Morris U. Schappes A Documentary History of the Jews in the United States, 1654-1875, The Citadel Press: New York, 1950, 762 pp., 1950, 1897, 1925, 1857, 1856, 1855, 1854, 1853, 1852, 1850, 1850s, 1848, 1847, 1846, 1815
Schappes' commentary and footnotes concerning his Chapter on Carvalho, 1957: 118. Exploring the West with Fremont "Fascinating is Carvalho's account of one of the great adventures of nineteenth century far western exploration. Born in Charleston, S.C., in 1815, Carvalho was an artist and photographer who practised in Philadelphia and Baltimore befoe he came to New York. In 1852 he was awarded a diploma and silver medal from the South Carolina Institute for his painting, The Intercession of Moses for Israel. An admirer of John Charles Fremont, a man of his own age but already famous as an explorer, a conqueror of California, and an anti-Slavery senator from that State, Carvalho accepted Fremont's invitation on August 22, 1853 to accompany him on his fifth expedition across the Rocky Mountains. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis having exhibited his preference for the southernmost route to California as the path for a projected railway, and having sent out other expeditions to demonstrate the practicability of his plan, Fremont, privately financed by Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri and his own funds, determined to prove that a central route was also practicable and more desirable. Carvalho was engaged to make daguerreotype photographs, and thus became the first official photographer ever to accompany a scientific expedition. After a couple of months spent painting portraits in Salt Lake City, which he reached on March 1, 1854, Carvalho started out for California on May 6, 1854 in the wake of a group of Mormon missionaries, arriving over the mountains at San Benardino on June 9, 1854. He was probably the second Jew to cross the Rockies into California. His book is the chief surviving source of information about the expedition. He speaks simply but effectively of the hardships of twenty-two men crossing the Rockies on foot in winter across uncharted territory."
"1) Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West; with Col. Fremont's Last Expedition Across the Rocky Mountains: Including Three Month's Residence in Utah, and a Perilous Trip Across the Great American Desert, to the Pacific, New York, 1857, pp 96-103, 128- 138.
Carvelho's preface is dated Baltimore, September 1856, and the volume may have been planned to appear in time to influence the 1856 elections in which Fremont was a candidate for President, but the title-page bears the date 1857. However, excerpts from Carvalho's diaries were published in John Bigelow, Memoir of the Life and Public Services of John Charles Fremont . . . New York, 1856, pp. 430-442, which appeared in time for the elections and was published by Derby & Jackson, who later issued Carvalho's volume.
" . . .
"5) The conquest of California from Mexico was achieved by the armed forces of Fremont and others between July 5, 1846 and January 13, 1847, when the treaty of victory was signed. On September 9, 1850, when California was admitted to the Union, Fremont became one of its first United States Senators, failing of re-election, however, because of his anti-slavery views.
" . . .
"9) Carvalho married Sarah Solis of Philadelphia; his first son, David Nunes was born in 1848 (died 1925); Jacob S. Carvalho; Solomon Solis was born in 1856. Solomon Nunes Carvalho died 27 May 1897 (age 83.)