Popular History Of The Santa Fe Trail Is Wrong
Exaggerating the importance of William Becknell’s role and his relevance to the Santa Fe Trail distorts historical reality and perpetuates cultural beliefs that bolster Manifest Destiny and American exceptionalism.
Popular history — not to be confused with professional academic or scholarly history writing — would have you believe that commercial trade along the Santa Fe Trail began in Franklin Missouri in 1821. In this regard, popular history is wrong. Popular history would also have you believe that fur trapper William Becknell is the person who established the Santa Fe Trail. Wrong again. This intentionally narrow interpretation of American history presents an incomplete and culturally offensive historical narrative of the Santa Fe Trail.
James Baird (1767–1826) was an entrepreneur and frontiersman along the Santa Fe Trail. He is also my 4th great-grandfather on my father’s side. My middle name is Baird. My uncle’s name was Baird and his eldest son’s name is Baird. My grandfather’s name was Baird and his father’s middle name was Baird. James Baird has held the pinnacle of respect and adoration in my family for generations.
William Becknell (1787 or 1788–1865) was not the first to blaze, pioneer or discover the Santa Fe Trail. That person’s identity has been lost to history, although it is safe to assume that person is not of Euro-American ancestry. Becknell wasn’t even the first American explorer to make the journey. James Baird, Samuel Chambers and Robert McKnight formed a commercial trading company that left St. Louis Missouri in April 1812, nine years ahead of William Becknell.
Popular history exaggerates the importance of Becknell’s 1821 and 1822 trade ventures, conflating them with the creation or opening of the Santa Fe Trail. It is reported that William Becknell personally invested around $300 — approximately $7,866 in 2022 dollars- for his September 1, 1821 trade venture to Santa Fe. By contrast, the Baird, Chambers and McKnight commercial trade venture invested $100,000 -approximately $2,622,000 in 2022 dollars- only to have it all confiscated upon arrival, arrest and imprisonment in Mexico.
Popular history and The National Park Service would have you believe that trade along the Santa Fe Trail began in 1822 when William Becknell is said to have been the first to use wagons to travel to or from Santa Fe. An erroneous and unprovable claim. It is believed that wheel technology was known to exist in the Americas at least as early as the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, three hundred and twenty nine years before Becknell’s first departure for Santa Fe. Conestoga wagons from Pennsylvania were known to exist as early as 1717.
It’s impossible to prove and too implausible to believe that Becknell’s party was the first to use wheeled transportation along these trade routes. Becknell’s use of mule or oxen-drawn wagons on the Santa Fe Trail was made possible by others who had done so before.
The burden of proof — that Becknell was the first to use wagons along the Santa Fe Trail — rests with those making such a bold and illogical claim.
Another rationalization regularly touted by Becknell boosters to bolster their version of popular history is that Becknell’s 1821 trip was the first “successful” or “legal” trade venture to Santa Fe. By 1821, trade along the routes that would later become known as the Santa Fe Trail had been occurring for centuries, during times when trade was considered legal and times when it was not.
Cherry-picking a date in the past to establish an artificial timeline to support a specific narrative contorts historical truth.
Why is William Becknell so widely credited with establishing the Santa Fe Trail? Why is Becknell’s role elevated above Baird, Chambers, McKnight or any of the other pioneers or Native Americans who came before him? How could the popular history of the Santa Fe Trail be so wrong?
One answer is the dearth of minority historians — American Indians, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans — to research and write about American history from a multicultural perspective. According to the American Historical Association “The history world especially lacks American Indian input. To date, it appears that no more than two dozen Indians have earned a doctorate in history, meaning that most of the literature in the field of Indian history has been conceptualized by non-Indian scholars, including many who never visited the people they study. Consequently, native viewpoints and insights about historical processes, although growing in number, are dwarfed by the abundance of writings by non-Indians.”
The Becknell historical narrative regarding the Santa Fe Trail continues to be written and propagated by non-Indians. This intellectually dishonest view of American history ignores and disrespects Native American experiences, reinforces popular history and supports the pernicious belief that Manifest Destiny justified settler colonialism.
City of Santa Fe Historian Refutes The Popular History
When asked “Why is Becknell credited with establishing the Santa Fe Trail in 1821 and not Baird, Chambers and McKnight in 1812, or any of the other pioneers who came before?” Valerie Rangel, City of Santa Fe Historian, IV replied:
“…the Santa Fe Trail was not “discovered” by colonists but was a well-known and traveled route that was in use for several hundreds of years prior Spanish and European settlement:
“The route that would become the Santa Fe Trail had been traveled for many centuries by Native American groups exchanging goods, ideas, stories and culture with each other. Under Spanish rule, trade between Native Americans and others outside of New Mexico was outlawed; those that traveled to Santa Fe attempting to trade were quickly detained then sent home. Prior to 1821, trade between the Great Plains Indians and early settlers of the Texas panhandle was common.”
