In 1809, Toussaint, Sacagawea, and Jean Baptiste Charbonneau traveled to St. Louis. Jean Baptiste’s baptism began a new era in his life, is father would try to become a farmer, and Sacagawea would become sickly.
The western gate
by Joseph A. Mussulman
The expedition arrived on 7 December 1803, witnessed the transfer of Louisiana from Spain to the United States, and metaphorically passed through its western gate on 14 May 1804. They would not return until 23 September 1806.
Lewis's reference book
by John C. Van Horne
What was it about du Pratz’s History of Louisiana that so interested Lewis? The book not only provided geographical information, it was the model that Lewis and Clark were to follow when reporting to President Jefferson.
14,000 years of change
by Pierce Mullen
It begins 14,000 years ago with Indian occupancy of the lower Mississippi Valley. La Salle comes in 1682 claiming it for France.
Gateway to the west
by Frances H. Stadler
In 1804 and in the presence of the Lewis and Clark expedition the little village, built and designed to be an outpost of the fur trade, shed its ambiguous Spanish-French parentage and took on full American citizenship.
Watercolors and sketches
Steve Ludeman’s watercolors illustrate the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s beginnings from the Eastern seaboard, down the Ohio, and up the Mississippi on their way to winter camp at River Dubois (Wood River) across from St. Louis.
The trail's end
by Kristopher K. Townsend
Perhaps he was seeking new gold fields, maybe California was getting too crowded, or maybe he simply wanted to see the mountains and prairies of his mountain man days. After a long life, the journey would be his last.
After a brief service as Alcalde of San Luis Rey, Jean Baptiste moved to the gold fields around Auburn, California where he lived for 19 years.
This 9-page series examines the life of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau—the infant son of Sacagawea who traveled across the continent with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was educated in St. Louis and Europe, a mountain man, military guide, and California miner.
With the Mormon Battalion
by Kristopher K. Townsend
As a military guide in the U.S.-Mexican War, Jean Baptiste and the Mormon Battalion were involved in a defining moment in the American Southwest.
Jean Baptiste’s 17-year career as a mountain man comes from a scattering of writings from some of the most notable trappers of the era.
Jean Baptiste’s European experiences with Duke Paul of Württemberg were the capstone of an education that started in a Hidatsa village and developed in St. Louis under the sponsorship of William Clark.
Knife River and St. Louis
by Kristopher K. Townsend
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau’s education began in a Hidatsa village. In St. Louis at the age of five or six, his classical education began under the guardianship of William Clark.
Baby on board
by Kristopher K. Townsend
The captains’ journals give us a small glimpse into the experiences of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau as he traveled with the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
From the primary sources
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was woven into the tapestry of one of the most significant events in the history of the United States of America—the Louisiana Purchase. This timeline details the significant events with excerpts from—and hyperlinks to—the primary sources.
Washington City to Pittsburgh
by Lorna Hainesworth
Lewis’s letters reveal a fastidious quartermaster, a meticulous project director, an exceptional logistics manager and a superb bureaucrat who was scrupulously devoted to detail. Lorna Hainesworth unravels the eastern travels of Meriwether Lewis between March and July 1803 using a letter that she uncovered in 2009.
An early American epic poem
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Alexander Wilson’s epic poem The Foresters, was a tediously versified 2,210-line diary of his twelve hundred mile round-trip hike from Philadelphia to Niagara Falls in the autumn of 1804.
Clark’s map of 1814 shows his post-expeditionary conclusions regarding the lay of the land from just west of the Three Forks of the Missouri River, roughly 230 air miles eastward along the Yellowstone to the Tongue River.
A promising location
by Joseph A. Mussulman
On 30 July 1806 Clark and his party camped near the mouth of the War har sah, or Powder River. He summarized the Yellowstone’s attractions, directing most of his attention toward opportunities for immediate expansion of the fur trade.
"the extent of our journey"
by Joseph A. Mussulman
“…this I could plainly See would be the extent of our journey by water, as the waves were too high at any Stage for our Canoes to proceed any further down ….”
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).