[1] Chapter ix in volume iii of the original London edition.
For the following topics mentioned in this chapter, see Nuttall's Journal, volume xiii of our series: Massern (note 181), Vache Grasse (164), Cadron (133), Short Mountain (162), Rocky Bayou (158), metif (114), Quapaw Indians (84), Osage-Cherokee hostilities (155), Governor William Clark (105), Governor James Miller (214), Tallantusky (148), Cherokee treaty (145), Point Remove (139), White River Cut-Off (72), Little Rock (123), roads through Arkansas (126), gold and silver in Arkansas (128).—Ed.
[2] Later observations give the following results: latitude 35° 23´ 14˝; longitude 94° 25´ 52˝.—Ed.
[3] In the Missouri county of the same name, on the Mississippi, a hundred and forty miles below St. Louis. It is one of the oldest towns in the state. For historical sketch, see André Michaux's Travels, in our volume iii, note 154.—Ed.
[4] Stephen W. Kearney (1794-1848), of New Jersey, left his studies in Columbia College at the outbreak of the War of 1812-15, to enter the army as first lieutenant of the Thirteenth Infantry. A year later he was made captain for bravery at Queenstown Heights. Being retained at the close of the war, he was at the beginning of the Mexican War a colonel of dragoons. He led the Army of the West which marched from Bent's Fort to New Mexico, and later assisted in the conquest of California. In 1846 Kearney was breveted major-general, and appointed governor of California. Afterwards, he joined the army in Mexico, and there contracted the disease which resulted in his death.—Ed.
[5] The word Massern, applied by Darby as a name to the hills of the Arkansa territory, near the boundary of Louisiana, and by Nuttall, to the mountains at the sources of the Kiamesha and the Poteau, is supposed to be a corruption of Mont Cerne, the name of a small hill near Belle Point, long used as a look-out post by the French hunters.—James.
[6] "Squire" Billingsley came from middle Tennessee to Arkansas in 1814, and after a year passed at Cadron, settled on the Mulberry, in Franklin County, where he lived two years. When by the terms of the treaty with the Cherokee the white settlers were compelled to abandon this settlement, Billingsley removed to the Vache Grasse. He was a member of the first territorial legislature. See Nuttall's Journal, in our volume xiii, note 162.—Ed.
[7] Short Mountain Creek rises in south central Logan County, on the slope of the mountain of this name, and pursues a north-easterly course to the Arkansas.
When Fort Smith was first established, mail was brought from Arkansas Post by soldiers detailed for that duty. The trip by water consumed three weeks.—Ed.
[8] The deserted house occupied by the soldiers appears to have been the only one in this so-called settlement. There were, however, other settlers not far distant. John Tittsworth and two sons located near Short Mountain as early as 1814. A number of immigrants are said to have come to the county soon after the New Madrid earthquake (1812), and when the Cherokee were placed in possession of the north side of the Arkansas, others came in from that region. See Nuttall's Journal, in our volume xiii, note 162.—Ed.