Background
He was born at New Haven, Connecticut, a son of Colonel Jesse and Catharine (Conklin) Leavenworth. Soon after his birth his parents became alienated and his father moved with the children to Danville, Vermont, where he was educated.
He was born at New Haven, Connecticut, a son of Colonel Jesse and Catharine (Conklin) Leavenworth. Soon after his birth his parents became alienated and his father moved with the children to Danville, Vermont, where he was educated.
He established Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and also gave his name to Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth County, Kansas, and the Leavenworth Penitentiary. He was appointed a captain in the 25th United States infantry. A few months later he was made major.
Was wounded at the Battle of Niagara on July 25, 1814, and the following November was brevetted colonel.
He then served in the New York State Assembly, in 1816, and then he went to Prairie du Chien as Indian agent, and on February 10, 1818, was made lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth United States infantry. In 1820 he began constructing Fort Saint Anthony from the Cantonment New Hope stockade.
In 1823, he led United States. Army troops in the Arikara War, the first United States. military expedition against a Great Plains Indian nation. While on duty in the West he built several military posts, one of which was Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, established May 8, 1827 as Cantonment Leavenworth, now one of the leading military establishments of the country.
In 1825 he was made brigadier-general by brevet, and in 1833 received the full rank of brigadier-general.
In 1834 he commanded the United States Regiment of Dragoons during its expedition from Fort Gibson, Indian Territory to the Wichita Mountains. The artist George Catlin was also in this expedition, and wrote of Leavenworth"s death. They hoped to meet and open formal relations among the United States and the Comanche, Kiowa, and Wichita (tribe) peoples.
But he died on the expedition.
He died in the Cross Timbers, in the Indian Territory, July 21, 1834, of either sickness or an accident while buffalo-hunting. While leading an expedition against the Pawnee and Comanche.
His regiment erected a monument at Cross Timbers. He was first buried in Delhi, with his remains later reinterred at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.
In addition to the fort, Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth County, Kansas, the Leavenworth Penitentiary, Henry Leavenworth Elementary School, and Leavenworth Street in Omaha are named after him.
Member of New York Legislature, 1815.
Married Elizabeth Morrison. Married second, Electra Knapp, 1810.