Fur trader and diplomat Alexander Culbertson was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on May 20, 1809. He lived with his parents on their farm until 1826. Then, he went with an uncle to the Florida Indian campaigns. From there, he traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana, and then to St. Louis, Missouri, where he joined the American Fur Company in 1829. He worked with Kenneth McKenzie and William Laidlaw but was popular among his peers and lacked the arbitrary manner characteristic of McKenzie and Laidlaw.

When McKenzie and Laidlaw retired, he rose steadily and became the company’s most influential man. He led Fort McKenzie, Montana, until 1840. At about that time, he married a Blackfeet Indian woman named Na-Ta-Wis-Cha, or Medicine Snake Woman, when she was about 15 years old. The pair would have several well-educated children.

He built Fort Alexander, Montana, on the Yellowstone River near the mouth of the Bighorn River in 1842. His knowledge of the Indians and the western country was considered superior to anyone of the time, and his ability as a horseman and buffalo hunter was unequaled. Later, he led Fort Union, North Dakota, and for a time also Fort Laramie, Wyoming. In 1845, he established Fort Lewis in Montana, which would later become Fort Benton. It was Montana’s first permanent settlement.

He served as superintendent of the Upper Missouri Outlet, which included all forts on the Yellowstone and upper Missouri Rivers till 1847. In 1851, he was appointed interpreter and special agent of the U.S. Government for making treaties with the Indians and was referred to as Major from then on. In 1855, he contributed to successful negotiations with the Blackfeet and Gros Ventre Indians, permitting the Union Pacific Railroad to survey their territory. He blazed trails from fort to fort and Indian camps, which were later followed by settlers and today are routes of highways.

By 1870, he was living at Fort Benton, Montana, serving as an interpreter for various agencies. He died in Orleans, Nebraska, on August 27, 1879.

 

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.

Also See:

Explorers & Frontiersmen

Fur Trading on the Frontier

Trading Posts of the Mountain Men

Trappers, Traders & Pathfinders

See Sources.