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was an Army endeavor from beginning to end, officially characterized as the “Corps of Volunteers for North Western Discovery.” Itis no accident that the new nation and its president, ThomasJefferson, turned to the Army for this most important mission.Soldiers possessed the toughness, teamwork, discipline, and training appropriate to the rigors they would face. The Army had anationwide organization even in that early era and thus the potential to provide requisite operational and logistical support. Perhapsmost important, the Army was already in the habit of developingleaders of character and vision, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark,and the outstanding noncommissioned officers who served withthem being cases in point.

This brochure was prepared in the U.S. Army Center of

Military History by David W. Hogan, Jr., and Charles E. White. Wetruly hope you will enjoy this brief and engaging account of a stirring and significant event in our American military heritage.

JOHN S. BROWNBrigadier General, USAChief of Military History

CMH Pub 70–75–1
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possibilities of agriculture and trade in those regions and suspicious of British, French, Spanish, and Russian designs on them.

On 18 January 1803, months before President Jefferson had

acquired the region from France through the famous LouisianaPurchase, he sent a confidential letter to Congress, requestingmoney for an overland expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Hoping tofind a “Northwest Passage” by water to the Pacific, Jeffersoninformed Congress that the explorers would establish friendlyrelations with the Indians of the Missouri River Valley, help theAmerican fur trade expand into the area, and gather data on there

gion’s geography, inhabitants, flora, and fauna. 

To conduct the expedition, Jefferson turned to the U.S. Army.

Only the military possessed the organization and logistics, thetoughness and training, and the discipline and teamwork necessary to handle the combination of rugged terrain, harsh climate,and potential hostility. The Army also embodied the American government’s authority in a way that civilians could not. Indeed, theArmy provided Jefferson with a readily available, nationwide organization that could support the expedition—no small consideration in an era when few national institutions existed. Although theexpedition lay outside the Army’s usual role of fighting wars,Jefferson firmly believed that in time of peace the Army’s missionwent beyond defense to include building the nation. Finally, theman that Jefferson wanted to lead the expedition was an Army
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had already begun his preparations. From Jefferson helearned how to use the sextantand other measuring instruments. Together they studiedAlexander MacKenzie’s accountof his 1793 Canadian expedition to the Pacific coast and the maps in Jefferson’s collection. The

president even had a special map made for Lewis that detailedNorth America from the Pacific coast to the Mississippi RiverValley, with emphasis on the Missouri River. While the presidentdrafted his instructions for the expedition, the captain worked onhis planning and logistical preparations. In the evenings they discussed their concepts of the operation.

Leaving Washington in March, Lewis traveled to the Army’s

arsenal at Harpers Ferry (at that time part of Virginia), where heobtained arms, ammunition, and other basic supplies while supervising the construction of an experimental iron boat frame he haddesigned. Next, Captain Lewis went to Lancaster and Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, where Jefferson had arranged for some of thenation’s leading scientific minds to instruct Lewis in botany andnatural history, medicine and anatomy, geology and fossils, andnavigation by the stars. While in Philadelphia, Lewis purchasedadditional supplies, including a new condensed food, “portable

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Meriwether Lewis

by Charles Willson Peale, ca. 1807

(Independence National Historical

Park)
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would require more men andanother officer. Now the president handed the captain his formal instructions. Foremostamong Jefferson’s expectationswas an all-water route to thePacific. Lewis was told toexplore and map the rivers carefully, to learn all he could abouttrade routes and traders of the region, and to study every Indiantribe along the way. Jefferson ordered Lewis to treat the Indianswith dignity and respect and to invite their chiefs to come toWashington for a visit. Last, Captain Lewis was to describe thegeography of the region and to bring back samples of plant andanimal life. As they discussed the expedition, Jefferson acknowledged that it would require more men and another leader.

