- William Becknell
William Becknell (1787 or 1788–1856,
Amherst County, Virginia ) was a freighter and the first white man to open what became known as theSanta Fe Trail to trade. Becknell leftFranklin, Missouri in September 1821 on his first trip the western US with a load of freight to deliver toSanta Fe, New Mexico . The next year Becknell left Franklin with party of traders on a trip that was to open up the Santa Fe Trail to regular traffic and military movement. It became the first and only international trade route between The United States andMexico until arailway to Santa Fe was built in 1880. He became known as the "Father of the Santa Fe Trail".Becknell became a politician later in life. His first political appointment was as
Justice of the Peace inSaline County, Missouri and he was later elected to theMissouri House of Representatives in 1828. Becknell, who had been in theWar of 1812 , later moved toTexas and joined a group of volunteers called the "Red River Blues" in 1836. He ran unsuccessfully for theTexas House of Representatives in 1826. He supervised the Texas congressional elections in 1845 and US congressional elections in 1846. Becknell died25 April 1856 .During
World War II , aliberty ship was launched as SS "William Becknell", but was quickly rechristened USS|Sabik|AK-121.External links
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* [http://www.bicknell.net/sftrail.htm William Becknell and the Santa Fe Trail]
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