Undaunted On Courage Essay 

The book Undaunted Courage, written by Stephen E. Ambrose, is a book about arguably the most defining American journey in history. Lewis and Clark’s quest to explore the west shaped our borders and ultimately the overall development of the United States. Stephen E. Ambrose delves deeper than merely the events that occur, but also he chooses to shape his book in alike ways to that of a novel; he elaborates on the role of women and the ironies of Lewis’s ultimate downfall because of his mental issues despite enduring great physical turmoil and success in his life.

To begin with, Undaunted Courage is a nonfiction book that is styled similarly to a fiction book. This is unique because most nonfiction books are authored in a much different fashion.

Nonfiction books are not normally not fixed on shaping a story, but rather informational and not the personalities of the individuals involved, as if they are characters rather than historical figures.

One notable instance wherein the author was trying to paint a colorful picture of a person was Lewis’s mother. “The woman who inspired such concern and love was capable of leading an expedition into the wilderness, of running a plantation, of supervising at the hog-killing time,” However, the clearest depiction of Ambrose’s choice to characterize a person was, of course, Lewis. In fact, this “novel” is basically a close-up biographical story of Lewis’s life. This format is shown especially when describing Lewis’s suicide – “Or were his thoughts gloomy?…”Was he ashamed of how he had failed the man he adored?…Or did his mind avoid the past?…We cannot know.

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We only know that he was tortured, and that his pain was unbearable.”

The nature of the book itself resembles a novel in not only the characterization and the colorful emotion, but also in the format. This novel is narrated in 3rd-person viewpoint of Meriwether Lewis, rather than a broad description of the expedition. This style of writing is normally solely used in fictional novels. He does this in order to set his book apart, for he wanted to reach more than a superficial review of everything that occurred on this momentous trek for westward expansion. In doing so, he creates a much more exciting take on the true events in the 3rd-person viewpoint a historical figure that he deemed deserving of a deep analysis. Certainly, a reader would be more compelled to complete the book than a textbook or a dry, purely informational work of text.

The role of women in this story – seemingly small but ultimately significant – is most prominently shown through Sacagawea, the famous Shoshone woman who traveled with a baby. Her peacemaking abilities and good relations with many tribes were absolutely crucial to the wellbeing and the success of the expedition, being that she had been in contact with many Native Americans in her life. Without this woman, they would have not succeeded or possibly lived. Her knowledge of the difficult terrain and her translation abilities made her an invaluable asset to the expedition. However, there is yet another woman who directly contributed to the expedition and the lives of everyone involved. While the men were staying with the Nez Percé, they grew very ill and were becoming a burden for the tribe.

The Nez Percé considered killing the men for weaponry, but a woman name Watkuweis – an escaped Blackfoot hostage – convinced the tribe to spare them. As Ambrose puts it: “First Sacagawea, now Watkuweis. The expedition owen more to Indian women than either captain ever acknowledged. And the United States owed more to the Nez Percé than it ever acknowledged.” During the birth of Sacagawea’s child, Lewis worried about her because of her importance to the journey: “…it is worthy of remark that this was the first child which this woman had boarn and as is common in such cases her labour was tedious and the pain violent; Mr. Jessome informed me that he had freequently adminstered a small portion of the rattle of the rattle-snake… that of hastening the birth of the child; having the rattle of a snake by me I gave it to him and he administered two rings of it to the woman broken in small pieces with the fingers and added to a small quantity of water… I must confess that I want faith as to it’s efficacy.”

Everybody seemed to be aware of her importance: “Charbonneau knew that Sacagawea was critical to dealing with the Shoshones,” And that, she was. Charbonneau did not speak the Shoshone language, wherein Sacagawea was born to the Shoshone tribe and spoke the language fluently. She was level-headed during bear attacks, disasters, and even when her husband nearly accidentally killed the whole crew on their pirogue – “All this time, Sacagawea was calm, collected, and invaluable. As Lewis put it the following day, ‘The Indian woman to whom I ascribe equal fortitude and resolution, with any person on board at the time of the accedent, caught and preserved most of the light articles which were washed overboard.’” Clearly, her level-headedness and knowledge aided the expedition very much, despite being the sole woman on-board. “ Charbonneau, who did not know how to swim, panicked instead of collecting the goods while Sacagawea reached for them. Her level headed behavior saved documents and tools that would have been lost forever.” Without Indian women on this journey, the men would not have survived.

