The Forgotten Expedition, 1804–1805: The Louisiana Purchase Journals of Dunbar and Hunter

by William Dunbar (Editor), Trey Berry (Editor), Pam Beasley (Editor)

At the same time that he charged Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the great Northwest, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned William Dunbar and George Hunter to make a parallel journey through the southern unmapped regions of the Louisiana Purchase. From October 16, 1804, to January 26, 1805, Dunbar and Hunter, both renowned scientists, made their way through what is now northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, ascending the Ouachita River and investigating the natural curiosity called "the hot springs." The Forgotten Expedition, 1804-1805 represents the first time that their daily journals -- which describe the flora and fauna, geology, weather, and native peoples they encountered along the way -- appear in a single volume.

The team of the "Grand Expedition," as it was optimistically named, was the first to send its findings on the newly annexed territory to the president, who received Dunbar and Hunter's detailed journals with pleasure. They include descriptions of flora and fauna, geology, weather, landscapes, and native peoples and European settlers, as well as astronomical and navigational records that allowed the first accurate English maps of the region and its waterways to be produced. Their scientific experiments conducted at the hot springs may be among the first to discover a microscopic phenomena still under research today.

Extensively annotated and carefully researched, The Forgotten Expedition completes the picture of the Louisiana Purchase presented through the journals of explorers Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, and Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis. It is a treasure of the early natural history of North America and the first depiction of this new U.S. southern frontier.

284 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2006

Reviews

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lewis & Clark was merely the most extensive of multiple explorations Thomas Jefferson sent to explore the Louisiana Purchase. In this one the Ouachita river and other Louisiana-Arkansas water systems are explored by two gentlemen scientists and a unit of soldiers. Puzzling over hexagonal quartz and soil samples, this 1804-5 journey documents extremophiles in the area of impressive hot springs that apparently even featured something like geysers in the then remembered past. The repetitive observations, temperatures, food reports can be tedious. Footnotes make it more enjoyable of a read. From those notations we learn things like:

* A chilly 9 degrees is from a time when this was not unusual, apparently.
* The Great Raft: gigantic log jam(s) that clogged the Red and Atchafalaya Rivers and was unique in North America in terms of its scale.
* Well before it was completely eradicated for a 1930s highway, the pair could climb mounds of the Coles-Troyville culture.

[Jas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent details about the southern part of the Louisiana Purchase. This crew was sent during the time period of Lewis and Clark, by President Jefferson, to explore the southern part. Covers a trip up the Red River, Black River, to the Ouachita (Washita) rivers all the way up to Hot Springs where they spent about a month. Lots of details of the flora, fauna, and geology of the Hot Springs area.

Be sure and read the footnotes. Lots of good info there, and there is a lot of explanation into today's knowledge of there work.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The journal entries don't contain as much information like Lewis and Clark's but the historian's footnotes really made it worth reading