D. D. Mitchell, Indian Superintendent, fur trader, Treaty commissioner
When Harrison was elected president, the
American Fur Company feared that a fellow Whig and fierce adversary
of the company, John Dougherty, would replace Joshua Pilcher as the
superintendant of Indians in the West, thereby controlling the
trade of furs. But the Choteau family and their many
influential friends leaned on their Democrat ally, Senator Benton,
to secure the appointment of David Mitchell, who was named as a
'compromise candidate' for the St. Louis superintendency despite
his long association with the AFC.