Lewis and Clark Expedition

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Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark

The Meriwether Lewis and William Clark Expedition (1804-1806), headed by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, was the first American overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back.

Contents

Earlier exploration to the Pacific coast

The Lewis and Clark expedition was only the second 'official' transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico by a person not of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, having been preceded to the Pacific coast (on 20 July 1793) by a Canadian expedition led by explorer Sir Alexander Mackenzie. Mackenzie had previously crossed North America in 1789 as well, but had turned North at the Continental Divide, also becoming the first European to reach the western Arctic Ocean.

Louisiana Purchase and a western expedition

In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase sparked interest in expansion to the west coast. The United States did not know just what it was buying, and even France was unsure how much land it was selling. A few weeks after the purchase, President Thomas Jefferson, an advocate of western expansion, had the Congress appropriate $2,500 for an expedition. In a message to Congress, Jefferson wrote[1]

“ The river Missouri, and Indians inhabiting it, are not as well known as rendered desirable by their connection with the Mississippi, and consequently with us. ... An intelligent officer, with ten or twelve chosen men ... might explore the whole line, even to the Western Ocean ... ”

Thomas Jefferson had long thought about such an expedition, but was concerned about the danger. While in France from 1785-1789, he had heard of numerous plans to better explore the Pacific Northwest. In 1785, Jefferson learned that King Louis XVI of France planned to send a mission there, reportedly as a mere scientific expedition. Jefferson found that doubtful, and evidence provided by John Paul Jones confirmed these doubts. In either event, the mission was destroyed by bad weather after leaving Botany Bay in 1788. In 1786 John Ledyard, who had sailed with Captain James Cook to the Pacific Northwest, told Jefferson that he planned to walk across Siberia, ride a Russian fur-trade vessel to cross the ocean, and then walk all the way to the American capital. Since Ledyard was an American, Jefferson hoped he would succeed. Ledyard had made it as far as Siberia when Empress Catherine the Great had him arrested and deported back to Poland.[2]

The famous map of Lewis and Clark's expedition. It changed mapping of northwest America by providing the first accurate depiction of the relationship of the sources of the Columbia and Missouri rivers, and the Rocky Mountains.
The famous map of Lewis and Clark's expedition. It changed mapping of northwest America by providing the first accurate depiction of the relationship of the sources of the Columbia and Missouri rivers, and the Rocky Mountains.

The American expedition to the Pacific northwest was intended to study the Indian tribes, botany, geology, Western terrain and wildlife in the region, as well as evaluate the potential interference of British and French Canadian hunters and trappers who were already well established in the area.

Jefferson selected Captain Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition, afterwards known as the Corps of Discovery. In a letter dated June 20, 1803, Jefferson wrote to Lewis[3]

“ The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and such principal stream of it as by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce. ”

Lewis selected William Clark as his partner. Because of bureaucratic delays in the U.S. Army, Clark officially only held the rank of Second Lieutenant at the time, but Lewis concealed this from the men and shared the leadership of the expedition, always referring to Clark as "Captain". [4]

Journey

See also: Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Route of the expedition
Route of the expedition
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark meeting at the falls of the Ohio River; statue at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana (across from Louisville)
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark meeting at the falls of the Ohio River; statue at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana (across from Louisville)

"Left Pittsburgh this day at 11 o'clock with a party of 11 hands 7 of which are soldiers, a pilot and three young men on trial they having proposed to go with me throughout the voyage."[5] With those words, written on August 31, 1803, Meriwether Lewis began his first journal entry on the epic Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Pacific Ocean.

Lewis declared the mouth of the river Dubois (on the east side of the Mississippi across from the mouth of the Missouri river) to be the expedition's official point of departure, but the two and one-half months spent descending the Ohio River can be considered its real beginning.

Clark made most of the preparations, by way of letters to Jefferson. He bought two large buckets and five smaller buckets of salt, a ton of dried pork, and medicines.

The party of 33 included 29 individuals who were active participants in the Corps' organizational development, recruitment and training at its 1803-1804 winter staging area at Camp Dubois, Illinois Territory. They then departed from Camp Dubois, near present day Hartford, Illinois, and began their historic journey on May 14, 1804. They soon met-up with Lewis in Saint Charles, Missouri, and the corps followed the Missouri River westward. Soon they passed La Charrette, the last white settlement on the Missouri River. The expedition followed the Missouri through what is now Kansas City, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska. On August 20, 1804, the Corps of Discovery suffered its only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd died, apparently from acute appendicitis. He was buried at Floyd's Bluff, near what is now Sioux City, Iowa. During the final week of August, Lewis and Clark had reached the edge of the Great Plains, a place abounding with elk, deer, bison, and beavers. They were also entering Sioux territory.

