November 3, 1806

Blue River Camp (1789)

In August 1789, young William Clark served in Captain John Hardin’s militia campaign to Terre Haute. Hardin celebrated his rout of 22 Shawnee men, women, and children by parading in Vincennes. On their return to Louisville, they camped at the Blue River crossing:

We traveled through Indifen [indifferent] Lands this day to Blue River we camped on Blue river about 25 miles from Clarksville
—William Clark, 23 August 1789.^[2]Journal of Hardin’s Campaign, 5 Aug 1789–5 Mar 1790, William Clark Papers, Missouri Historical Society.

The Buffalo Trace used a ford known for its stone bottom^[3]“The Buffalo Trace: Retracing One of Indiana’s Oldest Roads”, Hoosier National Forest, storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/f5a110b7448a42018565670a7c0e9d39 accessed 15 April 2026. and was likely used not only by Lewis and Clark on their return to Washington City, but by George Rogers Clark during his famous Illinois campaign. Today, the historic Totten Ford Bridge (1916) spans the river.

For more on Lewis and Clark’s military careers prior to the expedition, see Prior Military Careers.

Meriwether Lewis Expected Soon

Washington Nov. 3. 06

Dear Sir [Thomas Mann Randolph]

Yesterday was sennight I wrote to Reuben Lewis, informing him he might hourly expect his brother there. I meant the next day which was the post day, to have written it to you also, but was in the intervening evening taken with the Autumnal fever so as to be unable to write. the attack was slight, & I am now perfectly recovered, and engaged in taking the repeating doses of bark.

Th: Jefferson^[4]Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4497.

Jefferson had written to the brother of Meriwether Lewis, Reuben Lewis, one week (sennight) prior, on 26 October. Actually, Lewis, William Clark, Mandan chief Sheheke‘s family, and an Osage delegation are traveling on the “Buffalo Trace” between Vincennes and the Falls of the Ohio. Jefferson’s bark medicine was cinchona bark that contained quinine used to treat malaria.

Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. (1 October 1768–20 June 1828) was a member of the American Phil. Society and a U.S. Representative from Virginia’s 21st District. He had married Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter Martha (27 September 1772–10 Oct 1836). The couple lived at Varina, originally the estate of John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas, who had established a strain of tobacco preferred by Europeans—Nicotiana tabacum. For tobacco use during the expedition, see Smoking and Indian Tobacco.^[5]“Thomas Mann Randolph Jr.”, Wikipedia, Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann_Randolph_Jr.; “Varina Farms”, Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varina_Farms; “John … Continue reading

Report from St. Charles

Extract of a letter from a gentleman at St. Charles, to a gentleman in this town, date 23d September, 1806.

I have the pleasure to inform you of the arrival of captains Lewis and Clark.

They were the first white people that ever visited that country, by the best accounts they could get, there are about ninety or one hundred thousand inhabitants, (Indians) on the west side of the Rocky Mountains; horses without number. It is thought to be a very poor Indian that did not own 300 horses. Not an iron tool among them. They erected a fort on the sea shore, and engraved their names. They have brought a number of curiosities; among which is a wild sheep; its head and horns weigh about 80 or 90 pounds He was caught on the Rocky Mountains.^[6]Washington National Intelligencer, 3 November 1806.