Peter Custis

In the aftermath of the Louisiana Purchase, naturalist Peter Custis travelled with surveyor Thomas Freeman aboard eight boats up the Red River to find its source. They succeeded in detouring around the 100-160 mile long Red River raft, but near New Boston had to retreat in the face of a large force of Spanish troops. Nevertheless, Custis documented more than 267 plants and animals during the four and a half month journey, as reported (though somewhat distorted by poor editing) in the publication, An Account of the Red River in Louisiana by Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis. This 1806 expedition provided some of the first impressions of the natural resources of Texas.