A Military Corps
Throughout the expedition the soldiers were expected to conform to the rules and routines of the frontier soldier of 1803.
On the Trail
July 9, 1803
The Whiskey Rebellion
Lewis is traveling to Pittsburgh—likely between Brucetown, Virginia and the Forks of Cacapon in present West Virginia. Perhaps he is reminded of his time here with the 1794 Virginia State Militia during the Whiskey Rebellion. In Frederick, Maryland, Inspector General Thomas Cushing writes to Lewis with orders, letters from other officers, and his wishes for a pleasant expedition.
July 9, 1804
Friendly fire
The enlisted men and engagés move the boats up the Missouri River between the Nodaway River and Wolf Creek Bend—about 30 river miles above present St. Joseph, Missouri. Pvt. Bratton marks a tree to tell some lost hunters that the boats are ahead, and during the night, those hunters light a signal fire. Due to miscommunication, they are mistaken for [...]
July 9, 1805
Sinking the iron-framed boat
Above the Great Falls of the Missouri, the iron-framed boat is finally put into the river. They find the boat too leaky, and it is intentionally sunk to make disassembly easier. The captains initiate a plan to build two new dugout canoes. Lewis collects a specimen of blue flax—new to science and one of his namesake species. In Natchez, Mississippi, [...]
July 9, 1806
A buffalo feast
The expedition travels home along two different routes. Lewis moves down the Medicine (Sun) River nearly reaching the Great Falls of the Missouri. They feast on buffalo—their first since 16 July 1805. At Fortunate Camp south of present Dillon, Montana, Clark's group prepares the dugout canoes left there last fall. Sgt. Ordway's detachment brings in the lost horses, and Sacagawea [...]
Eastern Beginnings
10 January–30 August 1803
The Lewis and Clark Expedition ostensibly began in February 1801 when President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Army commander General James Wilkinson requesting that Lieutenant Meriwether Lewis become the President’s personal secretary. Exploration of North America’s western half had long been a goal of the president, and now he had a young protégé who might lead such an expedition.
On 18 January 1803, Lewis hand-delivers to the U.S. Congress the President’s request to fund what would become known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The President works in Washington City and Monticello to craft instructions and line up the best talent to assist Lewis. In France, three diplomats negotiate with Napoleon Bonaparte to purchase the Louisiana Territory.
Meriwether receives training, supplies and equipment in Philadelphia and avails himself of armaments and specialized equipment—including a collapsable iron-framed boat—at the Schuylkill and Harpers Ferry arsenals. By July 1803, everything is at Fort Fayette in Pittsburgh. All Lewis needs is a large boat to carry everything down the Ohio. He also needs to know if William Clark will accept his invitation to join him.
Day-by-Day Pages In-depth Articles
Up the Missouri
14 May–20 July 1804
On 14 May 1804—after more than a year of preparation and travel—the boats leave Camp River Dubois and head up the Missouri River. At St. Charles, the two captains, Clark’s slave York, interpreter George Drouillard, eight or nine French engagés, 34 enlisted men, and Lewis’s dog Seaman depart in three boats: the barge and two large pirogues.
Everyone quickly learns of the struggles and hazards of moving up the Missouri with its many sawyers and sandbars. Despite the overloaded boats and several close calls, they safely pass many landmarks made familiar by earlier traders from St. Louis.
Crossing the present state of Missouri and then heading north along the Kansas-Missouri border, they pass the homelands of the Omaha, Kansa, Otoe, and Pawnee. On 21 July, they reach the mouth of the Platte where only a handful of traders had ever continued north towards the Knife River Villages.
Day-by-Day Pages In-depth Articles
Portaging the Falls
13 June–12 July 1805
On 12 June 1805, Lewis leaves Decision Point at the mouth of the Marias to find the Great Falls of the Missouri. He finds them “truly magnifficent and sublimely grand”.
After traveling separate routes from Decision Point, Clark and Lewis reunite at what would become known as Lower Portage Camp. Clark leaves to survey a portage route, and Lewis attends to Sacagawea whose condition has become “Somewhat dangerous”.
Wheels and trucks are built from cottonwood trees, and the dugouts are hauled two miles up Belt Creek. Lewis leads the first canoe overland to the White Bear Islands where he focuses on construction of the iron-framed boat.
Several trips are needed—as are several truck repairs—to get all the canoes and baggage to the upper portage camp. While site seeing during the last stage, Clark, Sacagawea, and Jean Baptiste are nearly swept away in a flash flood.
Celebrating the Fourth of July, they drink the last of whiskey. Then, due to a lack of pitch pine in the area, the cover of the iron-framed boat leaks too much water to be of practical use and is cached.
Clark moves a few miles up the river and his crew builds two more canoes so that they can continue up the Missouri.
Day-by-Day Pages In-depth Articles
Roads to the Buffalo
10 June–14 July 1806
With the acquisition of horses, Native Nations crossing the Rocky Mountains to hunt for bison became more common. Two of their trails are used by the captains—in separate groups—to return to the bison-rich plains.
After crossing the Bitterroot Mountains on what is known today as the Lolo Trail, the expedition divides forces at Travelers’ Rest. Lewis takes one group east and north up the Blackfoot River and then over Lewis and Clark Pass. They return to their old camp above the Great Falls of the Missouri to retrieve supplies and specimens cached there.
