1836 Steen Map of the Great Plains from 2nd Dragoon Expedition

A fine example of the rare 1846 Henry Dodge / Enoch Steen map of the American west covering much of the American Great Plains. The map follows the 1835 Dodge Expedition, or Second Dragoon Expedition, as they traveled from Fort Leavenworth to the Platte River, through the territories claimed by the Kickapoos and Otoes, west to Grand Island and the Pawnee Village, past the Medicine Lodge of the Rees and to the foot of the mountains, which note Snakes and Crows War Ground. From there they returned along the Arkansas River and the Santa Fe Trail to Fort Leavenworth. In modern terms, Steen's map coverage extends from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Missouri, and from The Black Hills of South Dakota to the Red Fork River, embracing the Great Plains from the Fort Leavenworth to the Rocky Mountains, inclusive of all of modern-day Nebraska and Kansas, with parts of South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

A Watershed in the Cartography of the Plains

This map was drawn primarily to illustrate the locations of various Indian peoples, identifying the lands of some eighteen tribes, including the Omahas, Potawatamies, Otoes, Kickapoos, Osages, Creeks, Kioway, Camanche, and Gros Ventres. John L. Allen termed Steen's untitled map one of three most important of the 1830s, 'a watershed in the cartography of the plains.' Wheat too speaks highly of the map, which he notes draws on Everrett's 1834 report and McCoy's 1832 manuscript map of the Indian Lands.

1835 Dodge Expedition, or Second Dragoon Expedition

The Dodge Expedition was intended to follow up on the accomplishments of the 1834 Dodge-Leavenworth or First Dragoon Expedition. With the passing of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which led to the Trail of Tears - a series of forced relocations of Native American peoples from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States, to areas to the west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Indian Territory. At the time, American Government efforts to relocate he eastern tribes west were being frustrated by the existing Plains Indian Tribes - which at this time the United States had no official treaties or even contact with.

Under Col. Henry Dodge and his adjunct, Lieut. Gaines P. Kingsbury (1810-1839), the expedition left Fort Leavenworth on May 29th of 1835. First traveling up the Platte River they made contact with the Otoe, Omaha, Grand Pawnee, and Arickaree tribes. Continuing south along the front range of the Rockies, they reached Bent's Fort or, as on his map, Trading House, on August 6. At Bent's Trading House the expedition held councils with the Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Black Feet, and Gros Ventres, among others, forging new diplomatic relationships and reaffirming those established in the previous year.

Unlike he earlier Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition, this expedition, led by the capable Dodge, lost only a single soldier. The expedition was considered a great success both militarily and politically.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by Enoch Steen. It was published with From Lt. J. P. Kingsbury's Journal of the Expedition of Dragoons, Under the Command of Colonel Henry P. Dodge, to the Rocky Mountains, During the Summer of 1835. It is believed that only 500 of this were produced, making this map quite rare on today's market.