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Thomas Hutchins
and the
Proposed Expedition to the Pacific Ocean
Had plans of a talented, American
surveyor and geographer been implemented in the tumultuous years
immediately following the American Revolution, the names of Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark might now be little more than obscure footnotes
in the history of American westward expansion. This is the story
of Thomas Hutchins and his unrealized expedition to the Pacific
Ocean.
Thomas Hutchins is well known to students of American Colonial History
for his detailed eighteenth century maps of the French villages
within the Central Mississippi River Valley. These maps include
"A Plan of the several Villages in the Illinois Country with
Part of the River Mississippi & C" (Figure 1)(Good 1971),
the Village of Cahokia (Figure 2)(Peterson 1949), and "A Plan
of CASCASKIES" (Kaskaskia) (Figure 3)(Rea 1973).
Figure 1. Illinois Map. Thomas Hutchins Papers,
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Figure 2. Village of Cahokia, 1770. Thoms
Hutchins Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Figure 3. Village of Kaskaskia,
1771. Thomas Hutchins Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
In 1996, Mr. Charles E. Peterson,
F.A.I.A. and founder (in 1933) of the Historic American Buildings
Survey (HABS) program of the National Park Service, located a document
archived among the personal papers of Thomas Hutchins (1730-1789)
at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This document was an itemized budget estimate for an expedition
from the Mississippi River frontier to the Pacific Ocean (Figure
4)(Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1759-1788:XX189). The heading
at the top of this document read "An Estimate for Exploring
the Country Westward of the Sources of the River Mississippi, towards
the Pacific Ocean, or South Sea".
Figure 4. "An Estimate for Exploring the Country Westward
of the Sources of the River Mississippi, Towards the Pacific Ocean,
or South Sea." Thomas Hutchins Papers, Historical Society
of Pennsylvania.
The potential historical importance of this parchment was immediately
clear to Mr. Peterson. He promptly forwarded the annotated reference
for this document to the author along with a politely worded suggestion
to pursue its origin and purpose. The following information was
generated pursuant to that suggestion and request.
Thomas Hutchins was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey, around
1730 and died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1789 (Quattrocchi 1944:4).
Like many others at that time, Hutchins was orphaned at a young
age. Prior to his sixteenth birthday he immigrated to the Western
Country of the Ohio River frontier. For much of the remaining forty-six
years of his life, Hutchins traversed and mapped that frontier.
The first official record of him is from November 1, 1756, when
he received a commission as an ensign in a Pennsylvania Regiment
(Quattrocchi 1944:5). By 1757, he was the quartermaster of the Third
Battalion. He was part of both the Forbes expedition and first English
garrison to be stationed in the Ohio Valley (Quattrochhi 1944:5).
Hutchins' outstanding conduct and heroism during those assignments
resulted in his appointment as the manager of both the King's and
Contractor's stores and acting commissary at Fort Pitt (Quattrochhi
1944:6). There, Hutchins' mathematical ability and skills as a woodsman,
surveyor, and tribal negotiator were frequently demonstrated.
He was variously assigned duties of mapping supply routes and recording
strategic natural and cultural features surrounding Fort Pitt (Figure
5) (Quattrocchi 1944:6).
Figure 5. "Plan of
the Town of Pittsburg [sic]" by Victor Collot. Historical
Society of Pennsylvania.
In 1762, the American-born Thomas Hutchins received a formal commission
as an ensign in the British Army (Quattrocchi 1944:15). In 1766,
Ensign Hutchins was transferred temporarily to an Illinois Country
post, Fort Cavendish (Rea 1973:xxxiii). Fort Cavendish (formerly
Fort de Chartres) was located on the Mississippi River, approximately
45 miles downstream of present-day St. Louis, Missouri. Hutchins
remained at Fort de Chartres only a matter of months before being
recalled to the East. However, Hutchins returned to Fort de Chartres
in 1768 and remained stationed there until June 10, 1771 (Quattrocchi
1944:126).
The most significant event in Hutchins tour of duty at Fort de Chartres
(as it related to the subject investigation) was Thomas Hutchins'
acquaintanceship with the businessman George Morgan. Morgan had
arrived in the Illinois Country in 1766, the same year as Hutchins.
George Morgan was the principle agent of the Philadelphia-based
trading company of Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan (Quattrocchi 1944:99).
The company's trading post was located in the French Village of
Cahokia and was one of the most successful establishments of its
kind in the Illinois Country during the second half of the eighteenth
century. Thomas Hutchins friendship with George Morgan was based,
at least in part, on mutual self interests. Surviving records reveal
that Thomas Hutchins' business interests were frequently in concert
with those of George Morgan. That is particularly evident later
in Hutchins' career (Quattrocchi 1944:285).
From the time that Thomas Hutchins was first stationed at Fort Pitt,
he was aware that his ability to survey and produce accurate maps
was a marketable skill and potential source of significant income
(Bedini 2001:520-527). George Morgan was also aware of that fact.