The Spanish Colonial Museum also notes this fact;
“The Native Trails section is displayed in the hallway nicho at the beginning of the tour.
For millennia, Native peoples of the Southwest traveled trails from Mexico, the Pacific coast, and the Plains. As Puebloan cultures became established between 800 and 1100 AD, they traded turquoise, salt and pottery for more exotic items such as conch shells, parrot and macaw feathers, copper bells, chocolate and buffalo hides. After their arrival in the 16th century, Spanish immigrants relied on the Pueblos to supply them with cooking pots, textiles, and produce, while Pueblo peoples sought iron tools, livestock, and clothing. Trade and travel along the Native trails were essential to survival.”
Therefore, I do not believe that Becknell should be credited with establishing the trail.”
Santa Fe Trail Scholar And Historian Refutes The Popular History
On June 23, 2009, James Riding In, Ph.D. submitted a meticulously researched and detailed report to the National Park Service titled “American Indians And The Santa Fe Trail.” In the “Conclusion And Recommendations” section (pg. 349) of his report Riding In wrote in part:
“A major finding of this research is that nineteenth-centuries concepts avowing the superiority of Euroamericans and inferiority of Indians continue to influence historiography. The existing body of scholarship has not been attentive to and inclusive of the wide range of Indian interactions with the trail. Supercilious publications rarely discuss the trail as being part of a larger process of colonialism that brought cultural change, harm, and destruction to Indigenous America. Indian experiences with the trail rightly deserve to be incorporated in this story in an honest and critical manner that moves well beyond the norm of superficiality.
This research shows that the National Park Service must move beyond the old paradigm that privileges white American historical actors, scholarship, and worldviews. The first place to begin is with the creation of an Indigenous landscape that captures the rich diversity and divergent histories of Indian nations. Another step is to sponsor studies that tell the story in ways that conform to Indian realities. Moreover, Indian conflict with the trail’s traffic must be conceptualized as a legitimate response to an invasion that endangered their lands and lives, but that historical circumstances and cultural lifestyles precluded overt military resistance by many Indian nations. Finally, the telling of these stories must acknowledge that although the trail produced premature deaths, suffering, oppression, and displacements, Indians have survived the onslaught with elements of their sovereignty and cultures in place. These stories must be told in studies and at national historic sites and landmarks.”
Popular History Of The Santa Fe Trail Was Manufactured
Evidence of the flimsy foundation propping up the popular history of the Santa Fe Trail is apparent by using Google Books Ngram Viewer. According to Google “When you enter phrases into the Google Books Ngram Viewer, it displays a graph showing how those phrases have occurred in a corpus of books (e.g., “British English”, “English Fiction”, “French”) over the selected years.”
Let’s look at a graph comparing the search phrases: Santa Fe Trail, William Becknell, James Baird (1800–2019)
Book references to Santa Fe Trail were nearly non-existent prior to the 1880s with most mentions occurring in 1939; long after trade along the trail had been disrupted by the Santa Fe Railway Company on February 9, 1880. 1939 was also the year Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Marian Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall.
Now here’s a graph comparing the search phrases: William Becknell, James Baird (1800–2019)
Book references comparing William Becknell to James Baird show that references to Becknell were far less common than those of Baird and nearly non-existent prior to 1899 with most mentions of Becknell occurring in 1985, one hundred and twenty years after his death.
For more than a century, the people and organizations peddling the manufactured historical narrative — exaggerating the importance of William Becknell’s relevance to the Santa Fe Trail — have been successful at shaping popular history. Non-profit organizations including Daughters of the American Revolution and Santa Fe Trail Association have spent many years propagating the Becknell yarn, erecting monuments, markers, plaques, producing newspapers, newsletters, magazines, books and educational material. On the internet you can find a plethora of podcasts, a variety of videos and a wide range of websites all promoting the big Becknell lie.
Last year the Santa Fe Trail Association held an event commemorating what they claim was the bicentennial of the opening of the Santa Fe Trail; Santa Fe Trail 200: 200th Anniversary.
Challenging 124 Years Of Popular History
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain, once wrote: “How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again.” Descendants of James Baird can attest to that truth. For 124 years, descendants of James Baird have attempted to correct the popular history of the Santa Fe Trail.
On January 10, 1898, James W. Baird of Louisville, Kentucky -grandson of Santa Fe Trail frontiersman James Baird- wrote a letter to Colonel Henry Inman regarding his book “The Old Santa Fe Trail: The Story of a Great Highway.” James Baird provided many details of his grandfather’s travels.
In February 1903, James W. Baird wrote to Marjory Dawson of the Missouri Historical Society about his grandfather’s life and activities, including his birth in 1767, his early training, his friendship with explorer Zebulon Pike and his travels along the Santa Fe Trail which included encounters with Native Americans.
