John Williams Gunnison

Captain John Williams Gunnison (born November 11, 1812 in Goshen , New Hampshire ; died October 26, 1853 near Hinckley , Utah ) was an American officer and explorer.

life and work

John Williams Gunnison was an officer in the American Corps of Topographical Engineers . He graduated from West Point Military Academy in Florida in 1837 and stayed there until 1838 to take part in the fight against the Seminoles . Between 1841 and 1849 he spent most of his time exploring the Great Salt Lake area in what is now Utah . In the region he came into contact with the Mormons and supported them in their demands for self-government. In 1852 he published The Mormons and the Great Salt Lake: A History of their Rise and Progress, Perculiar Doctrines, present Condition. 1852 to 1853 he returned to the Great Salt Lake with the order to explore a possible route for a railway line to the Pacific. He went to what is now Colorado , where both Gunnison and the Gunnison River are named after him. After he and his group dodged to circumvent a canyon south to Utah, they were greeted by a war party of the Ute belonging Pahvant attacked -Indianer. Gunnison was killed and mutilated in the attack along with seven other soldiers from his squad.

Honors

Memorial stone at the Gunnison Massacre Site

Several localities and geographic locations were named after Gunnison , including the cities of Gunnison in Gunnison County in Colorado, Gunnison in Utah, and Gunnison in Mississippi. In Colorado, the Gunnison River and the Gunnison National Forest were also named after him. The presumed birthplace of Gunnison in New Hampshire was opened in 1979 as Capt. John Gunnison House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Gunnison Massacre Site in Utah has been on the National Register since 1976.

Gunnison's prairie dogs ( Cynomys gunnisoni )

The American zoologist Spencer Fullerton Baird described a type of prairie dog in 1858 and named it after Gunnison as Cynomys gunnisoni . Gunnison's prairie dog is still considered an independent species among the prairie dogs. The Gunnison mugwort ( Centrocercus minimus ), however, did not get its common name directly from John Williams Gunnison, but from the county named after him.

supporting documents

^ ^A ^b "Gunnison" In: Bo Beolens, Michael Grayson, Michael Watkins: The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009; Pp. 170-171; ISBN 978-0-8018-9304-9 .
^ "Gunnison" In: Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson: The Eponym Dictionary of Birds. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014; o. S.

personal data
SURNAME	Gunnison, John Williams
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American officer and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH	November 11, 1812
PLACE OF BIRTH	Goshen , New Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH	October 26, 1853
Place of death	near Hinckley , Utah

[Beolens_et_al._2009-1] A ^b "Gunnison" In: Bo Beolens, Michael Grayson, Michael Watkins: The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009; Pp. 170-171; ISBN 978-0-8018-9304-9 .

[Beolens_et_al._2014-2] "Gunnison" In: Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson: The Eponym Dictionary of Birds. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014; o. S.