Day-by-Day / March 19, 1804

March 19, 1804

Intercepting a war party

Clark and Lewis travel to St. Charles to prevent a large Kickapoo war party from attacking the Osage. The enlisted men continue at Wood River, Illinois under Sgt. Ordway‘s charge.

Pipe Tomahawk

A shiny tomahawk with a pipe on the other end

© 2010 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

The tomahawk pipe was popular among both Native Americans and the expedition’s soldiers. Besides its practical utility, one end could be used in a fight and the other to signal friendship and peace.

Intercepting a War Party

The weather has been generally fair but verry Cold, the ice run for Several days in Such quantities that it was impossible to pass the River [Mississippi] Visited St. Charles Saw the 1st Snake which was the kind usially termed the Garter Snake, Saw also a Beatle of black Colour with two red Stripes on his back passing each other Crosswise, from the but of the wing towards the extremity of the Same.
—Weather Diary

Clark later explains that the Kickapoo war party was bound for the Osage.

 
Therm at sun symbol rise weather wind Therm at 4 Oclk weather wind River
10 above 0 fair E 60 above 0 fair SSW fall 2 ½

—Meriwether Lewis and William Clark[1]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.

Related: Thermometers and Temperatures | Weather Observations

Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail

The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.

Plan a trip related to March 19, 1804:

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logo: Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail logo: National Park Service

Winter Camp at Wood River (Camp Dubois) is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site, near Hartford, Illinois, is managed as Lewis and Clark State Historic Site and is open to the public.

Today, the St. Charles Historic District is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.

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 page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.

This site is provided as a public service by the
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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).