Josiah Gregg (19 July 1806 – 25 February 1850) was an American merchant, explorer, naturalist, and author of Commerce of the Prairies , about the American Southwest and parts of northern Mexico . He collected many previously undescribed plants on his merchant trips and during the Mexican–American War , for which he has often been credited in botanical nomenclature. After the war he went to California, where he reportedly died of a fall from his mount due to starvation near Clear Lake on 25 February 1850, following a cross-country expedition which fixed the location of Humboldt Bay .
53-679: Josiah Gregg was born on July 19, 1806, in Overton County, Tennessee , the youngest son of seven children of Harmon and Susannah (Smelser) Gregg. Six years later his family moved to Howard County, Missouri . At age 18, Gregg was a schoolteacher in Liberty, Missouri until moving again with his family to Independence a year later in 1825. In Liberty, he studied law and surveying until his health declined from " consumption and chronic dyspepsia" in 1830. Because of his failing health, Gregg followed his doctor's recommendation and traveled alongside
106-604: A 23-page booklet of descriptions. Visitors said they needed two hours to see everything in the panorama. This exhibit represented the last of Stanley's great western adventures and was highly praised by Washington papers. It was shown in Baltimore for three weeks, and went on tour to New York and London. The panorama later disappeared, and historians have not been able to trace it. Stanley returned to Detroit in 1864, where he set up his art studio. He essentially remained in Detroit
159-751: A 42-scene panorama of western scenes in Washington, DC; Baltimore , New York and London, but it has been lost. More than 200 of his paintings, maps and other work being held at the Smithsonian were lost in an 1865 fire. The irreparable loss of most of his works caused the eclipse of Stanley's reputation for some time in American art history. His appreciation and portrayal of the American West is valued, and today his few surviving works are held by national and numerous regional museums. John Mix Stanley
212-462: A day until they got to the redwood forests, after which they averaged only about 2 miles (3.2 km) a day. About six weeks after they started, they emerged from the redwood forests and saw the ocean at the mouth of a watercourse which they called the Little River . After exploring slightly to the north, they turned south along the coast and camped at Trinidad. Leaving Trinidad, they crossed
265-517: A discussion followed; the Indians warned them against following the Trinity to the sea, and said to go westward and leave the river, a trail which later became part of California State Route 299 . The party instead followed the river until it became impassable, then went west. By November 13, the provisions were gone and the party began to subsist on deer and smoked game, averaging 7 miles (11 km)
318-617: A few months later, he traveled through the Oklahoma Territory as far west as Cache Creek in the Comanche territory. During 1841 and 1842, Gregg's travels took him through Texas and up the Red River valley, and on a second trip he went from Galveston to Austin and back through Nacogdoches to Arkansas. Along the way he took notes of the natural history and human culture of the places he visited, and profitably sold mules to
371-843: A large number in England, and was translated into French and German. The map he produced of the Santa Fe Trail and surrounding plains was the most detailed up to that time, and his suggestions of where the Red River headwaters might be found inspired the journey of Randolph B. Marcy and George B. McClellan in 1852. In the fall of 1845, Gregg began studying medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine . He graduated two semesters later on March 9, 1846. By then, Gregg had learned to make daguerrotypes , and had become friends with artist and daguerrotypist John Mix Stanley , who
424-455: A large river, but the fed-up members of the exploring party did not wish to wait for Gregg to determine the latitude of the mouth, and so pushed off without him. When he caught up with the group, his temper flared, and they named the river Mad River due to the outburst. On December 20, 1849, David A. Buck was the first to discover what this party named "Trinity Bay", which a few months later became known as Humboldt Bay . The party walked around
477-592: A major exhibit in Washington, DC, at the Smithsonian Institution of his Native American Gallery, which attracted much attention in the city. As he noted in the preface to the catalogue published by the Smithsonian, Stanley portrayed 43 tribes. His paintings represented a decade of work, with extensive travel in the West and the Hawaiian Islands. His collection numbered nearly 200 works and
