Signers

 

​Stephen Watts Kearny attended Columbia before joining the New York militia in 1812. After the War of 1812, he decided to make the military his career and was assigned to western posts. He participated in the 1819 and 1825 Atkinson expeditions. In 1826, he became the commander at Fort Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. He founded a dragoon r​egiment in the 1830s, which formed the foundation of the US Cavalry and earned him the nickname “Father of the US Cavalry.” While in command of his unit at Fort Leavenworth, he was promoted to colonel and commander of the Third Military Department. In the 1840s, Kearny’s troops escorted wagon trai​ns across the Great Plains. In 1846, his troops occupied New Mexico. The next year, wh​en the Mexican forces in California surrendered, he assumed command of California, causing conflict with Commodore Robert Stockton and Lieutenent Colonel John Fremont, who also claimed command. Kearny officially became the military governor of California in 1847. After appointing his replacement, he returned to Fort Leavenworth (his troops buried the remains of the Donner Party during the trip) and ordered the court martial of Fremont. Kearny was later the governor of Veracruz and Mexico City and was promoted to the rank of major general. He caught yellow fever in Veracruz and returned to St. Louis but died on October 31, 1848.​​ He was a member of the Chouteau/Clark kinship group.​