A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory during the Year 1819

A Journal of Travels into the Arkansa [or Arkansas] Territory During the Year 1819 with Occasional Observations on the Manners of the Aborigines was written in 1819 and published in 1821. The work recounts the travels of English botanist Thomas Nuttall from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Arkansas and up the Arkansas River into present-day Oklahoma.

Born in Yorkshire, England, in 1786, Nuttall explored the countryside around his home and moved to the United States in 1808. He worked with Benjamin Smith Barton, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and embarked on an exploration of the route taken by Lewis and Clark to gather botanical samples. Traveling across the Great Lakes region, he descended the Mississippi River and followed the Missouri River from St. Louis to what is now central North Dakota. Returning to England in 1811 via New Orleans, he remained in that country until after the conclusion of the War of 1812. After he returned to the United States in 1815, he undertook an expedition through Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, followed by a trip through what is now Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and other states.

Nuttall desired to travel to the Rocky Mountains and continue collecting specimens. Unable to secure government funding for such an expedition, he received support from the American Philosophical Society, of which he was a member. Departing Philadelphia on October 2, 1818, Nuttall and his party made their way down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and in January 1819, they entered Arkansas via the White River.

Struggling up the Arkansas River, he visited Arkansas Post and other small settlements. He arrived at Little Rock (Pulaski County) on March 20 and continued his journey up the river to Cadron (Faulkner County), arriving seven days later. His writings included hand-drawn images of Mount Nebo and Pinnacle Mountain. Nuttall followed the river to Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and used the military post as a base of operations as he ventured into what is now Oklahoma. He began his return journey down the Arkansas River in October and reached Arkansas Post on January 15, 1820. Continuing down the Mississippi River, he reached New Orleans and obtained passage back to Philadelphia.

Nuttall recorded his interactions with residents he encountered, as well as detailed examinations of the land and plants in the area. He also detailed the animals in the territory and the geology that he witnessed. In conversations with residents, he learned about the thermal springs at Hot Springs (Garland County) and other natural wonders. The narrative includes many details on the Native Americans Nuttall encountered.

Returning to the northeastern United States after his expedition, Nuttall worked at the Botanic Garden in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at Harvard University. He returned to England in 1841 and lived there for the remainder of his life, with only one short trip back to the United States in 1847–1848. He died on September 10, 1859.

The work was originally published in Philadelphia by Thomas Palmer in 1821. Another version of the work appeared in 1905 as Volume XIII, part of the Early Western Travels, 1748–1846, a series edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites. The University of Oklahoma Press published a version of the work edited by Savoie Lottinville in 1980 and reprinted it in 2012. The University of Arkansas Press at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville (Washington County) published the Lottinville edited version in 1999. Notably, the original title page of the work does not include a final “s” at the end of Arkansas.

The work is an important resource for any historian of early Arkansas, as well as biologists and others interested in the natural history of the state.

For additional information:
Beidleman, Richard G., and Thomas Nuttall. “The 1818–20 Arkansas Journey of Thomas Nuttall.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 15 (Autumn 1956): 249–259.

Brown, Walter L. “Review of A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory During the Year 1819.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 41 (Winter 1982): 348–351.

Milson, Andrew J. Arkansas Travelers: Geographies of Exploration and Perception, 1804–1834. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2019.

Nuttall, Thomas. A Journal of Travels into the Arkansa Territory During the Year 1819 with Occasional Observations on the Manners of the Aborigines. Philadelphia, PA: Thomas Palmer, 1821. Online at https://archive.org/details/journaloftravels00nutt/page/n1/mode/2up (accessed February 6, 2025).

Vaulx, Julia R. “Another Early Traveler in Arkansas.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 5 (Summer 1946): 169–178.

David Sesser
Southeastern Louisiana University