More news of the arrival reaches Washington City when the National Intelligencer reprints the Kentucky Western World article of 11 October 1806. The article includes the eighteen toasts given at William Christy‘s inn on 25 September. Washington citizens look forward to the arrival of the captains so they can raise their own toasts.
Beer Foam and Pewter Tankard
© 2015 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
News of the Arrival
ARRIVAL OF CAPTAINS LEWIS AND CLARK AT ST. LOUIS.
This desirable and unexpected event, took place on Tuesday, the 23rd of this instant, about the hour of 10 o’clock in the morning. On Monday evening the news reached this place, that Captains Lewis and Clark had arrived at the cantonment; near the mouth of the Missouri; and the great concourse of people that lined the bank of the river at the time of their landing at this place the next day, must be considered as a strong evidence of the respect entertained of those gentlemen for the danger and difficulties they must have encountered in their expedition of discovery. But the citizens of St. Louis, anxious to evince fully their joy at this event, (which cannot but be considered as very interesting to every American) united in celebrating their arrival by a splendid dinner at Christy’s Inn, on the 25th, which was succeeded by a Ball in the evening. The respectable number of persons who attended both the dinner and ball, given on the occasion, together with the unanimity which prevailed throughout the company, cannot but be esteemed an honorable testimony of the respect entertained for those characters who are willing to encounter, fatigue and hunger for the benefit of their fellow citizens: but what is not due to those who penetrate the gloom of unexplored regions, to expel the mists of ignorance which envelope science, and overshadow their country.
The following were the toasts drank at the dinner—
1. The President of the United States—the friend of science, the polar star of discovery, the philosopher and the patriot
2. The heads of department——the pillars that support this world’s best hope.
. . . . .
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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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