CHAPTER II 



THE WILKES EXPEDITION (1838-1842): 

 A SECOND CHANCE FOR THE NATIONAL 

 BOTANIC GARDEN 



Although the Columbian Institute failed to establish a 

 permanent national botanic garden, it did succeed "in 

 establishing a precedent for creating such an institution un- 

 der the auspices of the Federal Government." 1 Five years 

 after the Institute's demise in 1837, the idea of a botanic 

 garden was revived, but the impetus for that moment be- 

 gan much earlier. On the morning of August 18, 1838, Lieu- 

 tenant Charles Wilkes led a squadron of six ships and 440 

 men from Hampton Roads, Virginia, on a voyage that was 

 to figure prominently in the development of a permanent 

 botanic garden. During their ensuing four-year, 87,000-mile 

 voyage, Wilkes' Expedition would circumnavigate the globe, 

 complete extensive surveys of the Pacific Ocean, and con- 

 firm the existence of the continent Antarctica. Altogether, 

 this mission would cost the United States Government 

 $928,183.62. 2 



What prompted a struggling young nation to undertake 

 such a major project? A synopsis of the Expedition, delivered 

 by Wilkes before the National Institute (the successor to the 

 Columbian Institute) shortly after the conclusion of the 

 Expedition in June 1842, provides several important answers 



1 Karen D. Solit, The U.S. Botanic Garden, American Horticulturist v. 

 61, April 1982, p. 5. 



2 Daniel C. Haskell, The United States Exploring Expedition 

 1838-1842, New York: New York Public Library, 1942, p. 6. For back- 

 ground on the Wilkes Expedition see G. S. Bryan, The Wilkes Exploring 

 Expedition, United States Naval Institute Proceedings, v. 65, October 1939, 

 pp. 1452-1464; Daniel Henderson, The Hidden Coast: A Biography of 

 Admiral Charles Wilkes, New York: William Sloan Associates Publishers, 

 1951, pp. 29-202; William James Morgan, David Tyler, Joye L. Leonhart, 

 and Mary F. Loughlin, eds., Autobiography of Rear Admiral Charles 

 Wilkes, U.S. Navy 1798-1877, Washington: Naval History Division, 

 Department of Navy, 1978, pp. 321-548; Robert E. Morsberger, The 

 Wilkes' Expedition: 1838-1842, American History Illustrated, v. 7, June 

 1972, pp. 4-10, 45-49; and Herman J. Viola and Carolyn Margolis, ed., 

 Magnificent Voyagers: The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842, 

 Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985. 



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