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1849 First Edition Book: DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, INDIAN WAR, TEXAS

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:240.00 USD Estimated At:375.00 - 550.00 USD
1849 First Edition Book: DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, INDIAN WAR, TEXAS
Post-Revolutionary War to Civil War
1849 Presidential Address Reporting the DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, INDIAN WAR, TEXAS, Etc.
December 24, 1849-Dated, First Edition Book entitled, “MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS - 1849” (Zachary Taylor), Part 1, Washington DC, About Very Fine.
This is an original book including the Presidential Address by Zachary Taylor, is one of the first official announcements of the DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA. This extensive report has 850 pages, and remains in its original government produced hardcover marbled boards. The spine is of black leather and is intact, having some heavy wear, rubbing and the interior is much nicer with some initial scattered typical expected foxing and is complete and clean inside.

The President, Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States, in office from March 4, 1849 –to July 9, 1850, orders geologists and mineralogists to California to survey the extent of this discovery and to make a survey of the land, so as to divide it up into sections for the citizens to claim and take advantage of the discovery. There are more details of the gold and silver finds in California, with reports of the commanding general of the California Territory at Sonoma, Calif. The riches he reports must have driven the Eastern citizens wild, helping to incite the stampede to get out to California, as he reports millions of dollars are being taken from the mines. The California Gold Rush gets a huge boost from this report.

In addition, there is a good section on West Point. This book has many large printed Fold Out Charts and statistics of a military nature. Several hundred pages devoted to supplies and military equipment issued, including weapons and ammunition. Major General Winfield Scott gives a detailed report on the operations of the army in the West, and the campaigns against the savage native American Indians. There are excellent details of the operations in the New Mexico Territory including printed letters and reports from Santa Fe, and the Treaty with one of the Indian Nations, listing their printed names and an “X” showing where they could not write in English.

There are additional reports on the Indian War going on in Florida. Excellent reports and letters dated at Tampa, regarding the attacks on settlers by the Indians, and the “emigration” of Indians to the West. Details of the Operations in Texas are also detailed, with printed letters and reports from San Antonio, telling of Indian attacks along the Rio Grande. One page set up in chart form listing the names of the women and children and men that have been killed and taken away by the Indians. Girls and young children are mostly taken captive by the Indians. All in all, there is far to much important content to review in this most historic book.


Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass and becoming the first President never to have held any previous elected office. Taylor was the last President to hold slaves while in office, and the last Whig to win a presidential election.

Known as "Old Rough and Ready," Taylor had a forty-year military career in the United States Army, serving in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the Second Seminole War. He achieved fame leading American troops to victory in the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Monterrey during the Mexican–American War. As president, Taylor angered many Southerners by taking a moderate stance on the issue of slavery. He urged settlers in New Mexico and California to bypass the territorial stage and draft constitutions for statehood, setting the stage for the Compromise of 1850. Taylor is thought to have died of gastroenteritis just 16 months into his term, the third shortest tenure of any President. Only Presidents William Henry Harrison and James Garfield served less time. Taylor was succeeded by his Vice President, Millard Fillmore.