[II'-9] B. Bucks Co., Pa., Jan. 24th, 1754, of Quaker parentage (his father was one of those who had land on the Patapsco, and founded Ellicott's Mills, now Ellicott City, near Baltimore, Md., 1774); became a distinguished astronomer, surveyor, and civil engineer, and died professor of mathematics at West Point, N. Y., Aug. 29th, 1820. He did an immense amount of surveying and boundary-running, mostly of important and official public character, in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and elsewhere; in 1790, was directed by Washington to lay out the city of that name; in 1792 became surveyor-general of the U. S.; and in 1796 was appointed by Washington U. S. Commissioner under the treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, to run the southern boundary between the U. S. and New Spain. This is the work to which Pike alludes, though he is a little out in his dates, as witness the following title: The Journal of Andrew Ellicott, late Commissioner on behalf of the United States during part of the year 1796, the years 1797, 1798, 1799, and part of the year 1800: for determining the boundary between the United States and the possessions of his Catholic Majesty in America, containing, ... etc., Philada., Budd and Bartram, 1803, 1 vol. 4to, pp. i-viii, 1-299, with 6 maps, and Appendix, pp. 1-151, 1 leaf errata, and 8 more maps. Ellicott wrote this book, excepting the Appendix, at Lancaster, Pa., June to Nov., 1802; and while he was there in 1803 he coached Captain Meriwether Lewis in the use of astronomical instruments: see L. and C., ed. 1893, p. xxii and p. xxiv. Going down the Ohio to the scene of his official functions, Dec. 17th, 1796, Ellicott says, p. 21: "I passed the mouth of the Tennesee, and in two hours afterwards arrived at Fort Massac, and was politely received by the commandant Captain Pike," etc. This was Zebulon Pike, father of Zebulon M.: see the [Memoir ], anteà. The fort stood on the N. (right) bank, about lat. 37° 14´; early F. history obscure and not all of it authentic; site supposed to have been first occupied ca. 1711: see Beck's Gaz., 1823, p. 114, and John Reynolds' Own Times, 2d. ed. p. 16, with description of the place as it was in 1855. In descending the Ohio in 1758 the F. officer Aubry halted on the N. bank, at the old site, called 36 m. above the mouth of the river, to build a new post, which was garrisoned with 100 men and called Fort Marsiac after the first commandant. Thus the name is not Massac, as usually said, and still less is it derived from the apocryphal massacre which various historians have exploited. This fort was the last establishment of the F. on the Ohio, being kept up till they evacuated the country under the Treaty of Paris, 1763; it was a U. S. post till after the war of 1812-14, and during our occupancy became known as the old Cherokee fort. Pike alludes in the present work to a certain Nolan, who is easy to identify, but not to find out much about. Ellicott met him at the mouth of the Ohio, in Jan., 1797: "Mr. Philip Nolan, so well known for his athletic exertions, and dexterity in taking wild horses, stopped at our camp on his way from New Madrid to fort Massac," says this author, p. 29, with a footnote stating that Nolan "was killed by the Spaniards in the spring of 1801," after taking a very active part in various disturbances in that quarter. Ellicott passed down the Miss. r., past the Chickasaw bluffs (L. and C., ed. 1893, p. xl. and p. lii), and at Natchez encountered a bigger bluff in the shape of an individual who described himself in his pronunciamentos as his Excellency Francis Lewis Hector, Baron de Carondelet, Knight of the Order of Malta, Major General of his Armies, Commandant General of Louisiana and West Florida, Inspector of the Troops, Militia, etc., etc., etc. (though what his triplicate etceteras were is not given to ordinary mortals to know). This climacteric functionary was supported by a lesser luminary who filled the rôle of Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemas, Brigadier of the Royal Armies, Governor of Natchez and its dependencies, with three-ply etceteras as before (though he was dead before Aug., 1799). These two formidable obstructions to navigation, as an engineer might say, were not overcome by our surveyor-general for nearly a year, during which period they kept him busy with Spanish diplomacy. As I read the correspondence it seems to have largely consisted in saying they hoped God would bless and keep him forever, when they really hoped the devil would fly away with him before breakfast; and he had to silence both the caterwauling choristers before he could proceed with his scientific work. This he was free to do on the Spanish evacuation of the forts at Natchez and Nogales (Walnut Hills) in Jan., 1798.
[II'-10] This paper was given in full in the App. to Pt. 3, of which it originally formed Doc. No. 13, pp. 73-77, and will be found [beyond].
[II'-11] David Fero, Jr., of New York, was an ensign of the 3d sub-Legion from May 12th, 1794, to Nov. 1st, 1796, when he was assigned to the 3d Infantry, in which he became a lieutenant Oct. 3d, 1798, and from which he resigned July 22d, 1799.
