Jean Baptiste Charbonneau - Mexican-American War

Mexican-American War

In October 1846, Charbonneau, Antoine Leroux and Pauline Weaver were hired as scouts by General Stephen W. Kearny. Charbonneau’s experience with military marches, such as with James William Abert in August 1845, along the Canadian River, and his fluency in Indian languages qualified him for the position. Kearny directed him to join Colonel Philip St. George Cooke and Lieutenant William H. Emory on an arduous march from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to San Diego, California, a distance of 1,100 miles (1,800 km). Their mission was to guide 20 huge Murphy supply wagons to California for the military during the Mexican-American War. A Mormon contingent of 339 men accompanied U.S. cavalry on the uncharted trail. The marchers became known as the Mormon Battalion. A memorial to the battalion was erected at the San Pedro River, one mile (1.6 km) north of the U.S.–Mexico border near the present-day ghost town of Palominas, Arizona. Cooke noted that from November 16, 1846, to January 21, 1847, Charbonneau assisted 29 times on the march. Eight of the twenty wagons reached Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, four miles (6 km) from today’s Oceanside, California, and the leaders counted the expedition as a success.

Cooke wrote, "History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry." Known as the Gila Trail, the wagon road was used by settlers, miners, stagecoaches of the Butterfield Stage line and cattlemen driving longhorns to feed the gold camps. Parts of the route became the Southern Pacific Railroad and U.S. Route 66. In February 1848, knowledge gained about the region was used as the basis of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which established the United States-Mexico border in December 1853 following the Mexican-American War.