Free The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War by Leonard L. Richards Page A

were young males. Never before had the United States seen such an exodus of young men, all heavily armed, most on the road for the first time in their lives. Did they understand what they were doing? Were they prepared for the rigors that lay ahead? No one knew for certain. Cartoonists, however, had a field day making fun of greenhorns heading west.

    Cartoon making fun of greenhorns going west. From H. R. Robinson, “A Gold Hunter on His Way to California, via St. Louis,” ca. 1849. Library of Congress.
    Only a few hardy souls traveled alone. Some traveled in small groups. Most joined pack trains or joint-stock wagon companies. These ventures involved laborious preparations, writing constitutions and bylaws, choosing captains, buying wagons and horses, studying Frémont’s reports. Usually the participants shared a common background and knew their fellow travelers before they got started. 24 And usually they formed companies that were much like the ones that sailed around Cape Horn. Most were joint-stock companies in which each member paid in a certain amount for the purchase of wagons, oxen, and provisions. Most had titles that included the words “mining” and “trading.” Most had “Rules of Regulation,” which more often than not prohibited swearing, drinking, and violation of the Sabbath. And most had elected officers with military titles.
    Initially, Josiah and Sarah Royce were not members of a large wagon company. They started out across Iowa with their own wagon and with just a few other emigrants. Traveling slowly, roughly three miles per hour, they joined up with several other “small companies.” It took them a full month to cross Iowa and reach Council Bluffs, which for them was the jumping-off point, the place where the adventure began. Here they found “a city of wagons” waiting to cross the river and head off into “Indian country.” And here they joined a “real” wagon train.
    While Sarah Royce watched, Josiah got together with other men at Council Bluffs and helped organize a company, much like a militia company, with a captain and subordinate officers. The men also agreed to a set of bylaws. The most troublesome issue was what to do on the Sabbath. Should it be a day of rest? Or a day of travel? The majority decided it was too late in the season to spend each and every Sunday in camp. They would rest only if the weather was bad. Finally, on June 10, a Sunday, it became their turn to cross the river. They set off for the Far West.
    The Royce wagon train followed the Mormon Trail, along the north side of the Platte River, to Fort Laramie. On the way, they encountered bands of Pawnees, Sioux, Cheyennes, and Poncas riding on scrawny horses back and forth across the grasslands, presumably hunting bison, although Sarah Royce never reported seeing a single buffalo. One band of nearly one hundred braves, some well armed and others carrying “indifferent weapons,” demanded a tribute from every emigrant passing through their land. The Royce train, brandishing rifles, revolvers, knives, and hatchets, refused to pay the tribute and forced their way past the “sullen” braves. Many expected more trouble ahead, a night attack perhaps.
    Yet while the Royces worried about marauding Indians, the natives were just a minor problem. The big problem was Asiatic cholera. It ravaged every part of the United States in 1849. It flourished in Boston and New York, on dirt farms in Missouri and Illinois, and on plantations in the Deep South. It was quick and deadly. Victims were suddenly overwhelmed with diarrhea, cramps, and spasmodic vomiting. That led to dehydration. Then their faces turned blue, their skin crinkled, their fingers and toes became dark and cold. Then, often within just a few hours, they were dead. Men and women who were robust and healthy in the morning were dead by nightfall. It was eerie, unsettling, unforgettable.
    The disease thrived wherever filth and want existed. Most vulnerable,