With Jefferson’s consent, Lewis wrote to his friend and former

comrade, William Clark, offering him the assignment as cocommander. Both Lewis and Clark had served in the Legion of theUnited States under General Anthony Wayne a decade earlier.Clark had been an infantry company commander but had resignedhis lieutenancy in 1796 to attend to the business affairs of hisolder brother, General George Rogers Clark. In addition to approving the choice of William Clark, Jefferson ordered the WarDepartment to give Lewis unlimited purchasing power for the

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William Clark

by Charles Willson Peale, ca. 1810

(Independence National Historical

Park)
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ed Lewis’ invitation to join the expedition. Clark told Lewis hewould be ready to go when the keelboat reached Louisville,Kentucky. In the meantime, he would recruit only quality men:The word was out, and Clark already had many young frontiersmen eager to join the expedition. Lewis was delighted with thisnews, knowing Clark was an excellent judge of men.

Lewis finally left Pittsburgh on 31 August. With him were seven

soldiers from the Army barracks at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, threeprospective recruits, the pilot of the boat Lewis had hired inPittsburgh, and one or two additional hands. It took them six weeksto travel down the shallow Ohio River to Louisville. Along the way,Lewis had stopped for a week in Cincinnati to rest his men and takeon provisions. Arriving in Louisville on 14 October, he hired a localpilot to guide the boat safely through a daunting set of rapidsknown as the Falls of the Ohio, then on a short way to Clarksville,Indiana Territory. Once there, Lewis set off to meet his cocaptain.Over the next two weeks, Lewis and Clark selected the first enlistedmembers of the expedition. They included Sgts. Charles Floyd andNathaniel Pryor and Pvts. William Bratton, John Colter, Joseph andReubin Field, George Gibson, George Shannon, and John Shields.(Colter and Shannon may have joined Lewis before he had reachedCincinnati.) These men became known as the Nine Young Menfrom Kentucky. Clark also decided to bring along his servant, York,a black man of exceptional size and strength.

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The keelboat and two smaller, flat-bottom boats (called by

their French name, pirogue) departed Clarksville on 26 October

and arrived two weeks later at Fort Massac in southern IllinoisTerritory, about thirty-five miles upstream from the junction of theOhio and Mississippi Rivers. Here, Lewis hired the respectedShawnee/French hunter, guide, and interpreter George Drouillard,and accepted from the post two privates: John Newman andJoseph Whitehouse. The seven soldiers from Carlisle Barrackswho had been temporarily assigned to bring the keelboat downthe Ohio River remained behind at Fort Massac. The party left FortMassac on 13 November and reached the confluence of the Ohioand Mississippi Rivers the next evening. The men camped therefor a week, while Lewis and Clark measured both the Ohio andMississippi Rivers and Lewis taught Clark how to make celestialobservations. The expedition then set out for St. Louis.

As they turned upstream into the powerful Mississippi River,

Lewis and Clark immediately realized they needed more men. Allthree boats were badly undermanned, and the expedition seldomprogressed more than a mile an hour moving upstream. On 28

Keelboat Replica at Lewis and Clark State Park, Onawa, Iowa

(© 2001, Charley Van Pelt)

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and pirogues, and assembled and packed supplies. For all hisefforts, William Clark never received the captaincy Lewis hadpromised him. Instead, the War Department commissioned Clarka Lieutenant of Artillery. Nevertheless, Lewis called Clark Captainand recognized him as cocommander, and the men of the expedition never knew differently.

On 31 March 1804, Lewis and Clark held a ceremony to enlist

the men they had selected as members of “the Detachment destined for the Expedition through the interior of the Continent of

North America.” In addition to the eleven men previously selected, Lewis and Clark chose Sgt. John Ordway, Cpl. RichardWarfington, and Pvts. Patrick Gass, John Boley, John Collins, JohnDame, Robert Frazer, Silas Goodrich, Hugh Hall, Thomas Howard,Hugh McNeal, John Potts, Moses Reed, John Robertson, JohnThompson, Ebenezer Tuttle, Peter Weiser, William Werner, IssacWhite, Alexander Willard, and Richard Windsor. In theirDetachment Order of 1 April 1804, Captains Lewis and Clarkdivided the men into three squads led by Sergeants Pryor, Floyd,and Ordway. Another group of five soldiers led by CorporalWarfington would accompany the expedition to its winter quarters and then return to St. Louis in 1805 with communiqués andspecimens collected thus far.

