Ledyard: In Search of the First American Explorer

by Bill Gifford

For decades after his death in 1789, John Ledyard was celebrated as the greatest explorer America had ever produced. A veteran of Captain Cook’s final voyage, he walked across nearly all of Russia and suggested to his friend Thomas Jefferson that traversing the American continent was feasible—inspiring the Lewis and Clark expedition. When he died he was preparing to venture into Africa. Once as famous as the Founding Fathers whom he had befriended and beguiled, the “American traveler,” as Ledyard was called, fell into obscurity over the years, reduced to becoming a foot­noted reference in Moby Dick.
 Bill Gifford reenacted Ledyard’s 1773 escape from Dartmouth College in a canoe and followed Ledyard’s trail down the length of the Lena River in Siberia. In Ledyard he reveals the man in the legend, bringing back an American original and giving us a story that until now has not been fully told.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Travel

331 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Audrey Knutson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with John Ledyard is there aren't a lot of primary sources on him. So either the book would have been really short or Gifford could have filled the novel with primary sources from individuals he was in direct contact with--like Eleazar Wheelock, James Cook, and Thomas Jefferson. I did like to learn more about the time period immediately before, during, and after the American Revolution and it was cool to learn more about other famous people during that time as well, especially James Cook and his explorations of the south Pacific.

I don't think Gifford's writing was anything exciting--it wasn't any beautiful prose or anything enlightening or earth shattering. Tbh, I don't know how worthy John Ledyard is to have such a fuss given about him? His biggest claim to fame was he INSPIRED others to explore--from Lewis and Clark across America and Stanley in Africa. But he didn't do much himself. Yes, he undertook some seriously badass travels in Russia but I'm not sure how much fame that should come with? Again, without the primary sources on them, all we can do is just try and imagine what they were like and applaud him for taking the most arduous and longest possible route from A to B.

I think the purpose of this book was to extol a school boy crush on John Ledyard. I get it, I'm a Dartmouth Alum too, John Ledyard is still revered in those north woods. The first time I saw this book was when a group of psi u frat boys were reading it together on a bus from Hanover to Boston. Gifford obviously has a lot of pride for his school and for one of it's most famously adventurous characters and wanted to supplement what he could about Ledyard. I'm not sure if anyone outside the Dartmouth community cares to read about Ledyard or really if there's reason to, but it's a short book and certainly sparks interests in other events and people from the period.

[Dpdwyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Leyard was an amazing if not wholly admirable personality. Born on Long Island, he was fascinated by native American cultures and a vigorous self-promoter. He sailed on Cook's third, final, and fatal voyage, exploring the west coast of North America. His dream was to travel alone from the west coast back to New York. When he couldn't get backing, he went to Europe and traveled alone across most of Siberia, trying to get back to the west coast, but was arrested as a spy and sent back to Europe. Finally he found backing for a trip down the Nile into the heart of Africa, but then died of dysentery in Cairo before starting out. Apparently quite charismatic, he charmed everyone: royalty, influential men including Banks and Jefferson, and many, many women along the way. He may have been bipolar, he was certainly narcissistic and perhaps sociopathic. His journals and letters gave differing versions of the truth as much as we can know. I found the book disjointed at times but this may reflect less on the author than on the fragments Ledyard left behind.

[Christopher Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This interesting biography of "probably the most fascinating historical figure you've never heard of" is quite skimpy when covering his early life simply because very few primary sources remain (or were ever available). With Ledyard's appearance in the documentable world and in many parts of that world, the threads of his life can be richly laid out...and a rich life it was. Gifford writes in admirably non-judgmental fashion, breathing life and vitality into the story of a wanderlust who roamed far and wide, the limitations of 18th century travel notwithstanding. The author retraces much of Ledyard's travels east across Russia, providing interesting now-and-then contrasts.

A worthwhile read.

[Grumpus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda dull but it still introduced me to an American explorer I had never heard of before.

[Jody Bachelder · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Ledyard tried to be the first person to circumambulate the world, and died trying. What a colorful character! He had to flee the US due to some undisclosed problems just at the brink of the Revolutionary War, and ended up on a ship with the famous Captain Cook. He was there at Cook's slaughter. He tried to set up a fur trading station on the west coast (failed), was friends with Thomas Jefferson and panhandled his way across Europe and Siberia. That trip nearly killed him when he was arrested by Catherine the Great for not having his papers in order. While in Siberia, he wrote a passage in his journal about the women of the world which was quoted long after his death. He was scandalously fond of them. Though Ledyard failed in most of his attempts, he should be remembered for setting the bar high for explorers who came after him.

[Karson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was really funny. This guy Ledyard was a real clown. Supposively Thomas Jefferson tried to get this guy to do the east coast to west coast thing before Lewis and Clark, but Ledyard wanted to do it from Connecticut through Europe and Asia and over the pacific, and he went through a lot of Russia by foot! What an awesome idiot!

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

He did it all without spandex, gore-tex and gps....