One of the first Anglo-Americans to record their travels to New Mexico, Dr. Rowland Willard (1794–1884) journeyed west on the Santa Fe Trail in 1825 and then down the Camino Real into Mexico, taking notes along the way. This edition of the young physician’s travel diaries and subsequent autobiography, annotated by New Mexico Deputy State Librarian Joy L. Poole, is a rich historical source on the two trails and the practice of medicine in the 1820s. 

Few Americans knew much about New Mexico when Willard set out on his journey from St. Charles, Missouri, where he had recently completed a medical apprenticeship. The growing commerce with the Southwest presented opportunities for the ambitious doctor. On his first day travelling the plains of the Santa Fe Trail, he met the mountain man Hugh Glass, who regaled Willard with stories of his wilderness experiences while Willard examined him.  He visited Santa Fe, practiced medicine in Taos, then traveled south to Chihuahua, arriving during a measles epidemic. Willard treated patients in Mexico for two years before returning to Missouri in 1828. Willard also details his medical practice, offering a revealing view of physicians’ operating practices in a time when sanitation and anesthesia were rare.The Santa Fe Trail and Camino Real took Willard on the journey of a lifetime. This account recalls the early days of the Santa Fe Trail trade and westward American migration, when a doctor from Missouri could cross paths with mountain men, traders, Mexican clergymen, and government officials on their way to new opportunities.

This unique primary source contributes to several areas of nineteenth-century frontier scholarship. His narrative challenges long-accepted assumptions about exact routes taken by pack trains on the Santa Fe Trail, and reveals who the Santa Fe Trail traders were, where they were from and travelling to, and what merchandise they were trading in the 1820s. Dr. Willard provides the only eye witness medical account of famed mountain man Hugh Glass’s deformities resulting from a grizzly bear attack. The fascinating diary of a frontier doctor chronicles an important period in American history and expands our understanding of cultural exchange and medicine in the Southwest. 

Recipient

Joy Poole
Santa Fe, NM

Award Details

2016 Award of Merit

Online Details

Contact Details

New Mexico State Library
1209 Camino Carlos Rey
Santa Fe, NM 87507