Home > Back to Search Results >
The 'Peoria Party', early trail-blazers on the Oregon Trail...
The 'Peoria Party', early trail-blazers on the Oregon Trail...
Item # 708185
November 23, 1839
DAILY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, Washington, D.C., Nov. 23, 1839
* Peoria Party
* Oregon Country
* American pioneers
The most intriguing report is a lengthy page 2 article headed: "The Oregon Expedition" which is a detailed travelogue of what is famously known as the "Peoria Party".
This was a group of men from Peoria in Illinois, who set out about May 1, 1839 with the intention to colonize the Oregon country on behalf of the United States and drive out the English fur trading companies operating there. The men of the Peoria Party were among the first pioneers to blaze the Oregon Trail. Photos show only portions of the full article.
Four pages, very nice condition.
background: The Peoria Party set out from Illinois with a mix of patriotic fervor and frontier bravado, spurred by the fiery lectures of missionary Jason Lee and the conviction that the Pacific Northwest was being unjustly occupied by the British Hudson’s Bay Company. Led by lawyer Thomas Jefferson Farnham, the eighteen men carried a silk flag emblazoned with the defiant motto "Oregon Or The Grave," signaling their intent to establish an American foothold through colonization rather than just commerce. Their journey was grueling and marked by internal dissent; after following the Santa Fe Trail to Bent’s Fort, the group splintered over leadership disputes and the sheer hardship of the mountain terrain. Despite the desertions and the fact that only a fraction of the original "dragoons" reached the Willamette Valley in 1840, their expedition served as a critical psychological catalyst, proving that a dedicated group of American citizens could traverse the continent to challenge foreign influence and pave the way for the massive migrations of the following decade.
background: The Peoria Party set out from Illinois with a mix of patriotic fervor and frontier bravado, spurred by the fiery lectures of missionary Jason Lee and the conviction that the Pacific Northwest was being unjustly occupied by the British Hudson’s Bay Company. Led by lawyer Thomas Jefferson Farnham, the eighteen men carried a silk flag emblazoned with the defiant motto "Oregon Or The Grave," signaling their intent to establish an American foothold through colonization rather than just commerce. Their journey was grueling and marked by internal dissent; after following the Santa Fe Trail to Bent’s Fort, the group splintered over leadership disputes and the sheer hardship of the mountain terrain. Despite the desertions and the fact that only a fraction of the original "dragoons" reached the Willamette Valley in 1840, their expedition served as a critical psychological catalyst, proving that a dedicated group of American citizens could traverse the continent to challenge foreign influence and pave the way for the massive migrations of the following decade.
Category: Pre-Civil War
Available Now
$112.00