530-503: A merchant caravan to Santa Fe, New Mexico on a trail beginning at Van Buren, Arkansas , in 1831. Once he arrived in what would later become the New Mexico Territory , Gregg worked as a bookkeeper for Jesse Sutton, one of the merchants of the caravan, before returning to Missouri in fall 1833, but by spring he was back on the road to Santa Fe, this time as wagonmaster of a caravan and Sutton's business partner. Gregg brought
583-461: Is part of the Cookeville , TN Micropolitan Statistical Area . On May 10, 1933, a half-mile wide F4 tornado struck the small community of Beatty Swamps (also referred to as Bethsadia). The tornado destroyed every structure in the town and either killed or injured nearly every inhabitant, with 33 of the 35 deaths occurring in the area. Much of the area was swept clean of debris, a reaper-binder
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#1732780395828636-664: The American West . He created a large collection of maps, which was held by the Smithsonian Institution. They were also destroyed in the 1865 fire. Stanley's primary interest and sympathies were with the American Indians. The Smithsonian had a large and successful exhibit of his paintings in 1852, but Congress never appropriated monies to acquire them. More than 200 of his works, as well as many of his maps and other documentation, were destroyed in
689-574: The Battle of Buena Vista in 1847. He found and collected other plants, many of which were previously unknown, on a trip to Mexico between 1848 and 1849 with Wislizenus. He sent the specimens to his friend, botanist George Engelmann , in St. Louis, Missouri , to be identified. In 1849, Gregg joined the California Gold Rush by sailing from Mazatlán to San Francisco , eating canned food for
742-764: The Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming . The exhibit contained more than 60 of Stanley's works from the 227 known to survive today. The exhibit traveled to the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington . Stanley married Alice C. English in 1854, when he was 40 and essentially finished with his western travels. They had five children together, two of whom died as infants. Their son, L. C. Stanley, published
795-600: The Finger Lakes region of New York, he started painting signs and portraits as a young man. In 1842 he traveled to the American West to paint Native American life. In 1846 he exhibited a gallery of 85 of his paintings in Cincinnati and Louisville . During the Mexican–American War , he joined Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney 's expedition to California and painted accounts of the campaign, as well as aspects of
848-714: The Mississippi River . Leaving Santa Fe on 25 February 1840, he was accompanied by 28 wagons, 47 men, 200 mules and 300 sheep and goats. In March the caravan was attacked by Pawnee near Trujillo Creek in Oldham County, Texas , and a storm scattered most of his stock across the Llano Estacado , but the group continued eastward through Indian Territory to Fort Smith and Van Buren. In the early 1840s, Gregg briefly lived in Shreveport, Louisiana . Only
901-590: The Republic of Texas . He briefly settled as partner in a general store with his brother John and George Pickett in Van Buren. He began to work his travel notes into a manuscript and visited New York in the summer of 1843 to find a publisher. In New York he devoted himself to working on his book while staying at the Franklin Hotel at the corner of Broadway and Cortland Streets. Gregg's book Commerce of
954-647: The "Eel" in the name being a misnomer for the Pacific lamprey which local Indians had caught and shared with the party at about where the Van Duzen River , named after James Van Duzen, joins the Eel. Shortly thereafter, the party argued again about the best way to get back to San Francisco. About 20 miles (32 km) from the coast on the Eel River, the group split in two: Seabring, Buck, Wilson and Wood followed
1007-571: The American Indian but, after the loss of most of his paintings in 1865, never completed it. Only eight leaves exist. Probably written in the winter of 1868–1869, these include his preface, as well as pages describing three plates: a Plains Indian encampment, Chinook burial ground, and a buffalo hunt. Stanley described what the plates represent and also provided historical and cultural information about each tribe or area. As an artist-explorer, Stanley had traveled extensively, especially in
1060-468: The Eel River, while Gregg, Van Duzen, Southard and Truesdale went to the coast. L.K. Wood was permanently crippled by a grizzly bear while stuck in a snow-bound camp. His fellow travelers packed him on a horse and traveled along the South Fork of the Eel southward. When they arrived at Santa Rosa , news of their discovery spread. Gregg's group fared badly. Wood wrote: They attempted to follow along
1113-550: The Mitchell Creek and Big Eagle Creek sections, spill over into the northern part of the county. The county is located on the Cumberland Plateau . As of the 2020 United States census , there were 22,511 people, 9,140 households, and 6,220 families residing in the county. As of the census of 2000, there were 20,118 people, 8,110 households, and 5,920 families residing in the county. The population density
