Lewis Hector Garrard (15 June 1829 – 7 July 1887) was an American travel writer who wrote an enduring book, Wah-to-yah and the Taos Trail, about his visit to the southwestern United States in 1846-1847.
While in Taos, Garrard attended the trial of some of the Mexicans and Pueblos who had revolted against U.S. rule of New Mexico, newly captured in the Mexican–American War.
[1] The full title of Garrard's book is Wah-to-yah and the Taos Trail: or Prairie and Scalp Dances, with a Look at Los Rancheros from Muleback and the Rocky Mountain Campfire.
The book is "fresh and vigorous"[2] and contains in its pages authentic descriptions of "the Indian, the trader, the mountain man, their dress, and behavior and speech and the country and climate they lived in.
"[2] The pages of the book contain a wealth of characters, including Kit Carson, Jim Beckwourth, Ceran St. Vrain, George Ruxton, William Bent, and others.