Eastern Travels

The Letters

In the spring of 2006, while searching for connections between my home state of Maryland and the Lewis and Clark saga, I came across a photocopy of a handwritten letter dated 6 June 1803, from Meriwether Lewis to William Linnard, U.S. military agent. Both men were in Philadelphia at the time the letter was written. The copy of this letter was part of the Lewis and Clark materials on file at the Historical Society of Frederick County in Maryland. The importance of the letter was readily apparent as it contained a detailed set of instructions intended to get Lewis’s supplies from Philadelphia and Harpers Ferry to Pittsburgh. It also contained a description of the team and driver to be engaged for the task. In the letter, Lewis prescribed the route of travel, gave an estimate for the departure date and the weight of his supplies, named the individuals to be seen along the way, elaborated on the method for transporting his mathematical instruments and provided information on accounting for transport expenses.

This letter is the centerpiece of five crucial letters Lewis wrote that pertain to supplies and their transport. In addition to the June 6 letter to Linnard, the other letters were written that same year on 15 April 1803 to General William Irvine; 20 April 1803 to President Thomas Jefferson; 20 June 1803 to Linnard; and 8 July 1803 to Jefferson. Reviewed together, not only do these documents highlight a group of participants in Lewis’s expedition preparations, but they also provide a travel timeline for Lewis and his stores while delineating the westward routes taken during the spring and summer of 1803. Insight into the types of wagons used to transport Lewis’s goods also can be gleaned from these letters.

The Cast of Characters

Several individuals are referenced in the June 6 letter. Easily recognizable is the name “Mr. Ellicott” as that of Andrew Ellicott who lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1801 to 1813 and taught celestial navigation along with surveying techniques to Meriwether Lewis.^[4]For more information on Andrew Ellicott, see Nancy M. Davis, “Andrew Ellicott: Astronomer, Mathematician Surveyor,” We Proceeded On 24, no. 3 (August 1998): 28–32. The letter also includes the names of four other individuals who are less well known: William Linnard, Israel Whelan, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H. Cushing and Joseph Perkins. General William Irvine and George W. Ingels complete the small cadre of Army personnel that helped Lewis assemble, pack and ship his supplies.^[5]Joseph Mussulman and Frank Muhly, Shipping Supplies.

Although the duties of many U. S. Army positions were not fully documented in 1803 and Army regulations did not spell out the duties of many staff members until 1813, adequate descriptions of who each of these men were and how they related to Lewis’s preparations for his journey can be determined from existing documents.^[6]Information on this subject was provided by Keith E. Gibson, museum curator, Virginia Military Institute; Mark Hudson, executive director, Historical Society of Frederick County; David Keough, … Continue reading

General William Irvine was the superintendent of the Schuylkill Arsenal from 1801 until his death in 1804. As part of the Quartermaster’s Department, he was responsible for storing, distributing and accounting for military supplies at the warehouse.^[7]Theophilus F. Rodenbough and William L. Haskin, eds., The Army of the United States: Historical Sketches of Staff and Line (New York: Maynard, Merrill and Company, 1896), 38–66. From Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on 20 April 1803, Lewis wrote to Jefferson describing various letters that he had sent,

to forward as much as possible the preparations . . . I have also written to Genl. Irwine of Philadelphia, requesting that he will have in a state of prepareation some articles which are necessary for me, and which will be most difficult to obtain, or may take the greates[t] length of time in their prepareation.^[8]Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents, 1783–1854 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1968), 37–40.

Here Lewis refers to his letter of 15 April 1803, sent to Irvine from Frederick, Maryland. Lewis already knew of Irvine from their respective involvements in the Whiskey Rebellion during October 1794.^[9]Thomas Paul Slaughter The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 270n20. The Whiskey Rebellion [resistance], less commonly known as … Continue reading As a private enlisted in the Virginia volunteer corps, Lewis was with the militia when it camped at Winchester, Virginia, on 4 October 1794, then marched to Cumberland, Maryland, and on to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, all the while moving toward Pittsburgh.^[10]Ambrose, 39–41; Robert Wellford, “A Diary Kept by Dr. Robert Wellford, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the March of the Virginia Troops to Fort Pitt to Suppress the Whiskey Insurrection … Continue reading This experience may have been a major factor in determining the route Lewis would travel from Harpers Ferry to Pittsburgh in the summer of 1803.

