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Therefore, this information is very important.I am merely stating what many historical documents and letters state and what many historians and many members of the Floyd family already know to be true. Major Robert Clark Floyd was the father of Sergeant Charles Floyd of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Unfortunately, I do not have the time necessary to properly list the irrefutable evidence today. (On page 118, the father of Sergeant Charles Floyd is incorrectly named as "Captain Charles Floyd.")In the context of this particular book, this error may seem like a small one to some. However, in the bigger picture (the significance to American history, and, in particular, the Floyd family genealogy) this error is certainly a large one. However, I will definitely add that information to this review at a later time. At that time, I will also do a more in-depth review of this book.(Also, I have not yet had time to review all of the 377 reviews posted prior to this one, so I apologize if this information is redundant).Again, Major Robert Clark Floyd was the father of Sergeant Charles Floyd of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
First, it's as if Ambrose couldn't quite decide if he wanted to write a biography of Meriwether Lewis or a history of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Fairly early in the expedition, Ambrose treats us to a series of "Lewis and Clark were the first to do X" statements about every third page. Not long ago, I visited Oregon and some of the places where Lewis and Clark ended their journey across the continent, which made me want to read more about the expedition. Clark isn't profiled in this way, and Ambrose seems to lament in the introduction that someone has already beaten him to the punch with Clark.Second, the writing is very workmanlike. Ambrose wasn't necessarily a great writer of history, but he was a great popularizer of history, which is certainly important. The story of the expedition is couched within a proto-biography of Lewis' early and late life. The narrative is very slow in the beginning, but picks up steam as the expedition actually gets underway; however, none of it was especially captivating to me.Third, Ambrose gets repetitious with "firsts," some of which are of dubious validity.
I didn't dislike it, but it's completely average. All roads seemed to lead to this recent work from Stephen Ambrose, so I picked it up.I have to say that I was a little disappointed. Some are undoubtedly true, but others--such as Lewis and Clark holding the first vote west of the Mississippi, or being the first Americans to see a coyote, despite over 10,000 Americans living in Missouri when Lewis Clark got there--are probably not true, or simply can't be known to be true.I was disappointed because I really wanted to like this book. There isn't enough there to really consider it a Lewis biography, and I think that the work would probably have been better if Ambrose had either left this material out, or greatly reduced it. The writing isn't bad, but it's not great either. I've read several other books by Ambrose, and this was disappointing by that standard. While Undaunted Courage isn't bad, I'm certain that there has to be a more exciting story in the Lewis and Clark expedition than that offered here.
I recently acquired "Undaunted Courage" as a gift and have been enjoying the great way Ambrose brings to life the characters and the activities. Colter was a Virginian by birth who had moved to Maysville at age 5. Also, earlier, years prior to the Lewis & Clark expedition, Ambrose notes that on a trip down the Ohio River Lewis stopped in various river towns and lists ".Limestone, Maysville,.". When Lewis & Clark traveled down the Ohio River, there is evidence that they stopped, at least for a day, perhaps more, in Maysville, KY. The latter suggests that Ambrose perhaps spent more time researching other parts of the expedition than time spent in this segment of the country. And it is there, in Maysville, that they met, recruited and signed on the later-to-be-significant John Colter. I noted, however, as Lewis and Clark journeyed down the Ohio River prior to actually embarking on their adventure, that Ambrose completely omits what I think to be an important part of the trip, plus he makes a very problematic error. It is more likely that the expedition met up with him in Maysville than in Pittsburgh, as Ambrose suggests.
Ambrose notes in the book, incorrectly, according to my resources, that Lewis signed Colter on in Pittsburgh. In Maysville there is an historical marker that speaks of Lewis & Clark's time in Maysville during that venture, and of their signing on John Colter. Actually, Limestone and Maysville are one and the same town--the name of the town was changed from Limestone to Maysville in 1787. Even so, I think Ambrose's treatise on the expedition is a wonderful and well-written description of this historical event.
I hardly knew anything about the expedition before this book which provides a lot of incredible information from Meriwether Lewis. But as the book describes, it's all from Lewis. We don't know anything about Clark's version or any of the other men who kept journals. The expedition split up several times and we never know what happened to any of the other groups, we only know of Lewis' groups.Considering all the interesting things that happened to him I'm sure those other men had just as interesting stories of their own.If you're into knowing everything about the trip, this should be ONE of the books you read.
While the research was extensive, Ambrose does relegate Clark to a minor role as he concentrates more on Lewis and Jefferson which would undoubtedly upset Lewis who consistently emphasized the equality of the two captains. Ambrose shows his literary expertise as he chronicles the most famous exploring duo in American history. Using journals and other first person witness accounts, the reader is treated to a detailed description of Lewis and Clark's expedition to the pacific. The reader should not be surprised, as the title emphasizes this point about the thesis. Despite this pro-Lewis bias, Undaunted Courage is a great resource for information on the Corps of Discovery.
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