Synopses & Reviews
In 1849, the Corps of Topographical Engineers commissioned Lieutenant James H. Simpson to undertake the first survey of Navajo country in present-day New Mexico. Accompanying Simpson was a military force commanded by Colonel John M. Washington, sent to negotiate peace with the Navajo. A keen observer, Simpson kept a journal that provided valuable information on the partyand#8217;s interactions with Indians and also about the landand#8217;s features, including important pueblo ruins at Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly. His careful observations informed subsequent military expeditions, emigrant trains, the selection of Indian reservations, and the charting of a transcontinental railroad.
Editor Frank McNitt discusses the expeditionand#8217;s lasting importance to the development of the West, and his research is enriched by illustrations and maps by artists Richard and Edward Kern. Military historian Durwood Ball contributes a new foreword.
Review
andldquo;Frank McNitt makes the coin of the past ring trueandhellip;. He has given us the New Mexico-Arizona world as it looked on the eve of an era during which U.S. traders and government people were to become a daily factor in Navajo and Pueblo life.andrdquo;andmdash;
New Mexico QuarterlyAbout the Author
James H. Simpson, a first lieutenant during the 1849 survey, was promoted to a brigadier general and named chief engineer of the Interior Department.Frank McNitt was a leading authority on southwestern history.