About
He crossed 1,500 miles of wilderness along the Alaskan Copper river in order to make charts of the land.
Before Fame
After graduating from West Point, he became a military attaché to Russia and later to Germany before being recruited for the Alaskan expedition.
Trivia
His most effective expedition took him and group across difficult terrain and freezing temperatures.
Family Life
He was born in Sharpsburg, Kentucky, one of 14 children of Susan Shumate and Sanford Allen.
Associated With
His undertaking was compared by some in the military to that by Meriwether Lewis and his partner centuries earlier, when the U.S. purchased the Louisiana territory.
