Impossible Journey: Danger, Death, and Deceit on the Lewis & Clark Expedition

by Paul Martin

The Lewis and Clark Expedition is America’s greatest adventure story, a latter-day Odyssey. However, when Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory in 1804, they didn’t suspect that among their small company of enlisted men and civilians was a saboteur with British sympathies, a man willing to resort to murder to bring the Corps of Discovery to an inglorious end. Young Private Nathan Luck—a former printer’s devil on the Hartford Courant and an aspiring journalist—narrates the 28-month, 8,000-mile journey from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back, capturing the drama of the long and dangerous trip up the Missouri River and over the Rocky Mountains, the confrontations with hostile Indians, and the narrow escapes from drownings, starvation, and grizzly bear attacks. With his keen eye for detail, Nat Luck brings to life Lewis, Clark, and their Shoshone interpreter Sacagawea, along with each of the rough-and-tumble soldiers and lusty French boatmen whose bold deeds and rousing fiddle music and songs enliven the trip. The resourceful young private also proves pivotal in the search for the Corps’ insidious turncoat.

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 12, 2023

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Paul^Martin