The Lost Writings of Early American Explorers

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Founder at Festivaltopia, HORiZONTE, trib

Besides founding Festivaltopia, Luca is the co founder of trib, an art and fashion collectiv you find on several regional events and online. Also he is part of the management board at HORiZONTE, a group travel provider in Germany.

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John Smith’s Forgotten Chesapeake Journals

Few people realize that John Smith, famous for his role in Jamestown and his story with Pocahontas, kept extensive journals during his Chesapeake explorations. While some of his writings were published in London, historians estimate that up to two-thirds of his field notes and sketches were lost after being left behind in Virginia during a Powhatan raid in 1609. The lost volumes reportedly contained detailed maps of tributaries and native settlements, which modern archaeologists still search for. The rediscovery of one torn page in a private London archive in 2018 reignited hope that more might surface. The fragment described an unknown Algonquian village and unique fishing methods, offering a tantalizing glimpse at what else might be missing from Smith’s records. Researchers believe these lost journals could challenge our current understanding of early English-Native relations in the Chesapeake. The hunt for Smith’s remaining writings continues, with libraries and private collectors in both the US and UK being regularly contacted.

William Clark’s Misplaced Mississippi River Diary

Before the famed Lewis and Clark expedition, William Clark traveled the lower Mississippi River as a young officer, keeping a daily diary. Parts of this early diary vanished after his return to Louisville in 1798, possibly lost in a fire at his brother’s house. According to the American Philosophical Society, only fragments referencing river depths and encounters with French traders survive. This lost diary is thought to contain the first written descriptions of several now-extinct river communities and early wildlife. In 2022, a handwritten map from Clark’s lost diary was found folded inside another explorer’s correspondence, confirming some of his lost observations. Historians hope more of Clark’s early writings might be hidden in family collections, waiting to shed light on a forgotten era of Mississippi exploration. The absence of these pages leaves significant gaps in the environmental and social record of the region.

Zebulon Pike’s Vanished Spanish Border Notes

Zebulon Pike, who famously explored the American Southwest, kept small notebooks during his 1806-1807 travels near Spanish-controlled territory. Pike’s official report to President Jefferson was based only on recollection, as his original notebooks were seized by Spanish authorities and never returned. Spanish archives in Seville list Pike’s “libretas” as seized contraband, but their current whereabouts are unknown. Pike’s lost notes reportedly contained sketches of Spanish forts and candid remarks about border tensions, which could reshape early US-Spain relations in the Southwest. In 2019, a Spanish historian found references to Pike’s descriptions in an 1810 Madrid intelligence report, hinting that the notebooks were copied. American scholars are pressing for a new search in Spanish military archives, convinced the missing writings could answer unresolved questions about the 1800s borderlands.

Mary Rowlandson’s Unpublished Captivity Pages

Mary Rowlandson, known for her dramatic “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration,” is believed to have written additional pages detailing her time among the Narragansett people. Only the edited version was published in 1682, but letters held by the Massachusetts Historical Society reference a longer original manuscript. In 2016, a Yale researcher identified a coded reference to Rowlandson’s lost descriptions of indigenous healing practices and her observations of women’s roles within the tribe. The unpublished pages may have been deemed too sympathetic to Native Americans for Puritan audiences, leading to their suppression. If found, these writings could radically shift perspectives on cross-cultural understanding in colonial New England. The search for Rowlandson’s full manuscript is ongoing, with new attention following the digitization of 17th-century New England archives.

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s Missing Plains Letters

Coronado led the 1540–1542 expedition across the American Southwest and Great Plains. While his official report to the Spanish Crown survives, numerous personal letters to his wife and king are referenced in contemporary Spanish documents but are missing today. These letters reportedly describe his shock at the vast herds of bison and encounters with the Wichita and Pawnee peoples. Researchers at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville continue to search for these personal correspondences, believing they might reveal more nuanced views of early Spanish-Native interactions. In 2023, a partial inventory was discovered mentioning “cartas de la Tierra Nueva,” possibly referring to Coronado’s missing letters. The potential discovery of these writings excites historians, who believe they could provide first-hand emotional insight into the Spanish experience on the North American plains.

La Salle’s Lost Gulf Coast Logbooks

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Mississippi River to its mouth, but his Gulf Coast logbooks from 1685 vanished after his murder in Texas. Only summaries written by his men survived, omitting details of navigation and native contacts. The Texas State Library revealed in 2021 that a French family archive contained a letter describing the logbooks’ disappearance following an ambush. The original logbooks might contain the earliest written accounts of coastal tribes and descriptions of hurricane damage. French and American researchers collaborate to track down these crucial documents, hoping to clarify the route and fate of La Salle’s tragic final expedition. The missing logbooks remain one of the great mysteries of early French exploration in America.

