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.

[1] 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.

[1] He entered the United States Army on July 1, 1808, as a captain in the infantry, serving at various outposts on the Western frontier.

Colonel Talbot Chambers led the 1st Battalion of the Rifle Regiment left Belle Fontaine on August 30, 1818, up the Missouri River.

[3] Appointed Commissioner together with Indian agent Benjamin O'Fallon and with a military escort of 476 men, General Atkinson and his fellow commissioner left Fort Atkinson on May 16, 1825, and ascending the Missouri, negotiated treaties of friendship and trade with tribes of the upper Missouri, including the Arikara, Cheyenne, Crow, Mandan, Ponca, and several bands of the Sioux.

The tribes agreed to forswear private retaliation for injuries and to return or indemnify the owner of stolen horses or other goods.

Returning to Fort Atkinson at the "Council Bluff" in Nebraska, successful negotiations were had with the Otoe, the Pawnee and the Omaha.

Although he delivered the final blow to the Black Hawk Indians at the Battle of Bad Axe, Atkinson was criticized for mishandling the operations of the war.

[3][6] He married Mary Ann Bullitt on January 15, 1826, in the Christ Episcopal Church in Louisville, Kentucky.