Lewis and Clark Expedition

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Lewis and Clark

The Lewis and Clark expedition (1804–1806) was the first United States overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark.

1 Louisiana Purchase and a western expedition
2 Achievements
3 Expedition members
4 Popular histories and documentaries
5 Further reading
- 5.1 History
- 5.2 Notable fiction
6 In popular culture
7 External links
8 See also

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Louisiana Purchase and a western expedition

Lewis and Clark on the Lower Columbia by C.M. Russell

Mandan and Arikara delegation. (NB this photograph dates well after the Expedition)

The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 sparked interest in expansion to the west coast. A few weeks after the purchase, United States President Thomas Jefferson, an advocate of western expansion, had U.S. Congress appropriate $2500, "to send intelligent officers with ten or twelve men, to explore even to the western ocean". They were 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. The expedition was not the first to cross North America, but was roughly a decade after the expedition of Alexander MacKenzie, the first European to cross North America by land north of Mexico, in 1793.

Jefferson selected Captain Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition, afterwards known as the Corps of Discovery; Lewis selected William Clark as his partner. Due to bureaucratic delays in the US 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" ([1]).

The group, initially consisting of 33 members, 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 approximately forty men followed the Missouri River westward. Soon they passed Le Rochette, the last white settlement on the Missouri River. On August 20, 1804 the Corps of Discovery suffered its first and only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd died, apparently from acute appendicitis. In the winter of 1804–1805 they wintered at Fort Mandan, near present-day Washburn, North Dakota. The Shoshone/Hidatsa native woman Sacagawea and her husband, French Canadian Toussaint Charbonneau, joined the group there and guided them westward. Sacagawea and her Shoshone tribe came from further west. Not only did Lewis and Clark feel that she could aid them in translation, but they thought that when they got to that part of the country, she could take them to her native home.

The expedition followed the Missouri through what is now Kansas City, Missouri and Omaha, Nebraska, crossed the Rocky Mountains and descended by the Clearwater River, the Snake River, and the Columbia River, past Celilo Falls and through what is now Portland, Oregon until they reached the Pacific Ocean in the December of 1805. At this point, Lewis spotted Mt. Hood, a mountain known to be very close to the ocean.

Clark had written in his journal, "Ocian [sic] in view! O! The Joy!". 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. Interestingly, York (Clark's manservant), a slave, and Sacagawea, an Indian and a woman, voted along with the men of the party. 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. Mostly they just endured the persistent rain.

The explorers started their journey home on March 23, 1806 and arrived on September 23.

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.

See Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for more detail

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Achievements

Black tailed Prairie Dog

The U.S. gained an extensive knowledge of the geography of the American West in the form of maps of major rivers and mountain ranges
Discovered and described 178 new plants and 122 species and subspecies of animals (see List of species described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition)

Opened American fur trade in the West
Paved the way for peaceful 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 the first literature about the West (the Lewis and Clark diaries)
Made themselves heroes throughout the country and big names in Early American History
Helped show pioneers some of the Oregon Trail

