Bonneville, Benjamin Louis Eulalie de
Bonneville, Benjamin Louis Eulalie de
(bŏn`vĭl), 1796–1878, American army officer and trader who blazed portions of the Oregon TrailOregon Trail,overland emigrant route in the United States from the Missouri River to the Columbia River country (all of which was then called Oregon). The pioneers by wagon train did not, however, follow any single narrow route.
..... Click the link for more information. , b. France, grad. West Point, 1815. Acquainted with the fur trade from his service at frontier posts, he obtained a two-year leave from the army and backing from financiers in New York and in 1832 led an expedition of 110 men to the Green River rendezvous of fur traders in present-day Colorado. Three years of trade and exploration followed. As a trader, Bonneville was a failure, but he was a swaggering, colorful figure who helped to open the Rocky Mt. country and took the first wagon train across South Pass. In 1836 he was restored to the army after his overstayed leave, and subsequently served with distinction in the Mexican War and at frontier posts before he retired in 1861. Washington IrvingIrving, Washington,
1783–1859, American author and diplomat, b. New York City. Irving was one of the first Americans to be recognized abroad as a man of letters, and he was a literary idol at home.
..... Click the link for more information. 's highly romanticized The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A. (1837) added much to Bonneville's fame.