During July-September 1848, Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1822-1893) crossed Mexico in disguise to bring the US government proof of California's gold. He married Mary Edwards in June 1849, and resigned from the Navy in 1851. In 1853, President Fillmore appointed him Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California and Nevada; in 1857, President Buchanan assigned him to survey and build a 1,000 mile wagon road from the northeastern border of Arizona to the Colorado River; in 1861, President Lincoln appointed him as Surveyor General of California and Nevada; in 1876, President Grant appointed him as Ambassador to Austria-Hungary.