|
Wood (DuBois) River, Illinois
National Park Service photo, courtesy of the Jefferson
National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site |
In December 1803, William Clark established "Camp River
Dubois" on the Wood River at the confluence of the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers, north of St. Louis, Missouri, and across
the river in Illinois. While at the camp it was Clark's
responsibility to train the many different men who had volunteered
to go to the Pacific on the expedition and turn them into
an efficient team. By and large, most of the members of
the Corps of Discovery were strangers to one another. The
youngest man, George Shannon, was 17 years old, the oldest,
John Shields, was 35. The average age of all the men was
27. Clark had the men build a fort and cabins out of logs.
He drilled the men, teaching them how to march in formation,
use their weapons as a team and shoot effectively at targets.
Most of all, he tried to get the men to respect military
authority and learn how to follow orders. When they would
later face danger on the frontier, there would be no time
for the men to question the officers.
During the winter, Meriwether Lewis spent a lot of time
in the little town of St. Louis.
Lewis had to gather more supplies and equipment for his
journey, because there were so many volunteers that there
were over twice as many men set to go on the expedition
as he had originally planned for! Lewis also talked with
fur traders who had been up the Missouri River, and obtained
maps made by earlier explorers. On March 9, 1804, Meriwether
Lewis attended a special ceremony in St. Louis, during
which the Upper Louisiana Territory was transferred to
the United States. Two months later, on May 14, the expedition
was ready to begin. William Clark and the Corps of Discovery
left Camp River Dubois, and were joined by Meriwether
Lewis in St. Charles, Missouri,
a week later. The party numbered more than 45, mostly
young, unmarried soldiers. The civilians
Painting "Lewis and Clark: The Departure from St.
Charles, May 21, 1804" by Gary R. Lucy
Courtesy of the
Gary R. Lucy Gallery, Inc. www.garylucy.com
|
|
who made the journey were primarily the guides and interpreters.
Among the more well-known were Sacagawea, her husband Toussaint
Charbonneau, their newborn son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau
("Little Pompey"), William Clark's black slave York, and
an interpreter named George Drouillard (pronounced Drewyer).
An additional group of men, engagés (hired boatmen), would
travel only to the Mandan country for the first winter,
and these included six soldiers and several French boatmen.
Travel up the Missouri River in 1804 was difficult and
exhausting due to heat, injuries and insects as well as
the troublesome river itself, with its strong current
and many snags. The expedition used Lewis's 55-foot long
keelboat and two smaller boats called pirogues to carry
their supplies and equipment. The boats used sails to
move along, but in going upriver against a strong current,
oars and long poles were used to push the boats. Sometimes
the boats had to be pulled upriver with ropes by men walking
along the shoreline. They averaged 10-15 miles per day.
|
George Catlin painting: "Floyd's
Grave, Where Lewis and Clark Buried Sergeant Floyd
in 1804, " 1832
From
George Catlin collection of Smithsonian
American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison,
Jr. |
Although there were some initial disciplinary problems,
the men began to work together as a team, and to like
one another. One man they especially liked was Charles
Floyd, one of the three sergeants. Suddenly, on August
20, 1804, Sgt. Floyd got sick and died. It is believed
that he died of a burst appendix. Floyd was laid to rest
on top of a large hill by the river, in modern-day Sioux
City, Iowa, where today there is a large
monument to mark the spot. Sgt. Floyd was the only
person to die on the two and one-half year journey, even
though great danger lay ahead.
By October the Corps of Discovery reached the villages
of the Mandan Indian tribe, where they built Fort Mandan
(near present-day Stanton, North Dakota), and spent the
winter of 1804-1805. The Mandan people lived in earth
lodges along the Missouri River. Their neighbors the Hidatsa
lived along the Knife River close
by. The villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa people were
the center of a huge trade network in the West. Lewis
and Clark were not the first European-Americans to visit
this part of the country. During the winter Lewis and
Clark recruited a Frenchman who had lived with the Hidatsa
(sometimes referred to as the Minnetari) Indians for many
years. His name was Toussaint Charbonneau, and the captains
wanted him to act as an interpreter. They got a real
Painting by George
Catlin "Bird's-eye
View of the Mandan Village, 1800 Miles above St. Louis"
1837-39
From the
George Catlin collection of Smithsonian
American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison,
Jr. |
|
bargain, because along with Charbonneau would come his 16-year-old
Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagawea, and her newborn baby boy.
Sacagawea had been captured by a raiding party of Hidatsa
warriors five years earlier, and was taken from her homeland
in the Rocky Mountains to the Knife River village where
she met her husband. Lewis and Clark knew that they would
probably meet Sacagawea's people in the Rocky Mountains,
and that they might have to ask for horses if they could
not find a nearby stream which led down to the Columbia
River. So Sacagawea would be invaluable because she could
speak to her people directly for the explorers.
