Windwagon Smith is an American tall tale about a sea captain who traveled in a Conestoga wagon, fitted with a sail, across the Kansas prairie.
By 1850 Westport and nearby Kansas City had displaced Independence, Missouri, as the main outfitting and starting point for traders, trappers, and emigrants heading west on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails.
According to Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, another account involves Oskaloosa sawmill owner Samuel Peppard, who is said to have invented a sailing wagon in 1860 with at least partial success, according to the magazine's description of its arrival in Fort Kearny, Nebraska—250 miles from his starting point.
[5] Directed by Charles Nichols and with narration by Rex Allen, the Walt Disney cartoon The Saga of Windwagon Smith was released on March 16, 1961.
Since 1972 the annual River Festival in Wichita, Kansas, has chosen an "Admiral Windwagon Smith" from its volunteers to serve as a "costumed, sword-carrying mascot" of the event.