Charles Gratiot was a fur trader in Illinois before moving to St. Louis in 1781. There, he married into the Chouteau family and became one of the town’s most prominent citizens. On 9 March 1804, Gratiot, Lewis, and Antoine Soulard signed the official Spanish transfer of Upper Louisiana to France. The next day, he translated Captain Amos Stoddard‘s speech transferring the territory from France to the United States.[1]Stoddard had been appointed the official French representative making the two-part transfer possible. That speech was given on Gratiot’s porch[2]Stephanie Ambrose-Tubbs, The Lewis and Clark Companion: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Voyage of Discovery (New York: Henry Hold and Company, 2003), 132; Moulton, Journals, 2:139n4.
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In 1804 and in the presence of the Lewis and Clark expedition the little village, built and designed to be an outpost of the fur trade, shed its ambiguous Spanish-French parentage and took on full American citizenship.
December 22, 1803
Prying the barge
At Wood River, Clark receives eight new recruits from Tennessee. The river runs with ice, so the barge is unloaded and supported with pry bars. Elsewhere, Lewis uses “stealth” to gather intelligence.
March 9, 1804
Raising the French flag
In St. Louis, Lewis serves as a witness to the delivery and receipt of the Upper Louisiana from Spain to France. With speeches and ceremony, the Spanish flag is lowered, and the French flag raised.
March 10, 1804
Raising the American flag
In St. Louis, Amos Stoddard declares Upper Louisiana as belonging to the United States, and the American flag is raised. Captains Lewis and Clark are there to witness the event.
March 21, 1804
Return to Wood River
Lewis, Clark, Auguste or Pierre Chouteau, and Charles Gratiot return to Wood River, Illinois after intercepting a Kickapoo war party near St. Charles. Clark’s field notes resume—the first since 9 February.
May 12, 1804
Expenses mount
Charles Gratiot forwards about $1500 in bills of expedition purchases. At winter camp, Clark arranges the boats’ loads. In Massachusetts, Samuel Brazer commemorates the Louisiana cession.
May 20, 1804
Sunday in St. Charles
Lewis and a delegation of distinguished citizens leave St. Louis. During a thunderstorm, they shelter in a little cabin. Already in St. Charles, many of the enlisted men attend Catholic mass.
Notes
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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).