Page 6 - bonsal_efbeale1912

iv Note
Introductory
which would have been even more successful than
it was had cordial unfaltering support always been
forthcoming from Washington.
Beale was, rare combination! both pioneer and
empire builder. He was also a man of catholic
interests. He was beloved by Carson and by
Benton, a scout and a senator, and was esteemed
by men as widely apart as his life-long friend Gen
eral Grant and the Emperor Francis Joseph, at
whose court Beale represented all that was best in
his native land.
As a boy the writer worshipped the great Indian
fighter "Who won California" and held it against
innumerable Mexican lancers, and who had
brought home the gold in the Patent Office we used
to gaze at with wide-open eyes on Saturday after
noons; but, for whatever intimate touches the
following pages may reveal the reader is indebted,
as is the writer, to Rear-Admiral John H. Upshur
and to Rear-Admiral David B. Harmony, Beale s
distinguished shipmates, to Hon. Truxtun Beale,
a son of the pioneer and of California, and to the
late Mr. Harris Heap who wrote the narrative of
Beale s journey across the plains in 1853.

STEPHEN BONSAL.

BEDFORD, N. Y., January 6, 1912.