Day-by-Day / March 24, 1803

March 24, 1803

One thousand dollars

In Washington City, the Secretary of the War Department, Henry Dearborn, informs his agent Israel Whelan that he will receive one thousand dollars to purchase expedition supplies for Meriwether Lewis.

Lewis’s Brand (replica)

Lewis's rectangular branding iron burns an impression on a piece of wood

© 2018 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

War Department March 24th 1803

Sir,

The Treasurer of the United States has been directed to transmit to you One Thousand dollars for the purpose of purchasing such Articles as you may be requested by Capt. Meriwether Lewis. I am respectfully your Huml. Servt.

H. Dearborn[1]Henry Dearborn to Israel Whelan, in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978),76.

In his position as purveyor of public supplies, Israel Whelan would soon assist Meriwether Lewis to purchase supplies mainly in Philadelphia. See Outfitting the Expedition and Lewis’s Medicinal Purchases.

It is not known where Lewis had his branding iron made although the iron works at Harpers Ferry where Lewis is on this date, is the most likely candidate.

Lewis’s branding iron was used to mark wooden crates, boxes, and barrels and perhaps an occasional tree along the journey. Inside the large frame, a description of the contents and a date could be blazed with a small, straight rod. A different iron or a plain straight iron would be used to brand horses and mules. See Trail Graffiti and Horse Chronicles.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Henry Dearborn to Israel Whelan, in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978),76.

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  • 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.
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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).