William Emory was the son of Thomas and Anna Maria (Hemsley) Emory
born at Bramton (also known as Poplar Grove Estate) in Queen
Anne's County, Maryland, on September 7, 1811. In 1827, he enrolled at the
United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1831.
In 1838, he married the great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin,
Matilda Wilkins Bache, of Philadelphia.
In the Army, he became a member of the "Topographical Engineers Corps",
and he specialized in surveying our northern border with Canada and our
southern border with Mexico. He surveyed the United States-Mexican border
in 1846.
He titled his report about the southwest of the United States
Notes of a Military Reconnoissance. His "Notes" has details of
a military expedition from Bent's Fort through what we know today as
New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. He was assigned as a
"topographical engineer" attached to Colonel Kearney's
Army of the West.
Lt. Emory kept daily entries of the progress of the march--including
details of the terrain, trails, rivers, villages, forts, pueblos,
prehistoric ruins, animals, plants, Indians and Mexicans, and the
many problems the soldiers had with the wagons and with the cannons.
He faithfully recorded latitude and longitude data, and data he
later used to prepare detailed maps. In 1848, he submitted his report
through channels to the Thirtieth Congress. Shortly later, it was decided
to publish his "Notes" as many citizens were interested in and concerned
about the vast expanse of the then largely unexplored Southwest.
Lieutenant Emory had a long Army career--he was promoted several
times and completed other important assignments. Here the focus is on that
part of his "Notes of a Military Reconnoissance" dealing with the his
participation in a march from Bent's Fort to Steeple Rock, New Mexico,
in what is now (2003) New Mexico, southwest United States.