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James Beckwourth is Born
James Pierson Beckwourth was born on April 6, 1798, in Fredericksburg, Virginia.He was the son of a slave mother and an English father. -
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James Beckwourth Trip West
This timeline helps students in the fourth grade get a perspective of why and how people traveled to California in the 1800s. In this timeline, they will be looking closely at James Beckwourth trip West and what he went through to eventually find the Beckwourth Pass. -
He joins the Rocky Mountain Fur Company as a trapper.
He heads west as a trapper looking for beavers and other animals for their fur.
As a trappers, he wore buckskin skirts, leggings, and moccasins. He wrapped himself in buffalo robes in order to bear the cold winters.
He faced grueling conditions – blizzards, bitter cold, ice storms, near starvation, and rushing spring water. There was also threats of hungry wolf packs, grizzly bears, and hostile Indians proved a constant challenge.
He kept moving and had no real permanent home. -
Beckwourth joins the Crow Indians.
He was declared to be the long-lost son of an old woman from the tribe.
He lived with the Crow Indians and collected more fur pelts than ever before.
During his time, he became an excellent horseman, and warrior. As a warrior, Beckwourth would return with scalps, prisoners, and many horses.
He became known as Enemy of Horses, Morning Star, and Bloody Arm. -
Beckwourth is considered a chief by the Crow.
For the crow a chief was a person of honor and various chiefs could exist at a time.
Beckwourth became a chief by leading battle raids, counting coup, taking horses from a guard corral, and stealing weapons in hand-to-hand combat.
He sat among the tribal council and helped making make the decisions that guided the tribe’s actions. -
He begins working with the American Fur Company.
During this time he makes money from trapping and hunting. He also traded guns, ammunition, cloth, and beads for furs. For his services, he would receive a salary from the American Fur Company. -
Tribes are in Conflict and Beckwourth is fired
More white settlers move onto the Great Plains, which forces the Sioux and Arapaho into the Crow territory. The Crow reacted and fighting among the tribes began.
Beckwourth is fired in 1836 because they held him responsible for the Crow’s warlike ways and the negative impact on the fur trade.
In reality, fur trading was out since the new trend started was silk hats.
Beckwourth returned to St. Louis. -
Second Seminole War
Beckwourth works as a mule driver and messenger for the US Army in Florida during the Second Seminole War. -
Trading in Colorado and New Mexico
He becomes a trader in Colorado and New Mexico.
He then opens a general store in Taos, New Mexico.
He meets and marries Luisa Sandoval in this year as well. -
Bear Flag Rebellion
Beckwourth leads trade expedition to California.
There he participates in the Bear Flag Rebellion. -
Beckwourth Pass
James Beckwourth discovered what is now known as the Beckwourth Pass which is north of the Sierra Nevada in the spring of 1850, and immediately set about establishing a trail to Marysville. -
Beckwourth works on the Trail
He worked on the trail in the summer and fall of 1850 and the spring of 1851, and in the late summer of that year led the first wagon train of settlers along the trail into Marysville. -
Beckwourth Dies
James Beckwourth dies along the Bighorn River in south-central Montana while visiting the Crow Indians during the fall.