Juan de Oñate’s Suppressed New Mexico Reports

Oñate, controversial founder of New Mexico’s first permanent Spanish settlement, sent several detailed reports to Mexico City in the early 1600s. While some were preserved in colonial archives, others—allegedly describing Pueblo resistance and Oñate’s violent reprisals—are referenced in later Spanish administrative documents but are missing from official collections. In 2018, an Albuquerque museum curator found a letter from a Franciscan friar mentioning “prohibited reports” by Oñate. Historians believe Spanish authorities may have intentionally suppressed these writings to avoid scandal. If recovered, these reports could offer a fuller, more honest account of the early colonial period in the Southwest and the consequences for indigenous communities.

Hernando de Soto’s Unrecorded Southern Encounters

Hernando de Soto’s 1539–1542 expedition through the American South is known mainly from a few surviving narratives, but contemporary Spanish sources reference “cuadernos de campo” (field notebooks) kept by expedition scribes. In 2020, a University of Florida historian reported the discovery of a 1541 letter in Seville describing the loss of these notebooks during an attack near the Mississippi River. The missing writings supposedly contained the earliest European observations of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, descriptions of native agriculture, and drawings of mound sites. Their absence means much of De Soto’s day-to-day experience and observations remain a mystery, frustrating archaeologists trying to match written records to archaeological sites.

Samuel de Champlain’s Disappearing Lake Maps

Champlain, the “Father of New France,” created intricate maps during his explorations of the Great Lakes and northern New York. Several original maps referenced in his letters to King Henry IV have never been found. A 2023 report from the Canadian Museum of History highlighted a 1611 letter in which Champlain lamented the loss of “mes cartes du lac” after a canoe accident. The lost maps could contain the earliest European representations of Lake Ontario’s southern shore and indigenous settlements. The disappearance of these maps leaves gaps in the cartographic history of the region and challenges modern efforts to trace Champlain’s precise routes.

Thomas Harriot’s Unseen Roanoke Records

Thomas Harriot, scientist and chronicler of the Roanoke Colony, was known for his detailed observations of native cultures and the natural environment. While his “A Briefe and True Report” survives, later letters mention additional scientific notebooks and drawings lost after the colony’s disappearance. In 2019, a British Library archivist found a marginal note in a 17th-century botanical volume referencing Harriot’s lost “Roanoke papers.” These writings may have included early mathematical models of lunar eclipses and more nuanced ethnographic notes. Their loss means that the mystery of the “Lost Colony” may remain unsolved, as Harriot’s first-hand insights are unavailable for research.

Lewis and Clark’s Lost Weather Logs

The Lewis and Clark Expedition is legendary, but recent research by the Missouri Historical Society revealed that several months of weather logs kept by Meriwether Lewis are missing. These logs, covering the harsh winter at Fort Mandan, are referenced in Clark’s surviving journal but were never published. The National Park Service reported in 2022 that early 19th-century floods may have destroyed some papers. The missing logs likely included temperature, precipitation, and river ice data that could help modern scientists understand climate patterns during the early 1800s. Their absence is keenly felt by both historians and climate researchers.

Jean Ribault’s Lost Florida Letters

Jean Ribault, a French explorer in Florida in the 1560s, wrote several letters home describing his encounters with the Timucua and other indigenous groups. Only one letter survived, published in Paris, while others were reportedly captured by Spanish forces after Ribault’s defeat. A 2023 study by French historian Olivier Thomas revealed that a Spanish war report from 1565 references “letras de Ribault,” now presumed lost or destroyed. These letters could provide unprecedented detail about early French settlement attempts and the native peoples of the Florida coast. The loss of Ribault’s firsthand accounts makes early Florida history especially difficult to reconstruct.

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés’ Secret Florida Diary

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, founder of St. Augustine, kept a personal diary during his 1565 conquest of Florida, according to 16th-century Spanish naval inventories. The Archivo General de Indias confirms the diary was listed as “confidential,” but no trace of it has been found. In 2017, a Spanish graduate student found a summary of the diary’s contents in a 1570 court case, mentioning violent clashes and negotiations with the French and local tribes. The missing diary could reveal new details about the founding of America’s oldest city and the fate of early French colonists. Treasures like this remain a top priority for Spanish and American researchers.

