Name: Tipps-Holder, Sherry
E-mail: stipps@conwaycorp.net
Topic: The Hunter-Dunbar Expedition of 1804-1805;

Grade: 6-8
Time: One class period
Ark. Hist. Framework: 1.1.11, 1.1.15, 3.1.12


Objective: 
1. Students will be able to explain the origins of the Hunter-Dunbar Expedition and why it was so important.
2. Students will map George Hunter and William Dunbar's expedition route on the Ouachita River.
3. Students will examine excerpts of George Hunter's journal, a primary resource, to learn about some of their experiences on the expedition

Set: Brainstorm a list of questions the students would have liked the explorers to find out about the new lands if they lived in 1804. 
*Show the students a map showing the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Remind the students that under President Thomas Jefferson's instructions, the 
United States purchased all of French Louisiana for about 15 million dollars.  We had just bought millions of acres sight unseen!  Jefferson was anxious 
to find out what kind of land our country had purchased. Jefferson decided to send men of science to explore the lands west of the Mississippi.  
These men were part of a Corp of Discovery. George Hunter, William Dunbar, and a group of soldiers were the explorers that President Jefferson sent to 
explore the Ouachita River through Arkansas and Louisiana.

Materials: *Map of Louisiana Purchase
*Class set of maps showing Hunter-Dunbar Expedition Route (Figure 2.)
*Class set of Hunter-Dunbar Expetition Timelines (Figure 3.)
*Numbered scripts (Figure 4.) with dates from George Hunter's personal journal.  Give these to 14 students to read at the appropriate time during
the lesson.  (These could be copied, cut apart and glued to large index cards for future use.)
*Colored pencils or highlighters (one per student)
NOTE: File Attachments will not be on the web.  Please contact me by e-mail for a copy.

Key Terms: expedition, journal, primary resource, chutes

Key Facts: After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson launched the Corp of Discovery, a series of expeditions that would
explore the mysteries of the new frontier purchased from France. Although the Lewis and Clark Expedition gained the most fame, many
more followed.  The George Hunter-William Dunbar Expedition of 1804-1805 explored the Ouachita River in Louisiana and Arkansas as
far as Hot Springs.  Thomas Jefferson insisted that detailed scientific reports be submitted to the United States Government after each
expedition.  These reports publicized the findings about the new lands in the west to the people of the United States and the world.

Activities: *Give the students the class sets of (Figure 2. and Figure 3.) maps and timelines showing Hunter & Dunbar's route up the Ouachita River.
Pass out the sections of script (Figure 4.) of George Hunter's journal to 14 students.  Explain to the students that they will highlight the
expedition route and number the important stops on each part of the journey.  They will be reading parts of Hunter's journal. (Explain
the term primary resource as a first hand account of a person who actually experienced an event in history.)   Begin with section #1 from
the journal and place #1 in the appropriate box on the map.  Continue with #2-14 in the same manner until the expedition map is finished.
Pause along the way to ask why the students think Hunter included these pieces of information in the journal.  When the expedition map
is finished, refer back to the list of questions from the brainstorming "set".  Did Hunter and Dunbar answer any of the questions addressed
by the class?  Which ones?

Closure: Tell the students that Hunter and Dunbar both wrote journals about their expedition on the Ouachita River.  These accounts were 
published in newpapers and magazines in the eastern states.  Ask what effect these stories probably had on the people who read them.

Assessment: Pretend that you are a soldier on the Hunter-Dunbar Expedition. Write a couple of journal entries from a soldier's perspective recalling an
incident on the journey.

Resources: 
Foti, Thomas and Gerald Hanson. Arkansas and the Land. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1992.

Allen, Milford. "Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana-Arkansas
    Frontier."  Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Spring 1961:39-64.

Hunter, George. Manuscript Journal of George Hunter Up the Red River and Washita Rivers with William Dunbar, 1804, by Order
    of the United States and Up to Hot Springs.  (Transmitted by George Hunter to the Government and Found in the Office of the 
    Adjutant and Inspector General of the Army, U.S.A.:Parker.)

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