Towards the end of the 18th century, incredible rumours reached Wales of a tribe of Welsh Indians living somewhere in the American West. Allegedly the descendants of a Welsh prince who had fled the country in the 12th century, these Welsh Indians presented an opportunity for Christian proselytizing and the rediscovery of primordial Welsh culture by their supposed contemporary countrymen.

One young man, the son of a Methodist minister, called John T. Evans, was brave enough to offer to travel to America in search of them. It was an adventure that would not end in the way Evans hoped but it would be an adventure.

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Additional Reading: Brands, H.W., Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West (2019) Morgan, Prys, 'From a Death to a View: The Hunt for the Welsh Past in the Romantic Period' in Hobsbawn, Eric, The Invention of Tradition (1983), pp.43-100.*

Robert, W. Arvon, 150 Famous Welsh Americans (2008)

Williams, David, 'John Evans' Strange Journey: Part I: The Welsh Indians', The American Historical Review, 54, ii (1949), 277-295.

Williams, David, 'John Evans' Strange Journey: Part II: Following the Trail', The American Historical Review, 54, iii (1949), 508-529.Witte, Kevin C., 'In the Footsteps of the Third Spanish Expedition: James Mackay and John T. Evans' Impact on the Lewis and Clark Expedition', Great Plains Quarterly (2006)

*I realized while compiling this bibliography that I had misattributed one of the quotations in this chapter to Eric Hobsbawn, when it was in fact written by Prys Morgan. I apologise for this oversight.

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Period: 1770-1799 AD

Music: Way Out West by Jack Pierce, licensed by Premium Beat

Artwork: Created using Canva