With their military organization established, Lewis and Clark

began final preparations at Camp River Dubois and in St. Louis for

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Sketch of Camp River Dubois by Richard Guthrie

(Courtesy of the Illinois Historic Preservation Commission)

their trek up the Missouri River. Clark molded the men into a teamthrough a regimen of drill and marksmanship training, whileLewis was busy in St. Louis arranging logistical support for thecamp and obtaining intelligence on the expedition’s route andconditions along the way. Discipline was tough, and Clark madesure that the men were constantly alert, that they knew their taskson both river and land, that their camps were neat and orderly,and that they cared for their weapons and equipment. He dealtfirmly with any form of insubordination or misbehavior. At thesame time he rewarded the winners of marksmanship contestsand those who distinguished themselves on their work details.Clark’s fine leadership proved effective, as the expedition recorded only five infractions during its two-and-a-half-year trek, a recordunmatched by any other Army unit of the time.

On the afternoon of Monday, 14 May 1804, Clark and his party

left Camp River Dubois, crossed the Mississippi River, and headedup the Missouri. The expedition proceeded slowly toward St.Charles, because Clark wanted to ensure the boats were loadedproperly for the journey. Two days later they reached St. Charles,made adjustments to the loading plan, and awaited Lewis. At St.

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observations. Occasionally, they would rotate and Lewis wouldcatalog specimens on the keelboat.

Captains Lewis and Clark now commanded through the three

sergeants, who rotated duties on the keelboat. One alwaysmanned the helm, another supervised the crew amidships, andthe third kept lookout at the bow. The senior sergeant wasOrdway, who acted as the expedition’s first sergeant. He issueddaily provisions after camp was set up in the evening. Rationswere cooked and a portion kept for consumption the next day.(No cooking was permitted during the day.) Sergeant Ordway alsoappointed guard and other details. The guard detail consisted ofone sergeant, six privates, and one or more civilians—fully onethird of the entire party. The guard detail established securityupon landing and maintained readiness throughout the encampment. All three sergeants maintained duty rosters for the assignment of chores to the five messes. The cooks and a few otherswith special skills were exempted from guard duty, pitching tents,collecting firewood, and making fires. Drouillard was the principalhunter and usually set out in the morning with one or more privates and rejoined the expedition in the evening with meat. 

The expedition generally made good time up the Missouri

River. Thanks largely to the total commitment of the crews, thekeelboat and pirogues averaged a bit more than one mile per houragainst the strong Missouri current. With a wind astern, the crews
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Liberté” (Jo Barter) with the Indian to the Oto camp with an invitation for their chiefs to come to the river for a council. 

At Council Bluff on Friday morning, 3 August 1804, the expedition held its first meeting with six chiefs of the Oto and

Missouria tribes. This amicable council set the pattern for latermeetings between the expedition and Native Americans. The outstanding characteristic of these councils was the mutual respectbetween the expedition and its native hosts. At midmorning,under an awning formed by the keelboat’s main sail and flankedby the American flag and troops of the expedition, Captains Lewis

and Clark awaited the Indian chiefs. The two captains wore theirregimental dress uniform, as did Sergeants Ordway, Floyd, andPryor, Corporal Warfington, and the twenty-nine privates. As theOto and Missouria delegations approached, the soldiers came toattention, shouldered their arms, dressed right, and passed inreview. Captain Lewis then stepped forward to deliver his longspeech announcing American sovereignty over the LouisianaTerritory, declaring that the soldiers were on the river “to clear

the road, remove every obstruction, and make it a road of peace,”and urging the Oto and Missouria tribes to accept the new order.According to Private Gass, the chiefs were “well pleased” withwhat Lewis said and promised to abide by his words. The chiefsand officers then smoked the peace pipe and Lewis distributedpeace medals and other gifts to the chiefs. The council closed
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received nineteen votes, while Pvts. William Barton and GeorgeGibson each received five. In their orders of 26 August, Lewis andClark appointed Patrick Gass to the rank of sergeant in “the corpsof volunteers for North Western Discovery.” This was the first

time the captains used this term to describe the expedition.

