476 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDtAtf GALLERY. 



The First Begiment United States Dragoons,* organized by the act or 

 Congress of March 2, 1833, especially for frontier service, was at Fort 

 Gibson, Arkansas Territory, when Mr. Catlin joined it in 1834, with a 

 permit to accompany it on the western expedition. Col. Henry Dodge, 

 of Wisconsin, the commander, received him cordially and made the 

 journey a pleasant one. 



From Fort Gibson, Arkansas Territory, he writes : 



Since the date of my last letter at Pensacola, in Florida, I traveled to New Orleans 

 and from thence up the Mississippi several hundred miles to the mouth of the Ar- 

 kansas, and up the Arkansas se ven hundred miles to this place. We wended our way 

 up between the pictured shores of this beautiful river on the steamer Arkansas, until 

 within two hundred miles of this post, when we got aground, and the water falling 

 fast left the steamer nearly on dry ground. Hunting and fishing, and whist, and 

 sleeping and eating were our principal amusements to deceive away the time whilst 

 we were waiting for the water to rise, t Lieutenant Seaton, of the Army, was one of 

 my companions in misery, whilst we lay two weeks or more without prospect of fur- 

 ther progress, the poor fellow, on his way to his post to join his regiment, had left his 

 trunk, unfortunately, with all his clothes in it, and by hunting and fishing in shirts 

 that I loaned him, or from other causes, we became yoked in amusements, in catering 

 for our table, in getting fish and wild fowl, and, after all that, as the "last kick" 

 for amusement and pastime, with another good companion by the name of Chadwick, 

 we clambered up and over the rugged mountains' sides from day to day, turning 

 stones to catch centipedes and tarantulas, of which poisonous reptiles wo caged a 

 number, and on the boat amused ourselves by betting on their battles, which were 

 immediately fought, and life almost instantly taken when they came together. 



In this and fifty other ways we whiled away the heavy time ; but yet, at last we 

 reached our destined goal, and here we are at present fixed. 



FORT GIBSON. 



Fort Gibson is the extreme southwestern outpost on the United States frontier, beau- 

 tifully situated on the banks of the river, in the midst of an extensive and lovely 

 prairie, and is at present occupied by the Seventh Regiment of United States Infantry, 

 heretofore under the command of General Arbuckle, one of the oldest officers on the 

 frontier and the original builder of the post. 



THE EXPEDITION. 



Being soon to leave this little civilized world for a campaign in the Indian country, 

 I take this opportunity to bequeath a few words before the moment of departure. 



* The First Regiment of Dragoons was organized by an act of Congress of March 2, 1833. In it was 

 merged the battalion of six companies nnder the act of June 15, 1832, known as the "Battalion of 

 Mountain Rangers," Henry Dodge, of Wisconsin, major commandant. This battalion was in the 

 Black Hawk war of 1832. Major Dodge was made colonel of the First Dragoons by President Jackson. 

 The regiment rendezvoused at Jefferson Barracks, Saint Louis, in 1833, and thence to Fort Gibson. 

 By the act of August 3, 1861, during the war of the rebellion, the First Dragoons became the First 

 United States Cavalry, and has since remained so. — Condensed from History of the United States 

 cavalry, by Albert G. Brackett, TJ. S. A. 



For an official report of this tour of the First Dragoons, see ' ' Report of the Secretary of War transmit, 

 ting a report of the expedition of the Dragoons, under command of Col. Henry Dodge, to the Rocky 

 Mountains, during the summer of 1834." 8 v. Pp. 38. Map. To Congress. Washington, D. C. 185G. 



" Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains, being a history of the enlistment, organization, and 

 the first campaign of the regiment of United States Dragoons, together with incidents of a soldier's 

 life, and sketches of scenery and Indian character. By a Dragoon (James Hildreth)." New York. 

 Wiley & Long, No. 161 Broadway, 1836. Pp. 288. 



t Several years after writing the above, I was shocked at the announcement of the death of this 

 amiable and honorable young man, Lieutenant Seaton, who fell a victim to the deadly disease of that 

 country; severing another of the many fibers of my heart, which peculiar circumstances in these wild 

 region b had woven bnt to be broken. 



