Lewis & Clark �& the �Louisiana Purchase
I had long deemed it incumbent on the authorities of our country to have the great western wilderness beyond the Mississippi, explored, to make known its geography, its natural productions, its general character and inhabitants.
-Thomas Jefferson to William Lambert, Nov. 29, 1822
Monticello, Jefferson’s home
SEXTANT – A scientific instrument such as this was used by Lewis and Clark to establish their latitude and longitude position on the earth. By taking astronomical readings,, recording the time of day shown on their chronometer, and performing mathematical calculations, the captains could determine their location.
Apr-May 1803
Meriwether Lewis is sent to Philadelphia to be tutored by some of the nation’s leading scientists (including Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Smith Barton, Robert Patterson, and Caspar Wistar). He also purchases supplies that will be needed on the journey.
July 4, 1803
The United State’s purchase of the 820,000 – square mile Louisiana territory from France for $15 million is announced. Lewis leaves Washington the next day.
CHRONOMETER – A chronometer was a special clock that kept very precise time. It was used with a sextant to determine exact locations, which was important in creating maps of the route.
Meriwether Lewis had to equip the Corps of Discovery with everything that they party would need on the trip, from guns and ammunition for hunting to medical supplies and gifts for the American Indian people. Among other things, they brought 193 lbs. of portable soup (not much liked by the men), 176 lbs. of gun powder, 4,600 sewing needles (one of the many presents for the Indians), and a small library of scientific books and maps.
July 6 1803
Lewis stops in Harper’s Ferry (in present-day West Virginia) and purchases supplies and equipment.
July-August 1803
Lewis spends over a month in Pittsburgh overseeing construction of a 55-foot keelboat. He and 11 men head down the Ohio River on August 31.
October 14, 1803
Lewis arrives at Clarksville, across the Ohio River from present-day Louisville, Kentucky, and soon meets up with William Clark. Clark’s African-American slave York and nine men from Kentucky are added to the party.
December 8-9, 1803
Lewis and Clark arrive in St. Louis and decide to set up camp for the winter on the east bank of the Mississippi River. At Camp Dubois, they recruit more soldiers, train them, and stock up on supplies.
Great numbers of Buffalow in every direction, I think 10,000 may be Seen in a view.
-William Clark, June 30, 1805
MANDAN MAN –
The Mandan Indians lived in large, round-domed earthen lodges that often accommodated several families.
“…passed a long chain of bluffs on the north side, of a dark colour. The earth…dissolves like sugar; every rain washes down great quantities of it, and the rapidity of the stram keep it mixing and afloat in the water…”
-Patrick Gass,
September 20, 1804
May 14, 1804
The Expedition sets off on its voyage up the Missouri River in the big keelboat and two smaller pirogues.
August 3, 1804
Lewis and Clark hold their first councils with Indians. They meet with a group of Oto and Missouri chiefs near present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa. They hand out peace medals and other gifts, and Lewis delivers a speech.
August 20, 1804
Sergeant Charles Floyd, a member of the Expedition, suffers from a burst appendix and dies. He is buried near present –day Sioux City, Iowa.
October 26, 1804
The Expedition arrives at the earth-lodge villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, near present-day Bismarck, North Dakota. With 4,500 inhabitants, the villages have a greater population than St. Louis.
November 2-3, 1804
Lewis and Clark select a site across the Missouri River from the Indian villages and begin construction of Fort Mandan.
November 4, 1804
Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper living with the Hidatsas, is hired to be an interpreter for the Expedition.
After a long, cold winter at Fort Mandan, the Corps of Discovery sent back to President Jefferson a boat-load of animal skins, horns, skeletons, botanical specimens, rocks, Indian artifacts, written reports, a live prairie dog, a grouse, and a magpie. Some of the items, Jefferson sent off to Philadelphia to be studied at the American Philosophical Society or to be housed in Charles Willson Peal’s museum. Other items he displayed at the President’s House or at Monticello, his home in Virginia.
BIGHORN SHEEP-
The bighorn sheep was one of the many animals previously unknown to Lewis and Clark. Clark noted in his journal that a large horn held two quarts of liquid.
February 11, 1805
Sacagawea, Charbonneau’s Indian wife, gives birth to a son, Jean Baptiste, at Fort Mandan. The child is later nicknamed Pompy, or Pomp by Clark.
April 7, 1805
Lewis and Clark send a keelboat down the Missouri River with a shipment for President Jefferson.
The “permanent party” of the Expedition (consisting of Lewis, Clark, 27 soldiers, York, Charbonneau, Sacagawea, and her infant son) departs Fort Mandan.
May 26, 1805
Lewis sees the Rocky Mountains for the first time.