The Corps of Discovery entered Sioux country on 27 August

near Yankton, South Dakota. As the boats passed the mouth of theJames River, a young Indian boy swam out to meet one of thepirogues. When the expedition pulled to shore, two more Indianyouths greeted them. The boys informed Lewis and Clark that alarge Sioux village lay not far up the James River. Anxious to meetthe Yankton Sioux, the captains sent Sergeant Pryor and twoFrenchmen with the Indians to the Sioux village. They received awarm

welcome and arranged for the chiefs to meet Captains

Lewis and Clark. On the morning of 29 August, the Corps ofDiscovery met the Yankton Sioux with both parties dressed in fullregalia. As the Sioux approached the council, the soldiers came toattention, raised the American flag, and fired the keelboat’s bowswivel gun. The Yanktons also had a sense of drama. Musiciansplaying and singing preceded their chiefs as they made their wayto the American camp. After greeting one another, Lewis gave hisbasic Indian speech. When he finished, the chiefs said they wouldneed to confer with the tribal elders. Lewis was learning Indianprotocol, which required of him patience and understanding. The

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words, “prepared all things for action in case of necessity.” 

On the evening of 23 September, just below the mouth of the

Bad River (opposite present-day Pierre, South Dakota), three Siouxboys swam across the Missouri River to greet the Corps ofDiscovery. Anxious to begin talks, the captains told the boys thattheir chiefs were invited to a parley the following day. But thenext afternoon, as the Corps of Discovery was preparing for thecouncil, Pvt. John Colter (who had gone ashore to hunt) reportedthat some Teton warriors had stolen one of the expedition’s horses. Suddenly, five Indians appeared on shore. As the captains triedto speak with the Indians, they realized that neither group understood the other. Later that evening, Lewis met with some of theSioux leaders, who promised to return the horse. In his journal,Lewis reported “all well” with the Sioux. 

Early on Tuesday morning, 25 September, on a sandbar in the

mouth of the Bad River, the Corps of Discovery met the leaders ofthe Teton Sioux: Black Buffalo, the Grand Chief; the Partisan, second chief; Buffalo Medicine, third chief; and two lesser leaders.The council opened on a generous note, with soldiers and Indiansoffering food to eat. By ten o’clock both banks of the river werelined with Indians. At noon the formalities began. Lacking a skilledinterpreter, Lewis made a much shorter speech, but one thatupheld the essential elements established in his earlier talks. Afterthe Corps of Discovery marched by the chiefs, Lewis and Clark

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Fortunately, the members of the corps held their fire, and Lewis,

Clark, and Black Buffalo calmed the situation.

Over the next two days both sides tried to ease tensions. The

Sioux held an impressive ceremony at their village on the eveningof 26 September. After Black Buffalo spoke, he said a prayer, lit thepeace pipe, and offered it to Lewis and Clark. After the solemnitieswere over, the Corps of Discovery was treated to all of the Siouxdelicacies, and hospitality reigned in the camp. At nightfall, a hugefire was made in the center of the village to light the way for musicians and dancers. Sergeant Ordway found the music “delightful.”Shortly after midnight the chiefs ended the festivities and returnedwith Lewis and Clark to the keelboat, where they spent the night.The next day Lewis and Clark made separate trips to the Sioux villages and presented more gifts. On 28 September, as the Corps ofDiscovery made final preparations for departure, Black Buffalo andthe Partisan made their now-familiar demand that the expeditionremain with them. Both Lewis and Clark were weary of the constant demand for gifts and sensed trouble from the well-armedSioux warriors lining the banks of the river. After an angryex

change of words, Lewis tossed some tobacco to the Indians.

