Clark and Lewis attend a ball in St. Louis that continues all night. Host Amos Stoddard hopes the U.S. Government will pay back the $622 the party cost him. At winter camp across the Mississippi, Sgt. Ordway writes a letter to his parents.
Minuets of the Canadians (1807)
George Heriot (ca. 1759-1839)[1]George Heriot was born in Scotland in 1759, He emigrated to Quebec in 1792, and in 1799 became postmaster general of British North America. Heriot traveled extensively throughout Canada, producing … Continue reading
Etching and aquatint, hand-colored with watercolor. National Archives of Canada, Ottawa (Accession No. 1989-479-3), recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=2895405.
Stoddard’s Expenses
I also gave a public dinner and ball, at my own house, and the expense amounted to 622 dollars and 75 cents. I am in hopes, however, that the Government will remunerate me for this expense.
—Amos Stoddard[2]Stoddard to his mother. See on this site, Frances H. Stadler, “St. Louis in 1804,” We Proceeded On, Volume 20, No. 1 (February 1994).
Clark’s Unpaid Loan
[1813]
Majr Amos Stoddard I am informed is dead. He owes me $200. cash which I lent him at Saint Louis in the year 1804 to pay for a public dinner given at that place which dinner he was allowed for in his publick accounts by the Government. I wish you to inquire . . . and if possible to procure it for me.
—William Clark[3]William Clark to John O’Fallon. Ibid.
Ordway Writes Home
Camp River Dubois April the 8th 1804
Honored Parence.
I now embrace this oppertunity of writing to you once more to let you know where I am and where I am going. I am well thank God, and in high Spirits. I am now on an expidition to the westward, with Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clark, who are appointed by the President of the united States to go on an expidition through the interior parts if North America. We are to ascend the Missouri River with a boat as far as it is navigable and then go by land, to the western ocean, if northing prevents, &c.
This party consists of 25 picked Men of the armey & country likewise and I am So happy as to be one of them pick’d Men from the armey, and I and all the party are if we live to Return, to Receive our Discharge when ever we return again to the united States if we chuse it. . . . We expect to be gone 18 months or two years. We are to Receive a great Reward . . . . For fear of exidants I wish to inform you that I left 200 dollars in cash, at Kaskaskias.
John Ordway Sergt.[4]Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 176–77.
Weather Diary
Thermometr. at rise
Weather Wind at Sunrise Thermometr. at 4 oClock Weather Wind at 4 oClock River 18 above 0 cloudy N E clouds and rain fall 2 ½ in. —William Clark[5]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.
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.
In present St. Louis, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial “commemorates Thomas Jefferson’s vision of the continental expansion of the United States” and is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service.
Notes
| ↑1 | George Heriot was born in Scotland in 1759, He emigrated to Quebec in 1792, and in 1799 became postmaster general of British North America. Heriot traveled extensively throughout Canada, producing numerous scenic sketches and watercolors that were widely admired for their documentary value. He published a book, Travels through the Canadas, in 1808. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Stoddard to his mother. See on this site, Frances H. Stadler, “St. Louis in 1804,” We Proceeded On, Volume 20, No. 1 (February 1994). |
| ↑3 | William Clark to John O’Fallon. Ibid. |
| ↑4 | Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 176–77. |
| ↑5 | 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.
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.
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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).