May 18, 1834
Cloudy sky in the morning; warm; a little rain. We stayed until nine o’clock and then shipped off for the military post. Between eight and nine o’clock, 63°F [17.2°C]. No wind. When we had gone 3 miles, we reached Leavenworth. We heard musketry, which happens when the sentries change. With [his weapon] at full cock and very clear [instructions], the sentry compelled us to stay [close] together and be led by him to the commander, Major Riley. All my people [marched] with me, as if we were prisoners. The major received us fairly politely in his house and gave orders [that] the requested provisions, including meat and bread, be supplied to us.
The site of the cantonment is pleasant; about ten to twelve neat houses, with galleries or verandas around [them], accommodate two companies of the 6th [Infantry] Regiment—only 80 men, including ten officers. The rangers who had been stationed here earlier have withdrawn. It is expected that they will be replaced by cavalry. The local military physician, Dr. Fellowes, who came upriver with us last year, invited us to lunch.
We would have seen the place better if there had not been a heavy rain falling. The location is pleasant—on green prairie hills alternating with good, tall trees. Everything around [the area] was sumptuously green. The soil [is] very fertile, but it had dissolved into mud because of the heavy rain [that] day.
About 4 miles from here, the Indian line cuts at a right angle through the Missouri to the other bank. Nearby is the village of the Kickapoos, inhabited by a poor, degenerate nation.
A certain (Major) Morgan owns the store here, where most necessary merchandise can be found. He had fur trade [business] with Gardner, who therefore stayed here. [Morgan] wanted to get Descoteaux drunk [and] encouraged me to leave him behind, [so he could] get [Descoteaux’s] beaver furs; I did not do so, however. There is supposed to be a great deal of game in the vicinity. I got a specimen of Icterus icterocephalus Bonap., common here, as well as a species of gopher different from the one at the Mandans.
They keep sufficient cattle and hogs here; [they] have milk as well as fresh butter and cheese. The troops are a detachment of the 6th [Infantry] Regiment at Jefferson Barracks.
In the afternoon at four o’clock, we departed [in the] rain. Some of our people were drunk; [so was] Gardner, who had to unload his merchandise in the rain and mud.
On 18 May we departed [from Fort Leavenworth] in the afternoon during heavy rain and put in before dusk on the right bank. The rain lessened, but the forest was terribly wet, the sky very cloudy. It rained heavily again [during] the night.