Henry Atkinson (1782 – June 14, 1842) was a United States army officer serving on the western frontier, during the War of 1812, and the Yellowstone expedition. With Indian agent Benjamin O'Fallon, he negotiated a treaty with Native Americans of the upper Missouri River in 1825. Over his career in the army, he served in the western frontier, the Gulf Coast, and in New York at the border with Canada. Early life Henry Atkinson was born in 1782 in Caswell County (now Person County, North Carolina). His mother died soon after the birth of her sixth child. His father, John Atkinson, married Francis Dickens shortly after his first wife's death and he had two more children with Francis. In 1748 and 1749, John Atkinson received land grants from the colonial government. He was a local politician and a planter. During the American Revolutionary War, John was a member of the House of Commons and a delegate to the Hillsborough provincial congress in August 1775. He was also a member of the Hillsborough Committee of Safety during the war. He served twelve years as an Orange County Justice of the Peace beginning in 1776. He became North Carolina's tobacco purchasing agent in 1781. He had a total of 6,100 acres in the present Caswell and Person counties in 1785. John died in 1792, leaving an estate of seventeen slaves and 3,665 acres of land. His brothers Edward and Richard were legislators and Edward served as county sheriff. Early career Atkinson inherited a thousand acres in Caswell County when he was eighteen. He and nine other trustees obtained the charter for a local free school, Caswell Academy in 1802. She sat on the school's board of trustees, first as clerk and next as treasurer. He established a small store in 1804, but it failed the following year. He also worked on the family's plantation before July 1808. He entered the United States Army on July 1, 1808 as a captain in the infantry, serving at various outposts on the Western frontier. He served in the New Orleans area. He moved to New York and was promoted to colonel in the Regular Army, seeing considerable action during the War of 1812. He commanded the 6th U.S. Infantry from 1815. Career after War of 1812 After the war, Atkinson received orders in 1818 to lead the Yellowstone expedition along the Missouri River to the