Captain Stansbury spent the next years, until the outbreak of the Civil War, improving harbors in the Great Lakes and building roads in Minnesota Territory. When the war came, he was appointed as mustering officer at Columbus, Ohio, and later was placed in charge of recruiting for the state of Wisconsin. Stansbury served only forty-five days in this post before he died on 13 April 1863 at the age of fifty-six of "disease of the heart." His obituary noted that his early death came as a result of the "over-exertions and hardships" endured during his Great Salt Lake expedition. Stansbury was buried at St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1863.

See: Brigham D. Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake: The Stansbury Expedition of 1849-50 (1989).

Brigham D. Madsen