In Washington City, President Thomas Jefferson replies with “unspeakable joy” to Meriwether Lewis‘s 23 September 1806 letter announcing the expedition’s safe return. He also passes along the good news Lewis’s brother, Reuben.
In the Illinois Territory, Lewis, Clark, and the Osage and Mandan delegates travel east towards Vincennes.[1]For the delegations traveling with Lewis and Clark on this day, see The Osage Delegations and Sheheke’s Delegation. On or near this date, they cross the Skillet Fork. Seventeen years earlier, Clark’s brother George Rogers encountered many buffalo along this stretch.
St. Louis Trace near Lawrenceville
Derived from the original in Archer Butler Hulbert, Historic Highways of America: Military Highways of America, vol. 8.
From grazing buffalo to present U.S. Highway 50, the road shown above has long served as a major east-west transportation corridor.
Numbers of Buffaloes
[February] 12th. Marched across Cot plains; saw and killed numbers of buffaloes. The road very bad from the immense quantity of rain that had fallen. The men much fatigued. Encamped on the edge of the woods. This plain or meadow being fifteen or more miles across, it was late in the night before the baggage and troops got together.
—Joseph Bowman[2]Joseph Bowman, “Journal of the Proceedings of George R. Clark, from the 27th January, 1779, to March 20th Inst. (1779)”, in William H. English, Conquest of the Country Northwest of the … Continue reading
Jefferson’s Unspeakable Joy
Washington Oct. 20. 06 [26 Oct 1806]
I recieved, my dear Sir, with unspeakable joy your letter of Sep. 23 announcing the return of yourself, Capt Clarke & your party in good health to St. Louis. the unknown scenes in which you were engaged, & the length of time without hearing of you had begun to be felt awfully. your letter having been 31. days coming, this cannot find you at Louisville, & I therefore think it safest to lodge it at Charlottesville. it’s only object is to assure you of what you already known, my constant affection for you & the joy with which all your friends here will recieve you. tell my friend of Mandane also that I have already opened my arms to recieve him. perhaps, while in our neighborhood, it may be gratifying to him, & not otherwise to yourself to take a ride to Monticello and see in what manner I have arranged the tokens of friendship I have recieved from his country particularly as well as from other Indian friends: that I am in fact preparing a kind of Indian hall. mr Dinsmore, my principal workman will shew you every thing there. had you not better bring him by Richmond, Fredericksburg, & Alexandria? he will thus see what none of the others have visited, & the convenience of the public stages will facilitate your taking that route. I salute you with sincere affection.
Th: Jefferson[4]Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4473, accessed 26 December 2025.
With communication no faster than the pace of a horse, Jefferson could not know that Lewis, Clark, and his ‘Mandane friend’ were at this time traveling between St. Louis and Louisville. After reaching the Falls of the Ohio, they would soon split into three separate parties with Pierre Chouteau leading Sheheke, the Osage delegation, and interpreters René Jusseaume and François Labiche. All but Clark would re-unite in Washington City on 29 December.
Thomas Jefferson to Reuben Lewis
Washington Oct. 26. 06.
Sir
If capt Lewis be not already with you, I have the pleasure to inform you of his safe arrival at St. Louis, & that you may expect every hour to see him in Albemarle. in this confidence I take the liberty of putting a letter to him under your cover & salute you with esteem & respect.
Th: Jefferson[5]Thomas Jefferson to Reuben Lewis, Ibid. founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4474.
Notes
| ↑1 | For the delegations traveling with Lewis and Clark on this day, see The Osage Delegations and Sheheke’s Delegation. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Joseph Bowman, “Journal of the Proceedings of George R. Clark, from the 27th January, 1779, to March 20th Inst. (1779)”, in William H. English, Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio 1778–1783 and Life of Gen. George Rogers Clark (Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merill Company, 1897), 1:569. |
| ↑3 | Archer Butler Hulbert, Historic Highways of America: Military Highways of America (Cleveland, Ohio: The Aurthur H. Clark Company, 1904), 8:57, Project Gutenberg ebook, www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/4/1/1/6/41167/41167-h/41167-h.htm. |
| ↑4 | Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4473, accessed 26 December 2025. |
| ↑5 | Thomas Jefferson to Reuben Lewis, Ibid. founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4474. |
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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.
- 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.
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