June 13, 1805
Lewis, scouting ahead of the main party, encounters the Great Falls of the Missouri River.
June 17, 1805
The Expedition begins to prepare for the difficult, 18-mile portage around the Great Falls, a series of five waterfalls.
August 8, 1805
Sacagawea recognizes a land feature and tells the explorers they are close to the summer home of the Shoshone people.
“…my ears were aluted with the agreeable sound of a fall of water and…a roaring too tremendious to be mistaken for any cause short of the great falls of the Missouri.”
-Meriwether Lewis
June 13, 1805
CRADLEBOARD –
Cradleboards such as this were used by the Shoshone women to carry their babies upon their backs. This one was decorated with blue trade beads which were highly valued.
September 11, 1805
The Expedition ascends into the Bitterroot Mountains, with Shoshone guide Old Toby leading the way.
November 7, 1805
Clark writes in his journal that the Expedition is within sight of the ocean. Actually, the explorers are still 20 miles from the Pacific coast.
Winter 1805-1806
A vote is taken on where to spend the winter. Every member of the party participates, including Sacagawea and York. The explorers set up their winter encampment, Fort Clatsop, south of the Columbia River.
August 12, 1805
The Shipment from Fort Mandan arrives at the President’s House in Washington.
Lewis ascends the Lemhi Pass and looks west from the summit, only to see more mountains.
August 17, 1805
Sacagawea is reunited with her brother, Shoshone chief Cameahwait, and helps negotiate for horses needed by the Expedition to cross the Rocky Mountains.
“…the road took us to the most distant fountain of the waters of the might Missouri in surch of which we have spent so many toilsome days and wristless nights…after refreshing ourselves we proceeded on the top of the dividing ridge from which I discovered immence ranges of high mountains still to the West of us with their tops partially covered with snow.”
-Meriwether Lewis
August 12, 1805
CHIEF’S WHALING HAT –
This Pacific Coast Native American hat was made out of cedar bark, bear grass, mammal hair, and feathers. Hats like this were worn to help keep off the rain. This one has a scene of a whale hunt woven into it.
“Great Joy in camp we are in the View of the Ocian.”
-William Clark
November 7, 1805
March 23, 1806
The Expedition leaves Fort Clatsop and begins its homeward journey. They give the Fort to Coboway, a Clatsop chief.
June 24, 1806
The Expedition sets out to cross the Bitterroots with three Nez Perce guides.
July 3, 1806
Lewis and Clark divide the men in order to explore more of the territory and to look for an easier pass over the Rockies. Lewis follows the Missouri River and Clark follows the Yellowstone River.
July 27, 1806
Lewis and his party have a skirmish with eight Blackfeet warriors in which two of the Indians are killed. These are the only violent deaths during the journey.
August 12, 1806
The explorers are reunited near the junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers.
July 27, 1806
Lewis and his party have a skirmish with eight Blackfeet warriors in which two of the Indians are killed. These are the only violent deaths during the journey.
July 25, 1806
Clark names a large rock pillar on the Yellowstone River Pompy’s Tower (now Pompy’s Pillar) after Sacagawea’s son. Clark inscribes his name and the date. Still visible today, this is the only physical evidence of the Expedition’s jouney.
At Camp Disappointment, Lewis tries to take solar readings, but it is too overcast and rainy.
SAGE GROUSE –
The Sage Grouse was called “the bird” of the Plains by Lewis and Clark.
Thomas Jefferson considered it very important for the members of the Corps of Discovery to keep accurate records. A number of the men kept journals, while the captains did the same and recorded additional scientific information. Besides drawing maps and making sketches of animals and native objects, Lewis and Clark included notes on plant and animal observations, weather data, and longitude and latitude reading in their journals.
The aid that the Lewis and Clark Expedition received from Native Americans during the trip was frequent, impressive, and extremely important to the success of the mission. The Corps of Discovery had contact with nearly 50 different tribes. Among the tribes that provided Lewis and Clark with significant assistance were the Mandans and Hidatsas on the upper Missiouri River, the Shoshones and Nez Perce in the Rocky Mountains, and the Clatsops on the Pacific coast.
September 23, 1806
The Expedition arrives in St. Louis. Lewis writes to Thomas Jefferson that the corps has “penetrated the Continent of North America to the Pacific Ocean.”
It is important to recognize that many individual contributed to the expedition’s success. Among the Corps of Discovery’s members were Sacagawea, a Shoshone Indian woman who served as an interpreter and negotiated horses from her people, and York, Clark’s slave who functioned fully as a regular member of the party. York was the first African-American encountered by many of the Native American people along the trail.