Israel Whelan

The April 15 letter from Lewis to Irvine sometimes is referred to as the “Portable Soup” letter because in it Lewis requested 200 pounds of this useful emergency ration. Jackson’s compilation of letters does not include a transcription of the April 15 letter; he noted the letter was not available for publication.^[11]Jackson, Letters, 82. Since the time of Jackson’s compilation, the letter had passed from a private collection to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Archives in St. Louis, Missouri.^[12]This letter is part of the Grace Lewis Miller Papers at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Archives, https://www.nps.gov/jeff/historyculture/grace-lewis-miller-papers.htm, donated by her sons … Continue reading Additional significance attaches to the “Portable Soup” letter because it is a very early written reference to the planned expedition and is the only known instance where Lewis signed as the private secretary to the president.^[13]Steve Harrison, “Meriwether Lewis’s First Written Reference to the Expedition 15 April 1803,” We Proceeded On 9, no. 4 (October–November 1983): 10–11; Robert A. Saindon, ed., … Continue reading Israel Whelan purchased the “Portable Soup” on 30 May 1803, from a cook named François Baillet.^[14]Ambrose, 86. Description of soup contents varies greatly from the recipe included in Saindon, 1:103. Although Lewis wanted 200 pounds of soup, he received only 193 pounds at a cost of $289.50 ($1.50 per pound), which exceeded his $250 budget limit.^[15]Jackson, Letters, 81; Mussulman, Portable Soup; National Archives and Records Administration, “Meriwether Lewis Goes Shopping,” Archives of Calendar Features (April 2004), … Continue reading

Whelan’s name appears frequently in conjunction with the acquisition of items Lewis needed for the expedition.^[16]Jackson, Letters, 78–92. The position of purveyor of public supplies, which Whelan occupied from 1801 to late 1803,^[17]Robert J. Moore, Jr. and Michael Haynes, Tailor Made, Trail Worn: Army Life, Clothing & Weapons of the Corps of Discovery (Helena, Montana: Farcountry Press, 2003), 68. was established by an act of Congress on 23 February 1795, and was initially within the Department of the Treasury. Later, by a congressional act of 16 July 1798, the position was transferred to the War Department.^[18]National Archives and Records Administration, “Records of the Commissary General of Subsistence,” Guide to Federal Records (1995), … Continue reading Whelan was a civilian employee who obtained supplies from contractors who had entered into agreements with the government. The supplies were delivered to a military unit or post where the purveyor stored and issued them as needed. Lewis’s list of requirements was rather unique, and it appears that Whelan gathered several items specifically for him rather than issuing them from the supplies on hand.^[19]Jackson, Letters, 71, 79. See entries for “4 Tin blowing Trumpets” & “4 Tin horns,” respectively, as examples.

William Linnard

Similarities existed between the position of purveyor of public supplies and William Linnard’s position as military agent.^[20]Ibid., 54, editor’s note. He, too, was a civilian employee of the War Department who was authorized by the Army to purchase materials and services, particularly those involving land or water transport. The main difference between the two jobs was that a military agent engaged merchants directly for the sale of particular items (usually one-time purchases), while the purveyor obtained goods (usually by contract) that were used on a regular or recurring basis.^[21]Richard Winship Stewart, ed., American Military History, Volume I: The United States Army and the Forging of a Nation, 1775–1917, 2 volumes (U.S. Department of Defense, 2005), 107–108.

On 16 March 1802, the Seventh Congress approved an act fixing the Military Peace Establishment of the United States including a section (number 17) describing the duties of a military agent, which stated in part “to purchase, receive, and forward to their proper destination, all military stores, and other articles for the troops in their respective departments, and all goods and annuities for the Indians … “^[22]John F. Callahan, Military Laws of the United States relating to the Army, Marine Corps, Volunteers, Militia and to bounty lands and pensions from the Foundation of the government to the year 1863 … Continue reading In the letter of 6 June 1803, Lewis requested that Linnard transport certain stores he had gathered for the expedition from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. To this, Lewis added his preferences regarding the team and driver Linnard would hire.^[23]Lack of awareness of the 6 June 1803, letter resulted in a few writers drawing some erroneous conclusions, among which is that Lewis hired Linnard to drive the wagon with the supplies he had gathered … Continue reading He also included instructions on how his box containing mathematical instruments should be loaded and maintained. He wrote a separate instruction on how his supplies were to be weighed, invoiced and packed. This may have been intended for Whelan, Ingels or Linnard, but clearly showed Lewis planned to obtain materials that the Army already had on hand (such as military blankets) at no cost to the expedition.^[24]Jackson, Letters, 92–93; Mussulman, “Shipping Supplies.”

