The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 88, July 1984 - April, 1985 Page: 7
476 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Ecology of the Red River in 80o6
ment to the Red River tour was actively sought, and the competition,
while not fierce, did allow Jefferson to make the selection in a man-
ner that anticipated methods used in later scientific surveys sponsored
by the government.
It appears likely that Jefferson, himself an able naturalist as well as
a fellow in the American Philosophical Society, may have been criti-
cized by some of his contemporaries (as he has been by historians) for
entrusting the scientific work on the Missouri-Columbia rivers probe
to a man with no formal training in science. Talented woodsman
though he was, Meriwether Lewis had only about two months' instruc-
tion in natural history and celestial observation-crash courses given
him by Pennsylvania academics.'8 As Wayne Hanley, a natural his-
tory writer, observed in Natural History in America: "The failure of
Thomas Jefferson to assign at least one naturalist to the Lewis and
Clark expedition never has been adequately explained." Hanley goes
on to suggest that Jefferson at least could have appointed a "promis-
ing young student" as naturalist for Lewis and Clark, precisely the
course of action the president eventually took in manning what the
administration came to call "the Grand Excursion," or "Grand Expe-
dition," into the Southwest.?4 Since Jefferson had once actively pro-
moted botanists Moses Marshall (in 1792) and Andre Michaux (1793)
for western natural history excursions, however, his decision to appoint
a naturalist to the Red River party hardly signified a major turn in his
thinking. Given the criticism of Jefferson, it is ironic that the Red
River exploration, a search that spanned nearly fifteen months and
involved in its planning some of the most famous early naturalists in
United States history, has been virtually forgotten.5
The plan for the Grand Excursion began to assume form early in
1804 when William Dunbar accepted Jefferson's suggestion that he
assume direction of the exploration from his home in the Mississippi
Territory. Dunbar, an active and talented Scottish emigre who had an
13For discussions of Lewis's training, see Malone, Jefferson the President, 174-176;
Paul Russell Cutright, Lewis and Clark: Pioneering Naturalists (Urbana, 1969), 19-29.
14Wayne Hanley, Natural History in America- From Mark Catesby to Rachel Carson
(New York, 1977), 39 (1st and 2nd quotations); John Francis McDermott (ed.), "The
Western Journals of Dr. George Hunter, 1796-1805," Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, LIII (1963), 12; Dunbar to Jefferson, Oct. 15, 1804, TJP (3rd
quotation).
15Caspar Wistar, Jr., to Moses Marshall, June 20, 1792, in Donald Jackson (ed.), Letters
of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with Related Documents, 1783-1854 (2 vols.; 2nd
ed.; Urbana, 1978), II, 675; Jefferson to Andre Michaux, Apr. 30, 1793, ibid., II, 669-672:
Cutright, Lewis and Clark, lo-13; John W. Harshberger, The Botanists of Philadelphic
and Their Work (Philadelphia, 1899), 1o6.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 88, July 1984 - April, 1985, periodical, 1984/1985; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101210/m1/29/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.