring, and the expedition 

 started "with about 600 men, 31 commissioned officers, several women 

 and children, the usual train agents, guides, and teamsters, 160 

 wagons, 1,200 mules, 700 horses, and subsistence for the march to 

 the Pacific." 



An interesting account of the trip has been preserved ; ' it was 

 presented as (p. 126) : "A report, in the form of a journal, to the 

 Quartermaster General, of the march of the regiment of mounted 

 riflemen to Oregon, from May 10 to October 5, 1849, t>y JMajor 

 O. Cross, c[uartermaster United States army." 



Excerpts from the journal will shed light on the dangers and 

 difficulties with which all were confronted : 



Major Cross left St. Louis May 10, 1849, ^^^^ ascended the 

 Missouri to Fort Leavenworth where he arrived 9 days later. "On 

 inquiring at the fort I learned that the troops were ten days in 

 advance of me, which was a very long start, as my mode of travelling 

 was the same as that of the regiment." The next day he left for 

 Fort Kearny. "My outfit was as indift'erent a one as ever left for 

 any station, much less the Rocky mountains." 



It is not known with which of the groups Gibbs was then traveling, 

 Init he was probably with the troops that had left Fort Leavenworth 

 about the time Cross was departing from St. Louis. 



' Bancroft, Hubert Howe, The works of . . . vol. 30, History of Oregon, 

 vol. 2, 1848-1888, p. 81. San Francisco, 1888. 



"The report was made by Maj. Osborne Cross to Maj. Gen. T. S. Jesup, 

 Quartermaster General, and was incorporated in the report of the latter to 

 C. M. Conrad, Secretary of War. 31st Congr., 2d Sess., Senate Ex. Doc. 

 No. I, pt. 2, Washington, 1850. 



