Jefferson National Expansion Memorial - Sgt. Patrick Gass (U.S. National Park Service)

P.S. During the winter of 1804 I used my carpentry skills to help build the fort at Wood River and make modifications to the keelboat. After Sgt. Floyd died in August 1804 I was elected to be one of the three sergeants of the expedition. My journal of the expedition was printed in 1807 and was the first to be published. I stayed in the army and served in the War of 1812, but was discharged on a disability after I lost an eye in an accident. I married at the age of 60, had a passel of kids, and settled in Wellsburg, West Virginia. I died there in 1870, the last known survivor of the expedition.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial would like to thank Patrick Gass' great- granddaughter, Jeanette D. Taranik, for providing the above photograph for use on the website. The photograph was taken in the 1860s towards the end of Gass' life.