On 25 March 1804, Linnard submitted his invoice for $226.98.26 in his June 6 letter, Lewis had promised to inform Linnard “as early as possible after my arrival at Washington, to what ac’ [account] you are to charge the expence incurred for transporting these goods.”^[25]Meriwether Lewis to William Linnard, 6 June 1803, Consolidated Correspondence file, 1794–1890, entry 225, “Lewis and Clark Expedition,” Record Group 92, National Archives and Records … Continue reading

George Ingels

Though Lewis did not mention George W. Ingels in his June 6 letter, as military storekeeper at the Schuylkill Arsenal, he was an important figure in the supply procurement phase of the expedition. Ingels received and distributed supplies, kept inventory and arranged for the resupply of any items that were running low. Ingels and Linnard worked together for a number of years. These men corresponded on several occasions when Linnard was coordinating the shipment of supplies from the Schuylkill Arsenal to the recently constructed (1809–1811) arsenal at New Castle, Delaware.^[26]Kara K. Hein and Rebecca J. Siders, A Documentary History of the Arsenal New Castle, Delaware (Newark: University of Delaware, Center for Historic Architecture and Design, 1998), 2; and … Continue reading

Another person prominently mentioned in Lewis’s letter to Linnard was “Col. Cushing.” Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H. Cushing was an army inspector stationed at Frederick, Maryland. Cushing took up his post at Frederick (Frederick Towne) in late August 1802.^[27]T. H. Cushing letter from Inspector’s Office, City of Washington, 20 August 1802, National Archives and Records Administration Microfilm Publication M565, roll 1, Letters sent by Office of … Continue reading In the June 6 letter, Lewis instructed Linnard that the driver transporting his stores should call on Cushing “for any article that I may think proper to leave there with a view to be taken up by the waggoner.” It appears Lewis was comfortable entrusting Cushing with certain supplies, though there is no record of any supplies having been left there.^[28]Mark Hudson, “The Lewis and Clark Expedition in Frederick?” (Historical Society of Frederick County, Maryland). Harry L. Decker, who during his lifetime served as a local historian for … Continue reading

Secretary of War Henry Dearborn wrote Cushing on 16 June 1803, instructing him to “direct the recruiting officer at Carlisle, to select eight of the most faithful and sober of his recruits” for the western expedition.^[29]Henry Dearborn to Thomas H. Cushing letter of 16 June 1803, M6, roll 1, Letters sent by the Secretary of War Relating to Military Affairs, Volume 1 (November 12, 1800–June 21, 1803), Record Group … Continue reading On 20 June 1803, Cushing wrote to Lieutenant William A. Murray telling him to “select eight of the best . . . for immediate command in Pittsburgh.”^[30]Jackson, Letters, 67. Lieutenant Moses Hooke took command of the men in Pittsburgh pending Lewis’s arrival. On 9 July 1803, Cushing wrote to Lewis with details regarding the party of recruits.^[31]Ibid., 107.

Joseph Perkins

When Lewis wrote his letters to Linnard, Joseph Perkins was the conductor of the armory at Harpers Ferry. “Conductor” in this usage referred to a civilian employee of the War Department who supervised the armorers at a government-owned and -operated arsenal. This included the acceptance of contract weapons and munitions; the storage, repair, maintenance and issuance of arms and related accouterments such as cartridge boxes; and making, storing and issuing cartridges and other ammunition. Perkins had been a gun maker and an inventor in the Philadelphia area during the early 1790s. He was assigned to undertake much of the construction of the Harpers Ferry Armory and Arsenal in the late 1790s. Perkins was superintendent of the armory from 1798 to 1807.^[32]Glenn F. Williams, senior historian, U.S. Army Center of Military History, and Keith E. Gibson, museum curator, Virginia Military Institute, provided information on Perkins. On 14 March 1803, Secretary Dearborn wrote to Perkins instructing him to give Lewis whatever he requested and have it ready as soon as possible. Joshua Wingate, chief clerk of the War Department, wrote similar letters to General Irvine and Israel Whelan on the same day.^[33]Jackson, Letters, 75–76. Lewis carried those letters with him when he left Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1803.

Timeline

Close scrutiny of the five letters regarding Lewis’s expedition preparations also reveals important information about the routes Lewis traveled through parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and today’s West Virginia. He did a fair amount of traveling by land from March through July 1803.

