Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico, Connected with Col. Doniphan's Expedition, in 1846 and 1847
Washington: Tippin & Streeper, 1848.
First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Senate Miscellaneous Document No. 26. 30th Congress, 1st Session. 141 pp + 3 folding maps. Bound in three-quarter leather and blue patterened cloth. Glue residue on front pastedown, minor damage to title page, small, non-archival tape repair to one map; very good. Frederick Adolphus Wislizenus (1810-1889), a physician from St. Louis, undertook and funded a scientific expedition into Texas, New Mexico and northern Mexico. He set out from Independence, Missouri, over the Santa Fe Trail in 1846, not realizing that war had just been declared between the United States and Mexico. He was accompanied by Albert Speyer, merchant and rumored gun runner. The group was captured near Santa Fe and transported to Matamoros, where they were imprisoned for six months. Upon the arrival of Colonel Alexander Doniphan and his 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers, Wislizenus was released. He joined Doniphan’s command as a surgeon and accompanied them on their return to St. Louis. The narrative is accompanied by two lithograph maps and one profile. The largest, "Map of a Tour from Independence to Santa Fe, Chihuahua, Monterey, and Matamoras by A. Wislizenus, in 1846 and 1847" (18" x 22.75"), is described by Wheat (Transmississippi 573) as "of considerable value, though it does not extend west of the New Mexico settlements nor north of the Arkansas River. A number of routes to New Mexico and across Texas are shown, and Doniphan's campaign is carefully followed from Independence through New and old Mexico to the camp of June 2nd, 1847, at Reynosa, near the mouth of the Rio Grande." Graff 4723; Howes W-597; Rader 3715; Rittenhouse 656; Wagner-Camp 159:1.
Item #22530
Price: $600.00