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Samuel Washington Woodhouse, a Philadelphia physician and avid ornithologist, was appointed surgeon-naturalist of two expeditions to survey the Creek-Cherokee boundary in Indian Territory. The Creek boundary expedition that Woodhouse was asked to join was a Corps of Topographical Engineers survey party sent to survey and mark the northern and western boundaries of the Creek Indian lands in Indian Territory to comply with the requirements of the Creek Treaty of 1845. The usual purpose of these surveys was to map the land, describe its topography, and learn about its native inhabitants. Later objectives were to establish roads and to set boundaries as the westward movement of settlers began, in addition to observing and gathering specimens of the animals, plants, and minerals of the West. Woodhouse served on both expeditions of the survey, the first in 1849 under Capt. Lorenzo Sitgreaves and the second under Lt. Israel Carle Woodruff in 1850.