e sparse, and justifiably so, for he had already written voluminously about the events of the expedition in previous volumes.
One might wonder about the value of a new edition of Floyd’s journal, given that Moulton’s edition is only a decade old. But I believe it is warranted. First, the editor, James J. Holmberg, Curator of Special Collections for the Filson Historical Society, provides facsimiles of every page of Floyd’s 56-page journal, which began on 14th May and ended on 18 August 1804 – two days before Floyd’s death. The facsimile appears on the reverse of a page, Holmberg’s transcription of it on the obverse of the succeeding page. This allows the reader to compare Holmberg’s transcription with the original. Second, Holmberg provides far more annotation than Moulton – some 98 notes overall. Holmberg does not try to duplicate the identifications of places, flora and fauna provided by Moulton, but he covers just about everything else, including those respects in which Floyd’s journal differs from the others (in some cases, Floyd is the only journalist to write about some person, object or event). The notes run along the right side of each obverse page. The pages lie open on their own, which makes for easy reading. Third, Holmberg has written a long, interesting introduction to the journal. It is based on an essay which he wrote for We Proceeded On, the official publication of the Lewis and Clark Heritage Foundation, which has done so much to preserve and promote the trail.
Holmberg’s edition of Floyd’s journal runs to 112 pages, counting prefatory and concluding matter. The journal proper occupies 58 of those pages, or just over half. The remainder consists of a table of contents, a foreword (by Gary. E. Moulton, who calls the book “a splendid example of new scholarship on the expedition” [p. viii]), a preface, acknowledgements, and a thirty-page introduction. The book is printed on glossy paper and is well worth the purchase price. I counted only a handful of typographical errors, and about the only annoying feature of the book is Holmberg’s propensity to express frustration at Floyd’s journalistic parsimoniousness. In note 80, for instance, Holmberg finds it incredible that Floyd did not mention his fellow Kentuckians Reubin and Joseph Field by name.
All in all, this is a valuable addition to Lewis and Clark literature. The book enhanced my understanding not only of Charles Floyd the person and of his contribution to the expedition, but of the expedition as a whole. The story of Floyd’s burial and many reburials, painstakingly told by Holmberg in the introduction, is worth the book’s price by itself. It reads like a mystery novel – but with a happy ending. Sergeant Floyd would be honored to have such a meticulous and sympathetic editor.
The University of Texas at Arlington