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CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 355

At Fort Osage in Missouri, early in 1832, while on one of these trips, he fell in with Captain B. L. E. Bonneville of the Seventh Regiment Infantry, U. S. A., then under leave of absence from Alexander McComb, Major General, command- ing the army, to enable him to explore the country to the Rocky Mountains and beyond, and whose remarkable adven- tures, while on that exploration, the genius of Washington Irving has so felicitously recorded in his enchanting works.

The casual meeting led to the enlistment of Walker as "sub- leader" or lieutenant in Bonneville's expedition, and he is thus sketched by Irving: "J. R. Walker was a native of Ten- nessee, about six feet high, strong built, dark complexioned, brave in spirit, though wild in manners.

He had been for many years in Missouri on the frontier; had been among the earliest adventurers to Santa Fe, where he had gone to track beaver, and was taken by the Spaniards.

Being liberated, he engaged with the Spaniards and Sioux Indians in a war against the Pawnees; then returned to Mis- souri and had acted by turns as sheriff, trader, trapper, until he was enlisted as a leader by Captain Bonneville."

At the same time was enlisted M. S. Cerre, an experienced Indian trader, and who had also been upon an expedition to Santa Fe. He, too, was engaged as a fellow-leader with Walker.

Bonneville's party left Ft. Osage May 1st, 1832, one hun- dred and ten men strong, the greater portion of whom were skilled hunters and trappers, inured to mountain life, and experienced in fighting Indians.

Captain Bonneville departed from the accustomed mode of using only animals for pack-trains, and outfitted also with wagons.

The American Fur Company and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company were at that time the competitors and rivals in the valuable traffic in furs and peltry through the wild regions of the West, and with the employes of these companies Walker and Cerre were well acquainted, as the two were likewise