SEPT 18: Yellowstone Expedition of 1819

On Sept. 18, 1819, a paddle steamer begins its approach to a landing spot near Council Bluffs on the west bank of the Missouri River in present-day Nebraska.

U.S. Secretary of State John C. Calhoun. (Credit: Library of Congress)

The steamer carried a U.S. Army contingent, known as the Yellowstone Expedition of 1819, led by Colonel Henry Atkinson and Major Stephen Harriman Long.  It was authorized by U.S. Secretary of War John C. Calhoun with the goal of establishing a military fort or outpost at the mouth of the Yellowstone River in present-day North Dakota.

An illustration showing Major Stephen Harriman Long attending a council with the Pawnee during the Yellowstone Expedition of 1819. (Credit: Library of Congress)

They established what later became Fort Atkinson, the first Army outpost built west of the Missouri. But, the expedition stalled there over the winter and collapsed entirely in spring 1820. It was considered a costly failure.