Note 1 — MEMORANDOM OF THE VOIGE BY LAND FROM FORT SMITH TO THE ROCKEY MOUNTAINS.

Present name of the town which has grown up on the site of the original military post, in Sebastian Co., Ark., about 5 m. S. W. of Van Buren, on the right bank of the Arkansaw river, at the mouth of Poteau river, immediately on the W. border of the State, where the river passes from the Indian Territory into Arkansas; lat. 35° 22´ N., long. 94° 28´ W.; pop. in 1890, 11,311. The original name of the then important frontier locality was Belle Pointe. “The site of Fort Smith was selected by Major Long, in the fall of 1817, and called Belle Point in allusion to its peculiar beauty. It occupies an elevated point of land, immediately below the junction of the Arkansa and the Poteau, a small tributary from the southwest. Agreeably to the orders of General Smith, then commanding the 9th military department, a plan of the proposed work was submitted to Major Bradford, at that time, and since commandant at the post, under whose superintendence the works have been in part completed” in Sept., 1820: Long’s Exp. ii, 1823, p. 260, where description of the place follows.

From this starting-point our author proceeds on the direct road to the Neosho river, vicinity of present Fort Gibson, Ind. Terr.