An American frontier soldier, trader, and politician, William Becknell (ca. 1797-1865) established the Santa Fe trade, which helped open the Southwest to settlement.

William Becknell was born in Amherst County, Va., but little is known of his family or youth. From the semiliterate letters he wrote as an adult, it is obvious that his education was rudimentary. In 1814 he was appointed ensign in the U.S. Rangers. Some time after his discharge in 1815 he worked as a salt maker in Saline County, Mo.

In June 1821 Becknell opened the Santa Fe trade when he advertised in the Missouri Intelligencer for "a company of men destined to the westward for the purpose of trading horses and mules, and catching wild animals of every description." Intending to trade with the Comanches and to trap for furs in the Rocky Mountains, he and four companions left Franklin, Mo., in September. They moved...