Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark, Vol 9

The dependable and matter-of-fact John Ordway was one of the mainstays of the Corps of Discovery, promoted early on to sergeant and serving as an able leader during the captains' absence. Fascinated by the peoples and places he encountered, Ordway became the most faithful journalist on the expedition—recording information not found elsewhere and making an entry for every day during the expedition. Ordway later married and became a prosperous owner of two plantations in Missouri. His honest and informative account, which remained undiscovered for a century, offers an unforgettable glimpse of an enlisted man's experiences and observations as he and the Corps of Discovery embarked on the journey of a lifetime. In contrast to Ordway's extensive chronicle stands the far-too-brief but intriguingly detailed eyewitness account of Sergeant Charles Floyd, the only member to die on the expedition. The journals of John Ordway and Charles Floyd are part of the celebrated Nebraska edition of the complete journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition, which feature a wide range of new scholarship on all aspects of the expedition from geography to Indian cultures and languages to plants and animals.

"The University of Nebraska Press has become the pre-eminent publisher of Lewis and Clark titles, including what is now considered the definitive edition of the journals edited by Nebraska history professor Gary Moulton."—John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Moulton not only edited the transcriptions of the journal entries; he also provided a detailed index and oversaw a team of consultants who provided expert annotations on botany, zoology, astronomy, archaeology, linguists and medicine. As a result, readers can understand the expedition in its full context. It's no wonder that the series has received many plaudits."—Omaha World Herald, "If you want Lewis and Clark whole, this is the edition to buy. Moulton spent more than two decades pulling the pieces together and did a masterly job."—Anthony Brandt, American Heritage, "The journey of the Corps of Discovery, under the command of Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, across the West to the Pacific Ocean and back in the years 1804–06 seems to me to have been our first really American adventure, one that also produced our only really American epic, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, now at last available in a superbly edited, easily read edition. . . . This important text has not been fully appreciated for what it is because of two centuries of incomplete and inadequate editing. All three editions previous to this excellent one from the University of Nebraska . . . were flawed by significant omissions."—Larry McMurtry, New York Review of Books, "The paperback edition, as well made as the original, is a real bargain—and a necessary investment for anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of the expedition as it played out day by day."—Gregory McNamee, Washington Post Book World

Gary E. Moulton is Thomas C. Sorensen Professor of American History at the University of Nebraska. He is the recipient of the J. Franklin Jameson Award of the American Historical Association for the editing of the Lewis and Clark journals, and he won the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award from the University of Nebraska.