Edward Kern
| Edward Kern | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
October 26, 1822 or October 26, 1823 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
||||||||
| Died | November 25, 1863 (aged 41) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
||||||||
| Cause of death | epileptic seizure | ||||||||
| Burial place | New Glenwood Cemetery Philadelphia |
||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||
| Other names | Ned | ||||||||
| Occupation | Explorer, artist, cartographer, topographer, and United States Army officer | ||||||||
| Known for | Exploring, documenting and imaging the American West | ||||||||
| Parent(s) |
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Allegiance |
 United States of AmericaUnion |
|---|---|
| Service/branch | Union Army in California |
| Rank | Lieutenant in the California Battalion |
| Commands held | Commanded the garrison at Sutter's Fort |
Edward Meyer Kern (born 26 Oct 1822 or 1823 – 25 Nov 1863) was an American artist, topographer, and explorer of California, the Southwest, and East Asia.
Kern was born in Philadelphia, the son of John Kern III and Mary Elizabeth Bignell. He was trained as an artist.
His brother Richard Kern (1821–1853) was also an accomplished artist, and his brother Benjamin Kern (1818–1849) was a doctor. They joined him on several expeditions.
In 1845/46 Edward Kern accompanied the famous explorer Captain John C. Frémont on his Third Expedition into Mexican Alta California. Kern received a daily salary of $3.00. He served as cartographer as well as documentation artist, and collected botanical and animal specimens on this journey. Each night of the trip Kern would draw a field map of the day's route with longitudes and latitudes and sketches of landmarks.
En route in Nevada, Kern's drawing documented the Frémont party's killing of over 30 Northern Paiute Indians who were camped at the Humboldt Sink.
Just before they reached Klamath Lake, Klamath tribesmen attacked the expedition and several members were killed. A brutal counterattack by Frémont and his group upon a native village resulted in many Klamaths' deaths. Kern recorded the counterattack in an engraving, that was later published with Fremont's report.
Frémont then ordered his main party – which included Kern and Joseph Walker – to travel the southern Sierra route over the pass Walker had discovered a decade earlier, while Frémont and a few others left were to cross the northern Sierra at Donner Pass. Frémont named the pass that Walker led his party through Walker Pass. Accompanying Walker southward was Edward Kern, who as the cartographer mapped the (at that time "Rio de San Felipe" as named by the Spanish) Kern River. Later, Frémont named the river after his artist. Kern’s Campsite in the Kern River Valley – at the junction of the South and North Forks of the Kern River – now lies submerged below Lake Isabella reservoir. However a historical monument for Kern’s site was placed above the reservoir near its east shore on Highway 178.
...
Wikipedia