Lewis appeals to the enlisted men at Wood River to follow Sgt. Ordway‘s orders while the captains are in St. Louis and that doing so is critical to the “ultimate success of the enterprise”.
Keg and Tin Cup
© 2017 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Lewis Appeals
Detachment Orders March 3rd 1804.
. . . .
The Commanding officer is . . . sorry to find any man, who has been engaged by himself and Capt. Clark for the expedition on which they have entered, so destitute of understanding, as not to be able to draw the distinction between being placed under the command of another officer, whose will in such case would be their law, and that of obeying the orders of Capt. Clark and himself communicated to them through Sergt. Ordway, who, as one of the party, has during their necessary absence been charged with the execution of their orders . . . .
A moments reflection must convince every man of our party, that were we to neglect the more important and necessry arrangements in relation to the voyage we are now entering in, for the purpose merely of remaing at camp in order to communicate our orders in person to the individuals of the party on mear points of poliece, they would have too much reason to complain; nay, even to fear the ultimate success of the enterprise in which we are all embarked. The abuse of some of the party with respect to the prevelege heretofore granted them of going into the country, is not less displeasing; to such as have made hunting or other business a pretext to cover their design of visiting a neighbouring whiskey shop, he cannot for the present extend this prevelige . . . .
. . . .
Meriwether Lewis
Capt. 1st U S Regt. Infty comdg Detatchment
Weather Diary
Therm at rise
weather wind Therm at 4 Oclk weather wind River 4 above 0 fair N E 20 above 0 E fall 5 in. —Meriwether Lewis and William Clark[1]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.
Plan a trip related to March 4, 1804:
- Winter Camp at Wood River (Camp Dubois)
- Along the Mississippi (Inspiration Trip)
- Around St. Louis (Inspiration Trip)
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
| ↑1 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations. |
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