Lincecum's experiences of following the frontier in the early 1800s, all the way from Georgia to Texas, were not so unusual in themselves, but the intellect and wit that inform his memoirs make them unique. His scientific articles and collections of specimens, his correspondence with leading scientists of the time, and his six years among the colony of ex-Confederates in Tuxpan, Mexico, offer still other insights into the age. Lincecum portrays many aspects of frontier social life, including marriage and divorce, slavery as practiced by the small slaveholder, education, religion as critiqued...

Lincecum's experiences of following the frontier in the early 1800s, all the way from Georgia to Texas, were not so unusual in themselves, but the intellect and wit that inform his memoirs make them unique. His scientific articles and collections of specimens, his correspondence with leading scientists of the time, and his six years among the colony of ex-Confederates in Tuxpan, Mexico, offer still other insights into the age. Lincecum portrays many aspects of frontier social life, including marriage and divorce, slavery as practiced by the small slaveholder, education, religion as critiqued...