Video
#SignatureSunday Beale
Transcript
Welcome back to Elmore National Monument Ranger John here with you once again for another signature Sunday short and today I wanna talk with you a little bit about the inscription of mister Edward Fitzgerald, who left his name here in 1850 - nine. now we're tucked into a little cove and we wanna look for the B and B just above the M and M J H Hockman here but be a pretty interesting figure in American history and maybe one that maybe you've never heard of he was born back in the early 18 twenties Father was actually well known in the Navy. In fact, all it took for be to be accepted to the US Naval Academy was for his mother to write a letter to President Andrew Jackson now shortly after graduating from the Naval Academy Bill made his way to England where he actually did some spying to see if they were preparing for war over in British Columbia. He then made his way down he was actually on the US Congress just off of Texas as Texas was being annexed. He then made his way down across the. Before there was a Panama Canal and found himself eventually in California in the mid 18 forties and was involved in the Mexican-American war, specifically the Battle of San Pascal in fact him and his friend Kit Carson, as well as N bills Native American God crossed enemy lines, crawling maybe as many as 20 miles to get any reinforcements were declared heroes of the Mexican-American war, not too long after that mister bill would actually take the first gold nugget from. California back to Washington, DC giving ewspaper interviews along the way you might even say he's single-handedly caused the gold rush of 1840 - nine, but in 1857 he accepted a $200000 contract from the federal government basically to make the second road West. The Oregon Trail already existed but the road here along the 30 -fifth parallel was supposed to be a little more all weather and all season now. Beal was also required to bring along with him. 20 - five camels to test out for the US Army how. Camels would do as pack animals out here in the Southwest now, according to be, they did really well, he suggested buying a whole lot more of them of course, the problems were mainly man made in political. This was all the idea of this guy by the name of Jefferson Davis, and of course after the Civil War, most of Jefferson Davis's ideas were left to the side beyond that there were also problems with the mule Skinner who are used to dealing with the mules, didn't like the idea of dealing with the camels and maybe the camel's ??? a few of the horses, especially those horses that weren't used to them now, Bill actually did. By here at Elmo in 1857 as the rest of this group did in fact, he made his way on up to Fort Defiance to meet up with his friend Kit Carson and met back up with the group in Zi, but he definitely made his way through here in 1850 - nine now Bill would eventually be named the surveyor General by Abe Lincoln for California and Nevada basically because he wanted strong Union folks over in those new territories bill was also good friends with Ulysses S Grant He actually kept Hess During the civil war and his horse farm over in Maryland be also bought a huge track of land over in California known as Fort to home the last time it was sold back in the 19 sixties it was larger than the state of Rhode Island, the single largest private land holding in the state of California. He also owned a House on Lafayette Square in Washington, DC, known as the Decatur House and back during Bill's day, it was the social place to be in Washington, DC bill across the United States from California to DC as many s 17 times nowadays Bill. Air Force bases maybe destroy your Clash ships as well as roads and libraries named after a pretty amazing man and another layer of history that we found out here at El Moro National Monument.
Description
Lt. Edward Beale's story helps tell the story of the time period of Westward Expansion.
Video Description - A ranger stands in front of a split rail fence and a juniper tree with the sandstone face of EL Morro behind.
Duration
4 minutes, 1 second
Date Created
07/05/2020
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