On April 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark sent the keelboat back
to St. Louis with an extensive collection of zoological,
botanical, and ethnological specimens as well as letters,
reports, dispatches, and maps. Members of the expedition
who had caused problems were sent back as well. As the
keelboat headed south, the expedition, now numbering 33,
resumed their journey westward in the two pirogues and
six dugout canoes. The Corps of Discovery now traveled
into regions which had been explored and seen only by
American Indians.
|
The Great
Falls
of the Missouri were
one of many challenges faced by the explorers
National Park Service photo, courtesy of the Jefferson
National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site |
The men pulled and sailed their boats up the Missouri
River through what is now Montana. By early June they
reached a place where two rivers met. Lewis and Clark
knew they needed to find the correct fork of the river.
If they didn't, they might not get to the Pacific
Ocean in time for the winter. The only clue they had was
that the Indians had told them that the Missouri had a
huge waterfall on it. They led small groups of soldiers
up each river, Lewis going up the right fork and Clark
up the left, both looking for the waterfall. When they
returned, both Lewis and Clark had decided that the left
fork was the right river, even though neither party saw
a waterfall. Although the rest of the party disagreed,
they followed the two captains up the left fork, calling
it the Missouri and naming the right fork the Marias River
after a cousin of Meriwether Lewis.
Sacagawea fell very sick, and the expedition moved slowly
against the strong current of the river. Lewis became
impatient, and led a small party of men overland to see
if he could find the waterfall--otherwise, they would
have to turn back and follow the other fork of the river.
On June 13, he spotted a mist rising above the hills in
front of him. After a few minutes of walking, Lewis looked
down into a deep ravine, and saw a beautiful, huge waterfall.
He knew they were on the right river. Lewis scouted ahead
and found that there was not just one waterfall but five,
and that they stretched for many miles along the river--an
area now known as Great Falls. The
canoes could not be paddled upstream against such a current.
They would have to be portaged (taken out of the water
and carried) around these waterfalls. Sacagawea was well
again after drinking water from a mineral spring. The
pirogues were left behind by this point, so Lewis tried
to put his special collapsible, iron-framed boat from
Harpers Ferry together. He was very disappointed when
the boat did not work, but Clark was ready to help by
having two more dugout canoes made.
Tributary of the Madison River,
near Three Forks of the Missouri,
Montana
National Park Service photo, courtesy of the Jefferson
National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site |
|
They set out westward once more, paddling upstream. Soon
they entered the Rocky Mountains and saw incredibly beautiful
scenery with tall evergreen trees. By August 17 they reached
the Three Forks of the Missouri, which
marked the navigable limits of that river. At this spot
the Missouri was fed by three rivers, which they named the
Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison after government officials
in Washington. They turned up the river named for President
Jefferson and finally reached its headwaters, where the
once mighty Missouri could be easily straddled by a man.
Now that they had reached the crest of the Rocky Mountains,
it was hoped that the headwaters of the Columbia would be
nearby, and that the men could float and paddle their way
downstream to the Pacific Ocean. However, they found nothing
but more mountains stretching off as far as they could see.
Lewis knew then, as he crossed the Continental Divide through
Lemhi Pass, that there was no easy
water route to the West Coast.
This mountainous area was the homeland of Sacagawea's
people, the Shoshone. Lewis, who needed horses to get
his expedition over the mountains, was finally able to
contact the elusive Shoshone, who had never seen a white
man before. When Sacagawea came along the trail with her
baby son on her back, she suddenly recognized the chief
of the Shoshone, the man for whom she was supposed to
interpret--and he was her brother! Although she got to
see old friends and her family, Sacagawea did not decide
to stay with the Shoshone. She continued with Lewis and
Clark, her husband and baby, as the captains looked westward
and hoped to find a way to the Pacific Ocean before the
harsh winter weather set in.
|
Winter snow on the Lolo Trail
Photo from
National Historic Landmarks collection |
The explorers traveled overland on horseback, north to
Lolo Pass, where they crossed the Bitterroot Range on
the Lolo Trail; this was the most
difficult part of the journey. The men almost starved
on the trail, and were lucky to stumble into the camps
of the Nez Perce Indians. They treated
the explorers with kindness, feeding and helping them,
pointing the way to the Pacific. Lewis and Clark left
their horses for safekeeping with the honest Nez Perce,
and finished making dugout canoes. They floated down the
Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia rivers, portaging dangerous
waterfalls and trading with friendly Indians along the
way. They reached the Pacific Ocean by mid-November 1805.
They had fulfilled the goals set for them by President
Jefferson. Now they had to make it through another winter
and return with their information.
