These troops were known as dragoons. Their job was to explore the previously unknown territory of northern Iowa.

Today, explorers can trace part of their route by traveling between Fort Dodge and Lake Red Rock in Marion County along a path marked by small brown, white and black signs proclaiming it to be the Dragoon Trail.

When the United States declared its independence from Britain 250 years ago, Fort Dodge and Iowa did not exist. All of the land that is the state today was occupied by Native Americans and was owned by Spain. France acquired all the Spanish owned lands in 1800.

In early 1803, President Thomas Jefferson had two American representatives approach the government of France about acquiring the port of New Orleans. French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, dealing with more pressing problems all around the world, decided he did not want to be burdened with a lot of real estate in North America. His representatives offered the Americans much more than New Orleans.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
On the grounds of the Fort Museum and Frontier Village in Fort Dodge there is a kiosk that houses a tribute to the U. S. Dragoons who were the first to explore the area. Within that shelter, this plaque is mounted on a boulder.

The result of those negotiations was the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which effectively doubled the size of the United States. The United States paid France $15 million and received 828,000 square miles, including the land that is now Iowa.

Iowa was officially opened for settlement in 1833.

Finding out what exactly was in the northern parts of what is now Iowa was the mission assigned to the dragoons.

The United States Dragoons was a cavalry unit established the same year that Iowa was opened for settlement.

A detachment of dragoons was moved from Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri, to the original Fort Des Moines, which was located in southeast Iowa, where Montrose is located now.

That detachment was ordered to travel west to the junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, near today’s city of Des Moines. From there, it was to head north.

Its mission was to map the area and at the same time gather information about its inhabitants and natural resources.

The dragoons set out on their northerly journey in 1835.

William Williams, the founder of the city of Fort Dodge, later wrote that the dragoons’ mission was at the time the only exploration that was attempted north of the junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.

The dragoons headed north along the Des Moines River. At that river’s juncture with the Boone River, they headed northeast. They ventured as far north as today’s Winona, Minnesota. Then they headed west, found the Des Moines River again and returned south to Iowa.

On Aug. 4, 1835, they camped about a mile north of what is now Fort Dodge.

One of the soldiers on the expedition was Lt. Albert Lea, a map maker.

After the expedition’s return he wrote a book called “Notes on the Wisconsin Territory” which described what the dragoons observed. The published book included a map of what is now Iowa.

In Minnesota, a city and a lake are named after Lea.

In 1933, the state marked the Dragoon Trail for those wanted to experience the route by car.