In Cahokia near this date, Lewis receives President Jefferson‘s letter asking him to impress the Sioux Nations with friendly terms. Also enclosed is a letter announcing Lewis’s membership in the American Philosophical Society (APS).
Unfinished Diplomacy
30″ x 52″ oil on canvas
© 2009 by Charles Fritz. Used by permission.
Impressing the Sioux
Washington Jan 22. 1804.
Dear Sir
. . . .
Although you will pass through no settlements of the Sioux (except seceders) yet you will pass through with parties of them. On that nation we wish most particularly to make a friendly impression, because of their immense power, and because we learn they are very desirous of being on the most friendly terms with us.
. . . .
TH. JEFFERSON[1]Jefferson to Lewis. Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 166.
Lewis’s APS Membership
Washington Jan 22. 1804.
Dear Sir
. . . .
I enclose you a letter which I believe is from some one on the part of the Philosophical society. They have made you a member, and your diploma is lodged with me; but I suppose it safest to keep it here & not to send it after you.
. . . .
TH. JEFFERSON[2]Ibid.
Weather Diary
Therm at rise
weather wind Therm at 4 Oclk weather wind River 8 above 0 cloudy & snow N W 18 above 0 snow N W Saw the first Brant return.
—Meriwether Lewis and William Clark[3]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 7, 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 | Jefferson to Lewis. Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 166. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Ibid. |
| ↑3 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations. |
