The Journal of Julius Rodman
novel by Edgar Allan Poe
The Journal of Julius Rodman, Being an Account of the First Passage across the Rocky Mountains of North America Ever Achieved by Civilized Man is an unfinished serial novel by American author Edgar Allan Poe published in 1840.
Plot
The Journal of Julius Rodman is a fictionalized account of the first expedition across the Western Wilderness, crossing the Rocky Mountains. The journal chronicled a 1792 expedition led by Julius Rodman up the Missouri River to the Northwest. This 1792 expedition would have made Rodman the first European to cross the Rocky Mountains. The detailed journal chronicles events of the most surprising nature, and recounts "the unparalleled vicissitudes and adventures experienced by a handful of men in a country which, until then, had never been explored by 'civilised man'."
Julius Rodman was an English emigrant who first settled in New York, then moved to Kentucky and Mississippi. His expedition which departed from Mills' Point up the Missouri River with several companions was described in a diary. The manuscript of the diary was submitted by his heir, James E. Rodman.
Rodman is accompanied on his expedition by Pierre Junôt; Alexander Wormley; Toby; Andrew Thornton; and the five Greely brothers, John, Robert, Meredith, Frank, and Poindexter. The party is described as "mere travellers for pleasure", abandoning commercial or pecuniary motives. They traveled by canoe and by a thirty foot long keelboat which was bulletproof.
The public source identifies “The Journal of Julius Rodman” as novel by Edgar Allan Poe. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Journal, Julius and Rodman.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7743591. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1840 and 1792.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Journal of Julius Rodman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.