February 11, 1805
Delivering baby Charbonneau
Fort Mandan, ND After a tedious and painful labor, Sacagawea gives birth to her first baby, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Clark, hunting about 40 miles to the south, heads back towards the fort.
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January 17, 1805
Windy and cold
Fort Mandan, ND With a north wind, the thermometer drops throughout the day reaching -12°F by the afternoon. A few Indians visit. Elsewhere, the Spanish King authorizes the arrest of Lewis and his expedition members.
January 8, 1805
Visiting a Mandan village
Fort Mandan, ND With a cold northwest wind blowing, John Ordway visits a Mandan village, likely the one nearest, Mitutanka. In present-day Arkansas, the Hunter and Dunbar Expedition turns back.
December 31, 1804
Popular blacksmiths
At Fort Mandan below the Knife River Villages, the wind makes hills of snow and sand. The blacksmiths continue to trade their iron work for corn, and three men look for a suitable place to make canoes.
November 27, 1804
Mandan deceptions
Lewis returns to Fort Mandan with two Hidatsa chiefs, and the captains learn that the Mandans have been telling lies to the Hidatsas. Seven Canada-based traders arrive at the Knife River Villages.
November 25, 1804
Hidatsa mix-up
Lewis, interpreters Jusseaume and Charbonneau, and five men embark on a diplomatic mission to a Hidatsa village. Two Hidatsa chiefs—Black Moccasin and Rd Shield—come to Fort Mandan with similar intentions.
November 18, 1804
Blackcat visits
At Fort Mandan, Black Cat’s wife brings as much corn as she can carry. Blackcat tells the captains that the Mandans have decided to continue with the Canada-based traders rather than St. Louis.
November 5, 1804
Raising the huts
The day is spent raising Fort Mandan cabins and splitting boards for the cabin lofts. Mandan hunters report capturing 100 pronghorns, Clark’s rheumatism continues, and Lewis spends the day writing.
October 29, 1804
Mandan and Hidatsa council
Opposite the Knife River, Mandan and Hidatsa chiefs come from each village to council with the captains. A long speech is given, and the captains ask them to smoke the pipe of peace with an Arikara chief.
October 27, 1804
Ruptáre
At the second Mandan village—Ruptáre—they hire free trader René Jusseaume as an interpreter. They camp opposite Mahawaha, the Awaxawi Hidatsa village at the mouth of the Knife River.
October 16, 1804
"Goat" hunting
The expedition struggles 14 river miles between present Fort Yates and Beaver Creek in North Dakota. Some Arikaras hunt pronghorn, and Lewis adds common poorwill and creeping juniper to his collection.
October 9, 1804
York's big medicine
At Sawa-haini—an Arikara village near Mobridge, South Dakota—the planned council is delayed by weather. York fascinates the Arikara who apparently have never seen a black man before.
October 8, 1804
Arikara village Sawa-haini
Near present Mobridge, South Dakota, Pvt. Frazer is promoted to the permanent party and assigned to Sgt. Gass. Camp is near Sawa-haini—an Arikara village where the interpreter Joseph Gravelines is found.
September 15, 1804
The White River
Moving up the Missouri below present Oacoma, South Dakota, the expedition passes the creek where Shannon had waited to be rescued. Gass and Reubin Field spend the night twelve miles up the White River.
September 6, 1804
Towing the barge
The barge hits many sandbars and they only make eight miles for the day camping near Greenwood, South Dakota. Pvt. Colter returns without Pvt. Shannon who has been missing for many days.
July 30, 1804
Council Bluff arrival
The expedition arrives at a bluff at present Fort Atkinson, Nebraska where they intend hold a council with the Otoes. Pvt. J. Field kills a badger, and Lewis preserves it as his first zoological specimen.
July 14, 1804
Sudden storm
When they encounter a sudden storm, the men jump into the water to save the boats. An elk is wounded, and Lewis’s dog, Seaman, joins the chase. They encamp southwest of present Langdon, Missouri.
July 5, 1804
Seaman chases beavers
Heading up the river in present Missouri, the current turns the boats around three times, and Lewis’s dog, Seaman, drives some beavers from their house. They pass an old Fort and Missouria village.
July 3, 1804
The "bucks Eye"
As they make 11¼ miles up the Missouri River, Sgt. Ordway notices the nuts of the Western Buckeye growing in the bottoms. They find a stray white horse and encamp near present Bean Lake, Missouri.
June 12, 1804
Old Dorion signs on
Near present Dalton, Missouri, the expedition meets a contingent of boats led by fur trader Pierre Dorion, Sr. He agrees to join as an interpreter, and one expedition member is sent back to St. Louis.
This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- Yellowstone Public Radio
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).