Lewis and Clark Expedition
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.
Louisiana Purchase and a western 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
Achievements
- 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
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.
Popular histories and documentaries
In the 1997 Ken Burns documentary Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, historian Stephen E. Ambrose, author of the book Undaunted Courage about the expedition, compared the significance and impact of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to Americans of that era with the American landing on the moon for subsequent generations. The expedition not only answered questions about vast uncharted areas of North America (everything between the Missouri River in North Dakota to Mount Hood in western Oregon) but also gave Americans an electrifying sense of the vastness of their new country after the Louisiana Purchase and America's almost limitless natural resources and potential as an emergent nation. He also views the expedition as a quintessential American saga, with a cast of characters that included a French Canadian trapper, President Thomas Jefferson, the heroic personalities and camaraderie of both Captain Lewis and Captain Clark, a platoon of American soldiers reminiscent of Rogers' Rangers, the muscular Black American servant of Clark named York, colorful Indian tribes (Sioux, Mandans, Nez Percé, Blackfeet), Captain Lewis' shaggy dog named Seaman, numerous close shaves with death for everyone on the expedition, quick "think-on-your-feet" diplomatic innovation to defuse hostility and enlist the support of exotic tribes, scientific observation of awe-inspiring naturalistic phenomenon, a case of close combat with Indians, encounters with grizzly bears, harrowing navigation of wild rivers amidst magnificent scenery, and a difficult passage through the snow clad Bitterroot Mountains of Western Montana and Idaho. Despite all the trials, tribulations, and close calls, the expedition did not lose a person between North Dakota and Oregon and lost no one on the return trip. Undaunted Courage reads like real life imitating Hollywood, which makes it all the more surprising that Hollywood has never made a feature motion picture about the epic journey.
Further reading
History
- Lewis and Clark Among the Indians, James P. Ronda, 1984 - ISBN 0803238703
- Undaunted Courage, Stephen Ambrose, 1997 - ISBN 0684826976
- National Geographic Guide to the Lewis & Clark Trail, Thomas Schmidt, 2002 - ISBN 0792264711
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged), edited by Gary E. Moulton, 2003 - ISBN 080322950X
- The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 13-Volume Set, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 2002 - ISBN 0803229488
- The complete text of the Lewis and Clark Journals online, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (in progress)
- Online text of the Expedition's Journal at Project Gutenberg
- In Search of York: The Slave Who Went to the Pacific With Lewis and Clark, Robert B. Betts, 2002 - ISBN 0870817140
Notable fiction
These popular fictionalized historical novels have varying degrees of historical accuracy, which is unfortunate as they shaped much of the popular American understanding of the expedition.
- The Conquest, Eva Emery Dye, 1902 - out of print
- Sacagawea, Grace Hebard, 1933 - out of print
- Sacagawea, Anna Lee Waldo, 1984 - ISBN 0380842939
- I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company, Brian Hall, 2003 - ISBN 0670031895
- From Sea to Shining Sea, James Alexander Thom, 1986 - ISBN 0345334515
In popular culture
The episode Margical History Tour of the TV series The Simpsons contains a fictional retelling of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
External links
- Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Full text of the Lewis and Clark Journals edited by Gary E. Moulton, U. Nebraska.
- Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition
- National Council for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
- Lewis and Clark, Mapping the West - Smithsonian Institution
- Lewis and Clark - National Geographic - a variety of resources, including an Interactive Journey Log
- Lewis and Clark - PBS
- Jefferson's Secret Message Regarding the Lewis & Clark Expedition - Library of Congress
- Discovering Lewis and Clark
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail - United States National Park Service
- Back to School with Lewis and Clark
- A 21st Century pictorial of the original route
- National Archives photos dating from the 1860s-1890s of the Native cultures the expedition encountered (U. Nebraska)
- Lewis and Clark Journals, Members of the Expedition (U. Nebraska)
See also
- Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- History of United States
- USS Lewis and Clark and USNS Lewis and Clark
- A contemporary explorer was Zebulon Pike (as in Pikes Peak) who in 1805-1807 traveled from the upper Mississippi River down to the Spanish territories near the Rocky Mountains.