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Expedition members

Captain Meriwether Lewis (1774 – 1809) was private secretary to President Thomas Jefferson and leader of the Expedition.
Captain William Clark (1770 – 1838) shared command of the Expedition, although technically second in command. His carved date is the only physical remains of the expedition that can be seen today.
- York (ca. 1770 – ?) as Clark's manservant (slave), he shared the dangers of the journey, but not the rewards.
Sergeant Charles Floyd (1782 – 1804) was the Expedition's quartermaster, but died early in the trip.
Sergeant Patrick Gass (1771 – 1870) was chief carpenter, promoted to Sergeant after Floyd's death.
Sergeant John Ordway (ca. 1775 – ca. 1817) was responsible for issuing provisions, appointing guard duties, and keeping records for the Expedition.
Sergeant Nathaniel Hale Pryor (1772 – 1831) was leader of the 1st Squad; he presided over the court martial of privates John Collins and Hugh Hall.
Corporal Richard Warfington (1777 – ?) conducted the return party to St. Louis in 1805.
Private John Boley (dates unknown) was disciplined at River Dubois and was assigned to the return party.
Private William E. Bratton (1778 – 1841) served as hunter and blacksmith.
Private John Collins (? – 1823) had frequent disciplinary problems; he was court-martialed for stealing whiskey which he had been assigned to guard.
Private John Colter (ca. 1775 – 1813) charged with mutiny early in the trip, he later proved useful as a hunter; he earned his fame after the journey.
Private Pierre Cruzatte (dates unknown) was a one-eyed French fiddle-player and a skilled boatman.
Private John Dame (1784 – ?) killed a pellican.
Private Joseph Field (ca. 1772 – 1807) was a woodsman and skilled hunter, brother of Reubin.
Private Reubin Field (ca. 1771 – 1823?) was a woodsman and skilled hunter, brother of Joseph.
Private Robert Frazer (? – 1837) kept a journal that was never published.
Private George Gibson (? – 1809) was a fiddle-player and a good hunter; he served as an interpreter (probably via sign language).
Private Silas Goodrich (dates unknown) was the main fisherman of the expedition.
Private Hugh Hall (ca. 1772 – ?) was court-martialed with John Collins for stealing whiskey.
Private Thomas Proctor Howard (1779 – ?) was court-martialed for setting a "pernicious example" to the Indians by showing them that the wall at Fort Mandan was easily scaled.
Private François Labiche (dates unknown) was a French fur trader who served as an interpreter and boatman.
Private Hugh McNeal (dates unknown) was the first white explorer to stand astride the headwaters of the Missouri River on the Continental Divide.
Private John Newman (ca. 1785 – 1838) was court-martialed and confined for "having uttered repeated expressions of a highly criminal and mutinous nature."
Private John Potts (1776 – 1808?) was German immigrant and a miller.
Private Moses B. Reed (dates unknown) attempted to desert in August 1804 convicted of desertion and expelled from the party.
Private John Robertson (ca. 1780 – ?) was a member of the Corps for a very short time.
Private George Shannon (1785 – 1836) was lost twice during the expedition, once for sixteen days.
Private John Shields (1769 – 1809) was a blacksmith, gunsmith, and a skilled carpenter; with John Colter, he was court-martialed for mutiny.
Private John B. Thompson (dates unknown) may have had some experience as a surveyor.
Private Ebenezer Tuttle (1773 – ?) may have been the man sent back on June 12, 1804; otherwise he was with the return party from Fort Mandan in 1805.
Private Peter M. Weiser (1781 – ?) had some minor disciplinary problems at River Dubois; he was made a permanent member of the party.
Private William Werner (dates unknown) was convicted of being absent without leave at St. Charles, Missouri, at the start of the expedition.
Private Isaac White (ca. 1774 – ?) may have been the man sent back on June 12, 1804; otherwise he was with the return party from Fort Mandan in 1805.
Private Joseph Whitehouse (ca. 1775 – ?) often acted as a tailor for the other men; he kept a journal which extended the Expedition narrative by almost five months.
Private Alexander Hamilton Willard (1778 – 1865) was a blacksmith and assisted John Shields. He was convicted on July 12, 1804, of sleeping while on sentry duty and given one hundred lashes.
Private Richard Windsor (dates unknown) was often assigned duty as a hunter.
Interpreter Toussaint Charbonneau, Sacagawea's husband, served translator and often as a cook.
Interpreter Sacagawea, Charbonneau's wife, translated Shoshone to Hidatsa for Charbonneau and was a valued member of the expedition.
- Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Charbonneau's son, born February 11, 1805; his presence helped dispel any notion that the expedition was a war party, smoothing the way in Indian lands.
Interpreter George Drouillard (? – 1810) was skilled with Indian sign language and was the best hunter on the expedition.
Dog Seaman, Lewis's black Newfoundland dog, once thought to be named Scannon.