Rob Baker’s Reviews > Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier > Status Update

At 3:30 pm, on May 21, 1804, "to the cheers of crowds on the bank, the expedition set out. As the keelboat turned her bow into the stream, Lewis and his party cut themselves off from civilization. There would be no more incoming letters, no fresh supplies, no reinforcements, nothing reaching them until they returned.

The captains expected to be gone two years, perhaps more. Lewis and Clark were as free as Columbus"

To this day, there are Osage orange trees growing in Philadelphia (at 4th and Spruce Streets) and the Univ. of Virginia (at Morea, a guest house) that grew from cuttings Lewis sent to Jefferson.

These were the "first natural-history specimens from west of the Mississippi".

The Native Americans valued the wood of the Osage orange for making bows and would "travel many hundreds of miles in quest of it" (127).

"Malaria was the most common disease in the country...like hard work, it was just a part of life. No one knew what caused malaria...Lewis thought of mosquitoes as a pest, not a threat.

Nor did he ever learn how to spell his enemies' name. His usual spelling, was 'musquetoe'. Clark was more inventive; he had at least 20 variations, ranging from 'mesquetors' through 'misqutr' to 'musquetors'" (113-114).

"On the morning of September 13 (1803), Lewis saw another natural-history phenomenon: passenger pigeons flying over th eriver, north to south, on their migration. They flew in such great flocks they obscured the sun" (112).

In 1803, it was thought that mastadons might still inhabit the West.

"On June 19 (1803), Lewiss had written to William Clark, 'one of the most famous invitations to greatness the nation's archives can provide'.

It is a critical document. It launched one of the great friendships of all time and started the friends on one of the great adventures, and one of the great explorations of all time" (97).

In 1801, newly-elected President Jefferson made Lewis his secretary. Lewis lived in the president's house. Note: It started unofficially being called "The White House" around War of 1812 and was officially titled this in 1901 by T. Roosevelt.

"Lewis's quarters were in what became the East Room. It contained almost no furniture and was damp, cold, drafty, and depressing. Abigail Adams had hung her wash in it" (63).

As a young ensign in 1795, Lewis got drunk, argued with another soldier and challeneged him to a duel. This was illegal, so he was court-martialed.

Though Lewis was found innocent, he was transferred to another company, where, he met Captain William Clark, who was four years his senior.

"So the partnership of Lewis and Clark, destined to become the most famous in American history, began..." (46).

Jefferson proposed a cross-country exploration a few times before the famous one came about, including in 1792. Lewis, then 18, volunteered, but Jeffereson rejected him for being too young.

Instead he sent a Frenchman, André Michaux, who made it as far as Kentucky when Jeffereson learned that Michaux's goal wasn't exploration but war with the Spanish, so recalled him.

Thus the project was delayed another decade.

Wonder what Thomas Jefferson would think of e-scooters?

"Jefferson, believing that the taming of the horse had resulted in the degeneracy of the human body, urged the young to walk for exercise.

Lewis took his advice and became a great hiker, with feet as tough as his butt...According to Jefferson, the young Lewis hunted barefoot in the snow" (30).

"The (Lewis) family coat of arms was 'Omne Solum Forti Patria Est', or 'All Earth Is to a Brave Man His Country'. (An alternate translation is 'Everything the Brave Man Does Is for His Country').

My great-aunt had painted a small image of the Lewis coat of arms with this Latin quote under it. Growing up, I remember it hung in our family home and memorizing the phrase, but never knew what it meant until today :)