Untitled Flashcards Set

Jedediah Smith - Trapper and hunter who discovered the wagon route South Pass

William Becknell - Frontier trader known as the "Father of the Santa Fe Trail"

Jason Lee - Methodist missionary who was the first to take the gospel to the Indians of the Northwest

Dr Marcus Whitman and Rev. Henry Spaulding - The missionaries to the Indies

John Sutter - Swiss settler who obtained a large grant from the Mexican government of California

William Taylor - Missionary to California; became known as the Street Preacher for his ministry to San Francisco

Santa Anna - Declared himself the military dictator of all Mexico resulting in a civil war

Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett - Inventor of the Bowie knife who died at the Alamo

James K. Polk - Democratic president

Stephen Kearney - General who led American troops overland along the Santa Fe Trail to San Diego in the Bear Flag Revolt

Zachary Taylor - Defeated Santa Anna in the Mexican War; known as "Old Rough and Ready"

James Gadsden - Negotiated the purchase of Gadsden Purchase

South Pass - Wagon route to the Oregon Country

Fort Vancouver - Only sizable settlement in Oregon Country controlled by the British

Independence, Missouri - Starting point for the long trail westward to the Pacific coast

Independence Rock - Granite landmark that westward-bound wagon trains usually reached by July

Alamo - Fortified Spanish mission in San Antonio where Texas soldiers fought to the death for Texas liberty

Lone Star Republic - Republic of Texas

Veracruz - Sight of first major amphibious landing of American forces

Great Migration - A train of 120 wagon with 1,000 pioneers to go to West

Bear Flag Revolt - Won California its independence from Mexico

Battle of San Jacinto - Great Texan victory over Mexico that won Texas its independence

Annexation - To take a land and make it part of one's own country

Mexican War - War between Mexico and the United States fought over the disputed Texas boundary

Battle of Buena Vista - Battle where General Taylor soundly defeated Santa Anna's army in February 1847

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - It was signed by the Mexican government in 1848

Mexican Cession - Territory gained by the United States including California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming

Gadsden Purchase - Acquisition of desert land in southern Arizona and New Mexico for the planned Southern Pacific Railroad