Michael Haynes’ artwork has been enjoyed by even the most casual Lewis and Clark fan in publications, museum displays, historical re-enactments, and hundreds of interpretive signs along the historic trail. His 2003 collaboration with Robert J. Moore, Jr., Lewis & Clark: Tailor Made, Trail Worn, the Army Life Clothing, & Weapons of the Corps of Discovery, Farcountry Press, changed the trajectory of expedition interpretation from fur traders to professional soldiers in the 1803 American frontier. The book remains the standard reference used by historical re-enactors and museum displays. The artist describes his attention to detail and historical accuracy in Sgt. Floyd’s Burial.
Featured Works
The Lemhi Shoshones
by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Lemhi Shoshones were the first Indians they had seen since leaving the Hidatsas and Mandans. In describing them, Lewis was breaking entirely new scientific ground. His account is therefore invaluable as the first description ever of a Rocky Mountain tribe, in an almost pre-contact stage.
Drouillard was one of the captains’ three most valuable hands. He was also the highest paid member after the captains, he shared the Charbonneaus’ tent with the family and the captains, and he was the only man Clark seemed to call by first name in the journals.
On 11 May 1805, Bratton appeared, running toward the river and yelling to be taken aboard quickly. He had shot a grizzly through the lungs, and the wounded bear had chased him for half a mile. The bear had lived at least two hours after first being shot.
June 12, 1804
Old Dorion signs on
Near present Dalton, Missouri, the expedition meets a contingent of boats led by fur trader Pierre Dorion, Sr. He agrees to join as an interpreter, and one expedition member is sent back to St. Louis.
December 14, 1803
Cutting logs
At Wood River, construction of winter quarters—presently called Camp River Dubois—continues. Lewis works elsewhere, likely in Cahokia.
On 23 January 1806, Lewis dispatched Howard and Werner to the Salt Camp on the ocean beach, to bring back a supply of salt. When they had not returned by the 26th, Lewis feared they had gotten lost.
November 6, 1804
Northern lights
During the night, the guard wakes the captains so they can view the Aurora Borealis. Joseph Gravelines and four St. Charles boatmen leave for the Arikara villages to promote Mandan-Arikara peace.
Joseph Field
by Barbara Fifer
Joseph yelled to his brother Reubin, who was instantly awake, and the two sprinted for fifty to sixty paces after the natives who were clutching their guns.
March 30, 1805
Possessing perfect harmony
At Fort Mandan in present North Dakota, Clark reports everyone is in good spirits and working in “perfect harmony and good understanding towards each other.” Lewis takes celestial observations.
July 4, 1806
Dangerous roads
Lewis travels east on “Cokahlahishkit”—the Road to the Buffalo—along the Blackfoot River. Clark travels south up the Bitterroot River and celebrates the Fourth of July with a “Sumptious Dinner”.
September 15, 1806
Lewis and Clark Point
On this “disagreeably worm” day, Clark and Lewis climb a hill in present Kansas City, Missouri and think it a good location for a fort. At the Little Blue River, pawpaw fruits are gathered.
John Shields
(1769–1809), Private
During the damp winter at Fort Clatsop and throughout 1806, the journals speak more and more often about Shields’ life-sustaining work as gunsmith. Certainly the guns had seen hard use.
Silas Goodrich
(possibly 1778–unknown), Private
Silas Goodrich was the expedition’s principal fisherman. He also did well when trading for food with Indians from time to time.
The Shoshones, like all other Indian people, had owned, bred, trained, used, and loved dogs from the dimmest days of their own origins. What was it, then, about this dog that thrilled them so? Lewis called it sagacity.
Lewis wrote that “McNeal had exultingly stood with a foot on each side of this little rivulet and thanked his god that he had lived to bestride the mighty & heretofore deemed endless Missouri.”