Fort Clatsop,
where the explorers established their 1805-1806 winter
camp
Photo from National Park Service digital archive |
|
Once in sight of the ocean, the expedition was lashed
by harsh winds and cold rain as they huddled together
on the north side of the Columbia River. It was decided
to stay on the south side of the river, inland where the
winds and rain would be less harsh and there would be
more elk to hunt for food and clothing. In December the
explorers built Fort Clatsop (near
present-day Astoria, Oregon), and settled in for the winter.
Lewis and Clark accomplished considerable scientific work,
and gathered and recorded information regarding the country
and its inhabitants. The men spent most of the winter
making clothing and moccasins out of elk hides, and trying
to hunt for food in an area which seemed to have very
little game. No contact was made with any trading ships,
and Lewis and Clark knew that all the men would have to
return to the United States by an overland route.
On March 23, 1806, the return trip began. After a tough
journey up the Columbia River against strong currents
and many waterfalls, the party retrieved their horses
from their friends the Nez Perce, and waited in the Indian
villages for the deep mountain snows to melt. It wasn't
until June that they could get over the mountains and
back to the Missouri River basin. After crossing the Bitterroots,
Lewis and Clark decided to split their party at Lolo Pass
in order to add to the knowledge they could gather. They
wanted to be certain that there was not an easier way
to cross the continent to the Pacific, and that they had
not missed an important potential route or pass. Confident
of their survival, Lewis went north along the Missouri
River while Clark went south along the Yellowstone River.
They planned to rendezvous where the Yellowstone and Missouri
rivers come together in western North Dakota. Clark took
the larger group with him, including Sacagawea, her husband
and son, and York. Lewis took along the best hunters and
outdoorsmen, including George Drouillard and the Field
brothers.
|
Two Medicine Fight Site
view north
National
Register of Historic Places Collection
|
While on the Marias River in Montana, Lewis's small group
had a fight with a party of Blackfeet Indians, and was
forced to kill two of them who tried to steal their guns
and horses at a place now know as Two
Medicine Fight Site. This was the only violent incident
of the entire journey. While out hunting one day, Lewis
was accidentally shot by Cruzatte, a nearsighted member
of his own crew. The painful wound in Lewis's backside
kept him from being able to sit down or continue his journal
writing. Soon after this near-disaster, the Corps of Discovery
was reunited in North Dakota. They returned to the Mandan
villages where they left Charbonneau, Sacagawea and the
baby behind. Clark promised to take care of the baby,
who he nicknamed "Pomp." Three years later, Charbonneau
and Sacagawea brought Pomp down to St. Louis, where William
Clark saw to his schooling.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition returned to St. Louis
on September 23, 1806. When people in the settled portions
of the United States heard that Lewis and Clark had returned
from the West, they could barely believe it. Most people
had given them up for dead. If wild animals, hunger, harsh
weather or Indians hadn't killed them, perhaps they had
gotten lost, they thought. Of course, none of those things
happened. Lewis, Clark and nearly all their men returned
to St. Louis as heroes. The Corps of Discovery disbanded
in St. Louis and their detailed descriptions of the journey,
maps and the numerous specimens they had collected were
sent to Philadelphia to be housed in part at the American
Philosophical Society and later at the Academy
of Natural Sciences.
Lewis and Clark made their way east, pausing for three
weeks at Locust Grove, home of Clark's
sister, and finally arriving in Washington, D.C., where
they told President Jefferson in person about the wonders
they had seen in the West. Both Lewis and Clark were rewarded
for their success. Clark was appointed Indian agent at
St. Louis after his marriage in 1808. Five years later,
he became Governor of the Missouri Territory. In 1822,
President Monroe appointed him Superintendent of Indian
Affairs to establish and secure treaties with the western
tribes. He died in St. Louis in 1838 and is buried at
Bellefontaine Cemetery. Lewis was appointed to the governorship
of the Louisiana Territory, a challenging position in
which he struggled to appease many divided factions. Lewis
failed at many aspects of the governorship, however, most
notably in the public perception of how he spent official
government funds. Lewis was traveling to Washington, D.C.,
in 1809 to explain his actions and clear his name, when
he died of two gunshot wounds, one to his head, the other
to his heart on October 11th. Most historians believe
that Lewis committed suicide due to depression and problems
in his life and career, while a popular belief continues
that he was murdered, perhaps by representatives of his
political enemies. The explorer was buried not far from
where he died, and today a memorial along the Natchez
Trace Parkway pays tribute to the man who led the
Voyage of Discovery to the Pacific Ocean.
For more information please see The
Journey and Others
Who Made the Journey from which this is excerpted,
on the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial's Lewis and
Clark Journey of Discovery website.
|