The first tribe of Sioux they met, the Yankton Sioux, were more peaceful than their neighbors further west along the Missouri River, the Teton Sioux, also known as the Lakota. The Yankton Sioux were disappointed by the gifts they received from Lewis and Clark—five medals—and gave the explorers a warning about the upriver Teton Sioux. The Teton Sioux received their gifts with ill-disguised hostility. One chief demanded a boat from Lewis and Clark as the price to be paid for passage through their territory. As the Indians became more dangerous, Lewis and Clark prepared to fight back. At the last moment before fighting began, the two sides fell back. The Americans quickly continued westward (upriver) until winter stopped them at the Mandan tribe's territory.

In the winter of 1804–05, the party built Fort Mandan, near present-day Washburn, North Dakota. Over the course of the winter the expedition enjoyed generally good relations with the Mandan Indian tribe who lived alongside the Fort. It was at Fort Mandan that Lewis and Clark came to employ a French-speaking, part-Indian fur trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau, whose young Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagawea, (pronounced Sa-ka-ga-wea) translated for the expedition among the Shoshone and Nez Perce. In a few instances, Sacagawea also managed to serve as a guide for the expedition.

Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Black-tailed Prairie Dog

In April 1805, some members of the expedition were sent back home from Mandan in the 'return party'. Along with them went a report about what Lewis and Clark had discovered, 108 botanical and zoological specimens (including some living animals), 68 mineral specimens, and Clark's map of the United States. Other specimens were sent back to Jefferson periodically, including a prairie dog which Jefferson received alive in a box.

The expedition continued to follow the Missouri to its headwaters and over the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass via horses. In canoes, they descended the mountains by the Clearwater River, the Snake River, and the Columbia River, past Celilo Falls and past what is now Portland, Oregon. At this point, Lewis spotted Mount Hood, a mountain known to be very close to the ocean. On a big pine, Clark carved

"William Clark December 3rd 1805. By land from the U.States in 1804 & 1805"[6]
Lewis and Clark on the Lower Columbia by C.M. Russell
Lewis and Clark on the Lower Columbia by C.M. Russell

Clark had written in his journal, "Ocian [sic] in view! O! The Joy!". One journal entry is captioned "Cape Disappointment at the Entrance of the Columbia River into the Great South Sea or Pacific Ocean".[6] By that time the expedition faced its second bitter winter during the trip, so the group decided to vote on whether to camp on the north or south side of the Columbia River. The party agreed to camp on the south side of the river (modern Astoria, Oregon), building Fort Clatsop as their winter quarters. While wintering at the fort, the men prepared for the trip home by boiling salt from the ocean, hunting elk and other wildlife, and interacting with the native tribes. The 1805-06 winter was very rainy, and the men had a hard time finding suitable meat. They never consumed much Pacific salmon because the fish only return to the rivers to spawn in the summer months.

The explorers began their journey home on March 23, 1806. On the way home, Lewis and Clark used four dugout canoes[7] they bought from the Native Americans, plus one that they stole in "retaliation" for a previous theft. Less than a month after leaving Fort Clatsop, they abandoned their canoes because portaging around all the falls proved terribly difficult.

A reenactor describes the bicentennial commemoration of the expedition.
A reenactor describes the bicentennial commemoration of the expedition.

On July 3, after crossing the Continental Divide, the Corps split into two teams so Lewis could explore the Marias River. Lewis' group of four met some Blackfeet Indians. Their meeting was cordial, but during the night, the Blackfeet tried to steal their weapons. In the struggle, two Indians were killed, the only native deaths attributable to the expedition. The group of four: Lewis, Drouillard, and the Field brothers, fled over 100 miles (160 km) in a day before they camped again. Clark, meanwhile, had entered Crow territory. The Crow tribe were known as horse thieves. At night, half of Clark's horses were gone, but not a single Crow was seen. Lewis and Clark stayed separated until they reached the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers on August 11. Clark's team had floated down the rivers in bull boats. While reuniting, one of Clark's hunters, Pierre Cruzatte, blind in one eye and nearsighted in the other, mistook Lewis for an elk and fired, injuring Lewis in the thigh. Once reunited, the Corps was able to return home quickly via the Missouri River. They reached St. Louis on September 23, 1806.

The Corps of Discovery returned with important information about the new United States territory and the people who lived in it, as well as its rivers and mountains, plants and animals. The expedition made a major contribution to mapping the North American continent.