December 25, 1803
Wood River Christmas
At Wood River, the men celebrate Christmas by drinking, hunting, and frolicking. Visiting Indians share a rumor regarding Louisiana trade, and interpreter and hunter George Drouillard agrees to join.
Guard Duty
by Joseph A. Mussulman
During their journey up the Missouri to the Mandan villages, security procedures were outlined in the detachment orders of 26 May 1804. The detachment orders setting forth procedures for the security of Fort Clatsop, were issued on 1 January 1806.
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.
This device was typically used for measuring the speed of a vessel at sea, but it could also be used to measure the velocity of a river’s current. It consisted of four parts: a log-ship, or log-chip; a specially calibrated log-line; a reel to hold the log-line; and a log-glass, or sand-glass.
June 22, 1805
Portaging the first dugout
A large group hauls the first dugout canoe around the Great Falls of the Missouri. The wagon needs frequent repairs, and after dark, they abandon the heavy boat and hike the remaining ½ mile.
March 3, 1804
Refusing guard duty
Wood River Camp, IL In response to reported abuses, Lewis is ‘mortified’ by Reubin Field’s refusal to perform guard duty and implores everyone to follow Srgt. Ordway’s orders while the captains are away.
November 11, 1805
Kathlamet visitors
The expedition makes the best of their poor location in a small niche exposed to high waves and driving rain. Five Kathlamet visitors skillfully cross the Columbia in a canoe loaded with fish.
January 6, 1804
The washerwoman's hut
Clark orders the soldiers caught drinking and fighting two days ago to build a cabin for the new washer woman, and the investigation into the theft of a farmer’s hog continues.
August 26, 1806
Passing the Bad River
While passing the Bad River in present Pierre, South Dakota, Clark recalls how the Lakota Sioux attempted to stop them in 1804. They make about sixty miles and now expect to find those Indians.
February 2, 1804
Hays and Hay depart
William Clark and Meriwether Lewis accompany John Hay and John Hays part-way back to Cahokia before returning to winter camp at Wood River. Clark’s poor health continues.
Reubin and his brother Joseph (about a year older) were among the best hunters, but Reubin was possibly the better shot. He was, at least, at Camp Dubois on 16 January 1804, when Clark’s men set up a shooting match with some local residents.
June 14, 1805
A great many falls
At the Falls of the Missouri, Lewis finds a continuous series of waterfalls and a combative grizzly bear. Clark and the boats struggle to make ten more miles and Sacagawea’s illness becomes “Somewhat dangerous”.
November 11, 1803
Fort Massac arrival
Lewis writes “Arrived as [at] Fort Massac”. There, the captains meet George Drouillard who would become a key expedition member. The fort’s financial officer advances his first month’s pay of $25.
January 17, 1805
Windy and cold
With the thermometer dropping to -12°F, there is little activity at Fort Mandan and only a few Knife River villagers visit. In Spain, King Charles IV authorizes the arrest of Lewis and his expedition.
July 3, 1805
Sewing and hunting
Above the Falls of the Missouri, Lewis laments they will soon be leaving buffalo country, and Sgt. Gass and Pvt. McNeal visit the falls. Loose stitches leave holes in the hides covering the iron-framed boat.
November 15, 1803
Measuring river widths
At the mouth of the Ohio, Lewis records key measurements from Clark’s survey of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
His journal begins, “about 3 Oclock P.M. Capt. Clark and the party consisting of three Sergeants and 38 men who manned the Batteaux and perogues. we fired our Swivel on the bow hoisted Sail and Set out in high Spirits for the western Expedition.”
He had gotten off to a bad start, but apparently, the captains, or at least Clark, saw something in him that was worth saving. They would name Idaho’s Lolo Creek, Collins Creek.
March 13, 1805
Busy blacksmiths
Fort Mandan, ND The Indians living around Fort Mandan are anxious for the blacksmiths to make war axes before the expedition leaves for the western sea.
At a place where “one false Step of a horse would be certain destruction,” Frazer’s pack horse took that fateful step, lost its footing and rolled with its load “near a hundred yards into the Creek,” over “large irregular and broken rocks.”
