John Lederer was a 17th-century German physician and an explorer of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...

. He and the members of his party became the first Europeans to crest the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virg ...

(1669) and the first to see the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridg ...

and the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

beyond. A map documenting his discoveries was integral to subsequent understanding of the interior.

Biography

Johann Lederer was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, Germany, in 1644. He studied medicine at the Hamburg Academic Gymnasium where he matriculated in 1662. Lederer immigrated to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

in 1668. By this time he spoke French, Italian and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

in addition to German, but had to learn English.Cunz, Dieter (1942), "John Lederer: Significance and Evaluation"
''

William and Mary Quarterly William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

'', accessed 3 April 2010 Believing that the riches of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

lay just beyond the mountains west of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley, colonial governor of Virginia, commissioned Lederer to make three expeditions into the Appalachians between 1669 and 1670. Berkeley wanted him to find a passage to the West and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

, which Europeans believed was a few weeks' travel away. On 9 March 1669, Lederer left Chickahominy, an Indian village near the headwaters of the York River, and traveled northwest to Eminent Hill. During this expedition, lasting until 24 March, he and the three members of his small party became the first Europeans to crest the

, and the first to see the

and the

beyond. In May 1670 Lederer left Fort Charles (now

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

) and followed the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains south into what is now

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. He was accompanied by Major Harris, commanding twenty white men, and five Indian guides. Twenty-one members of the party turned back, but Lederer pushed on with Jackzetavon, one of his five

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoia ...

-speaking

Susquehannock The Susquehannock people, also called the Conestoga by some English settlers or Andastes were Iroquoian Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, ranging from its upper reaches in the southern pa ...

guides. They explored North Carolina to the

Catawba River The Catawba River originates in Western North Carolina and flows into South Carolina, where it later becomes known as the Wateree River. The river is approximately 220 miles (350 km) long. It rises in the Appalachian Mountains and drains into ...

near what is now

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. They returned to Virginia by mid-July, when they reached Fort Henry (now Petersburg), a frontier post on the

Appomattox River The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in central and eastern Virginia in the United S ...

. On 20 August of that year Lederer and Col. John Catlett set out on the third expedition. They departed from Robert Talifer's (surname may have been Taliaferro or a variation of this prominent family) house, at a small settlement south of the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the entir ...

. They followed the Rappahannock River valley north, where Lederer noted "vast herds of red and

fallow deer ''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer. Name The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes ...

which stood gazing at us". Unable to cross the Blue Ridge by horseback, they left their mounts with some Indians in the party and climbed the mountains by foot. From the heights, they sighted the Allegheny Mountains beyond the Shenandoah Valley.

''The Discoveries of John Lederer''

John Lederer settled in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

in 1671. In 1672 his expedition reports (a total of only 35 pages) were translated from

by Sir William Talbot, the governor of Maryland. Together with a map of his expeditions, this material was published as ''The Discoveries of John Lederer, In three several Marches from Virginia, To the West of Carolina, And other parts of the Continent: Begun in March 1669, and ended in September 1670''. Before Lederer, accounts and maps of the interior had been vague. While some corrections have been made, Lederer's map was important for subsequent explorers and settlement. In addition, he identified many Native American tribes and villages. Lederer recorded several legends and customs he observed among the "Monakin" ( Monacan) who occupied the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

area of Virginia. Other Native groups which he described visiting on his second journey included the Nahyssans at Sapon and Akenatzy; the Rickahockans; the Oenocks ( Weyanokes); the Shackorys at Watary and Shakor; the town of Sara in the mountains that "receive from the Spaniards the name of Suala" (now known as

Joara Joara was a large Native American settlement, a regional chiefdom of the Mississippian culture, located in what is now Burke County, North Carolina, about 300 miles from the Atlantic coast in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Joara is n ...

); the Usheryes at Wisacky and Ushery; the Toskiroros at Katearas; and the Indian towns of Kawitziokan, Menchaerinck (Meherrin), Natoway, and Apamatuck.

References

Sources

*
Cunz, Dieter (1942) ''John Lederer: Significance and Evaluation'' (William and Mary Quarterly. Apr. 1942)

External links

Free downloadable e-edition of Lederer's account and map at Project Gutenberg
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lederer, John 1644 births People of colonial Maryland German explorers of North America German emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Physicians from Hamburg Year of death unknown

Biography

''The Discoveries of John Lederer''

References

Sources

Related Reading

External links