Day-by-Day / March 23, 1804

March 23, 1804

Kickapoo update

At winter camp across the Mississippi above St. Louis, the man sent up the river to check the status of a Kickapoo war party returns with a letter from François Saucier, the commander of Portage des Sioux.

Kickapoo

George Catlin (1796-1872)

Sketch of three Indians standing, two holding prayer books

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library.[1]New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed October 11, 2019. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-da81-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.

All three of these Kickapoos posed for the artist in an attitude of prayer. Two are holding prayer sticks.

Kickapoo Update

the man returned, with a Lette[r] from Mr. [François Saucier] the Comdr. of Passage Desous [Portage des Sioux], informing me that the Kickapoos has gone home
—William Clark

In 1799, Spanish Lieutenant-Governor Don Zenon Trudeau picked François Saucier to establish a settlement at Portage des Sioux, a strategic part of the St. Charles district. Born near Fort de Chartres in 1740, Saucier had gained the trust of the Creoles living on the American side of the Mississippi, and many settled at Portage des Sioux at his invitation. The area is said to be so named because the Sioux used the portage to avoid a Missouria ambush. Saucier remained commandant until the transfer of the upper Louisiana Territory just days before writing to Clark (see 9 March 1804). He died 6 August 1821 in Portage des Sioux and is said to have fathered twenty-two children.[2]Louis Houck, A History of Missouri from the Earliest Explorations and Settlements until the Admission of the State into the Union (Chicago: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, 1908), 2:88–89.

 

Weather Diary

Therm at sun symbol rise weather wind Therm at 4 Oclk weather wind River
22 above 0 fair N E 52 above 0 fair N E rise 4 in.

—Meriwether Lewis and William Clark[3]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

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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.

Notes

Notes
↑1 New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed October 11, 2019. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-da81-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
↑2 Louis Houck, A History of Missouri from the Earliest Explorations and Settlements until the Admission of the State into the Union (Chicago: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, 1908), 2:88–89.
↑3 To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.

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.

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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 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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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).