Reports of the Secretary of War, with Reconnaissances of Routes from San Antonio to El Paso; also, the Report of Capt. R.B. Marcy's Route from Fort Smith to Santa Fe; and the Report of J.H. Simpson of an Expedition into the Navajo Country; and the Report of Lieutenant W.H.C. Whiting's Reconnaissances of the Western Frontier of Texas

250+[752 lithograph plates] with 2 lithograph folding maps and 27 plates tinted in color. Royal octavo (9 1/4" x ;6") bound in original publisher's brown cloth with gilt lettering to spine and blind stamped decorative cover. Full title: Reports of the Secretary of War, with Reconnaissances of Routes from San Antonio to El Paso; also, the Report of Capt. R.B. Marcy's Route from Fort Smith to Santa Fe; and the Report of J.H. Simpson of an Expedition into the Navajo Country; and the Report of Lieutenant W.H.C. Whiting's Reconnaissances of the Western Frontier of Texas 31st Congress, 1st Session, Senate Executive Document No. 64. (Sabin 36377, Howes J170, Wagner-Camp, 184) First edition.

This volume combines several of the reconnaissances including the landmark one by Simpson of the Navajo Country.These were the first published reports that opened West Texas and New Mexico to travel and settlement. Simpson's report is considered one of the most accurate and complete descriptions of the Zuni and Pueblo Indians and he was the first to describe Chaco Canyon, Inscription Rock, Canyon de Chelly and Pueblo Bonito. (Early map to show the location of Fort Worth) The color plates are the earliest chromolithographs printed in as government report.

Johnston was trained as a civil engineer at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduating in the same class as Robert E. Lee. He served in Florida, Texas, and Kansas. By 1860 he achieved the rank of brigadier general as Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army. Johnston was an engineer on the Texas-United States boundary survey in 1841; he returned to the area, was appointed chief topographical engineer of the Department of Texas, and served from 1848 to 1853. In the fall of 1856, Johnston was transferred to a depot for recruits at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. In 1857 he led surveying expeditions to determine the Kansas border. Later that year, Davis was replaced as Secretary of War by John B. Floyd, a native of Abingdon and a cousin of Johnston's by marriage. He had been a former guardian of Preston Johnston. Floyd made Johnston a brevet colonel for his actions at Cerro Gordo, a promotion that caused grumbling within the Army about favoritism. In 1859, President James Buchanan named Johnston's brother-in-law, Robert Milligan McLane, as minister to Mexico, and Johnston accompanied him on a journey to visit Benito Juárez's government in Veracruz. He was also ordered to inspect possible military routes across the country in case of further hostilities.

Condition: Recased and housed in an attractive custom enclosure else very good.