Up the Mississippi

On 20 November 1803—after the expedition encamps nearly a week at the mouth of the Ohio—the barge and boats are moved against the Mississippi current.

The crews work their way to Fort Kaskaskia—recently constructed in the Illinois Territory to support the transfer of the Louisiana Territory—ceded to France on 30 November yet still controlled by Spain. At Kaskaskia, the captains recruit twelve soldiers. They are also told that Spain will not allow them to continue up the Missouri until at least the next spring.

In early December, Lewis negotiates winter arrangements with the Spanish governor in St. Louis. Then, on 11 December, Clark arrives in St. Louis with the boats displaying full sails and colors. The American soldiers could visit the city, but the expedition would not be able to build winter quarters there.

The Shawnees

by Kristopher K. Townsend



As soon as the expedition boats arrived at the Mississippi River, the captains began counting Shawnee people. The Estimate of the Eastern Indians reports that 600 “Shawonies” were living on the “apple River near Cape Gerardeau.”

 

Synopsis Part 1

Washington City to Fort Mandan

by Harry W. Fritz



The Corps of Discovery, as it would be called, or the “corps of volunteers for North Western Discovery,” as Lewis put it, epitomized the rising glory of the United States—its sense of limitless possibilities and unparalleled opportunities.

 

Louisiana’s Political Geography

by Joseph A. Mussulman, Pierce Mullen



On 9 April 1682, René La Salle, claimed “possession of this country of Louisiana.” Thus, without any belligerent confrontations began the decline of one already ancient meta-culture, and the rise of a succession of new empires.

 

The Barge

Barge, keelboat, or just 'the boat'?

by Joseph A. Mussulman



Meriwether Lewis listed a “Keeled Boat” in his pre-expedition shopping list, but after he finally got it, he and the other journalists of the Corps of Discovery simply called it “the boat” (190 times) or, less often, “the barge” (32 times).

 

The Mouth of the Ohio

Meeting of the waters

by Joseph A. Mussulman



On the evening of 14 November 1803, Lewis and Clark camped on the point between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. By now they had rowed, poled, dragged, and occasionally sailed their boats a total of 981 miles.

 

Tywappity Bottom

Early American settlement



“Arrived oposite three new habitation of some Americans who had settled under the Spanish government,” wrote Lewis on 22 November 1803. “This settlement is on a bottom called, Tywappety.” Major Amos Stoddard described the area in 1812.

 

The Grand Tower

Demons

by Joseph A. Mussulman



In 1673 French explorers Père Marquette and Louis Joliet listened to local Indians’ warnings about this place and erected a cross atop the ninety-foot-high rock to disempower the demons said to be lurking in the treacherous whirlpool at its base.

 

Fort Kaskaskia

Preliminary outpost



Archaeological investigations by the author and his students reveal the location of the American Fort Kaskaskia. Extracts from “Bound to the Western Waters: Searching for Lewis and Clark at Fort Kaskaskia, Illinois” by the lead archaeologist.

 

St. Louis

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.