CHAPTER FOUR
NOTES
1. James W. Abert, "Report of the Secretary of War, Communicating in Answer to a Resolution of the Senate, a Report and Map of the Examination of New Mexico, made by Lieutenant J. W. Abert of the Topographical Corps," Sen. Exec. Doc. 23, 30th Cong., 1st sess., 1848, pp. 3-5.
4. Ibid., pp. 10-11. Abert also provided a detailed description of Bent's Fort.
8. Emory, "Notes," House Exec. Doc. 41, p. 43.
11. Abert, "Report and Map of the Examination of New Mexico," Sen. Exec. Doc. 23, pp. 32-39. Peck's notes of his earlier reconnaissance with Lieutenant Warner to the Taos region were included in Abert's report, pages 40-44. Pike ended up being taken into custody by Spanish cavalry.
12. Warren, "Memoir," House Exec. Doc. 91, pp. 53-54.
13. Abert, "Report and Map of the Examination of New Mexico," Sen. Exec. Doc. 23, pp. 49-60.
17. Ibid., pp. 85-90. The Topographical Bureau registered four letters in all from Abert: 7 Oct 1846, LR 1004; 25 Dec 1846, LR 165; 24 Feb 1847, LR 170; 19 Apr 1847, LR 300, TE 77. Only copies of the last two are on file. Lieutenant Abert's correspondence of 19 April was his handwritten version covering the period 15 November 1846 through 21 March 1847 (the day of his return to Washington). This journal was slightly different from the printed report.
18. Abert, "Report and Map of the Examination of New Mexico," Sen. Exec. Doc. 23, p. 90. Colonel Abert advised his son to return to Washington and recommended an alternative return route. He suggested either the Rio Grande or Red River; however, he concluded, "positive instructions cannot be given from such a distance, and reliance is placed upon your discretion and intelligence, as well in what relates to the safety of your command, as to the results it will collect." Abert to Abert, 18 Nov 1846, LS 504, TE 77.
19. Abert, "Report and Map of the Examination of New Mexico," Sen. Exec. Doc. 23, p. 90.
21. Abert, "Report and Map of the Examination of New Mexico," Sen. Exec. Doc. 23, pp. 97-110.
22. Ibid.; Abert to Abert, 19 Apr 1847, LR 300, TE 77, p. 12.
25. Abert to Abert, 19 Apr 1847, LR 300, TE 77, pp. 23-24.
26. Ibid.; Abert's rate of speed is noted on page 25 of the letter.
27. Abert, "Report and Map of the Examination of New Mexico," Sen. Exec. Doc. 23, pp. 123-25.
29. Cutts, Conquest of California and New Mexico, pp. 236-37.
30. Niles [Ohio] National Register, 72 (29 May 1847), p. 205.
31. Quoted in Warren, "Memoir," Report of Explorations and Surveys . . . for a Railroad, Xl, House Exec. Doc. 91, p. 54; Wheat, Mapping the Trans-Mississippi West, III, p. 5.
32. In addition to the survey, map, and specimens, Abert also collected valuable data on population, governmental organization, and economic production. He included the 1844 official census, which gave the population of New Mexico as 100,964. Abert, "Report and Map of the Examination of New Mexico," Sen. Exec. Doc. 23, pp. 61-63.
33. Cullum, Biographical Register, 11, 151-52, 192.
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