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#17327803958281166-752: The Northwest. They traveled from St. Paul Minnesota Territory , to the Washington Territory . Stanley observed gatherings of nearly 1,500 Assiniboine , traveled to a distant Blackfoot (Piegan) village, and saw a large hunting party of several hundred, including families from the Pembina area near the Canada–US border. The latter were known as the Red River of the North hunters. They were generations of European and mixed-race trappers who lived on
1219-784: The Oregon Historical Society. Later in the West, he painted Comanche warriors in their natural environment. The party returned that year to the East, crossing the Isthmus of Panama from the west and arriving by ship in New York in January 1854. After his return, Stanley worked intensely at painting and organizing a large panorama of western scenes from the northern survey route. His exhibition of 42 scenes went on display in Washington, DC, on September 1, 1854, accompanied by
1272-466: The Oregon Territory. Stanley continued to travel and paint in the West, and mounted a major exhibit of more than 150 works at the Smithsonian Institution in 1852. Although he had some Congressional interest in purchasing the collection, he was unsuccessful in completing a sale to the government. He never recovered his expenses for a decade of intensive work and travel. In 1854 he exhibited
1325-504: The Oregon and Washington territories to paint landscapes and various Native American tribes, and worked through part of 1848. That year Stanley traveled to Hawaii, where he spent nearly twelve months painting portraits of King Kamehameha III , his wife, and the royal family. After his return to the East, he organized his large gallery of Indian portraits and paintings to be mounted in several cities, including New York. In 1852, he gained
1378-651: The Pacific Ocean was an eight-day journey, so they provisioned for ten days' rations. A few days past the start, David A. Buck discovered the South Fork Trinity River , where the party encountered a group of Indians who fled from them. The party took smoked salmon from the Indian rancheria and set up camp only a short distance away. That evening eighty warriors arrived at the Gregg party camp, but only
1431-538: The Prairies , published in two volumes in 1844, is an account of his time spent as a trader on the Santa Fe Trail from 1831 to 1840 and includes commentary on the geography , botany , geology , and culture of New Mexico. Gregg wrote about local people and described Indian culture and artifacts. The book was an immediate success and established Gregg's literary reputation. It went through several editions, sold
1484-490: The Smithsonian did not have sufficient funds to purchase it. He struggled financially, trying to keep his collection together in hopes of gaining Congressional support, rather than sell it privately. In 1853, Stanley was appointed chief artist at a salary of $ 125 per month for Isaac I. Stevens ' expedition to survey a northern railroad route to the Pacific Coast; he made the most of this chance for travel and work in
1537-399: The Smithsonian fire of 1865. This loss likely contributed to the decline in his reputation and lack of knowledge about him in later American art history. His surviving works are held by national museums as well as numerous regional institutions: National: Regional: Stanley's art was celebrated in an exhibition entitled "Painted Journeys-The Art of John Mix Stanley" that opened June 2015 at
1590-478: The Trinity River north of Helena intending to find "Trinity Bay" by crossing unknown territory and following the line of latitude westward. The roster of the party was: Gregg; Thomas Seabring of Ottawa, Illinois; David A. Buck of New York; J. B. Truesdale of Oregon; Charles C. Southard of Boston; Isaac Wilson of Missouri; Lewis Keysor Wood of Kentucky; and James Van Duzen. They had been told by Indians that
1643-428: The age of 18 living with them, 59.20% were married couples living together, 9.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.00% were non-families. 24.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 2.90. In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.00% under
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1696-468: The age of 18, 8.40% from 18 to 24, 27.70% from 25 to 44, 25.90% from 45 to 64, and 15.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.10 males. The median income for a household in the county was $ 26,915, and the median income for a family was $ 32,156. Males had a median income of $ 25,287 versus $ 19,674 for females. The per capita income for
1749-512: The bay and past the site of present-day Arcata , had a Christmas meal of elk meat near the Elk River , and passed through present-day Eureka on 26 December. They reached the bay at a point which would later be both the location of Fort Humboldt and the townsite of Bucksport , named after David A. Buck, the discoverer of the bay. Three days later, they came upon and named the Eel River ,
