Summary Of Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage

The publication of Undaunted Courage by New York Times best selling author Stephen Ambrose depicts the journey of Lewis and Clark and the purchase of the louisiana territory like never before. Ambrose born in illinois wrote many famous accounts of history and authored the biographies of Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower. His career as a professor at Kansas State and New Orleans excelled his love for history inspiring him to pursue his passion for historical writing and biographies. After the immense publications and findings on the journals of frontiersman Meriwether Lewis, Ambrose decided that writing an updated publication on his achievements and his journey with Meriwether Lewis would be a task worth taking. Ambrose set out to create a

The second being the actual journey leg by leg. Ambrose starts with Lewis’s youth and how his love of nature invited his love for exploring. Born in the rockfish area of Virginia, the Mountains were about as close he could get to the western frontier. “Rockfish gap, in the blue ridge mountains, an opening to the west invited exploration(19).” As Lewis grew up he became considered knowledgeable about the western country. Newly elected President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson needed a secretary with western knowledge like Lewis . Thomas Jefferson wrote to Lewis in persuasion “to aid in the private concerns of the household, but also to contribute to the mass of information which is interesting for the administration to acquire(59).” Ambrose basically implies Jefferson was hinting an interest of knowing more about western lands. The two were the only residents in the White House and as Jefferson wrote they were “like two mice in a church(63).” Ambrose writes about the work Jefferson and lewis did together

The expedition began May 1804 in Pittsburg as they headed down the ohio river, and travelled up the mississippi to camp for winter. They soon set out for St.Louis and ordered rations of food and supplies for the next leg. The next leg began on clark’s 34 birthday and it was sure to be more risky as it was indian country. While on their journey they killed many birds, bugs, snakes, and more and documented it in their journals. After reaching the continental divide in august of 1805 more indian encounters convinced Clark that they were completely untouched by white culture the farther west they travelled. The last leg was marked with exhaustion, however when the pacific ocean was in view it brought great joy to the crew as they had completed the trek west and measured 4142 miles east of the missouri river. The expanse of the land purchased from france set in and the expedition yielded wonders and