Description
In A Journey throughout the West, Thomas Rodney writes vividly about flea-infested taverns, bad roads, drunken crew members, squatters, Indians sodden berths, food from the wild and treacherous waters. His is likely one of the most detailed early-nineteenth-century commute accounts.
Rodney, a Revolutionary War patriot and veteran, had been active in Delaware politics and had served within the Continental Congress. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson appointed him as a land commissioner and a territorial pass judgement on within the newly formed Mississippi Territory. To assume his duties, Rodney and a small party traveled overland from Delaware around the length of southern Pennsylvania to Wheeling, (West) Virginia. From there, they boarded their newly constructed boat at the Ohio River and rowed, sailed, and drifted along the borders of (West) Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.
Finally they left the clear rapids of the Ohio and entered the muddy yet majestic Mississippi. They traveled southwesterly into a vast, exotic wilderness valley. The western shore of the Mississippi was once still owned by Spain, and foreign soldiers were spotted. Under pressure to satisfy Rodney’s deadline for arrival in Mississippi Territory, the travelers were grateful for the Mississippi’s fast current. Yet within the journey’s last days they were faced with adventures and with near disaster when their boat struck a snag and partially sank.
Rodney kept a precise journal and sent letters to President Jefferson documenting his trek from the settled East throughout the barely chartered paths of the western wilderness. He hobnobbed with Meriwether Lewis, enjoyed the hospitality of Harman Blennerhassett, and received a tour of Cincinnati from Arthur St. Clair.
Dwight Smith and Ray Swick have compiled, edited and annotated Rodney’s story to give it in complete form for the first time. A Journey throughout the West, is both a commute adventure and a colorful glimpse into the life of his day.
Rodney, a Revolutionary War patriot and veteran, had been active in Delaware politics and had served within the Continental Congress. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson appointed him as a land commissioner and a territorial pass judgement on within the newly formed Mississippi Territory. To assume his duties, Rodney and a small party traveled overland from Delaware around the length of southern Pennsylvania to Wheeling, (West) Virginia. From there, they boarded their newly constructed boat at the Ohio River and rowed, sailed, and drifted along the borders of (West) Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.
Finally they left the clear rapids of the Ohio and entered the muddy yet majestic Mississippi. They traveled southwesterly into a vast, exotic wilderness valley. The western shore of the Mississippi was once still owned by Spain, and foreign soldiers were spotted. Under pressure to satisfy Rodney’s deadline for arrival in Mississippi Territory, the travelers were grateful for the Mississippi’s fast current. Yet within the journey’s last days they were faced with adventures and with near disaster when their boat struck a snag and partially sank.
Rodney kept a precise journal and sent letters to President Jefferson documenting his trek from the settled East throughout the barely chartered paths of the western wilderness. He hobnobbed with Meriwether Lewis, enjoyed the hospitality of Harman Blennerhassett, and received a tour of Cincinnati from Arthur St. Clair.
Dwight Smith and Ray Swick have compiled, edited and annotated Rodney’s story to give it in complete form for the first time. A Journey throughout the West, is both a commute adventure and a colorful glimpse into the life of his day.
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