As the local representative of a large trading company and land
speculators, Hutchins' abilities would certainly not have gone unnoticed
to either George Morgan or his distant Philadelphia associates (Alvord
and Carter 1921:pp 415,445). This may explain why George Morgan
and his partners remained close acquaintances of Thomas Hutchins
throughout the remainder of his life.
Following Hutchins' tour of duty in the Illinois Country, he was
assigned Pensacola and West Florida. Between 1772 and 1777, Thomas
Hutchins (then Captain Hutchins) performed a variety of engineering/surveying
duties along the Lower Mississippi River Valley and throughout West
Florida. During that time, Hutchins purchased, or otherwise privately
amassed a considerable amount of land east of present-day Baton
Rouge, Louisiana (Quattrocchi 1944:166). However, Hutchins'
continuing business interests with George Morgan (then Colonel George
Morgan of the Continental Army) and representatives of the firm
of Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan resulted in his arrest by British
authorities on charges of treason while he was temporarily stationed
in London. Hutchins was ultimately cleared of all charges, but not
before weeks of solitary confinement in London, and the permanent
forfeiture of a significant portion of his personal papers and financial
assets (Quattrocchi 1944:187-198). On February 16, 1780, Thomas
Hutchins left London never to return, either to England or the British
cause (Quattrocchi 1944:198).
After leaving London, Hutchins, always the survivor, sold his British
military commission and sailed for France. There, he immediately
began correspondence with Benjamin Franklin. On March 6, 1780, Thomas
Hutchins recited the Oath of Allegiance and pledged his cartographic
services to the American cause (Quattrocchi 1944:201). Hutchins
star rose quickly in the American ranks. By May 1781, he had been
appointed by the Congress of the United States as "Geographer
to the United States" (Quattrocchi 1944:208). Ultimately, Thomas
Hutchins was appointed as "Geographer General to the United
States", a post that he would hold until his death in 1789.
By the end of the Revolutionary War, the fledgling country desperately
needed money. The sale of land throughout Northwest Territory was
perceived by Congress to have been an expeditious means of filling
the depleted coffers of the treasury. Thomas Hutchins was tasked
with the mission of surveying the territory in advance of those
sales. Hutchins developed a method of dividing the land into uniform
parcels. He patterned the new coordinate survey system on a concept
he first devised for military settlements in 1765 (Bedini 2001:526).
The system he crafted divided the territory into sections, townships,
and ranges. Eventually, the entire country was mapped in this manner.
The system is still in use today and is known as the Public Land
Survey System (PLSS).
However, the Northwest Territory survey did not go as smoothly in
practice as Hutchins had planned. Continuing hostilities and violent
clashes between his surveyors, the newly arrived settlers, and various
Native American groups in the region resulted in repeated and protracted
delays in Hutchins' survey schedule (Quattrocchi 1944:286). Despite
his relatively large salary, Hutchins was losing money on the endeavor.
Over time, Hutchins concluded that Anglo-Native American hostilities
in the Ohio River Valley were a long term prospect and that he would
never realize his financial designs for wealth in that area (Quattrocchi
1944:286). That conclusion was enforced during correspondence with
his old friend Colonel George Morgan. By early 1788, George Morgan
had established a dialogue with Don Diego Gardoqui, the official
Spanish Crown liaison in Upper Louisiana. The principle topic of
their discussions concerned a plan to establish a substantial new
settlement on the Spanish side of the Mississippi River (Quattrocchi
1944:282,287). The intended purpose of that settlement was to divert
American emigrants away from the Ohio River Valley settlements and
into Spanish Louisiana. A high bank on the west side of the Mississippi
River, several miles below its confluence with the Ohio River, was
selected for the town. Not surprisingly, the settlement was to be
named New Madrid (Figure 6) (Quattrocchi 1944:289). Fostered by
promises of title to generous tracts of land, the influential American
Colonel Morgan convinced hundreds of American settlers to abandon
their claims in the Ohio River Valley and to emigrate across the
Mississippi River (Quattrocchi 1944:292). By the spring of 1789,
the steady stream of new American arrivals to the Spanish side of
the Mississippi River had turned into a flood (Quattrocchi 1944:292).
Figure 6. New Madrid and
a Portion of the Middle Mississippi River Valley (1797 - 1798) by
Nicolas de Finiels.
Thomas Hutchins, always the cautious opportunist, was intrigued
by the prospects of instant wealth, even if it meant serving the
Spanish Crown (Quattrocchi 1944:281). Written assurances from the
Spanish authorities in New Orleans convinced Hutchins that Morgan's
scheme was legitimate. Through a third party, on November 28, 1788,
Thomas Hutchins requested that the Spanish Governor of Louisiana
immediately appoint him as "geographer to His Spanish Majesty"
(Quattrocchi 1944:284). In return, Hutchins offered to "have
plans made of all the rivers communicating with the Mississippi
together with a description of the country and its' produce..."
