The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 88, July 1984 - April, 1985 Page: 8
476 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
outstanding observatory on his plantation, The Forest, in the hills
south of Natchez, played a role that had no parallel in the Lewis and
Clark expedition and that considerably enhanced the scientific poten-
tial of the tour. He was, in essence, the director of the expedition-
assembling stores, setting up experiments, supervising construction
of boats, and writing letters of introduction.16 His trial run up the
Ouachita River in the winter of 1804-1805, with Dr. George Hunter,
a Philadelphia chemist and mineralogist, confirmed his opinion that
the absence of a trained naturalist on forays into little-known territory
was a serious oversight.17
Much of the time that Jefferson devoted to the Red River project
in the early part of 1805 was spent in the selection of a field leader. In
July the appointment was given to Thomas Freeman, an accomplished
Irish-American engineer and astronomer who also had experience as
an Indian negotiator. In the spring of 1805 Jefferson had corresponded
with Robert Patterson, professor of mathematics at the University of
Pennsylvania, about a method of taking longitude readings without a
timepiece. Patterson apparently suggested that the president contact
Thomas Freeman. Freeman had a background of service to the United
States government, including survey work in Washington, D.C., Ten-
nessee, and the Indiana Territory. Although his early career had been
clouded by a famous quarrel with the noted mathematician Andrew
leSee Dunbar to Jefferson, June 9, 1804, quoted in Rowland, William Dunbar, 133-
134. See also in Rowland, William Dunbar, Dunbar to Dearborn, May 13, 1804, pp.
128-129; Dunbar to Jefferson, May 13, 1804, p. 131; Dearborn to Dunbar, Mar. 25, 1805,
pp. 150-151; and Dearborn to Dunbar, May 24, 1805, p. 153. On his functions for the
expedition, see Dunbar to [Fre]eman Esqr. & his associates, Apr. 28, 18o6, pp. 339-340o.
Raised near Elgin, Morayshire, in Scotland, Dunbar had been educated in mathe-
matics and astronomy at universities in Glasgow and London before coming to the New
World. "For Science, Probity, and general information," Daniel Clark told Jefferson,
"[Dunbar] is the first Character in this part of the World." Allen Johnson and Dumas
Malone (eds.), Dictionary of American Biography (20 vols.; New York, 1928-1936), V,
507-508 (footnote quotation); Arthur H. DeRosier, Jr., "William Dunbar, Explorer,"
Journal of Mississippi History, XXV (July, 1963), 165-185.
17Dunbar could not "sufficiently lament the absence of a good Naturalist particularly
a botanist" from the expedition. Dunbar to Dearborn, June 15, 1804, quoted in Rowland,
William Dunbar, 139. Hunter's career has been covered superbly in McDermott (ed.),
"The Western Journals of Dr. George Hunter, 1796-1805." This work is the best treat-
ment of the Ouachita probe thus far. The Dunbar-Hunter narrative, redacted by Nicho-
las King (as is made clear in Jefferson to Dunbar, Jan. 12, 18o6, Rowland, William
Dunbar, 188-189), is available in "Observations Made in a Voyage Commencing at St.
Catharine's Landing ... ," Annals of Congress, 9th Cong., 2nd sess., 1,1o6-1,146, and
also in serialized form in the National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser (Washing-
ton, D.C.), in the issues of Oct. 15, 27, and 31, and Nov. to and 12 of 18o6. Dunbar's
rather obtuse journal of the tour may be found, although without annotation, in Row-
land, William Dunbar, 216-320o. For a variety of reasons, salary evidently the foremost,
Hunter declined the Grand Excursion.
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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/m1/30/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.