Achievements

Camp Dubois in the Illinois opposite the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers
Camp Dubois in the Illinois opposite the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers
  • Encouraged Euro-American fur trade in the West
  • Opened Euro-American diplomatic relations with the Indians
  • Established a precedent for Army exploration of the West
  • Strengthened the U.S. claim to Oregon Territory
  • Focused U.S. and media attention on the West
  • Produced a large body of literature about the West (the Lewis and Clark diaries)

Expedition members

  1. Captain Meriwether Lewis — private secretary to President Thomas Jefferson and leader of the Expedition.
  2. Lieutenant William Clark — shared command of the Expedition, although technically second in command.
  3. York — Clark's slave (often referred to in Clark's journal as a "servant").
  4. Sergeant Charles Floyd — the Expedition's quartermaster; died early in the trip. He was the one member of the Corps who died during the Expedition.
    Statue of Lewis and Clark in Seaside, Oregon, near the expedition's end
    Statue of Lewis and Clark in Seaside, Oregon, near the expedition's end
  5. Sergeant Patrick Gass — chief carpenter, promoted to Sergeant after Floyd's death.
  6. Sergeant John Ordway — responsible for issuing provisions, appointing guard duties, and keeping records for the Expedition.
  7. Sergeant Nathaniel Hale Pryor — leader of the 1st Squad; he presided over the court martial of privates John Collins and Hugh Hall.
  8. Corporal Richard Warfington — conducted the return party to St. Louis in 1805.
  9. Private John Boley — disciplined at Camp Dubois and was assigned to the return party.
  10. Private William E. Bratton — served as hunter and blacksmith.
  11. Private John Collins — had frequent disciplinary problems; he was court-martialed for stealing whiskey which he had been assigned to guard.
  12. Private John Colter — charged with mutiny early in the trip, he later proved useful as a hunter; he earned his fame after the journey.
  13. Private Pierre Cruzatte — a one-eyed French fiddle-player and a skilled boatman.
  14. Private John Dame
  15. Private Joseph Field — a woodsman and skilled hunter, brother of Reubin.
  16. Private Reubin Field — a woodsman and skilled hunter, brother of Joseph.
  17. Private Robert Frazer — kept a journal that was never published.
  18. Private George Gibson — a fiddle-player and a good hunter; he served as an interpreter (probably via sign language).
  19. Private Silas Goodrich — the main fisherman of the expedition.
  20. Private Hugh Hall — court-martialed with John Collins for stealing whiskey.
  21. Private Thomas Proctor Howard — court-martialed for setting a "pernicious example" to the Indians by showing them that the wall at Fort Mandan was easily scaled.
  22. Private François Labiche — French fur trader who served as an interpreter and boatman.
  23. Private Hugh McNeal — the first white explorer to stand astride the headwaters of the Missouri River on the Continental Divide.
  24. Private John Newman — court-martialed and confined for "having uttered repeated expressions of a highly criminal and mutinous nature."
  25. Private John Potts — German immigrant and a miller.
  26. Private Moses B. Reed — attempted to desert in August 1804; convicted of desertion and expelled from the party.
  27. Private John Robertson — member of the Corps for a very short time.
  28. Private George Shannon — was lost twice during the expedition, once for sixteen days. Youngest member of expedition at 19.
  29. Private John Shields — blacksmith, gunsmith, and a skilled carpenter; with John Colter, he was court-martialed for mutiny.
  30. Private John B. Thompson — may have had some experience as a surveyor.
  31. Private Howard Tunn — hunter and navigator.
  32. Private Ebenezer Tuttle — may have been the man sent back on June 12, 1804; otherwise, he was with the return party from Fort Mandan in 1805.
  33. Private Peter M. Weiser — had some minor disciplinary problems at River Dubois; he was made a permanent member of the party.
  34. Private William Werner — convicted of being absent without leave at St. Charles, Missouri, at the start of the expedition.
  35. Private Isaac White — may have been the man sent back on June 12, 1804; otherwise, he was with the return party from Fort Mandan in 1805.
  36. Private Joseph Whitehouse — often acted as a tailor for the other men; he kept a journal which extended the Expedition narrative by almost five months.
  37. Private Alexander Hamilton Willard — blacksmith; assisted John Shields. He was attacked on July, 1805 by a White Bear on portage around Missouri River Falls and rescued by Clark and 3 others.
  38. Private Richard Windsor — often assigned duty as a hunter.
  39. Interpreter Toussaint Charbonneau — Sacagawea's husband; served as a translator and often as a cook.
  40. Interpreter Sacagawea — Charbonneau's wife; translated Shoshone to Hidatsa for Charbonneau and was a valued member of the expedition.
  41. Jean Baptiste Charbonneau — Son of Charbonneau and Sacagawea, born February 11, 1805; his presence helped dispel any notion that the expedition was a war party, smoothing the way in Indian lands.
  42. Interpreter George Drouillard — skilled with Indian sign language; the best hunter on the expedition.

See also

References

  1. ^ Jefferson's Secret Message to Congress. Retrieved on 2006-06-30.
  2. ^ Ambrose, Stephen. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American west. (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996). p. 69.
  3. ^ Jefferson's Instructions for Meriwether Lewis. Retrieved on 2006-06-30.
  4. ^ Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Online
  5. ^ Lewis' first journal entry Retrieved on March 24, 2007
  6. ^ a b Bernard deVoto (1962), The Course of Empire (Boston:Houghton Mifflin); p. 552
  7. ^ Dugout Canoe description Retrieved on March 24, 2007

Further reading

History

External links

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