From Travelers’ Rest, Clark goes up the Bitterroot River and crosses the Continental Divide at present Gibbons Pass. They cross the Big Hole Valley and return to Fortunate Camp where they had cached tobacco, food, and most of the canoes.
At the Headwaters of the Missouri, Sgt. Ordway’s detachment paddles the canoes down the Missouri destined for the portage of the Great Falls. Clark’s group–along with all the horses—travel up the Gallatin River valley on their way to the Yellowstone River.
Day-by-Day Pages In-depth Articles
Featured Members
York
Enslaved Afrikan Adventurer
Two years after the conclusion of the historic Lewis and Clark expedition, York and his enslaver, the Virginia-born patrician William Clark, were at odds.
Peter Weiser
Private
Weiser was a member of Sgt. John Ordway’s detachment that paddled the canoes back to the Great Falls. During the 1806 portage around the Falls of the Missouri, he suffered a disabling accident.
William Clark (1784–1838)
Clark was a highly intelligent man, and in terms of the practical knowledge required to make his way in the wilderness, to lead men, and to succeed in the world of frontier politics, he was highly educated and consummately effective.
Quick Links
Meriwether Lewis William Clark Sacagawea York Jean Baptiste Charbonneau Seaman All Members
Native Nations Encountered
Northwest Coast
Plateau / Southwest
Northeast
Featured Artist: John Mix Stanley
The Bears Tooth
Fort Owen—Flathead Village
Lolo Hot Springs
The American portraitist, artist and illustrator John Mix Stanley (1814-1872), served as one of the official artists with the Stevens railroad survey party to the Northwest. His record of highlights along the route often combined documentary verisimilitude with romantic fantasy.
More
Language
From clichés and colorful sayings of the time to Native American languages, these pages feature the art of language.
The Boats
Starting at Pittsburgh, traveling to the Pacific Ocean, and then returning to St. Louis, the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled approximately 10,600 miles. Of that, 85%—over 9,000 miles—was by boat. To understand travel in the early 1800 American West is to understand the boats and challenges of river navigation.
Related Explorers
Lewis and Clark were among several significant explorers of North America both before and after the expedition.
Trail Diplomacy
Lewis and Clark left behind among many Indians a legacy of nonviolent contact. Those who came later enjoyed that legacy and too often betrayed it.
Tools and Techniques
The Trail
Starting with its genesis in Jefferson’s Monticello, Lewis’s training and preparations in Philadelphia, and the barge’s excursion down the Ohio River, the route they took, often called the Lewis and Clark Trail, crosses the continent weaving an epic tale of western exploration treasured by many today.
The Arts
Because of the literate journalists, historians and visual artists can tell the Expedition’s story. When they celebrated with song and dance, we too can share in the experience.
People
The success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was due to its many members and the people they met, including politicians, Eastern gentleman scientists, traders, and the many people already living in the American west.
Synopsis of the Expedition
by Harry W. Fritz
Expedition Members
Native American Nations
The Lewis and Clark Expedition benefited from the Indians’ knowledge and support. Maps, route information, food, horses, open-handed friendship—all gave the Corps of Discovery the edge that spelled the difference between success and failure.
Scientific Explorations
Their work in the emerging fields of botany, ethnography, geography, geology, and zoology are now considered classics of early American scientific literature.
Hunting and Fishing
Although hunting and fishing were often considered a ‘gentleman’s sport’ especially in Europe, hunting and fishing for Native Americans and Americans alike were a matter of survival. The success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition depended on the success of its hunters.
Calendar
Expedition Calendar
Links to every day-by-day page in a calendar format spanning 31 August 1803 to 26 September 1806. A page every day!
Other Topics
Other topics include music, holidays, High Potential Historic Sites, and an index of articles from We Proceeded On.
The Fur Trade
Given President Jefferson’s directive to establish commerce, the captains worked extensively within a long-established network of North American fur trade. Part of their mission was to help establish the United States of America’s position within that industry.
Medicine on the Trail
From major crisis such as the death of Sgt. Floyd, Lewis’s gunshot wound, and the illness of Sacagawea to minor events such as sexually transmitted diseases, mosquito-born illnesses, and deep cuts, the medical aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition provide an interesting topic of study.
Louisiana’s Purchase
The President’s representatives in Paris had bargained successfully with Napoleon’s bureaucrats not only to buy the port of New Orleans, then the keystone of the continent, but also to acquire, at three cents an acre, an area extending from the Mississippi River to . . . where? No one knew until Meriwether Lewis stood at the crest of the Rocky Mountains at a place known today as Lemhi Pass, on 12 August 1805.
Horse Travel
To cross the Rocky Mountains, the Lewis and Clark Expedition needed horses and the skills to manage them. Despite their seemingly constant struggle to find missing and stolen horses, as a kind of calvary unit, they left hoof prints on approximately 1,500 miles of western terrain.
Legacies
Legacy is a very slippery sort of term. If we could erase our myth concepts of Lewis and Clark … it might reawaken something really extraordinary in our national consciousness.
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
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