The predominant mode of travel during the two previous centuries had been by water and so roads were not held in the same regard as rivers. However, as the development of industry and agriculture expanded westward, the demand for new and improved roads grew. By the end of the first decade of the 1800s, the United States was on the brink of a massive road-building effort.^[35]The following experts provided information on the various roads in existence in 1803: Marc Cheves, land surveyor and editor, The American Surveyor; Robert Cullen, resource manager, American … Continue reading

15 March 1803—Lewis left Washington, D.C., and could have traveled two possible routes to Harpers Ferry where he arrived on March 16 and stayed until April 15.^[36]Ambrose, 84. He may have followed the Potomac River, which flows southeast from Harpers Ferry to the capital. Following the shoreline of the Potomac can be quite challenging as it is rocky and has some fairly high bluffs. He also could have traveled along the ancient Native American trail.^[37]The ancient Native American trail approximates today’s Maryland Route 355 or Interstate 270. This route goes through a stretch of rolling hills and arrives in Frederick, Maryland. A sharp left … Continue reading Both routes are about 60 miles, however the latter is easier to travel.

15 April 1803—Lewis was in Frederick, Maryland, where he wrote the “Portable Soup” letter. He had traveled there after having spent roughly a month at Harpers Ferry. The distance between Harpers Ferry and Frederick is about 20 miles. Lewis probably took a road that evolved from an Indian trail, which had its beginnings as a game trail. Many routes were not much more than trails, fairly suitable for horse and rider, but certainly not for wagon or carriage. Others were simply post roads intended to facilitate the delivery of the mail from one place to the next.^[38]Abraham Bradley Jr. and W. Harrison Jr., A map of the United States exhibiting post roads & distances (Philadelphia: unknown publisher, 1796), Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, … Continue reading The road to Frederick has several names including the Frederick Road, Urbana Pike, Rockville Pike and in Washington, D.C., Wisconsin Avenue. The road going to Harpers Ferry is called the Jefferson Pike.

19 April 1803—Lewis arrived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the following day wrote a lengthy letter to President Jefferson in which he explained why be had spent a month at Harpers Ferry.^[39]Jackson, Letters, 37–40. Going as far back as 1751, a road existed between Lancaster and Frederick, which has been called “The Great Waggon Road to Philadelphia.”^[40]Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, A map of the most inhabited part of Virginia of containing the most inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole province of Maryland with part of Pensilvania, New … Continue reading The distance between the two locations is about 90 miles and would have taken approximately three days to travel comfortably by horseback.

10 May 1803—Lewis spent about three weeks with Andrew Ellicott in Lancaster and then went on to Philadelphia.^[41]“Expedition Timeline,” Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation website, https://lewisandclark.org/learn/timeline.php. Ellicott wrote letters to John Vaughan and Robert Patterson, which … Continue reading The distance from Lancaster to Philadelphia is about 65 miles. To address the demands for a more adequate road between the two locations, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed legislation establishing the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road Company on 9 April 1792. The turnpike formerly known as the Great Conestoga Road, and later the Lancaster Pike, was built of broken limestone and gravel of different sizes.^[42]“Pennsylvania’s Roads Before the Automobile,” https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/roads1/page2.asp?secid=31. Road construction took about two years and cost $464,000. This is undoubtedly the road Lewis traveled to Philadelphia.

17–19 June 1803—Lewis left Philadelphia and arrived in Washington, D.C., where he wrote the letter to William Clark requesting that he join the expedition.^[43]Jackson, Letters, 57–60. Due to the significant amount of travel along the Atlantic Coast, a continuous road for stagecoach and wagon traffic from Boston, Massachusetts, to Charleston, South Carolina, was built by 1750. Eventually bridges were built across rivers and streams and by 1774 the road could accommodate the largest carriage in reasonable safety. It originally was known as the King’s Highway, but after the American War of Independence other names such as the Boston Post Road, the Great Coast Road, the Potomac Trail and the Virginia Path were preferred.^[44]“Kings Highway,” http://freepages.genea1ogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gentutor/King.pdf.

5 July 1803—Lewis was in Frederick, Maryland, to find a wagoner to transport his goods from Harpers Ferry.^[45]Jackson, Letters, 106–107. He had left Washington, D.C., July 5 and traveled the roughly 40 miles to Frederick, probably arriving there by evening.^[46]Ambrose, 102. Lewis would have traveled along today’s Maryland Route 355.

