James D. Hutton facts for kids

James Dempsey Hutton (born around 1828, died 1868) was a talented artist and a pioneer in many fields. He worked as a surveyor, mapmaker (cartographer), and one of the first photographers. Hutton was active in areas that are now Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota. This was just before the American Civil War. During the war, he served as an engineer for the Confederate States Army. He later moved to Mexico, where he passed away in 1868.

Early Life and California Adventures

James Hutton was the middle son of James Hutton and Salome Rich. His family lived in Washington, D.C. His brothers, William Rich Hutton and Nathaniel Henry Hutton, also became artists and engineers.

In 1847, James and his older brother William traveled to California. They went with their uncle, William Rich, who was a paymaster for the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. James was hired to survey the city of San Jose in July 1847. He worked there for several months.

It is believed that James joined his brother and uncle on many trips around California. This was in the late 1840s. Many of his early sketches from this time still exist today. From 1850 to 1852, he worked as a county clerk in San Luis Obispo County. His brother William was the surveyor there.

Exploring the West: The Raynolds Expedition

On April 22, 1859, James Hutton got an important job. He was appointed as a topographer for the Raynolds Expedition. This expedition was led by Captain William F. Raynolds of the U.S. Army. Their mission was to explore the northern Rocky Mountains. They started from Fort Pierre in what would soon become the Dakota Territory. Their goal was to reach the sources of the Yellowstone River.

Hutton's job was to report on the weather, natural resources, and Native American tribes they encountered. He also had to map wagon roads. These roads would connect important forts like Fort Laramie and Fort Union. He also mapped routes between the Yellowstone River and the Oregon Trail.

James Hutton was also an assistant artist and photographer for the expedition. He created many pen-and-ink sketches. He also took photographs of the Big Horn and Wind River Mountains in Wyoming. He captured images of the Yellowstone and Missouri River valleys in Montana.

Hutton took special photos of members from different Native American Nations. These included the Crow, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples. In 1862, seven pictures based on Hutton's photographs were published. They appeared in a book about the Native American tribes of the Missouri Valley.

A famous discovery happened in July 1859 during the expedition. Hutton and Zephyr Recontre, a Sioux interpreter, took a side trip. They wanted to find a unique rock formation. This formation had been seen from far away by an earlier expedition. Hutton and Recontre became the first non-Native Americans to reach this rock. It is now famously known as Devils Tower.

Civil War Service and Later Life

When the American Civil War began, James Hutton was living in Washington, D.C. He was working there as a mapmaker. Hutton joined the Confederacy early in the war. He served as an engineer under Generals Henry A. Wise and Sterling Price.

One of his sketches from the war, showing the Battle of Pilot Knob in 1864, still exists. After the war ended, he moved to Mexico. James Dempsey Hutton passed away there in 1868.

The Huntington Library and Art Gallery has a collection of sixteen of James D. Hutton's drawings.

Images for kids

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  "Principal Chiefs of the Arapaho Tribe," engraving after a photograph by James D. Hutton c. 1860