Synopses & Reviews
Widely heralded as a lasting achievement, the University of Nebraska Press editions of the journals of Lewis and Clark now present volume 9 of the projected thirteen containing the complete record of the expedition.
In order that the fullest record possible be kept of the journey, Captains Lewis and Clark required their sergeants to keep journals to guard against loss of the captains' own accounts. The sergeants' accounts extend and corroborate the journals of Lewis and Clark and contribute to the full record of the expedition.
The bulk of this volume contains the fullest of the enlisted men's records, the journal of John Ordway. As senior sergeant, Ordway was in command when the captains were absent from the main body of the expedition. He was also the sole member of the party never to miss a day in his journal; for several portions of the crossing, his is the only extant account. Ordway's journal has never before been published with the other records of the venture.
Charles Floyd's journal is tragically short, ending with his death near present-day Sioux City, Iowa, on 20 August 1804. Floyd was the only member of the party to die en route, and his journal adding several details absent from the captains' records indicates that the record of the journey is poorer for his loss.
Review
"[This edition] stands as one of the great accomplishments of American scholarship and scholarly publishing alike. The work of historian Gary Moulton and a team of some three dozen specialists working through the University of Nebraska's Center for Great Plains Studies with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the 13-volume Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was published by the University of Nebraska Press from 1983 to 2001." Gregory McNamee, Washington Post Book World
Review
"[O]ur only really American epic, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, [is] now at last available in a superbly edited, easily read edition....These Journals are to the narrative of the American West as the Iliad is to the epic or as Don Quixote is to the novel: a first exemplar so great as to contain in embryo the genre's full potential." Larry McMurtry, The New York Review of Books
Review
"Meticulously edited, with detailed (and absolutely necessary) footnotes, these volumes are a triumph of scholarly publishing....One version or another belongs on most readers' shelves and should accompany any road trip through the West." Atlantic Monthly
Review
"Moulton not only edited the transcriptions of the journal entries; he also provided a detailed index and oversaw a team of consultants who provided expert annotations on botany, zoology, astronomy, archaeology, linguists and medicine. As a result, readers can understand the expedition in its full context. It's no wonder that the series has received many plaudits." Omaha World Herald
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 397) and index.
About the Author
Gary E. Moulton is Thomas C. Sorensen Professor of American History at the University of Nebraska and recipient of the J. Franklin Jameson Award of the American Historical Association for the editing of these journals.
Table of Contents
Preface, vii
Editorial Procedures, ix
Introduction to Volume 9, xi
Part I: The Journal of John Ordway
Chapter 42: Up the Missouri, May 14September 24, 1804, 5
Chapter 43: Winter at the Knife River, September 25, 1804April 6, 1805, 67
Chapter 44: Great Falls of the Missouri, April 7July 14, 1805, 126
Chapter 45: Across the Rockies, July 15October 10, 1805, 184
Chapter 46: Winter on the Coast, October 11, 1805May 1, 1806, 237
Chapter 47: Homeward Bound, May 2September 23, 1806, 303
Part 2: The Journal of Charles Floyd
Chapter 48: Up the Missouri, May 14August 18, 1804, 373
Sources Cited, 397
Index 399