Stephen Long and American Frontier Exploration

by Roger L. Nichols, Patrick L. Halley

Major Stephen H. Long of the United States Army was the most important government-sponsored explorer in the decade after the War of 1812. He led three major and several minor expeditions up the Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas rivers and the Red River of the north, as well as exploring the central and southern Plains, the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Lakes. His campanions included engineers, cartographers, Naturalists, ethnologists, and artists, and they gathered a wealth of scientific, military, and artistic data about the interior of North America. For years Long’s expeditions have been overlooked or misunderstood; here for the first time they are placed in the context of American scientific development.

284 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 1995

Reviews

[Dave Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roger L. Nichols and Patrick L. Halley’s “Stephen Long and American Frontier Exploration” is a judicious examination of the career of topographer and explorer Stephen Long in this concise book. Long was the subject of much criticism, particularly after his 1819-1820 expedition on the "Western Engineer," which explored the Missouri River valley from St. Louis to Council Bluffs.

Long’s actions are open to debate: his later travels failed to locate the sources of the Platte, the Arkansas and the Red Rivers, which Secretary of War John C. Calhoun had ordered him to chart; furthermore, his expeditions while advancing ethnological research, relied heavily on rumor and secondhand information.

That said, Long’s scientific contributions were important. Along with publications by Long himself, Thomas Say (zoologist), Edwin James (botanist), William Keating (geologist) and artists Titian Peale and Samuel Seymour all added to the corpus of 19th century knowledge. As the authors document, Long‘s explorations took him across the continent and laid a foundation for the better organized and financed travels of Fremont, Powell, Wheeler and Hayden.

This volume is objectively written and is generally thoughtful; however, additional map plates would benefit the average reader. Overall, the book should merit the consideration of all students of Western exploration.

[Jerry Landry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read about a lesser known explorer. While the casual reader may get bogged down in some of the minutia in the read, for folks who are interested in the history of exploration, this is a fantastic read.

[Ellen Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The thorough details of Long's expedition met my needs as a researcher/writer