Vincennes, Indiana

Description

Maximilian left Fort Clark on the afternoon of April 18, 1834, and headed downriver with his companions to St. Louis below the mouth of the Missouri. On June 3 Maximilian’s party left St. Louis and retraced their earlier travels eastward as far as Mount Vernon on the Ohio, again visiting New Harmony and traveling north approximately fifty miles to Vincennes, Indiana. Maximilian continued to pursue his studies in botany and zoology as tirelessly as ever, and his narrative for this period is filled with minute descriptions of the flora and fauna of the area. In his journal entry for June 11, he mentions that Bodmer sketched a view of Warrior’s Hill and the site of Vincennes. A watercolor version of this scene is reproduced here.