Essential Facts
- Joshua Pilcher was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, on May 15, 1790.
- He operated a hat shop in Nashville, Tennessee, for three years before moving to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1814.
- Pilcher became a partner in the Missouri Fur Company in 1819 and took over operations after Manuel Lisa died in 1820.
- He led fur trading expeditions, including one in 1823 that ended in disaster when the Blackfoot attacked.
- Pilcher temporarily served as an Indian agent during the Arikara War in 1823 and criticized the military actions taken by Colonel Henry Leavenworth against the Arikara.
- Pilcher was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs in St. Louis in 1838. He served until September 1841
- He died on June 5, 1843, in St. Louis and was buried in Christ Church Cemetery, St. Louis.
Significance
Joshua Pilcher is important to American History for his role in the Western Fur Trade. During his career, he developed strong relationships with Native American Indians, led trapping expeditions along the Missouri River and its tributaries, and established trading posts..
History
Pilcher’s Fur Trade Empire
- Joshua Pilcher controlled a Missouri River trading empire.
- His experience in the mercantile and banking industries helped him succeed.
- Pilcher employed 300 men and earned an estimated $25,000 annually from fur trading.
- He was President of the reorganized Missouri Fur Company.
- Pilcher succeeded Manuel Lisa, the company’s principal partner, who died in 1820.
Early Life and Business Ventures
Joshua Pilcher was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, on May 15, 1790. His family moved to Kentucky when he was young and later to Nashville, Tennessee.
- In Nashville, he owned and ran a hat shop for three years.
- Pilcher moved to St. Louis in late 1814.
- In St. Louis, he became associated with prominent figures such as Thomas Hart Benton and Stephen F. Austin.
The Missouri Fur Company
In 1819, Pilcher bought four shares (out of 30) in the newly formed Missouri Fur Company. He became a partner in the company alongside Manuel Lisa, Thomas Hempstead, Joseph Perkins, Andrew Woods, Moses Carson, John B. Zenoni, Andrew Drips, and Robert Jones. Pilcher took control of the company after Lisa died on August 12, 1820.
- Under Pilcher’s leadership, the company’s profits significantly increased.
- In 1821, the company established Fort Benton at the mouth of the Bighorn River.
Jones-Immel Expedition
In the spring of 1822, Pilcher sent an expedition to the Upper Missouri River. The expedition was led by two traders, Robert Jones and Michael Immel, and included “180 adventurers.”
- The successful expedition sent $25,000 worth of furs to St. Louis.
- A St. Louis newspaper called this the “first adventure to the Rocky Mountains.”
In May 1823, Jones and Immel set out from Fort Benton to trade with the Blackfoot Tribe. Pilcher instructed them to “…use every effort to obtain a friendly interview with the Blackfeet, to incur any reasonable expense for the accomplishment of that object, and to impress them with the friendly disposition of American citizens toward them, and with the true object of their visiting the country.”
The expedition, which was only 29 men this time, traveled to the Three Forks of the Missouri and eventually encountered a Blackfoot party of 38 men on May 17, 1823. The two groups camped together that night and seemed on friendly terms when they went their separate ways the next morning.
- On May 31, the expedition was near present-day Billings, Montana, when 400 Blackfoot warriors ambushed them.
- Seven men were killed, including Jones and Immel.
- The Blackfoot seized 35 packs of beaver furs, horses, and traps worth $15,000.
- The survivors returned to St. Louis, where they informed Pilcher of the attack.
On July 3, 1823, Pilcher reported the attack to Benjamin O’Fallon, the U.S. Agent for Indian Affairs: “My mountaineers have been defeated, and the chiefs of the party both slain; the party were attacked by three or four hundred Blackfoot Indians in a position on the Yellowstone River where nothing but defeat could be expected. Jones and Immell and five men were killed. The former, it is said, fought most desperately. Jones killed two Indians, and in drawing his pistol to kill a third, he received two spears to his breast. Immell was in front; he killed one Indian and was cut to pieces. I think we lost at least $15,000.”
- The loss was a severe blow to the finances of the Missouri Fur Company, which struggled to survive.
- Pilcher and other American fur traders blamed the aggression of the Blackfoot and other tribes on British traders, who they said instigated the attacks.
The Arikara War
The attack on the Jones-Immel Expedition occurred around the same time Arikara Indians attacked the Ashley-Henry Expedition, which was led by William Henry Ashley. In the aftermath, Ashley requested assistance from the military, and Colonel Henry Leavenworth arrived with a force made up of soldiers and Sioux warriors. Ashley’s trappers and trappers from the Missouri River Fur Company joined the force.
On August 9, 1823, Leavenworth attacked the Arikara villages but was forced to fall back. Leavenworth negotiated a treaty with the Arikara on August 11.
- Pilcher recruited Missouri Fur Company men for the mission and was present during the retaliatory attack on the Arikaras.
- Pilcher was temporarily appointed as an Indian Agent during the campaign.
