Summary Of Haunted Courage

“Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” is a biography of American explorer Meriwether Lewis, written by Stephen Ambrose and published in 1996. The biography is supported by historic texts (letters and logs produced by Jefferson, Lewis, Clark and the Corps of Discovery members – some of which appear in the book) and outlines the trials and triumphs of the Corps of Discovery Expedition (also commonly known as the “Lewis and Clark Expedition” – which was the first American mission crossing western North America from St. Louis all the way through the continental divide and to the pacific coast). Ambrose provides some context by also writing about Lewis’s youth, his career as a planter and assistant
to Jefferson, and his subsequent time as governor of the Louisiana Territory, which Jefferson acquired not long after Lewis and Clark succeeded in their expedition.
The publisher’s blurb on the book – “the definitive book on the most momentous expedition and one of the greatest adventure stories of all time” – albeit arguably sensationalist, highlights perfectly Ambrose’s attempted portrayal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in his book. Ambrose’s other works, such as “Band of Brothers, D-Day” and “The Wild Blue” similarly focused on a celebration of American victories, be they personal, military or political. Ambrose, known to be weary of critics of Jefferson, Washington and America’s other founders (that cite their questionable role in slave ownership) wrote to balance the negativity these figures received by stories of heroics and resilience. “Undaunted Courage” outlines the remarkable exhibitions of leadership and organization displayed by Lewis and Clark during their mission.
They led and protected a diverse group of individuals (including military veterans, a Native American woman with a baby) through arduous, uncharted territory over a two-year period. Undaunted Courage details the route, scientific discoveries and landscapes endured by the travelers. Incontrovertibly, the main theme exemplified by the book is the innovation and exploration of the American spirit. At the start of the 19th century, American culture prided itself on its pioneering nature. Ambrose writes, “The Enlightenment taught that observation unrecorded was knowledge lost” (p. 1242). In this way, he suggests the nobility and profound responsibility of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Not only did they have the mission of acquiring scientific and geographical knowledge concerning the latter unchartered half of the North American continent, but they also facilitated the solution for growing societal nationalistic beliefs that manifested in many Americans believing that their country should expand. Ambrose uses hyperbole and a prominently patriotic narrative in describing the discovery of the mission: “That evening, the first Americans ever to enter Montana, the first ever to see the Yellowstone, the Milk, the Marias, and the Great Falls, the first Americans ever to kill a grizzly, celebrated their nation’s twenty-ninth birthday” (p. 720).
Ultimately, he chalks down much of the growth of the American “empire” to this single mission.
Many might argue that Ambrose’s main ambition in producing Undaunted Courage was to bring the valuable contributions of Jefferson back to the forefront of attention.
It is true that in conceptualizing and orchestrating the expedition, Jefferson ensured that the American presence in North America would not be disturbed by European forces or British intentions. The intelligence of Jefferson is thus undeniably presented to the reader in the novel through his depiction as the orchestrator of the
mission. In my opinion, the main weakness of the novel is that it idolizes the expedition of the protagonists too vehemently, and thus reads as an embellished adventure tale as opposed to an objective biography. The narrative’s infatuation with the characters comes at the expense of important contextual details, perhaps only highlighting the nobility of the American administration and not its dark side concerning the politics of expansion and dealings with the indigenous people. The biography, for example, fails to mention that Jefferson waited two months until Independence Day before telling the public of the Louisiana Purchase in the hopes that a nation-wide sense of patriotism might assuage criticism that he agreed to the purchase without Congressional approval. Undeniably, however, is that while Ambrose fails to portray the downfalls of the administration, he manages to capture the vulnerabilities of the protagonists well. Undaunted Courage succeeds in depicting the tragedy of Lewis’s ruin – the depression, financial instability and addiction – that ultimately led to his suicide.