In the campaign against the Indians Blacks could be found on both sides: as guerrillas, warriors or scouts for the Comanches, Sioux, Seminoles, Creeks and Crows Indians or as infantrymen and calvarymen. One of the most famous mountain men was James P. Beckwurth or (sometimes called Beckwith). In 1798, James P. Beckwurth was born to a Virginia born mulatto blacksmith. In 1823 he joined General William H. Ashley's Rocky Mountain Fur Company in St. Louis, Missouri. He left the expedition in 1825 to live with the Crow Indians where he acquired a third wife and gained the reputation as a horse thief and a warrior. For six years Beckwurth led the Crow Indians as their chief and was named "Bloody Arm. While traveling to California he discovered a pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Reno, Nevada, which was named "Beckwurth Pass." Beckwurth died near Denver in 1867, while on a peace mission for the government. It was said that he had been poisoned by his adopted people. Americas westward expansion, its most colorful saga, has traditionally excluded black pioneers and adventurers. Now historians must admit that thousands of Black men and women played various roles in the exploration and settlement of the land west of the Mississippi. In 1846, he opened a hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, it was described as a grand resort for liquor and dancing. He left the management of the hotel to his partner and joined General Kearny's forces in California. Beckwurth fought in the Mexican War (1846-1848), he also joined in the Colorado gold rush in 1859. This period began the migration of more blacks into New Mexico. There were various reasons some saw the Southwest as a place to seek refuge and become free men and women. At this time, slaves who married a free woman or a free Indian maiden and had children, the children also would be free by rights of the mother. There were blacks that came as fur traders and explorers. Edwin Rose, a fur trader and trapper with the Missouri Fur Company had established a business in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Edwin Rose was the son of a white Santa Fe Trader and a black Cherokee mother. Other fur traders who came to Santa Fe included Mose "Black" Harris and Ezekial Williams. | 