8 July 1803—Lewis wrote to Jefferson that he was in Harpers Ferry intending to leave by about 1 p.m. that day. He told Jefferson that he would take “the rout of Charlestown, Frankfort, Uniontown and Redstone old fort to Pittsburgh.”^[47]Jackson, Letters, 106–107. Charlestown is today’s Charles Town, West Virginia; Frankfort is Fort Ashby, West Virginia; Uniontown remains Uniontown, Pennsylvania; and Redstone Old Fort is … Continue reading Lewis was familiar with the route, as he had traveled it during his military service. This was the famous Braddock’s Road, carved out by General Edward Braddock in 1755 during the French and Indian War. From the vicinity of Uniontown, Lewis followed “the extension James Burd made to the Monongahela at Redstone.”^[48]Doug MacGregor, museum educator, Fort Pitt Museum, Point State Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, provided information; “James Burd,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burd. Later the road from Cumberland, Maryland, to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, became the National Road. It was the first federally funded road, approved by Jefferson on 29 March 1806.^[49]“National Road,” https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumberland_Road. Albert Gallatin, Jefferson’s secretary of the treasury, had agitated for many years to have a road built across the Allegheny Mountains and convinced Congress that such a road was essential to commerce between the western and eastern portions of the United States.^[50]Karl B. Raitz, ed., George F. Thompson, contributor, The National Road (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), 115–117. Lewis previously had an opportunity to become familiar with this route when he traveled from Pittsburgh to Washington in the spring of 1801 en route to become Jefferson’s private secretary.^[51]Jackson, Letters, 2–3; David Leon Chandler, The Jefferson Conspiracies: A President’s Role in the Assassination of Meriwether Lewis (New York: William Morrow and Co., 1994), 140.

15 July 1803—Lewis arrived in Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. and immediately wrote to convey this news to Jefferson.^[52]Jackson, Letters, 110.

Wagon Timeline

Lewis’s letters also can be used to trace a reasonable chronology for the travels of the wagons carrying his supplies from Philadelphia and Harpers Ferry to Pittsburgh.

6 June 1803—Lewis wrote to William Linnard, “You will be informed by Mr. Wheelin when those stores are in perfect readiness for transportation; this will most probably happen in the course of six or seven days.” Lewis continued, “You will be pleased to employ for this service a strong effective team, with a driver in whose fidelity, sobriety and discretion you can place the necessary confidence.” Then he requested that the wagon follow a particular “rout by Lancaster & York in Pen[ns]y[lvani]a, & Fredericktown in Maryland to Harper’s Ferry in Virginia.” Predating The Great Waggon Road that connected Philadelphia to Frederick, an old Indian trail known as the Monocacy Path (which probably originated from a bison trace) went from Philadelphia to Harpers Ferry. In Maryland this route was known as the Susquehanna Path.^[53]MacGregor provided information; “The Main Indian Paths And Migration Trails in Pennsylvania,” http://www.mcn.org/2/noel/Westmoreland/MigrationTrails.htm. Once the wagon driver arrived in Harpers Ferry, he was to travel to Pittsburgh “by whatever way he may think best.” Perhaps he followed the same route Lewis traveled to Pittsburgh, or he may have used the Forbes Road, created in 1758 during the French and Indian War and built by General John Forbes. This route went from Fort Loudon to Fort Bedford to Fort Ligonier^[54]“The Pennsylvania Road,” http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gentutor/Pa_Rd.pdf. and on to Pittsburgh roughly following today’s Lincoln Highway.

10 June 1803—Lewis called on Linnard but apparently did not see him, so wrote again to emphasize “the necessity of providing a strong and effective team for the transportation of the public stores under my charge destined for Pittsburgh.”^[55]Jackson, Letters, 53–54. In the June 6 letter, Lewis estimated the weight of his supplies would be less than 700 pounds. In this letter, he changed the estimate to 3,500 pounds and stated, “the road mentioned in a former communication . . . is by no means good.” Here Lewis may have meant the entire route from Philadelphia through Harpers Ferry to Pittsburgh. Lewis asked Linnard to provide a team with five horses due to the weight of the stores and the condition of the road. He wrote, “I expect every thing will be in readiness by tuesday or Wednesday next,” bringing the departure date for the wagon to 14 or 15 June 1803.^[56]Ibid.