1802-627: The community was a crossroads of many Indian nations. In the summer of 1843, Stanley went to the council at Tahlequah called by the Cherokee chief John Ross and the Republic of Texas . An estimated 10,000 Native Americans of 17 tribes attended to negotiate peace with Texas, as did many European Americans. Stanley spent four weeks there and worked intensely through the next three months to complete his numerous paintings of individuals and tribal groups. He also spent more time with Cherokee and Creek groups, painting portraits. That fall he accompanied
1855-480: The county was $ 13,910. About 12.30% of families and 16.00% of the population were below the poverty line , including 20.40% of those under age 18 and 20.50% of those age 65 or over. 36°20′N 85°17′W / 36.34°N 85.29°W / 36.34; -85.29 John Mix Stanley John Mix Stanley (January 17, 1814 – April 10, 1872) was an artist-explorer, an American painter of landscapes, and Native American portraits and tribal life. Born in
1908-540: The east in 1847 to buy merchandise; upon arrival he received a message from Magoffin, who had changed his mind. Gregg traveled to Washington, D.C., where he was unimpressed after meeting President James K. Polk , and took a series of steamships down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico , then up the Rio Grande and back to Saltillo at the end of 1847. Through the spring of 1848 he actively practiced medicine for
1961-543: The first printing press to New Mexico in 1834, selling it to Ramon Abreu in Santa Fe, where it was used to print the territory's first newspaper. By 1840, Gregg had learned Spanish, crossed the plains between Missouri and Santa Fe four times, traveled the Chihuahua Trail into Mexico , and become a successful businessman. On his last trip from Santa Fe eastward, he decided to take a more southerly route across to
2014-463: The first time and remarking in a letter that he liked it. He left field notes with his former partner Jesse Sutton and gave Sutton instructions what to do with them if he did not return from what might turn out to be his last trip. Shortly thereafter he visited placer mines on the Trinity River . On November 5, 1849, a party of ill-provisioned miners led by Gregg left Rich Bar, a mining camp on
2067-481: The first time since earning his degree. He complained that his medical partner, Dr. G. M. Prevost, was disorganized and "in love" with a 13-year-old girl. Several plant species native to the Southwestern United States and Mexico bear the species patronym greggii to honor Gregg's contributions to botany, including Ceanothus greggii , the desert ceanothus, which he collected at the site of
2120-719: The frontier and had Indian wives and mixed-race children. (In Canada, descendants of such families have achieved recognition as the Métis ethnic group.) They had come to the area for bison hunting, as the herds were still vast on the prairies. Stanley painted and sketched many Northwest landmarks, which were reproduced in lithographs for inclusion in Stevens' last volume of the Pacific Railroad Reports . These gained wide circulation and added to Stanley's reputation. His portraits of two early Oregon settlers are held by
2173-543: The latter part of the decade, he returned East, apparently to Washington, D.C., where he briefly had a studio. In 1842, accompanied by Sumner Dickerman of Troy, New York , as an assistant, Stanley went to the American Southwest expressly to paint Native Americans, perhaps inspired by the work of the artist George Catlin . They settled at Fort Gibson in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma );
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2226-584: The mountain near the coast, but were very slow in their progress on account of the snow on the high ridges. Finding the country much broken along the coast, making it continually necessary to cross abrupt points, and deep gulches and canyons, after struggling along for several days, they concluded to abandon that route and strike easterly toward the Sacramento valley. Having very little ammunition, they all came nigh perishing from starvation, and, as Mr. Southard related to me, Dr. Gregg continued to grow weaker, from
2279-519: The outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846, Stanley was appointed a draftsman for the Corps of Topographical Engineers to Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney 's expedition to California and the Oregon Territory. He produced many sketches and paintings of the campaign, making more finished paintings after reaching San Francisco in early 1847. Some works were reproduced as engravings. He traveled further north to
2332-518: The party of the US Indian agent Pierce M. Butler to a council with Comanche and other Plains Indians , probably in southwest Oklahoma near present-day Texas. In early 1846 in Cincinnati, Ohio , he and Dickerman exhibited a gallery of 85 paintings of Indians, which received favorable reviews there and in Louisville, Kentucky . Stanley left Dickerman in charge and returned to the West. At