Despite Meriwether Lewis’s heroic nature and ability to overcome great strain, he ended up ending his own life. This fact is certainly ironic in theory, and even more so when delving deeper into the achievements of Lewis. How could someone endure such incredible feats and be deemed one of the world’s greatest explorers, yet take his own life? Meriwether Lewis endured many things in this expedition and, to put it plainly, beat them. He and his team were plagued by mosquitoes, threatened by multiple encounters with grizzly bears, traveled across mountains and dangerous terrain, trekked over the Bitteroots, escaped threatening encounters with Indians, survived dangerous illnesses, and more. Each day brought forth a new, arduous challenge that tested the abilities of each human being, especially Meriwether. Grave danger and death seemed to always breathe down every person’s necks, tempting to snap and grab hold of them at any given moment.

Meriwether Lewis was very lucky to survive this journey. Many narrow escapes led to the successful ending to this expedition. It is saddening and paradoxical that such a man would commit suicide. His contribution was so crucial to westward expansion, especially his journals that detailed the incredible findings and differing terrain. However, he had fallen victim to alcoholism: “Lewis was drinking again, or as Russell so heartbreakingly put it, ‘His resolution [never to drink again] left him.’” His closest friends and acquaintances has noticed deterioration of his mind: “Before he had left St. Louis, he composed a will. Lewis had reportedly attempted to take his life several times a few weeks earlier and was known to suffer from what Jefferson called ‘sensible depressions of the mind.’ Clark had observed his companion’s melancholy states. ‘I fear the weight of his mind has overcome him,’ he wrote after receiving word of Lewis’s fate.” He had no wife of his own and had been disappointed in himself for not achieving what Thomas Jefferson had wanted.

Once he had resolved to kill himself, he shot himself once to the head, but merely grazed his head. Then, he shot himself in the chest area. “When they got to his room, they found him ‘busily engaged in cutting himself head to foot’ with his razor.” Lewis had apparently recognized the irony in that he wanted to die despite his strength: “I am no coward; but I am so strong, so hard to die.” To summarize, Stephen E. Ambrose wrote this book in the compelling fashion of a novel, the book displays the grave importance of women on this journey and allows the reader to understand the irony of Meriwether’s suicide. The adventures of Meriwether Lewis have been utterly crucial to the development of the country and shows many underlying themes and issues. Meriwether Lewis was an interesting man who deserves this delve into his life: “Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction, careful as a father of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance of order and discipline, intimate.

With the Indian character, customs, and principles; habituated to the hunting life, guarded by exact observation of the vegetables and animals of his own country against losing time in the description of objects already possessed; honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding, and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves – with all these qualifications as if selected and implanted by nature in one body for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him. To fill up the measure desired, he wanted nothing but a greater familiarity with the technical language of the natural sciences, and readiness in the astronomical observations necessary for the geography of his route. To acquire these he repaired immediately to Philadelphia, and placed himself under the tutorage of the distinguished professors of that place.”

Bibliography

Stephen E. Ambrose, Undaunted Courage (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005)

Meriwether Lewis, Journal of Meriwether Lewis, entry from February 11th, 1805

Editors of sacagawea-biography.com, http://www.sacagawea-biography.org/significance-role-lewis-clark-expedition/ (accessed November, 18th, 2018)

Abigail Tucker, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/meriwether-lewis-mysterious-death-144006713 (accessed November 20th, 2018)

Quote by Stephen E. Ambrose from Undaunted Courage found at https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/99507-undaunted-courage