Edwin James Chapter Summaries

Edwin James, a scientist and explorer who lived from 1797 until 1861, held a wide range of experience and knowledge about a multitude of different fields. He attended the Long Expedition of 1820, which was a scientific journey along the Platte River and through the Rocky Mountains. During this expedition, he contributed by providing his knowledge of medicine, botany, and geology, as well as having kept detailed notes on the discoveries that he and the other members of the expedition made; afterwards, he went on to study Native American languages, and wrote countless books that helped shape our understanding of history and the natural world.
Edwin James held a variety of occupations in his lifetime. He was born “at Weybridge, Vermont, in 1797, was graduated from Middlebury College in 1816 and later studied botany under John Torrey and James Eaton, and medicine under his brother, Dr. John James” (Wood). These qualifications helped him be selected to accompany Major Stephen Long on the Long Expedition of 1820. He also provided medical assistance and scientific illustrations when needed. Edwin James, Stephen Long, and countless other scientist-mountaineers went on this expedition to survey the Platte and the

He compiled his own notes, as well as the notes of others on the journey, to make a comprehensive book with the events and discoveries the team collectively made. This book is titled “Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, Performed in the years 1819, 1820.” He refers to himself as the “botanist and geologist for the expedition” (James 1823). He wrote that he hopes “to have contributed something towards a more thorough acquaintance with the Aborigines of our country,” as well as “the phenomena of nature, to the varied and beautiful productions of animal and vegetable life, and to the more magnificent if less attractive features of the inorganic creation” (James 1823,