The First Dragoon Expedition of 1834 (also called the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition) was the first official contact between the American government and the Plains Indians.
The United States Dragoon Regiment left Fort Gibson, Indian territory, on 20 June 1834, under the command of General Henry Leavenworth. The Cross Timbers, summer heat, sickness, and death slowed the progress of the expedition; one hundred fifty of the five hundred men died on the march. The expedition stopped at Camp Leavenworth, where General Leavenworth, sick and injured from a buffalo hunt, sent the troops onward under the command of Colonel Henry Dodge. On 16 July 1834, the expedition left 75 sick men, including American traveling artist George Catlin, at Camp Commanche; Colonel Dodge and the rest of his men continued onward. General Leavenworth died on 21 July 1834.
On 21 July 1834, Colonel Dodge and the remaining men reached a Toyash Village of Wichita Indians at Devils Canyon. There, Dodge exchanged prisoners, traded, and secured peace treaties with several of the Plains tribes. The expedition returned to Fort Gibson on 15 August 1834.