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Message:: [QUOTE="TheNickelGuy, post: 8315069, member: 20201"]1969 John Wesley PowellGrand CanyonHeraldic Art Medal [ATTACH=full]1472208[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1472209[/ATTACH] John Wesley Powell As a young man he undertook a series of adventures through the Mississippi River valley. In 1855, he spent four months walking across Wisconsin. During 1856, he rowed the Mississippi from St. Anthony, Minnesota, to the sea. In 1857, he rowed down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to the Mississippi River, traveling north to reach St. Louis. In 1858 he rowed down the Illinois River, then up the Mississippi and the Des Moines River to central Iowa. At age 25, he was elected in 1859 to the Illinois Natural History Society. During the Civil War, he served in the Union Army, first with the 20th Illinois Volunteers. While stationed at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, he recruited an artillery company that became Battery "F" of the 2nd Illinois Light Artillery with Powell as captain. On November 28, 1861, Powell took a brief leave to marry the former Emma Dean. At the Battle of Shiloh, he lost most of his right arm when struck by a minie ball while in the process of giving the order to fire. [ATTACH=full]1472210[/ATTACH] Despite the loss of an arm, he returned to the Army and was present at Champion Hill, Big Black River Bridge on the Big Black River and in the siege of Vicksburg. Always the geologist he took to studying rocks while in the trenches at Vicksburg. He was made a major and commanded an artillery brigade with the 17th Army Corps during the Atlanta Campaign. After the fall of Atlanta he was transferred to George H. Thomas' army and participated in the battle of Nashville.At the end of the war he was made a brevet lieutenant colonel, but preferred to use the title of "Major". After the war he returned to exploring.In 1869, he set out from Green River, Wyoming to explore the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon, the first of European descent to do so. [ATTACH=full]1472211[/ATTACH] He gathered nine men, four boats and food for 10 months.One man left shortly after they started out and later three, who disappeared. They were never found and were believed to have been killed by the Shivwitz band of the Southern Paiute. In 1881, Powell was appointed the second director of the U.S. Geological Survey. He was also the director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution until his death. Under his leadership, the Smithsonian published an influential classification of North American Indian languages.[/QUOTE]

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