The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 69, July 1965 - April, 1966 Page: 324

rke aarqus de Casa--Calo,
)icolds de fidls, and the 80o5
Spaish 8xpedition rhrouqh East
rexas and Couisiaa
JACK D. L. HOLMES
VERITABLE RASH OF SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS BROKE OUT FOL-
lowing the Louisiana purchase in I8o3, in an attempt
to explore the rivers, valleys, plains, and mountains of
the vast terra incognita. Some of them are quite renowned-such
as the Lewis and Clark trek along the Missouri and Columbia,
or the Pike and Long expeditions out to the Great Plains. Less
prominent in the historical literature are those of Dunbar and
Hunter; Sparks, Freeman, and Humphry; and John Sibley.' Vir-
tually unknown and unsung, however, is the remarkable Spanish
boundary commission's expedition, which embarked in 1805, and
in less than four months of arduous travel had mapped and ex-
plored much of Louisiana and East Texas.
The genesis and execution of this expedition resulted largely
*This paper was read at the Southwestern Social Science Association meeting in
San Antonio on April 13, 1963. The writer acknowledges the financial support of the
Fulbright Commission which enabled him to accomplish most of the research for
the paper in Spain during 1961 and 1962.
1Report of the Marquis de Casa-Calvo and Lieutenant Colonel Jos6 Martinez de
Orossa, August 2o, 1804, Casa-Calvo to Pedro Cevallos, No. 19, confidential, July
18, 1805 (Papeles de Cuba, Archivo General de Indias, Seville), legajo 2368;
Herbert E. Bolton (ed.), "The Papers of Zebulon M. Pike, 18oo-18o7," American
Historical Review, XIII, 798-827; "A Description of the Washita River in Louisiana,
and the Country Bordering thereon, compiled from the Journals of William
Dunbar, Esq. & Dr. Hunter, 1804-1805," American State Papers, Class II: Indian
Affairs, I, 831-842; Isaac Joslin Cox, Early Explorations of Louisiana (Cincinnati,
1906); Randolph B. Marcy, Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, in the
Year 1852 (Washington, 1854), 2-3; M. M. Quaife, The Southwestern Expedition
of Zebulon M. Pike (Chicago, 1925); R. G. Thwaites (ed.), Original Journals of
the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-18o6 (8 vols.; New York, 1904-1905); F. J.
Teggart, "Notes Supplementary to any Edition of Lewis and Clark," American
Historical Association Annual Report, 19o8 (2 vols.; Washington, 19o9), I, 185-195.