For Lewis, Clark, and the Osage and Mandan deputation[1]For the delegations traveling with Lewis and Clark on this day, see The Osage Delegations and Sheheke’s Delegation., today is their first full day in Louisville at the Falls of the Ohio. No doubt Lewis is trying to impress the delegates, and Clark is catching up with family and friends.
In Western Kansas, the Zebulon Pike Expedition encounters bison in numbers exceeding imagination.
Locust Hill, Louisville
Generated from the original sketch by Eugenia Johnson. From Louisville’s First Families: A Series of Genealogical Sketches. Public Domain.
Locust Hill was the home of Major William Croghan and the sister of William Clark, Lucy. George Rogers Clark died here 13 February 1818.[2]Kathleen Jennings, Louisville’s First Families: A Series of Genealogical Sketches (Louisville, Kentucky: The Standard Printing Company, 1920), 44. Locust Hill was also the location of the ball given for Lewis, Clark, the delegates—and apparently attended by Gass—on 8 November.
Gass’ Deputation
Mr. Gass, travelled by land to Vincennes, Indiana, and awaited there the arrival of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, who followed with a deputation of Indians from the plains, among them a chief named Big White, whom Mr. Gass calls the best looking Indian he ever saw, which, they were conducting to Washington City, for the purpose of demonstrating to them by observation the overwhelming power of the United States and the uselessness of hostility on the part of the Indian tribes in case of any dissatisfaction with the government on their part. The lesson was designed to teach them prudence, and as the wild sons of the prairie, journeying through the land of the palefaces, dwelt upon their cities and villages, and noted the number of the whites, the great resources of the nation for peace or war, and looked with admiring wonder upon the long rows of stately houses, the heaps of glittering goods, the public edifices, fortifications and shipping, so striking to their unaccustomed eyes, the conviction of the white man’s power forced itself upon their minds, mingled with prophetic forewarnings of the red man’s fate.[3]John G. Jacob, The Life and Times of Patrick Gass . . . (Wellsburg, West Virginia: Jacob & Smith, 1859), 108–09.
Numbers Exceed Imagination
Kansas Plains
Generated from an original photo © 2018 by Adam Jones. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC-BY-SA 2.0) license.
Marched early, but was detained two or three hours by the cows, which we killed. The cow buffalo, was equal to any meat I ever saw, and we feasted sumptuously of the choice morsels. I will not attempt to describe the droves of animals we now saw on our route; suffice it to say, that the face of the prairie was covered with them, on each side of the river; their numbers exceeded imagination.
—Zebulon Pike[4]Donald Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 1:343.
Notes
| ↑1 | For the delegations traveling with Lewis and Clark on this day, see The Osage Delegations and Sheheke’s Delegation. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Kathleen Jennings, Louisville’s First Families: A Series of Genealogical Sketches (Louisville, Kentucky: The Standard Printing Company, 1920), 44. |
| ↑3 | John G. Jacob, The Life and Times of Patrick Gass . . . (Wellsburg, West Virginia: Jacob & Smith, 1859), 108–09. |
| ↑4 | Donald Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 1:343. |
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.
Discover More
- 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.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with additional funding from the following:
