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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

JEDIDIAH SMITH-MISSIONARY AND MOUNTAIN MAN

GREETINGS and a WARM HELLO MY CO-LABORERS IN CHRIST. 
  This month's posting is written by COL Ken Lawson and features the life and work of Jedidiah Smith.  Jedidiah was a huge influence in opening up the wild west in the early to middle 1800's for settlers and Christian missionaries.  While much is written about his exploits as a Mountain Man, Army Scout and Pioneer from secular writings, his testimony as a Christian is hardly mentioned.  HOwever, the whole story of this man is told in this article.  This is worth reading and reminds us of how God can use anyone in any place for the greater good.  A big thank you to Chaplain Lawson for this good read.

  In the second part, I have put the Bibliography for the last two articles on Christians in the Roman Legion.  If you are interested in this resource and further study, feel free to use them. 

+++We need more articles, sermons and book reports for future postings.  If you have something that you would like to share that has something to do with Chaplain ministry, please forward it to me at:  wayne.freiberg@navy.mil.  God bless. Chaplain Freiberg

 
Jedediah Smith: Mountain Man, Military Scout, Missionary



Introduction:

The name Jedediah Smith is popular today in many state parks, historic sites, and the names of rivers, towns and valleys throughout the American west. Almost every United States map printed in the 1800s and early 1900s was based on his explorations from Oregon to Texas. He was a classic mountain man, a person who frequently lived alone or in a small group in the wilderness as a trapper, hunter, and guide. Yet unlike typical mountain men, Jedediah Smith was educated, articulate, and a gentleman. He never married. He was hired by the U.S. Army as a scout and given the rank of Captain. Throughout his life he was known as a devout Christian. He was killed by Indians at age 32 along the Sante Fe Trail in the modern state of New Mexico.    

Of Jedediah Smith it was stated, “Jedediah Smith, the Bible carrying mountain man and fur trapper, explored and mapped most of the Far West in the 1820s, from Colorado and Wyoming to Utah, California and Oregon.”[1] An 1832 eulogy in the Illinois Monthly called Jedediah Smith “a man whom none could approach without respect, and whom none could know without esteem.” And as a mountain man, explorer and trapper, “Jedediah Smith was doubtless the greatest pathfinder of them all.”[2]   

Early Life:

Jedediah Smith was born in Jericho, New York in 1799. His ancestors were puritans from Massachusetts of French Huguenot ancestry. In rural New York he was raised in a devout Methodist home. He and his family supported revivals and were a part of the Second Great Awakening in America. Methodist circuit riding preachers taught a deep respect of the Bible to the family. Jedediah was a bright boy and was tutored by a local physician, Dr. Titus G.V. Simons, who taught him English and Latin and gave him a copy of the Journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jedediah was the sixth of fourteen children.  As a boy his large family continually moved west to take advantage of cheap land on the frontier. As a lad he moved from New York, to Pennsylvania to Ohio. It was said that he carried the Lewis and Clark Expedition book with him at all times.

By age 12 Jedediah Smith, called “Diah” by his family and friends, was tall and slender with a youthful zest for life. He had “a restless interest in the world and a thirst for knowledge.”[3]

At age 13 Jedediah sought employment to help provide for his financially struggling family in Ohio. He continued to study with Dr. Simons while home, but began to be away from home for weeks or months at a time working outdoors on freight boats on the Great Lakes. His family had little money and he felt a lifelong obligation to support his parents and his siblings. His desire to live and work outside in the beauty of God’s creation was a lifelong passion. As a teenager, Smith seriously practiced Christianity, attending meetings whenever possible. It was during these years he developed a lifelong practice of daily Bible reading.

First Adventures

At age 21 he left home for good. He had his Bible, his rifle, and the shirt on his back. One source stated, “His Bible and his rifle were his closest companions.”[4] He headed for Saint Louis, the key city in all westward expansion. He joined an expedition exploring the source of the Missouri River, seeking information on trapping, hunting, and Indians. This was the first of many journeys made into the American wilderness over the next ten years. In his short lifetime, Smith would travel more extensively in unknown territory than any other mountain man. He travelled in the central Rockies, then down to Arizona, across the Mojave Desert and into California making him the first American to travel overland to California through the southwest route. In an amazing journey, he travelled from California through the Utah Desert in temperatures that were so hot the men had to bury themselves in the sand to keep cool.