Pilcher and Company
Pilcher built a new trading post at Bellevue, Nebraska, in 1822 or 1823. This became the Missouri Fur Company’s base of operations. However, Pilcher dissolved the company in 1824 due to the losses suffered in the attack on the Jones-Immel Expedition and the hostilities with the Arikara.
- He continued his involvement in the Western Fur Trade and organized a new company, known as Pilcher and Company, that operated in the Rocky Mountains and Canada.
- The company could not compete with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and the American Fur Company.
Northwest Expedition
In September 1827, Pilcher led 45 men from Council Bluffs toward the Salt Lake Valley. Their horses were stolen during the trip, and they spent the winter along the Green River. While most of the men returned to Council Bluffs, Pilcher and nine others “…commenced a tour to the northwest with a view of exploring the region of the Columbia river, to ascertain its attractions and capabilities for trade.” They set out for the northwest in late July of 1828.
- They stopped for the winter at Flathead Lake and resumed the journey in February 1829.
- Soon after, their horses were stolen, and they joined up with some St. Louis traders.
- All but one of Pilcher’s men abandoned the trip.
- They traveled to Fort Colville on the Columbia River with a British trader, arriving on September 1, 1829.
At Fort Colville, the Hudson Bay Company offered to help him return to the East. He accepted the offer and left the fort on September 21 with six men. It took roughly nine months to return to St. Louis. During the long trip, they stopped at different British trading posts. Pilcher was the first American to visit most of these posts.
Pilcher Buys Fort William
During the Third Green River Rendezvous, he worked for Pratte, Chouteau, and Company — formerly the American Fur Company — when he arrived at Fort William on June 20, 1836.
- Pilcher purchased the holdings of Fontenelle, Fitzpatrick, and Company, including Fort William.
- With the sale, competition for control of the Western Fur Trade was essentially reduced to Pratte, Choteau, and Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Superintendent of Indian Affairs
President Martin Van Buren appointed Pilcher as Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis in 1838. He replaced William Clark. Pilcher served in this role until September 1841.
Death
Pilcher passed away on June 5, 1843, and was buried in Christ Church Cemetery in St. Louis.
Biography
AHC Note — This biography of Joshua Pilcher is from the Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. I, edited by Allen Johnson and published by the American Council of Learned Societies in 1945. Minor text corrections have been made.
Joshua Pilcher (March 15, 1790–June 5, 1843) was a merchant, fur trader, and a Superintendent of Indian Affairs. The son of Joshua and Nancy Pilcher, he was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, to which his grandfather is said to have emigrated early in the 18th Century. Pilcher’s family moved to Fayette County, Kentucky, where his father died in 1810.
Pilcher studied medicine but drifted into the mercantile business and the fur trade. He moved to St. Louis from Nashville, Tennessee, about 1815. In St. Louis, he became a partner of Thomas F. Riddick, a relative, under the name of Riddick & Pilcher. Riddick was one of the directors of the Bank of St. Louis.
He joined in the reorganization of the Missouri Fur Company in 1819, and in 1820, he became president after the death of Manuel Lisa. In 1823, he was conspicuous in Henry Leavenworth’s campaign against the Arikara Indians.
Pilcher went on yearly expeditions into the Indian country and spent three years, from 1827 to 1830, with an outfit of 45 men trading and trapping, going up the Platte River to its source, and penetrating the country beyond the Rocky Mountains. On this journey, he was indefatigable and obtained information of great value for subsequent expeditions.
Joining the western department of the American Fur Company after the dissolution of the Missouri Fur Company, he took charge of their post near Council Bluffs in 1831. Pilcher spent many years working in the fur trade along the Upper Missouri and acquired a knowledge of the various tribes of that region.
In 1837, he became Indian Agent for the Upper Missouri tribes, having already served several years in a similar capacity for the Sioux of the Missouri, Cheyenne, and Ponca. When William Clark died, Pilcher succeeded him as Superintendent of Indian Affairs and served from March 4, 1839, until September 6, 1841.
- William Clark, an explorer and military leader, was one of the leaders of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803–1806). Clark was appointed Brigadier General of the Louisiana Territory in 1807 and served as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Upper Louisiana.
Pilcher was intelligent, industrious, and liberal. He was very enterprising and gave vitality to all undertakings he was engaged in. He was never married, though he was once on the verge of a duel over a young lady to whom he was engaged.
He was a devoted friend of Thomas H. Benton and consequently drew the opposition of Benton’s enemies. In 1817, he served as the “second” in Benton’s first duel with Charles Lucas.
Pilcher died in St. Louis of lung trouble. In his will, he left a $3,500 note for Benton’s daughter and his dueling pistols for Benton’s son.
- Benton’s daughter, Jessie Benton, married John C. Frémont, the famous explorer, Governor of the Arizona Territory, and the Republican Party’s first presidential candidate (1856). Frémont also served in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War.
