In Philadelphia, Meriwether Lewis writes a lengthy letter to President Thomas Jefferson updating him on his progress. He says that his mentors have been helpful, that he is having difficulty finding qualified recruits, and that he is sending a copy of George Vancouver‘s map of the west coast. He expects to return to Washington City in about a week.
Second Street North from Market St. with Christ Church
William Birch
Courtesy Independence National Historical Park, Karie Diethorn, Chief Curator, and with the kind assistance of library technician Andrea Ashby Leraris.[1]The prints in the INHP collection, which originated in various portfolio sets that preceded Birch’s book, The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania North America, as it appeared in … Continue reading
By 1803 the steeple of Christ Church had long been a prominent landmark for any visitor trying to orient himself in the city. The church, the first parish of the Church of England (Anglican) in Pennsylvania, was constructed between the years 1727 and 1744. Robert Smith completed the steeple in 1759. His early designs led to his commissions for many significant buildings constructed in the third quarter of the century, and for Benjamin Franklin’s house. For more paintings by William Birch, see Historic Philadelphia.
Lewis’s Progress Report
Philadelphia May 29th. 1803.
Dear Sir
I have at length so far succeeded in making the necessary preparations for my intended journey as to be enabled to fix on the sixth or seventh of June as the probable time of my departure for Washington. All the article have been either procured, or are in such state of forwardness in the hands of the workmen as to induce me to hope that my stay here after that period will be unnecessary; indeed it is probable that I might set out by the middle of this week, was it not for a wish to attend Mr. Patterson a few days longer;
. . . . .
Dr. Rush has favored me with some abstract queries under the several heads of Physical History, medicine, Morals and Religeon of the Indians, which I have no doubt will be servicable in directing my inquiries among that people: Drs. Barton and Wister [Caspar Wistar] have each promised to contribute in like manner any thing, which may suggest itself to them as being of any importance in furthering the objects of this expedition.
. . . . .
Majr. Mac Rea, Comdr. at S.W. Point . . . tells me that out of twenty men who have volunteered their services to accompany me, not more than three or four do by any means possess the necessary qualifications for this expedition . . .
. . . . .
You will recieve herewith inclosed some sketches taken from Vancouver’s survey of the Western Coast of North America; they were taken in a haisty manner, but I believe they will be found sufficiently accurate to be of service in composing the map, which Mr. Gallatin was so good as to promise he would have projected and compleated for me—
I have the honor to be with the most sincere esteem & attatchment—Your Obt. Servt.
Meriwether Lewis[2]Meriwether Lewis to Thomas Jefferson, 29 May 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0336 accessed 13 May 2022. [Original source: The … Continue reading
An Evening with Dickerson
Sun. 29. Wrote a long letter to Jno. T. Mason—spent the evg. with Capt. L—chez
—Mahlon Dickerson[3]“The Mahlon Dickerson Diary,” in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 681.
Notes
| ↑1 | The prints in the INHP collection, which originated in various portfolio sets that preceded Birch’s book, The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800, measure approximately 18 by 14½ inches. |
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| ↑2 | Meriwether Lewis to Thomas Jefferson, 29 May 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0336 accessed 13 May 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 40, 4 March–10 July 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013, pp. 444–446.] |
| ↑3 | “The Mahlon Dickerson Diary,” in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 681. |
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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.
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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).