Mountain men of that day were known as drinkers, gamblers, and fornicators. They were a rough and uneducated bunch, uncomfortable in civilized society. This was not the case with Jedediah Smith. He was educated, modest, and temperate. No profanity came from his mouth. His honesty and morals were unquestioned. At the end of a long day of hiking in the mountains he would light a fire, cook food, and spend the evening reading his Bible and singing hymns. His fellow mountain men thought his religion strange, but his genuineness won them over. Further, none could question his talents as a scout or his endurance on the trail.

In 1822 Jedediah Smith became a member of a joint military/civilian exploration under General William H. Ashley and the American Fur Company. This friendship between Smith and General Ashley lasted until Smith’s untimely death. General Ashley Smith was a seasoned military man and politician, eager to make money by taming the western wilderness. Now Jedediah Smith learned to hunt buffalo and trap beaver. They met up with Sioux Indians and other tribes but there was no hostility. They reached the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the Yellowstone River. On the return trip the combined military/civilian exploratory party was attacked by Indians. Under General Ashley the men fought bravely, but thirteen white men were killed. Jedediah Smith was unhurt, he was ferocious in hand-to-hand combat, and his bravery was noted by General Ashley.  

Upon their return to Saint Louis, another exploratory party was formed under General Ashley, with Jedediah Smith serving as a Captain of scouts in the U.S. Army. From 1823 to 1825, Smith and his party travelled and explored and wintered in the unexplored Rocky Mountains. They lived in simple huts and hunted to survive. During this trip Jedediah Smith was attacked and mauled by an enormous grizzly bear. While looking to trade for fresh horses with the Crow Indians, the grizzly bear attacked Smith.  His ribs were crushed and the bear had his head in its mouth while Smith slashed and stabbed at the bear with his knife. Other members of the exploratory party came to the rescue and the bear retreated. Smith’s scalp and ear were nearly ripped off, hanging on by a piece of flesh. Smith had some basic medical training from his time at home received under Dr. Titus Simons. Smith instructed his friend to sew his scalp, ear and the side of his face back in place, all without anesthesia. He would drink no alcohol to numb the pain. While his head, ear and face were being repaired he sang hymns and quoted the Bible. For the rest of his life, Jedediah Smith wore his hair long and parted on one side to hide the deep scars from the grizzly bear attack.    

National Reputation

By the mid-1820s, the name of Jedediah Smith was common throughout the western United States and throughout the Rocky Mountain region. In many ways he was the stereotypical mountain man - energetic, reclusive, able to survive in all kinds of weather; and capable of protecting and guiding those less skilled in exploratory expeditions. What were not typical of Jedediah Smith were his religious beliefs. When in a town or village he always cleaned himself up and attended church. When visiting pioneers in the wilderness he often shared a meal with them and led in a simple Bible study and hymn sing. As one write stated,     

In the annals of his fellow mountain men and their more civilized contemporaries, the record is clear and consistent concerning Smith's unmatched leadership, exceptional courage, and unblemished Christian character. His closest compatriots said he made religion "an active principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce him." His own journals and letters are full of candid, self-effacing confessions of faith and spiritual need. Biographer Alson J. Smith said Smith "was something of an anachronism on a lusty frontier of which it was said that God was careful to stay on his own side of the Missouri River. He was a devout Methodist who did not smoke or drink or use the profanity that was almost the lingua franca of the mountain men. No woman, no matter how attractive, was ever invited to share his bed.                                                        A man of Christian conscience as tall and unmoving as the mountains he climbed, Jedediah Smith is truly one of America's great western heroes and Christian models.[5]

By the mid-1820s Smith was the most sought after mountain man in the American west.  He went into private business as a wholesaler of furs. He made a trip to California through the Rocky Mountains along the Colorado River, in 1826-1827. He made a second trip to California along a different route in 1827-1828.  He then explored into Oregon Territory.  In 1829-1830 Jedediah Smith was exploring in Blackfeet territory in the great plains of Montana. In all of these adventures he had a small contingency of army soldiers present, both for protection but especially for map making, with Smith as their Captain. 

  A sketch of Jedediah Smith, c. 1830.

Jedediah Smith never married. While away for years at a time his heart still longed for the Christian home of his youth. As one author remarked,

The devotion of Smith to God, the faith and his family was reflected in his December 24, 1829, letter to his parents from the Wind River on the east side of the Rockies: “It is a long time since I left home and I feel the need of the watch and care of a Christian Church - you may well suppose that our society is of the roughest kind. Men of good morals seldom enter into business of this kind. I hope you will remember me before the throne of grace.”                                                                                                Jedediah Smith was an adventurous young man, but he was no shiftless runaway. High on his list of reasons for facing the daunting challenges of the unmapped west was providing needed income for his aging parents. He wrote home when he could, sending money to his father and mother and making arrangements for their care as they grew older and more infirm. He also saw to the housing and schooling of his minor brothers and children.                                                                                        To his elder brother Ralph he wrote, "It is that I may be able to help those who stand in need that I face every danger - it is for this that I traverse the mountains covered with eternal snow - it is for this that I pass over the sandy plains in the heat of summer, thirsty for water. It is for this that I go for days without eating and am pretty much satisfied if I can gather a few roots, a few snails, or, much better a piece of horse flesh or a fine roasted dog. Let it be the greatest pleasure that we can enjoy to smooth the pillow of [our parent's] age and as much as in us lies, take from them all cause of trouble."                                                                        The sum of money Jed sent to the family at the time of this letter was $2,200, no small pocket- book in that day.[6]

Jedediah Smith faced excruciating hardships. As one author stated, “He took his religion with him into the wilderness and let nothing corrode it.” The author continued, “That would have made him merely curious, except that he took with him also indifference to privation and personal suffering, endurance beyond the point where other men died, courage and coolness under fire, intelligence that impressed everyone, leadership of a high order, and energy and drive enough for three men.”[7] Another stated, “Smith did not fit the stereotype of the typical mountain man. He never drank, never used tobacco, never boasted and was rarely humorous. Another rare quality was his stringent faith. Smith was very religious and often prayed and meditated.”[8]

         While life outdoors in the American west was never easy, it was especially difficult in winter. Jedediah Smith typically travelled in groups of several dozen men, from which he would explore alone and report back to the group. They had to kill both small game and larger animals to survive. In the brutally cold and snowy winters, if there was no hunting there was no eating. They travelled on horseback, on mules, or walked. When crossing frozen lakes and rivers they used primitive ice skates with sleds. Snow could be up to their necks. Mountain men like Jedediah Smith often led trappers, soldiers, cartographers, or traders, and was responsible for the lives of these men who did not have his survival skills in the brutal Rocky Mountains. Sometimes the men had to go days without food, or ate boiled tree bark in order to survive. Impervious to driving snow and furious blizzards, Smith was the most respected mountain man in a violent land.

         For most of his adult life, Jedediah Smith interacted with the U.S. Army. In 1822 he was made a Captain of Scouts, a title he held unofficially until his death. Whether on official military orders or not, Smith was respected by his men and was typically addressed as “Captain.”[9] He frequented dozens of military forts in the west, most notably Fort Leavenworth in Kansas Territory, Fort Atkinson in modern Nebraska, Fort Kiowa in Dakota Territory, and Fort Vancouver in modern Oregon. There is no telling of the hundreds or more lives of soldiers Jedediah Smith saved by skillfully guiding troops through mountain or desert wilderness areas.

Missionary Work

         Jedediah Smith was not a missionary in the traditional sense. He was not formally commissioned by a church; he was never ordained; and he worked as an explorer, trapper, cartographer, soldier, and military guide, not as a preacher. Nevertheless, history has identified him as a missionary pioneer, rightfully so.

         One way Smith served as a missionary was to his fellow mountain men and other explorers and pioneers he guided through the wilderness of the American West. Jedediah was outspoken to these rough and profane men, outspoken about his personal faith in Jesus Christ. Smith brought the gospel with him in his words and deeds along thousands of miles of wilderness trails. His hymn singing around the campfires at night, and his Bible reading to his often illiterate fellow mountain men, was examples of missionary activity.

         Jedediah Smith is credited with conducting the first Christian worship service in the current state of South Dakota. In this act he definitely was performing missionary activity. The context of this worship service is described as follows:

On May 31, 1823, early in his western adventures, Smith and his men were brutally attacked in their encampment just outside twin villages of the Ree Indians of South Dakota. Thirteen trappers died in the massacre and eleven wounded.                                                     At an impromptu burial of the dead, Jedediah stepped forward to pray to God whose judgment had come upon them this day and of whose love the survivors sorely needed. The graves were marked only with a log, for fear that the Indians would discover and unearth the bodies. This sad wilderness funeral has been called “the first recorded act of public worship in South Dakota.” It is boldly commemorated in a highly imaginative mural in the South Dakota State Capital.[10]

         As a mountain man, Jedediah Smith was aware that he was involved in both trailblazing through the wilderness, and in basic Christian missionary work. He saw the American West as a wilderness designed by the Creator God for the benefit of humanity. He spoke of “Divine Providence” that guided and protected him against dangers on the trail. In a letter addressed to his brother on January 26, 1831, Jedediah Smith writes of his motivation for life. He states that he exists and works and is driven by the idea that in God “we live, and move, and have our being,” and that on bended knee we ought to “offer up the grateful acknowledgement of his Dear Son,” knowing that, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Smith saw himself as an agent of the Lord, a spokesman, a tool of God useful to draw others to faith in Jesus Christ.[11] 

Another aspect of the missionary work of Jedediah Smith was that he opened the way for other full-time vocational missionaries to spread the gospel to western lands. In this aspect he is widely accepted as a missionary pioneer. For example, one historian credits Smith’s trailblazing in what was later the southwestern United States as a key factor in opening up the Santa Fe Trail to Protestant missionaries.[12] Another historian credits Smith with opening the Pacific Northwest to Protestant missionaries, stating that his pioneer work along the Oregon Trail was an encouragement for missionaries to follow in his footsteps.[13]  

         In affirmation of Jedediah Smith’s pioneer work as an explorer and missionary, the State of South Dakota placed a highway marker along a trail blazed by Jedediah Smith in the 1820s. The highway marker speaks of the missionary faith of Smith as robust and vital to his explorations.[14]

Death and Legacy

In 1831, Smith became involved in the supply trade known as the "Commerce of the Prairies." He was leading supply wagons for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company on the Santa Fe Trail in May, 1831 when he left the group to scout for water. He never returned. The remainder of the party proceeded on to Santa Fe hoping Smith would meet them there, but he never appeared.  A short time later, members of the trading party discovered a Mexican merchant at the Santa Fe market offering several of Smith's personal belongings for sale. When questioned about the items, the merchant indicated that he had acquired them from a band of Comanche hunters. 

According to Dale L. Morgan, Jedediah Smith's biographer, Jedediah was looking for water for the 1831 expedition when he came upon an estimated 15–20 Comanches. There was a brief face to face stand off until the Comanches scared his horse and shot Smith in the left shoulder. After gasping from the injury, Jedediah wheeled his horse around and with one rifle shot was able to kill their chief. The Comanches then rushed on Jedediah, who did not have time to use his pistols, and stabbed him to death with lances. Austin Smith, Jedediah's brother, was able to retrieve Jedediah's rifle and pistols that the Indians had taken and sold to Mexican traders.[15]

Jedediah Smith was a man who looked for the return of Jesus. He lived for another world. Whether by death or by Jesus returning to this earth, Smith was ready to meet his Lord and Savior. Smith saw the work of God in the physical creation of the wild American West. He celebrated his faith daily with Bible reading and prayer. He sang hymns along the wilderness trails. When in civilized areas he always cleaned up and attended church. One biographer stated, “It was said of Jedediah that he made the lone wilderness his place of meditation, the mountain top his altar, and that he made religion an active, practical principle, from the duties of which nothing could seduce him.”[16]

Jedediah Smith was not a typical mountain man. Following Methodist practices, Smith was known to be a reserved, pious man who often read the Bible, meditated, sang, and prayed. Smith never boasted, and having a stern personality, only rarely was known to have any sense of humor. Although there were numerous opportunities, Smith did not practice sexual relations with Native American women. Unlike contemporary mountain men, Smith never smoked, got drunk, or used profanity. Smith was known for his many systematic recorded observations on nature and topography. His writings were valued by missionaries who followed in his steps.  He even started a church in northern California, just below the Oregon border, called today after him the Smith River Methodist Church.