2385-571: The rest of his life, helping to found a forerunner of the Detroit Institute of Arts and its School of Arts. He also helped incorporate the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; originally he had hoped his Indian gallery would be the basis of its collection. More than 200 of his works, as well as many of his maps and other documentation, were destroyed in the Smithsonian fire of 1865. Stanley intended to produce an atlas of
2438-519: The specific patronym greggii . Gregg's portrait, painted by Herndon Davis between 1950 and 1962, is in the collection of the Palace of the Governors , a New Mexico history museum. Overton County, Tennessee Overton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee . As of the 2020 census , the population was 22,511. Its county seat is Livingston . Overton County
2491-588: The time of our separation, until, one day, he fell from his horse and died in a few hours without speaking—died from starvation—he had had no meat for several days, had been living entirely upon acorns and herbs. They dug a hole with sticks and put him under ground, then carried rock and piled upon his grave to keep animals from digging him up. They got through to the Sacramento valley a few days later than we reached Sonoma valley . Thus ended our expedition. Southard's story of burying Gregg after his death may not be
2544-753: The whole truth. Other reports say he died on February 25 near Clear Lake, California, of poor health and the hardships of his journey, while another casts doubt on the story that his companions buried him, instead suggesting he survived at least briefly at an Indian village. In any case, his papers, instruments, and specimens were lost. Gregg's 1849–1850 expedition has been credited with the rediscovery of Humboldt Bay by land, which resulted in its settlement. The Gregg party's trip triggered an 1850 expedition by Colonel Redick McKee to create treaties with Northern California Indians, which were never ratified. About eighty plant names were originally assigned to honor Gregg; as of 2002, 47 Mexican and Southwestern plant species bear
2597-498: Was 46 people per square mile (18 people/km ). There were 9,168 housing units at an average density of 21 units per square mile (8.1/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 94.59% White , 0.28% Black or African American , 2.28% Native American , 0.09% Asian , 0.05% Pacific Islander , 0.22% from other races , and 0.49% from two or more races. 2.69% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 8,110 households, out of which 29.20% had children under
2650-648: Was born in Canandaigua, New York , to Seth and Sally (McKinney) Stanley. He was orphaned at the age of 12. At age 14, Stanley was`apprenticed to a coach maker. He taught himself painting skills, and at the age of 20 moved to Detroit , the largest city in the Michigan Territory , and started doing itinerant work. Stanley moved to what was considered the frontier town of Detroit in 1832, where he became an itinerant painter of signs and portraits. He traveled also to Fort Snelling , Galena and Chicago . In
2703-531: Was celebrated at the time. Seth Eastman , also an artist of Native American life, wrote to Stanley of his gallery: "that I consider the artistic merits of yours far superior to Mr. Catlin's; and they give a better idea of the Indian than any works in Mr. Catlin's collection." Stanley interested members of the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in purchasing his gallery, but could not gain approval; and
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#17327803958282756-710: Was on Samuel C. Owens' wagon train with Gregg. As part of his equipment for his trip to Santa Fe with the Owens wagon train were special-sized plates for his sixth-plate camera, probably delivered to him by naturalist Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus . The fate of the camera and any images he made is unknown. Gregg left Owens' caravan at the outbreak of the Mexican–American War when he joined General John E. Wool 's Arkansas Volunteers as an unofficial news correspondent and interpreter. In this capacity, he traveled through Chihuahua . Gregg had previously planned to enter business with Susan Shelby Magoffin 's husband Samuel, so he left his effects and collections in Saltillo and traveled to
2809-465: Was thrown 500 yards (460 m), and cars were moved hundreds of feet. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 435 square miles (1,130 km ), of which 433 square miles (1,120 km ) is land and 1.4 square miles (3.6 km ) (0.3%) is water. Overton County straddles the Eastern Highland Rim , and generally consists of low, rolling hills divided by narrow creek valleys. The backwaters of Dale Hollow Lake , namely
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