The Hunters’ Final Tally
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Historian Arlen Large tallied the journalists’ references to hunters by name, and came up with a list of nine who were mentioned in connection with “hunting episodes” a total of twenty-five times or more–a purely arbitrary cutoff number. George Drouillard led the list.
Two hundred years after the event, interpretive artist Michael Haynes explains how he created his painting “Hallowed Ground.”
October 7, 1804
Grizzly bear tracks
At the mouth of the Moreau, the travelers encounter their first grizzly bear tracks. They also see an empty Arikara village. Below present Mobridge, South Dakota, they camp by an island with many grouse.
Army Life in 1803
Life in the U.S. Army in 1803, especially on the western frontier, provided little free-time, but the day’s alcohol ration gave some relief from the day’s fatigue duties.
Hugh Hall
(b. 1772 and d. between 1820 and 1831), Private
As if to confirm the captains’ poor evaluation of the new arrivals from Fort Southwest Point, a scant nine days after his arrival, Hall was among a group of six or seven men who got drunk on New Year’s Eve.
February 6, 1805
A happy resource
Several Mandan men from Mitutanka briefly visit Fort Mandan, and Lewis describes the blacksmiths as a ‘happy resource’. Elsewhere, Clark’s large group hunts near present Square Butte Creek, North Dakota.
The Cooper’s Howel
From the early 15th to the end of the 19th century a cooper was a skilled craftsman who made casks or barrels of various descriptions. The word cooper originated in an old Dutch expression meaning cask.
December 28, 1803
Mackay and Evans journals
At Wood River, Clark reports “nothing remarkable to day”. Elsewhere, Lewis tells President Jefferson that he has a census of Louisiana and journals and maps from explorers John Evans and James Mackay.
March 9, 1805
Grand Hidatsa Chief Le Borgne
Fort Mandan, ND The Grand Chief of the Hidatsas pays his first visit to Fort Mandan. He is given gifts and Lewis demonstrates the air gun. York is the first black man ever seen by the chief.
December 16, 1803
Eight men from Tennessee
Samuel Griffith, a local farmer, visits camp at Wood River, and Clark sends Sgt. Floyd to Cahokia with letters for Lewis. In the evening, Drouillard arrives at Cahokia with eight new recruits.
January 15, 1804
Intoxicated helpers
In a letter to his brother-in-law, Clark describes his situation at Rivière à Dubois—present Wood River. Several men and a wagon—all loaded with whiskey—appear at camp, and the weather is clear and cold.
The members of the expedition began their journey as a wild bunch of hard drinking, brawling, and insubordinate rowdies. By 7 April 1805, the day the Corps of Northwestern Discovery pulled out of Fort Mandan, Lewis described his men as enjoying “a most perfect harmony.”
April 13, 1804
Provisions arrive
Clark leaves St. Louis for Camp River Dubois. He crosses the Mississippi in a boat loaded with “Sundery articles” for the upcoming voyage. An extra ration of whiskey is given to the soldiers.
The use of a lever as a tool for measuring weight in terms of current standards of weights and measures may be at least as old as labor and commerce. It embodies a classic proposition in elementary mechanics.
June 8, 1804
The Lamine River
During the day, they meet three French traders coming down the river who are out of provisions and powder. They learn that lead ore has been found along the Lamine (The Mine) River.
May 23, 1804
Lewis escapes death
Lewis climbs the pinnacles of Tavern Rock, slips, and manages to escape with the help of his knife. In Tavern Cave, Clark adds his name among the graffiti left by earlier travelers.
Colter left a legacy of western lore, not the least of which was his famous run from the Blackfeet Indians and his exploration of “Colter’s Hell.” Yet his contributions to the expedition were also many.
“…it is surprising how close the Spanish came to intercepting Lewis and Clark, in 1804, and again in 1806. A matter of several days’ march… prevented an encounter that could have resulted in a major incident between the two nations.”
