Capt John Ledyard Jr. (1729-1762) - Find a Grave Memorial

Capt John Ledyard Jr.

Birth

27 Jul 1729

Groton, New London County, Connecticut, USA

Death

17 Mar 1762 (aged 32)

At Sea

Burial

Colonel Ledyard Cemetery

Groton, New London County, Connecticut, USA Add to Map

Memorial ID

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"For decades after his death in 1789 at the age of thirty-seven, John Ledyard was celebrated as the greatest explorer America had ever produced. Blond, athletic, a fabulous raconteur, 'the Celebrated Traveler' participated in the greatest expeditions of his day. A veteran of Captain Cook's final voyage, he helped pioneer the fur trade on the West Coast. Later, with his friend Thomas Jefferson, he hatched plans for a grand expedition across North America. Two decades before Lewis and Clark, Ledyard set off on the journey himself. He made it nearly all the way across Russia - en route to Alaska - before he was arrested as a spy. He died in Cairo, while preparing to venture into Africa. Once as famous as the Founding Fathers whom he had befriended and beguiled, Ledyard even appears in Moby-Dick."

Ledyard: In Search of the First American Explorer by Bill Gifford

Inscription

In Memory of Cap.
John Ledyard, Junr. Who
departed this Life March
17 A.D. 1762
Aged 32 years.

Once did I Stand among Life's busy throng,
Healthy and active, vigorous and strong;
Oft' did I traverse Ocean's Briny Waves,
And safe Escapd a thousand gaping Graves,
Yet dire disease has stopped my vital breath
And here I lie, the Prisoner of Death.
Reader expect not lengthened days to see,
Or if thou dost, think, think, ah think of me.

Source: Chapter Sketches, Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution - Patron Saints (1901)