Establishment of Fort Smith in 1817

Quapaw Cession Map

The white population in Arkansas in 1817 had increased to several thousand, whose protection, as well as that of the Cherokee people living in that territory, from the continued hostilities of the Osage, required the establishment of a military post at the western border dividing the white settlements from the Osage. From Saint Louis came further news of threatened hostilities by the Osage near Clermont’s Town, and a report that Major William Bradford with a detachment of United States riflemen, and accompanied by Major Long, topographical engineer, had left that city for the purpose of establishing a military post on … Read more

Biography of Bernard P. Bogy

Along various lines of activity Bernard P. Bogy has taken part in those interests which have featured in the business development and the political and civic interests of St. Louis. He is a representative of one of the oldest families of the city. Bernard Pratte, one of his great-grandfathers in the paternal line, was the first mayor of the incorporated City of St. Louis, filling the office in 1844. His grandfather, Louis V. Bogy, was United States senator from Missouri, serving as a member of the upper house of the national legislature for six years. He, too, was born in … Read more

Earliest Known Traders on Arkansas River

Country Home of Augustus Pierre Chauteau

With the help of contemporary records it is possible to identify some of the early traders at the Mouth of the Verdigris. Even before the Louisiana Purchase, hardy French adventurers ascended the Arkansas in their little boats, hunting, trapping, and trading with the Indians, and recorded their presence if not their identity in the nomenclature of the adjacent country and streams, now sadly corrupted by their English-speaking successors. French Influence in Arkansas One of the first of the French traders up the Arkansas whose name has been recorded was Joseph Bogy, an early resident of the old French town, Arkansas … Read more