Kearny, Stephen Watts

Kearny, Stephen Watts, 1794–1848, American general in the Mexican War, b. Newark, N.J. At the beginning of the Mexican War he was made commander of the Army of the West with the rank (June, 1846) of brigadier general. With about 1,600 men he marched over the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico, entered the city of Santa Fe without opposition, and organized a civil government for the territory. On his way to join the forces of Commodore Robert F. Stockton in California he was besieged at San Pasqual, where he was wounded and suffered casualties of a third of his command before being rescued by relief forces from Stockton. After several skirmishes the combined forces reached Los Angeles and occupied the town. A dispute arose between Kearny and Stockton as to the chief command, and Col. John C. Frémont, appointed civil governor of California by Stockton, refused to obey Kearny's orders. When orders from Washington sustained Kearny, he had Frémont court-martialed. Kearny was military governor of the territory until the end of May, 1847. Afterward he went to Mexico, where he was governor of Veracruz and then of Mexico City for brief periods in 1848. Fort Kearney, erected in 1848 on the Platte River in what is now Nebraska, was named for Kearny but misspelled.

Bibliography

See biography by D. L. Clarke (1961).

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Kearny, Stephen Watts

(born Aug. 30, 1794, Newark, N.J., U.S.—died Oct. 31, 1848, St. Louis, Mo.) U.S. Army officer. He served in the War of 1812 and later on the western frontier. At the outbreak of the Mexican War, he was ordered to seize New Mexico and California. Using diplomacy to persuade Mexican troops to withdraw, he marched unopposed to Santa Fe, where in 1846 he proclaimed a civil government for the province. Heading to California, he was informed that the conquest had already been completed by Robert F. Stockton and John C. Frémont. He arrived to discover that Mexican rebels had retaken most of the province. He then joined forces with Stockton to defeat the rebels in 1847. After initial opposition from Frémont, who had persuaded Stockton to appoint him governor, Kearny pacified the rest of California and established a stable civil government. He was then sent to Mexico, where he died of yellow fever.

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Kearny, Stephen Watts (1794–1848) soldier; born in Newark, N.J. The youngest of 15 children, he joined the army as the War of 1812 approached. From 1819 on he served on the western frontier, where he achieved a reputation as a tough disciplinarian. He conquered the territory of New Mexico shortly after the outbreak of war with Mexico, and then led a small force westward. After joining in the fighting that led to the taking of Los Angeles in early 1847, he engaged in jurisdictional conflicts with other Americans in California. He later served as military governor of Vera Cruz and Mexico City, and died of a disease he contracted there.