(Quattrocchi 1944:285). By November 1788, Thomas Hutchins had decided
that his long-term interests would be better served under the Spanish
Crown.
Could the "Exploring..." document (Figure 4) discovered
by Charles Peterson actually be Thomas Hutchins' proposed budget
for the above-mentioned expedition? Despite the fact that the "Exploring..."
document resided among the personal papers of Thomas Hutchins, attribution
to him was not a foregone conclusion. The "Exploring..."
estimate was neither signed nor dated. Inspection of a microfilm
copy of the entire Thomas Hutchins collection identified additional
budget-type documents within the collection. In addition to the
"Exploring..." estimate, several others were present
that were both signed and dated by Hutchins (Figure 7) (Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, 1759-1788:XX189). Comparison of the handwriting
on those documents with the "Exploring..." estimate, revealed
nearly identical handwriting characteristics (Figure 8). Hence,
Thomas Hutchins appeared to be the author of the enigmatic budget
estimate.
Figure 7. Examples of
Thomas Hutchins' Handwriting. Thomas Hutchins Papers, Historical
Society of Pennsylvania.
Figure 8. Handwriting
Comparison Among the "An Estimate for Exploring the Country
Westward . . ." with Other Documents Signed by Thomas Hutchins.
Thomas Hutchins Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
"An Estimate for Exploring the Country Westward of the Sources
of the River Mississippi, towards the Pacific Ocean, or South Sea"
was Thomas Hutchins' work. The fact that it is unsigned is consistent
with much of Hutchins' surviving correspondence with the Spanish
authorities. Thomas Hutchins had already been imprisoned once for
corresponding with a perceived representative of an adversarial
government. It is unlikely that he would have made that mistake
twice. The plethora of unsigned correspondence with representatives
of the Spanish authorities is testament to his caution.
The "Exploring..." document was most likely drafted
for the Spanish authorities in late 1788 or early 1789. As previously
noted, Thomas Hutchins' experiences in the Ohio River Valley had
apparently convinced him that his speculative plans in that region
would not materialize. Hutchins intended to formally cast his lot
with the Spanish Crown as soon as he had completed his financial
commitments to the Ohio Land Company (Quattrocch 1944:285). Thomas
Hutchins was probably one of the most qualified individuals in North
America to attempt such a perilous mission. He was completely familiar
with Native American customs and behavior. In addition, he had already
completed surveys of much of the Eastern Woodlands (Quattrocchi
1944:299-318). By that time in his life, Thomas Hutchins had almost
five decades of experience surveying the frontier. By his estimate,
the expedition would require two years to complete. The larger,
less experienced, Corps of Discovery crew was back in about two
and one half years (Jackson 1978:325). Hutchins' estimate of cost,
converted to dollars was approximately $28,000.00. The final estimated
cost of Lewis and Clark Expedition was around $39,000.00, not including
the price of land bounties (Jackson 1978:428).
Thomas Hutchins died suddenly on April 28, 1789, of pneumonia and
was buried in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before he could act on any
of his intended plans. With Hutchins gone, the Spanish authorities
wasted little time in securing the services of another surveyor
and geographer to accomplish some of what they had discussed with
the late Hutchins. By 1798, a detailed survey map of the Middle
Mississippi and Lower Missouri Rivers was completed by a French
military engineer, Nicolas de Finiels, and was soon in their possession
(Ekberg and Foley 1989)(Wood 2001, Plates A-E).
Epilogue
Today, Thomas Hutchins (1730 - 1789) (Figure 9) is regaled in academic
circles as the father of the Public Land Survey System and as America's
first and only Geographer General of the United States. Had he lived
and completed his intended expedition to the Pacific Ocean, only
the most ardent students of American Colonial history might today
recognize the names of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
Figure 7. Thomas Hutchins'
Signature. Thomas Hutchins Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
References Cited
Alvord, Clarence Walworth and Clarence Edwin Carter
"Trade and Politics 1767-1769", Collections
of the Illinois State Historical Library, Volume XVI - British Series,
Volume III. Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, Illinois.
1921
Bedini, Silvio
"With Compass and Chain: Early American
Surveyors and Their Instruments". Professional Surveyors Publishing
Co., Frederick, Maryland, 2001
Jackson, Donald
"Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
with Related
Documents 1783-1854. University of Illinois
Press, Urbana, Illinois. 1978
Peterson, Charles E.
"Notes On Old Cahokia", Journal of
the Illinois State (June 1949), and No.3, (September 1949).
State of Illinois, Springfield, Illinois.
Quattrocchi, Anna Margaret
"Thomas Hutchins", Ph.D. Dissertation,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1944
Rea, Robert R.
"The Present State of the European Settlements
on the Mississippi by Captain Philip Pittman". Reprint. University
of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida. 1973
Wood, W. Raymond
"An Atlas of Early Maps of the American
West: Part II". Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers,
Vol. XXIX. Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois. 2001
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