Tabeau was an experienced trader who worked under Régis Loisel in 1802–1804. The Lewis and Clark Expedition met him on 9 October 1804 at the Arikara villages. His narrative, found in Tabeau’s Narrative of Loisel’s Expedition to the Upper Missouri, was ‘resurrected’ by Annie Heloise Abel in 1939. It contains valuable historical and ethnographical information.
Related Pages
This Arikara leader rode upriver with the expedition in the weeks that followed to negotiate a peace settlement with the Mandan. In the spring of 1805 he went down river with the barge to St. Louis. After a series of delays, he went to Washington, DC, to meet with President Jefferson.
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.
February 28, 1805
Arikara and Sioux news
Fort Mandan, ND Traders arrive with news of the Arikaras and Sioux and two plant specimens. About six miles from the fort, several men cut down cottonwood trees to make dugout canoes.
March 5, 1805
Echinacea specimens
Fort Mandan, ND Work making charcoal, dugout canoes, leather rope, and clothes continues. One French man passes by with letters for trader Pierre-Antoine Tabeau who is with the Arikaras.
April 7, 1805
Leaving Fort Mandan
The permanent party leaves Fort Mandan bound for the Pacific Ocean. They make it only as far as Mitutanka, one of the Knife River Villages. In the barge, the return party heads towards St. Louis.
September 21, 1806
St. Charles hospitality
The boatmen paddle and row the 48 miles from La Charrette to St. Charles. They are greeted by the latter’s citizens with great cheer and hospitality. Lewis starts a letter to President Jefferson.
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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Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
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- 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).