12 WILLIAM BARTRAM 



request made by Thomas Jefferson, as President of the United 

 States, for his services on an exploration undertaking which has 

 become famous in American history as the Lewis and Clark 

 Expedition. On November 30, 1803, Dr. Benjamin S. Barton 

 wrote to Bartram inquiring if he would undertake 



a voyage or journey up the Red River, one of the western branches of 

 the Mississippi. A new expedition for explaining the waters of that 

 river, particularly with a view to its Botanical and Zoological produc- 

 tions, is about to take place under the patronage of the President of 

 the United States. Your name has been particularly mentioned by the 

 President. . . . Send your answer by my boy. 



Dr. Barton then proceeded to enumerate the advantages. Com- 

 pensation would be liberal ; the journey would not be fatiguing. 

 The President's agent, Mr. Freeman, who had been authorized 

 to find a suitable man for the expedition, was pressing for an 

 answer and Dr. Barton urged Bartram to accept. 



Come on. You are not too old. You have sufficient youth, health and 

 strength for this journey. You will render great and new services to 

 Natural Science. Remember that your venerable father continued to 

 make botanical tours long after he had reached your age.*- 



Further confirmation of this offer, which Bartram was obliged 

 to refuse, is found in a letter to Jefferson, dated at Kingsess, 

 February 6, 1806, in which Bartram recommended Alexander 

 Wilson for exploration in Louisiana and in which he thanked 

 Jefferson for having thought of him (Bartram) for the voyage 

 up the Red River.^' 



Bartram, however, must have continued to be active in his 

 garden and in his studies, at least in a quiet way, for in 1812 

 further recognition came to him in his election to membership 

 in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.** On July 22, 

 1823, he died from a ruptured blood-vessel of the lungs; "he 

 had just finished writing the description of a plant, and was 

 stepping out for a stroll in his beloved Garden." *^ 



*° Bartram Papers, I. 



*' Manuscript Division, The Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. 



** Notice of election in Bartram Papers, I. 



*^ Dictionary of American Biography, II, 29. 