28 June 1803—Lewis wrote from Harpers Ferry on 8 July 1803, that the wagon from Philadelphia passed through Harpers Ferry on 28 June 1803. He told President Jefferson, “The waggoner determined that his team was not sufficiently strong to take the whole of the articles . . . and therefore took none of them.”^[57]Ibid., 106–107. Lewis learned of this while he was in Frederick, Maryland, on July 5, but it is not known how he obtained this information. (It is possible that after the wagon passed through Harpers Ferry without taking Lewis’s supplies that Joseph Perkins sent word for Lewis at Frederick.) The wagon traveling from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was long gone by the time Lewis learned his materiel was still at Harpers Ferry.

9 July 1803—According to his 8 July 1803, letter written at Harpers Ferry, Lewis hired “a person with a light two horse-waggon,” in Frederick on the evening of 5 July 1803. The driver was supposed to leave Harpers Ferry on the morning of 8 July 1803, but Lewis wrote, “he has disappointed me.” When the wagon from Frederick didn’t show up, Lewis explained, “I have been obliged to engage a second person who will be here [Harpers Ferry] this evening in time to load and will go on early in the morning.”^[58]Ibid. That would make July 9 the departure date for the wagon from Harpers Ferry. Lewis did not wait for the second wagon to arrive and depart, but rather left Harpers Ferry on July 8 around 1 p.m.

22 July 1803—Lewis wrote to Jefferson that “The Waggon from Harper’s Ferry arrived today.”^[59]Ibid., 111–112. Figuring the wagon left Harpers Ferry on July 9, the wagoner made the trip to Pittsburgh over the course of about 14 days at a distance of roughly 220 miles or an average of 16 miles per day. In this same letter, Lewis mentioned that the “party of recruits that were ordered from Carlisle . . . have arrived.”^[60]Ibid.

Several Lewis and Clark historians have alleged that the type of wagon Linnard hired for Lewis was a Conestoga wagon. According to information available from the Army Transportation Museum in Fort Eustis, Virginia, the U.S. Army made extensive use of these large freight wagons during this period. Conestoga wagons were a civilian transport vehicle that the Army usually contracted to haul supplies and equipment. In 1803, these wagons were particularly popular in the more established eastern regions of the United States. However, at the time of the expedition, the roads in northern Virginia, western Maryland and southwestern Pennsylvania did not lend themselves to the use of large, heavy vehicles such as a Conestoga wagon. This situation changed dramatically with the construction of the National Road. The earliest segment of this road, built between 1811 and 1818, went from Cumberland, Maryland, through Uniontown, Brownsville, and Washington, Pennsylvania, to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), making the use of Conestoga wagons possible in these areas.

In his letter of 10 June 1803, Lewis told Linnard that he had about 3,500 pounds of goods to transport and asked for a team of five horses. The standard number of animals used to pull a Conestoga wagon was four to eight horses, mules or oxen. Although Lewis did not request a particular type of wagon, by suggesting a team of five immediately following the weight of the load, perhaps he was implying that the wagon should be a Conestoga. However, this raises a question as to whether a large and sturdy, but heavy, Conestoga wagon would have been used to haul a mere 3,500 pounds? Conestoga wagons were designed to haul from 10,000 to 16,000 pounds of cargo. Even with some of that cargo space filled with fodder for the animals, plenty of capacity remained. Considering the Army’s difficulty in finding skilled drivers, not to mention the cost of paying them, using a Conestoga wagon for less than two tons of cargo appears economically unsound.

If the wagon Linnard hired had been a Conestoga wagon, there would have been ample room for the supplies from Philadelphia and Harpers Ferry and fodder for the team. Lewis assessed that a “light two horse-waggon” could carry his goods from Harpers Ferry, which weighed around 900 to 1,000 pounds. When the 3,500 pounds from Philadelphia is added to the weight at Harpers Ferry, the total comes to around 4,500 pounds, well within the carrying capacity of a Conestoga wagon. However, we know the driver from Philadelphia did not take the material from Harpers Ferry. This casts real doubt on the wagon being a Conestoga pulled by a team of five.

Conclusion

The 6 June 1803, letter shows Meriwether Lewis at his organizational and strategic best. His attention to detail resulted in a very precise set of instructions for Linnard that included what needed to be done and by whom, when to transport goods and how to transport them, what route to take and whom to visit along the way. Lewis was a great expedition leader, but his letters reveal a fastidious quartermaster, a meticulous project director, an exceptional logistics manager and a superb bureaucrat who was scrupulously devoted to detail. The success of the expedition depended greatly on Lewis’s ability to select, gather and transport the myriad items needed for the journey to the Pacific Ocean and back. The excellent work Lewis did during the preparation phase often has been credited with much of the success of the expedition and conversely saving it from failure.