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The First Dragoon Expedition of 1834 (also called the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition) was the first official contact between the American government and the Plains Indians.

The United States Dragoon Regiment left Fort Gibson, Indian territory,on June 20, 1834, under the command of General Henry Leavenworth. The expedition made slow progress at first, slowed by the Cross Timbers, summer heat, sickness, and death—one hundred fifty of the five hundred men would die. The expedition stopped at Camp Leavenworth where Gen. Leavenworth, sick and injured from a buffalo hunt, sent the troops on ahead under the command of Colonel Henry Dodge. Leavenworth would die on July 21. On July 16 the expedition encamped at Camp Commanche leaving 75 sick men, including the artist George Catlin, with Dodge and the rest of his men continuing on.

On July 21, Dodge and the remaining men reached a Toyash Village (Wichita Indians) at Devils Canyon. There, Dodge exchanged prisoners, traded, and secured peace treaties with several of the Plains tribes. The expedition returned to Ft. Gibson August 15, 1834.

 

The Second Dragoon Expedition of 1835 (also called the Dodge Expedition) left Fort Leavenworth, Indian territory May 29, 1835, charged with contacting the Indian tribes across the Central Plains to the Rockies as far west as the Mexican border. Traveling first up the Platte River they made contact with the Otoe, Omaha, Grand Pawnee, and Arickaree tribes. Continuing south along the front range of the Rockies, they reached Bent's Fort on August 6. At Bent's Fort the expedition held councils with the Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Black Feet, Gros Ventres, and others. The Dragoons then followed the Santa Fe Trail eastward, arriving at Fort Leavenworth on September 16, 1835.