On behalf of the expedition, Israel Whelan, U.S. Army Purveyor of Public Supplies in Philadelphia, buys wool blankets, pants, watch coats, and stockings. Receipts for today also include a tent, flannel shirts, Hyson tea, Castile soap, and 176 pounds of black powder.
Watch coats were issued by the U.S. military at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Like a capote, they are made from trade blankets, but they have a collar instead of a hood. The above coat was created by Kris Townsend and Lyle Gleason based on the research of Gene Hickman.
Cloth Goods
Purveyor’s Office 28 May 1803
Sir:
By request of Captain Lewis the articles mention’d at foot are sent to be pack’d at the Arsenal in a suitable Cask . . . . Fifteen coatees will be sent out also when made up.
B. M. [Benjamin Mifflin]
1 Common Tent
15 Blankets
15 Watch Coats
15 Pr. Wool overalls (blue)
30 Pairs stockgs.20 frocks
30 prs linen sheets
45 Flannel shirts
48 Calico ShirtsP. Kelly[1]“Supplies from Private Vendors,” in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), … Continue reading
Benjamin Mifflin was assistant to Israel Whelan and may have owned a mercantile in Philadelphia.
Tea
Israel Whelen bot. of Pricilla Logan 1803 May 28 2 lbs. Hyson Tea @ 12/6 £1.5 Cannister £1.8.6 [$3.80] [2]Ibid., 82.
Castile Soap
Philada. 28 May 1803 Israel Whelen Esquire Bot. of Beck & Harvey 123 lbs. English Cannister Powder at 90 cts pr. lb. 110.70 53 lbs. dbl. Seal Ditto in papers at 85 cts. 45.05 155.75 17 6/12 lbs. Castile Soap 1.68 $157.43 [Endorsement:] Of this Bill there are chd. to Ord. Dept. [Ordinance Department] $155.75.[5]Jackson, 87.
Originally from the Castile region of Spain, castile soap is made from olive oil and removes glycerin and lye by adding a salty brine during the boiling. This results in a soap that gets harder with time.[6]“Castile Soap,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castile_soap accessed 5 June 2022.
Notes
↑1 | “Supplies from Private Vendors,” in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 77. |
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↑2 | Ibid., 82. |
↑3 | “List of Groceries for Monticello, 6 February 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0395 accessed 15 May 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 463.] |
↑4 | “Hyson,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyson; “The Shop: Monticello” archived at web.archive.org/web/20170813200846/http://www.monticelloshop.org/206642.html both accessed 5 June 2022. |
↑5 | Jackson, 87. |
↑6 | “Castile Soap,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castile_soap accessed 5 June 2022. |
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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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