Note 211 — Chapter XV
Reading edition
In the autumn of 1804 President Jefferson sent a party under Sir William Dunbar (see Cuming’s Tour, in our volume iv, note 209), to explore the Ouachita. Dunbar, a Scotchman (1740–1810) who had come to the United States before the Revolutionary War, had after various business ventures at Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and Baton Rouge, settled near Natchez on a plantation. He was a scientist of considerable note; the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, of which he was a member, contain various contributions from his pen.
Dr. Hunter was Dunbar’s assistant on the Ouachita journey. Their “Observations” were transmitted to Congress with Jefferson’s message of February 19, 1806.—Ed.