On December 20, 1913 James W. Baird wrote a letter addressed to John Van Brunt, an early Kansas City, MO architect. Baird’s letter titled Becknell or Baird? was referenced on page 23 of the November 1991 issue of Wagon Tracks (Volume 6, Issue 1), the quarterly publication of the Santa Fe Trail Association. James W. Baird wrote:
“A friend has shown me the proposed Tablet designed by you to commemorate the establishment of the “Santa Fe Trail.” I write this to protest against crediting “William Bicknell” with establishing the Route. My Grandfather James Baird organized the very first Co. to open trade with “Santa Fe.” The Route being given him by Lieut Zebulon Pike upon his return from his search for the head waters of Red River. If anyone is to be credited Pike is the man.”
The Best Response To The Fire Hose Of Falsehood Is The Fire Hose Of Truth
The United States of America has always been a violent nation. The deplorable doctrine known as Manifest Destiny corrupted the heart and stained the soul of America. A big lie repeatedly told and eagerly embraced to rationalize and justify horrific, immoral behavior for personal gain. When will there be a good-faith social reckoning for the victims of countless crimes against humanity committed by people who profited from Manifest Destiny? Without such a reckoning, how can the United States of America ever be a great nation?
The United States of America’s willful social amnesia regarding the atrocities committed against Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and others over the past four centuries prevents real redemption. It also fuels religious and racial intolerance and violence. Our continued refusal to self-assess and atone for past national transgressions places the country on an accelerated path of self destruction. We can do better. We can choose a different path.
After the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers in the Spring of 2020, waves of protest erupted across the country. Protesters were understandably angry and furiously frustrated over the United States of America’s horrendous legacy of racial injustice and the ongoing problem of widespread police brutality against minorities.
In the wake of these protests, a number of Confederate symbols and monuments were replaced or taken down by angry protesters and by state and local governments. In December 2020, Virginia removed its statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the U.S. Capitol, replaced by a statue honoring Barbara Johns, a civil rights activist. On September 8, 2021 Virginia removed its 130 year-old 12-ton statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s Monument Avenue. While the arc of social justice appears to be bending in the right direction, these events are not nearly enough to stem the tide of violence in our society.
Culturally offensive symbols and monuments divide people and seek to rewrite history. Concerted, deceitful efforts by groups like Daughters Of The American Revolution to cast their perverted ideology in bronze and stone may be enduring but can not change American history unless we allow it.
Racism and religious extremism have flourished in this country for hundreds of years. To remove or replace culturally offensive symbols and monuments is not enough. Rather than accept or ignore these divisive symbols, why not use them as learning opportunities? We can choose to abolish racism and religious extremism. It is possible. But only if enough people believe it is possible and seek to correct the popular history that propels these negative forces in our society.
Help Correct The Popular History Of The Santa Fe Trail
Google is the greatest super spreader of Santa Fe Trail misinformation. A Google search for who pioneered the Santa Fe Trail returned the following results page.
Google’s search results are displaying historically and factually incorrect information for this and related search phrases like father of the Santa Fe Trail and when did the Santa Fe Trail begin. It’s not that Google is intentionally misleading its users, but that its search algorithm is indexing and elevating web sites that are spreading the false and culturally offensive historical narrative of the Santa Fe Trail. The most authoritative source that Google is indexing for these search results is the National Park Service website.
“The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.”
― Mark Twain
The most effective way to respond to the fire hose of falsehood targeting the Santa Fe Trail is to submit your feedback to Google for search results, featured snippets and Google Map listings that display misleading or culturally offensive information. The more people asking Google to modify its search algorithm — to demote web content that references William Becknell as the father, founder, leader, owner or any other inaccurate descriptor regarding the Santa Fe Trail, other than traveler, explorer, trader, etc. — the more likely Google is to take notice. Here’s how to report a Google featured snippet.
Consider adding ratings and reviews on Google Maps for Santa Fe Trail markers, monuments, statues, sculptures and organizations dishonestly depicting William Becknell and the Santa Fe Trail. This opportunity can have a profound impact on how people perceive and respond to these divisive symbols. More people will see this content than will ever actually visit most of these sites.
The U.S. National Park Service and National Scenic Byways Program are also responsible for spreading the misleading historical narrative about William Becknell and the Santa Fe Trail. If you would like to help correct the popular history of the Santa Fe Trail, consider contacting the National Park Service asking them to:
- inventory and direct the removal of all incorrect, inaccurate, misleading or culturally insensitive/offensive information about the Santa Fe Trail from all markers, plaques, monuments, educational materials, websites, publications, products, marketing materials produced, maintained or funded by The National Park Service; and
- direct the removal of all reference to William Becknell as father, founder, leader, owner or any other inaccurate descriptor regarding the Santa Fe Trail, other than traveler, explorer, trader, etc., and to remove hyperlinks to such information; and
- cease funding for organizations that spread misleading or culturally insensitive content about the Santa Fe Trail.
To submit your feedback to the National Scenic Byways Program, contact the Federal Highway Administration Executive Secretariat.
Copyright © 2022 Russell Baird Tewksbury.
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