- 528 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of Band of Brothers and D-Day, the definitive book on Lewis and Clark's exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, the most momentous expedition in American history and one of the great adventure stories of all time. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River to the Rockies, over the mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, and back. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, made the first map of the trans-Mississippi West, provided invaluable scientific data on the flora and fauna of the Louisiana Purchase territory, and established the American claim to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.Ambrose has pieced together previously unknown information about weather, terrain, and medical knowledge at the time to provide a vivid backdrop for the expedition. Lewis is supported by a rich variety of colorful characters, first of all Jefferson himself, whose interest in exploring and acquiring the American West went back thirty years. Next comes Clark, a rugged frontiersman whose love for Lewis matched Jefferson's. There are numerous Indian chiefs, and Sacagawea, the Indian girl who accompanied the expedition, along with the French-Indian hunter Drouillard, the great naturalists of Philadelphia, the French and Spanish fur traders of St. Louis, John Quincy Adams, and many more leading political, scientific, and military figures of the turn of the century.High adventure, high politics, suspense, drama, and diplomacy combine with high romance and personal tragedy to make this outstanding work of scholarship as readable as a novel.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Maps
- Introduction
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1: Youth 1774â1792
- Chapter 2: Planter 1792â1794
- Chapter 3: Soldier 1794â1800
- Chapter 4: Thomas Jeffersonâs America 1801
- Chapter 5: The Presidentâs Secretary 1801â1802
- Chapter 6: The Origins of the Expedition 1750â1802
- Chapter 7: Preparing for the Expedition: JanuaryâJune 1803
- Chapter 8: Washington to Pittsburgh: JuneâAugust 1803
- Chapter 9: Down the Ohio: SeptemberâNovember 1803
- Chapter 10: Up the Mississippi to Winter Camp: November 1803âMarch 1804
- Chapter 11: Ready to Depart: AprilâMay 21, 1804
- Chapter 12: Up the Missouri: MayâJuly 1804
- Chapter 13: Entering Indian Country: August 1804
- Chapter 14: Encounter with the Sioux: September 1804
- Chapter 15: To the Mandans: Fall 1804
- Chapter 16: Winter at Fort Mandan: December 21, 1804âMarch 21, 1805
- Chapter 17: Report from Fort Mandan: March 22âApril 6, 1805
- Chapter 18: From Fort Mandan to Marias River: April 7âJune 2, 1805
- Chapter 19: From Marias River to the Great Falls: June 3âJune 20, 1805
- Chapter 20: The Great Portage: June 16âJuly 14, 1805
- Chapter 21: Looking for the Shoshones: July 15âAugust 12, 1805
- Chapter 22: Over the Continental Divide: August 13âAugust 31, 1805
- Chapter 23: Lewis as Ethnographer: The Shoshones
- Chapter 24: Over the Bitterroots: September 1âOctober 6, 1805
- Chapter 25: Down the Columbia: October 8âDecember 7, 1805
- Chapter 26: Fort Clatsop: December 8, 1805âMarch 23, 1806
- Chapter 27: Lewis as Ethnographer: The Clatsops and the Chinooks
- Chapter 28: Jefferson and the West: 1804â1806
- Chapter 29: Return to the Nez PercĂ©: March 23âJune 9, 1806
- Chapter 30: The Lolo Trail: June 10âJuly 2, 1806
- Chapter 31: The Marias Exploration: July 3âJuly 28, 1806
- Chapter 32: The Last Leg: July 29âSeptember 22, 1806
- Chapter 33: Reporting to the President: September 23âDecember 31, 1806
- Chapter 34: Washington: JanuaryâMarch 1807
- Chapter 35: Philadelphia: AprilâJuly 1807
- Chapter 36: Virginia: August 1806âMarch 1807
- Chapter 37: St. Louis: MarchâDecember 1808
- Chapter 38: St. Louis: JanuaryâAugust 1809
- Chapter 39: Last Voyage: September 3âOctober 11, 1809
- Chapter 40: Aftermath
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Copyright