Post
and discuss any diary or journal of the settlement of the Western USA.
Reminiscences
of a Trip Across the Plains in '45
By
Mrs. Burnett (nee Lucy Jane Hall)
America is still one of the most immigrated
places of today and this hasn’t changed since its discovery. As Thomas Paine
states in: Common Sense, America
offered a land in which anyone could “begin the world again.” (1776). This made
millions of people from all over the world want to immigrate to become a part of
this new way of life. America, as we know, was a land of cultural diversity,
political freedom, had an abundance of space and was full of natural resources.
American was viewed as, “the last, best hope of mankind”, as President Abraham
Lincoln; spoke in this message to the Congress in 1862. Mrs Lucy Burnett moved
westwards across the Plains to Oregon in 1845 and I will look to explore and
discuss her journey. Oregon was one of the last places to be settled in, as it
was part of the Pacific Coastal Range, on the Western Coast. It would have been
one of the last voyages as it was only a few years after, when the railroads would
have been finished in 1869.
Image 1 & 2: Henry J. Warre “Sketches in North America and the Oregon
Territory” (1848)
Sources from:
https://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/portals/pnw/VisualArts
/expeditions/warre.html
The website I took my source from is a
tourist site for Oregon. It features a vast amount of the State’s history. The
section, which presents Mrs Lucy Burnett’s account, also has a list of other
biographies from at the time of “early Oregon Pioneers”. The website looks to
share these stories, but further ideally wants readers to add to their current
material.
Mrs Lucy Burnett states her story rather
factually, with little to no emotion and is very to the point throughout. She
writes that her father was the captain of the train, implicating that she comes
from a wealthy family and continues that her and about “thirty wagons and about fifty
men” were making their journey across the Plains to Oregon, “The Dalles” specifically. Initially she creates an image of normality as she describes a wedding within
their travelling group and that they “dance[d] on the grass under the stars.”
This further implicates that certain members on this voyage would have been
wealthy to under go this journey in a particular luxury.
Interestingly Mrs Burnett, in comparison
to the rest of her account, goes into particular detail of an attack by the
Indians early into their trip. This could be due to it being one of her
first encounters with Indians. The captain offers peace by showing a “white
flag” and the journey continues.
At this point, the group decide to change
direction and listen to a member of the group called,Stephen Meek, who stated he knew a “much shorter route”
which was further from the “danger [of] the Indians”. A few weeks after
following Mr Meek’s directions, he announces that he is lost, and intriguingly Mrs Burnett says that the group were “alarmed, but not dismayed.” I personally find this
particularly fascinating as to many, this new land would have seemed easy once
arriving, however in reality the settlement and the expansion westwards for
many would have been difficult. Mrs Burnett seems to not be under any allusion
of this trip being easy.
She reinforces the idea of America as a
“wilderness” and that the West held challenges of an alien environment by
writing, “there was neither grass nor water”.
Mrs Burnett remembers the words from Mr
Meek “we are saved, we are saved! Thank God … for now I know the way.” This
would have been a momentous occasion of relief as the group could continue their route in the right direction. “Men, women and children were laughing and crying in turn.” Mrs Burnett writes that many people were sick and some had even died from the journey.
Mr Meek and his wife escaped during one evening and left the group to navigate for themselves. They
eventually came across “a white man and two Indians” who helped them arrive in
“The Dalles”.
What I found most fascinating with this
account is Mrs Hall’s perception of the Indians. With her fist encounter with
them, she describes in detail the Indians with, “they had fine horses. The men
were nude and painted.” This links to the watercolour drawing of an American
“Indian in Body Paint” by John White 1585-1586, where his interpretation is one
of the most famous representations of an Indian.
Image: John
White “Indian in Body Paint” 1585-86
Source from: http://guity-novin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/chapter-51-art-of-of-body-painting.html
Also, Mrs Burnett describes the Indians as non-violent, when they are confronted by the Captain with a white flag, they ran away “as fast as
their horses could go.” Furthermore, it was the Indians who helped them at the
end of their journey, “they made us understand that a man and a woman crossed
the river a short time before.” This portrays a different relationship that the
whites had with the Indians. The idea of “manifest destiny” being a disaster
for Indians, however from the interpretation from Mrs Burnett’s account, they
seem to be working together peacefully. Mrs Burnett also finished her account
by thanking the people that saved her as they “would have perished” having not
been found.
Mrs Lucy Burnett’s account is fascinating
as it’s from a third person account. She appears rather detached from her
story, almost as if it’s a time she doesn’t want to relive her journey. Many other American’s
would have experienced difficult settlement like Mrs Burnett, and some would have experienced much worse. Mrs
Burnett reinforces that the settlement within the West wasn’t as easy as many dreamed
it would be.
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