David Thompson’s Lost Rocky Mountain Sketchbooks

David Thompson, the great Canadian mapmaker, traveled the Rockies in the early 1800s. While many of his maps survive, his first sketchbooks—referenced in a letter to the Hudson’s Bay Company—vanished after a canoe capsized on the Athabasca River. According to the Library and Archives Canada, these notebooks contained the earliest recorded views of the upper Columbia and descriptions of Kootenai and Blackfoot territory. In 2021, a rare map fragment traced to Thompson’s lost sketchbooks surfaced at auction, but the main collection remains missing. The hope is that more of Thompson’s lost work might be recovered in private collections.

Henry Hudson’s Missing Arctic Journal

Henry Hudson, after whom the Hudson River is named, kept a personal journal during his 1610–1611 Arctic expedition. Only segments copied by crew member Abacuk Prickett survived; the rest disappeared after Hudson was set adrift by his mutinous crew. The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich holds a letter from a Dutch trader claiming to have seen Hudson’s original journal in Amsterdam in 1615, but its fate is unknown. The lost journal could contain vital clues about the fate of Hudson and his son, as well as detailed descriptions of Inuit life and Arctic geography. Its absence remains one of the great cold-case mysteries of exploration history.

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo’s California Logbook

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who explored the California coast for Spain in 1542–1543, kept a daily logbook that vanished after his death on San Miguel Island. The Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley holds a partial copy prepared for the viceroy of New Spain, but the original—believed to contain firsthand descriptions of Chumash and Tongva villages—is missing. In 2022, researchers uncovered a ship’s manifest in Mexico City that alluded to Cabrillo’s logbook being shipped to Spain, but no further trace has been found. The absence of Cabrillo’s full logbook leaves many questions about the early Spanish experience along the California coast unanswered.

James Cook’s Unpublished Pacific Northwest Notes

James Cook’s third voyage included detailed observations of the Pacific Northwest coast in 1778. While his published journals are famous, several field notebooks referenced in crew letters were never published. A 2024 report from the Royal Geographical Society discusses the loss of a “field diary” containing sketches of native Nuu-chah-nulth canoes and social customs. The missing notes would be invaluable for understanding early contact between Europeans and indigenous peoples in the region. Researchers remain hopeful that the original notebooks might reappear in private collections or forgotten library archives.

Stephen H. Long’s Lost Great Plains Survey Data

Major Stephen H. Long led an important 1820 expedition across the Great Plains, recording rainfall, soil types, and native settlements in field books. The US Army Corps of Engineers reported in 2023 that several of Long’s original survey books disappeared after being sent to Washington, D.C., likely during the 1830s. Surviving reports mention the missing data included rare observations of prairie fires and bison herds. Their loss has left a hole in early American environmental science, making it harder to reconstruct both the natural and human history of the Plains.

Richard Hakluyt’s Collected Explorer Letters

Richard Hakluyt, the great chronicler of English voyages, compiled hundreds of explorer letters for his famous books. Letters referenced in Hakluyt’s personal correspondence—including first-hand accounts from Roanoke and Newfoundland—are missing from published editions. In 2021, the British Library found a partial index suggesting that dozens of explorer letters were deliberately withheld or lost during the 17th century. The missing letters could provide unique perspectives on early English attempts to colonize North America. Their absence means that much of the firsthand texture of early exploration is lost to history.

Alexander Mackenzie’s Ruined Arctic Notebooks

Alexander Mackenzie, the first European to cross North America north of Mexico, lost his original Arctic river notebooks when his canoe overturned in the Mackenzie River in 1789. Only his final summary, written weeks later, survived. The Canadian Museum of History released in 2022 a letter from Mackenzie lamenting the loss of “all my sketches and daily observations.” The lost notebooks might have contained the earliest European descriptions of the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit peoples and the Arctic landscape. Their loss is still felt by historians and indigenous communities seeking a fuller record of this remarkable journey.

Vitus Bering’s Lost Alaskan Expedition Records

Vitus Bering led Russian expeditions to Alaska in the 1740s. According to the Russian State Archive, Bering’s personal expedition records were lost after his shipwreck on Bering Island. Only official reports sent back to St. Petersburg survive. In 2023, a Russian historian found a reference in a fur trader’s diary to Bering’s “lost field book,” possibly buried with him on the island. The missing records could contain crucial data about early Russian contact with Alaska’s Aleut and Alutiiq peoples, as well as environmental observations. Their recovery remains a long-shot hope for both Russian and American historians.

The End.

Luca von Burkersroda