RSBUD-033 Jim Beckwourth, Army Frontier Scouts

US ARMY FRONTIER SCOUTS

The role of the frontier scout was vital during the period of expansion between 1840 and 1890. These men possessed a priceless knowledge of the geography, people and characteristics of the great American hinterland. They were to have a larger influence on the pace of settlement and control of the American west than any other single factor.

James Pierson Beckwourth (April 26, 1798/1800 – October 20, 1866) was an American fur trapper, rancher, businessman, explorer, author and scout. Known as "Bloody Arm" because of his skill as a fighter.

Of African American descent, he was to play a major role as a scout during the early exploration and settlement of the West. Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1798, his mother was a black slave and his father Jennings Beckwith was a white plantation owner and officer in the Continental army during the Revolutionary War.

Beckwourth after being apprenticed to a blacksmith left home in 1822 and lived as a trapper and mountain man until captured by Crow Indians. He was to spend eight years living as a Native American and was even made a chieftain.

In 1850 he was to discover a pass across the Sierra Nevada Mountains that would further lead to open California to settlement.

During the civil War , Beckwourth served again as an army guide and interpreter and reluctantly rode with Colonel John Chivington, 3rd Colorado Cavalry, at the notorious massacre of the Cheyenne at Sand Creek on November 29th 1864.

After the civil War, he continued to scout for the army for a short time, before returning to his beloved Crow territory where he died in 1867.

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