[II'-12] This appeal and remonstrance was given in the App. to Pt. 3, where it originally formed Doc. No. 14, pp. 78, 79, dated Apr. 14th; it will be found [beyond].
[II'-13] These papers, originally forming Docs. Nos. 15 and 16, were given in the App. to Pt. 3, pp. 79-82, and will be found [beyond].
[II'-14] This letter appeared in the App. to Part 3, where it originally formed Doc. No. 17, pp. 82, 83, dated Apr. 4th, and will be found [beyond].
[II'-15] Mapula or vicinity—perhaps on the spot noted in Wislizenus' itinerary of Doniphan's vanguard, Apr. 25th, 1847, Mem. p. 62: "They made on that day but 14 miles, and encamped at Coursier's hacienda, near Mapula. This place is to the right of the usual road, and about five miles out of the way, but has to be resorted to for want of water, if one does not intend to go in one trip as far as Bachimba, the nearest watering place on the road, and 32 miles from Chihuahua." Mapula is marked on modern maps as on the railroad, S. E. from Chihuahua, while a Fresno appears to the right, due S. from that city. Pike is to follow the present railroad for many miles, but more or less inexactly. His "small ridge of mountains" is passed about 4 m. S. of Chihuahua; this is a range of hills which encompass the city on that side, and command a fine view. On crossing them, the main road runs S. E. in a valley 10 m. wide, bounded E. and W. by mountain ridges, with Coursier's hacienda and Mapula off to the right. About 20 m. from Chihuahua these ridges hem the valley so closely as to form a cañon 5 or 6 m. long and 1 m. or less wide; Wislizenus notes a spring and ranche in this cañon; [qu.: now called Horcasitas?] Bachimba is in the plain, about 5 m. off the cañon, on a fine running stream; in 1847 it was a hacienda with a dozen houses.
[II'-16] Pike marks the fort "P[residio] de Sn. Paubla," and the river "Rio Sn Paubla," without prejudice to the gender of the holy person concerned. Modern Ortiz is about the site of the Presidio San Pablo, on the railroad, on the N. or left bank of the river; the latter is present Rio San Pedro, a large branch of the Conchos which falls in above Julimes. About 10 m. S. of Bachimba the road forked; the right-hand fork went S. S. E., to Santa Cruz de Rosales, which was said to contain 5,000 inhabitants in itself and vicinity in 1847; it is on the Rio San Pedro, 8 m. higher up than San Pablo, to which the left-hand road leads S. E. The latter is the one Pike took; it is shorter than the other; both come together before Saucillo is reached. In 1847 San Pablo was reported to be "a flourishing place, with about 4,000 inhabitants": Wislizenus, Mem. p. 63. Rio San Pedro is a fine stream, over 100 m. long, heading in the mountains on the W. The plain or valley which it traverses, and in which both the roads above mentioned lie, has a varying width of 25-35 m.
[II'-17] Pike struck Rio Conchos where the railroad does now—at Saucillo, or El Saucillo, a town on the left or W. bank of the river; the "24 miles" from San Pablo to this place is about right. This march was through the same valley as yesterday's, with a good but not such a level road, as the mountains approach each other near Saucillo, leaving S. of it a gap through which the road continues into the next valley. The night's small station is less easily identified, but was no doubt at Las Garzas or in that immediate vicinity, where the Conchos is crossed. A Mexican league is supposed to be 5,000 varas (of about 33 inches each = about 4,583 yards, or nearly 2⅔ m.), but in itineraries is usually found to be less than this. Las Garzas (Sp. garzas, "herons") is an obscure place not to be found on many modern maps; it is beyond Concho and La Cruz (both of which are points on the railroad). Wislizenus notes it on his journey, Mem. p. 64: "We passed through la Cruz, a small town, and further below [further S., but higher up Rio Conchos], through las Garzas, a smaller place yet, where we crossed the Conchos." It is the place marked "Pres[idio]" on Pike's map, which is probably in error in marking the trail as continuing up the left bank of the Conchos.
Rio Conchos is the principal river of Chihuahua, over 400 m. long, and with its many tributaries watering much of the State. The name is said to be derived from its shells (Sp. conchas), and I have seen Shell r. in print. It makes a long loop southward before turning N., and then runs about N. E. into the Rio Grande at Presidio del Norte—a place also called Presidio de las Juntas (lettered "Santas" on Pike's map) from the confluence of the two rivers. Rios Florido and San Pedro are its principal tributaries. Pike lays down the Conchos pretty well: notice particularly its northward course on the W. of the mountains, along what is called on his map "Puerta de la Virgin."