Caleb Greenwood

Who was Caleb Greenwood?

Caleb Greenwood was a Western U.S. fur trapper and trail guide. Born in Virginia, Greenwood took part in trapping expeditions organized by associates of John Jacob Astor in 1810 and by Manuel Lisa in 1812-1813. In 1815 he trapped independently on the Arkansas River, and later traveled up the Missouri River in the company of other trappers.

In 1824 trappers led by John Henry Weber, including Greenwood and Jim Bridger, crossed South Pass to trap on the eastern slope of the Wind River Mountains. Weber's party went to what is today Soda Springs, Idaho, and proceeded to a tributary of the Bear River to establish a winter camp. On May 23, 1825, Weber's party joined with a group led by Jedediah Smith in a confrontation with Hudson's Bay Company trappers led by Peter Skene Ogden. In July 1825, Greenwood joined the large group of trappers and traders at William H. Ashley's first great rendezvous on the Green River.

In the 1820s, Greenwood married Batchicka Youngcau, who was half French and half Crow Indian according to family records. The couple had seven children: John, Britton Bailey, Governor Boggs, William Sublette, James Case, Angeline, and Sarah Mojave. After 1834, he and a growing family lived for a time on a small farm in northern Missouri. After his wife's death in 1843, he again turned to the west. He died in California either in 1849 or 1850. A history of California published by Theodore Henry Hittell in 1898 reports on a conflict between Indians and white settlers, including Greenwood's family, in Coloma, California. This account identifies an additional Greenwood son, David Crockett Greenwood.