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“So far, we have experienced more difficulty from the navigation of the Missouri, than danger from the Savages. The difficulties which oppose themselves to the navigation of this immence river, arise from the rapidity of it’s current, it’s falling banks, sandbars, and timber”
The captains sent four men to retrieve Gibson, “who is so much reduced that he cannot stand alone and…they are obliged to carry him in a litter.” They arrived on February 15, and Lewis went to work sweating the “veery languid” Gibson with saltpeter and dosing him with laudanum for sleep.
May 24, 1804
The Devil's Race Ground
In the Devils Race Ground, the enlisted men and engagés struggle to move the boats against strong currents and shifting sands. They must go back down the Missouri two miles and try a different channel.
February 23, 1804
Orders for blacksmiths
While the captains work in St. Louis, the blacksmiths have orders to continue making the various items assigned by Lewis. They are exempt from guard duty and receive an extra gill of whiskey each day.
March 16, 1806
A "scant dependence"
Fort Clatsop, OR Lewis writes an inventory of trade items: an artillerist’s uniform coat, five robes made from the large flag, some clothing, and little else. A run of coho salmon begins.
December 19, 1803
Provisions arrive
Wagons with food and other provisions arrive at winter camp at Wood River. In Cahokia, Lewis writes a letter telling President Jefferson that Antoine Soulard will share geographic information about the West.
November 11, 1804
Meeting Sacagawea
The captains meet Sacagawea when Toussaint Charbonneau brings his two Shoshone wives and some buffalo robes. The enlisted men continue with the fort’s construction, and Lewis calculates latitude.
July 7, 1805
Waiting on the iron-framed boat
Another day is spent above the Great Falls of the Missouri waiting for the iron-framed boat cover to dry. Several men make leather and sew new clothes, and Clark gives York a dose of tarter emetic.
February 16, 1805
Scorched earth
Many miles south of Fort Mandan and the Knife River Villages, Lewis and his soldiers continue their pursuit of a Sioux war party. They come to an old Mandan village where two lodges have been set afire.
A multitude duties awaited the hapless private, and idle hands and feet were never knowingly allowed in a military camp. Most fatigue duties rewarded the men with an extra gill (1/4 of a pint) of whiskey each day.
February 21, 1804
Sgt. Ordway in charge
In St. Louis, the captains work on the upcoming transfer of Upper Louisiana to the United States and organize an Osage delegation to visit Washington City. At Wood River, Sgt. Ordway is in charge.
January 4, 1805
Gifts for Little Raven
At Fort Mandan below the Knife River Villages, the weather warms enough to encourage hunters who kill a buffalo calf. Little Raven of Mitutanka visits and is given gifts, and the day ends cold and windy.
May 22, 1804
Trading with Kickapoo hunters
After a very rainy night, the expedition sets out at 6 am, travels 18 miles, and camps near the mouth of the Femme Osage River in present-day Missouri. They trade with some Kickapoos for four deer.
April 15, 1804
Paying Mrs. Cane
At winter camp on the River Dubois, Clark pays Mrs. Cane for her services as washerwoman and seamstress. A boat heading up the Mississippi River passes by, and several men hunt or practice shooting.
March 29, 1804
Courts martial
With both captains now at winter camp at the Wood River across from the mouth of the Missouri, Privates Shields, Colter, and Frazer are tried in the expedition’s first military court.
September 12, 1806
Given up for dead
At present St. Joseph, Missouri, the captains modify orders given to Pierre Dorion and Joseph Gravelines. An old military companion, Robert McClellan, says that they have all been given up for dead.
January 9, 1805
"nearly frosed"
Several Knife River villagers come to Fort Mandan “nearly frosed.” One of the expedition hunters and an Indian boy fail to come in. After a failed search, there is little hope they will survive the night.
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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.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- Yellowstone Public Radio
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).