One account stated, “Smith was a slender man, perhaps six feet tall, with brown hair, blue eyes, and noticeable scars from his encounter with the grizzly. A practicing Methodist, he not only carried a Bible into the mountains but, unlike many of his companions, abstained from liquor and tobacco. His associates liked and respected him for his skill and courage.”[17] Another remarked, “Jedediah Smith was a young, religious, mountain man traveling more miles of unexplored territory than any other single mountain man.”[18]

The U.S. Army owed a lot to Jedediah Smith. His knowledge of moving large parties through difficult terrain became the standard practice of all army operations in the west. Smith typically recommended large groups travel with no more than 80 men. Each group was divided under four leaders who assisted the one commander. The rest of the soldiers were divided into groups of 8 or 10 under one man who saw to the needs of the others. This hierarchy was critical in issuing food, supplies and ammunition. It was also vital for the rotation of patrols, the maintaining of a sleeping schedule, and for personal accountability. Each man in the group was supposed to pack his bags in an exact way, and animals were to travel a certain distance apart to avoid ambushes. When arriving at camp for the night, each person, animal, and wagon was to be situated in an advantageous defensive position, with mounted scouts patrolling the perimeter. Every part of such a large traveling party had a specific assignment. As one author stated, “No officer in the United States Army then possessed this kind of practical knowledge.”[19]      

Jedediah Smith was a devout Christian from a Methodist background. His Bible and his rifle were said to be his closest companions. In his lifetime, Smith traveled more extensively in unknown territory than any other single mountain man. Most of the western slope of Wyoming's famous Teton Range is named the Jedediah Smith Wilderness after him. And the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail runs between Folsom and Sacramento, California, now the American River Parkway.

The adventures of Captain Jedediah Smith read like an adventure novel. He was in dozens of hand-to-hand fights with Indians; he was attacked three times by grizzly bears, once escaping by jumping in a river and once escaping as the bear hung on to the tail of his horse as the panicked horse sped away. One time he did not escape and he was nearly killed, scarred for life.

Jedediah Smith was a pioneer, an adventurer, a soldier, a missionary, but mostly a mountain man. But the guiding principle of his life was his Christian faith learned at home from his parents and from traveling Methodist preachers.  He never outgrew his faith. As a fighter, an explorer, a soldier, and a cartographer, he excelled. But his passion was his Bible and his savior. He died a brutal death but was assured of his salvation through his personal faith in Jesus Christ. 

There is a South Dakota Historical Marker dedicated to Jedediah Smith. The marker says, in part: “Jedediah Smith gained great fame in his short span of years as both frontiersman and explorer. Less emphasis is placed on his religious zeal though he was truly a missionary by example. A Methodist by faith, he carried a Bible with him wherever he went and practiced the Christian life among the rough men with whom he was thrown into daily contact Smith’s worth as an explorer, his resource-fulness as a leader, and his skill as a mountain man were only surpassed by his integrity and faith. Men spoke of him as a Christian gentleman. Those who knew him best said that he made religion “an active principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce him.”   



[1] “Jedediah Strong Smith: Mountain Man & Fur Trapper,” http://www.santafetrailresearch.com/cimarron-cutoff/jedediah-smith.html. Accessed March 24, 2011.,
[3] Dale Morgan, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, (New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1953), p. 25.
[6] “Jedediah Smith,” Christian History Timeline, p. 3.
[7] Dale Morgan, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, p. 8.
[9] Dale Morgan, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, pp. 67, 267.
[10] “Jedediah Smith,” Christian History Timeline, p.3.
[11] Dale Morgan, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, pp. 260, 359-360.
[12] Robert R. Hubach, Early Midwestern Travel narratives: an Annotated Bibliography, (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1998), p. 67.
[13] Carlos A. Schwantes, The Pacific Northwest: an Interpretive History, (University of Nebraska Press, 1996), p. 99.
[14] “Jedediah Smith-Missionary Explorer-South Dakota Historical Markers,” http://www.waymarking.com-/waymarks/WM1P6H_Jedediah_Smith_Missionary_Explorer.
[15] Dale Morgan, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, p. 330.
[16] Dale Morgan, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, p. 311.
[18] “Jedediah Smith,” mojavedesert.net/historical-figures/Jedediah-smith.html. Accessed March 24, 2011.
[19] Dale Morgan, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, p. 177.



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