Realizing that he could not keep the expedition from leaving, BlackBuffalo ended the confrontation and allowed the boats to pass. 

News of the expedition’s confrontation with the Teton Sioux

spread rapidly up and down river. Captains Lewis and Clark had

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largest concentration of Indians on the Missouri River. After visiting all five villages, Lewis and Clark prepared for their importantcouncil scheduled for 28 October. This would be the largest council yet, bringing together leaders from the Mandan, Hidatsa, andArikara tribes. That Sunday weather prevented Lewis and Clarkfrom holding their meeting, so the captains spent the day entertaining the chiefs who had arrived and reconnoitering theMissouri River for a good location for their winter quarters. On 29October, just three days after arriving, Captains Lewis and Clarkheld their most impressive council to date. After the usual displayof American military prowess, Lewis gave a speech that not onlystressed American sovereignty, but also sought harmonious relations among the tribes themselves. Next came the distribution ofgifts to the chiefs. Then Lewis ended the proceedings with a display of his air gun, “which appeared to astonish the natives verymuch.”

With the onset of winter, the Corps of Discovery had to find a

suitable place for their camp. On 2 November Captain Clarkselected a site directly opposite the lowest of the five Indian villages and two miles away from it. The next day the Corps ofDiscovery set to work building a triangular-shaped structure thatconsisted of two converging rows of huts (or rooms), with storagerooms at the apex (the top of which provided a sentry post) and apalisade with gate at the base or front. The walls were about eigh15
1803–1806

LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION

PreparationPittsburgh to Camp River Dubois (1803)Camp River Dubois to Pacific Ocean and  Return (1804–06)

1806 Return Route Variations

ClarkLewisLewis and ClarkInternational and State Boundaries (Present Day)

0 500

Miles

S P

SPAIN

LOUIS
St. Louis

Camp River Dubois (Winter Camp 1803–04)

Cincinnati

Louisville

P AIN

SPAIN

UISIANA PURCHASE

1803

MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY

TERRITORY SOUTH

OF OHIO RIVER

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1803

INDIANA

TERRITORY

DISPUTED TERRITORY WITH SPAIN
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fur trader, Toussaint Charbonneau, as an interpreter. The 44-year-oldCharbonneau had been living and trading among the Hadatsa forthe past five years and had been active on the Upper Missouri sinceat least 1793. Later, in March 1805, Lewis and Clark hiredCharbonneau to accompany the expedition west and agreed that hecould bring along his young Shoshone wife, Sacagawea, who hadgiven birth a month earlier to a boy they named Jean Baptiste.

On 6 April 1805, Lewis and Clark sent the keelboat back to St.

Louis. In the keelboat were Corporal Warfington; six privates(including Newman and Reed, who had been discharged from theexpedition for desertion); Gravelines, the pilot and interpreter;two French-Canadian traders; and an Arikara chief returning to hisvillage. The next day the remainder of the Corps of Discoverydeparted the Mandan villages in two pirogues and six dugoutcanoes heading north. Along the way west, the expedition continued to note abundant plant and wildlife. The scenery was stunning, and spirits were high. On 14 April Clark saw his first grizzlybear. Eleven days later the corps reached the mouth of theYellowstone River and camped there. On 10 May the men sawtheir first moose. A week later Clark noted in his journal that themen were beginning to use deerskins to make moccasins and leggings, as the original uniform trousers were wearing out.

Lewis and Clark faced their first major navigational test on 2

June 1805. Arriving at the junction of two large rivers, the cap18
tains needed to decide correctly which fork was the Missouri.

Between 4 and 8 June Lewis and a party reconnoitered the northwest branch, which Lewis later named the Marias River, whileClark and another group explored the southwestern branch. Aftercomparing their notes, reevaluating their intelligence, and studying the maps they had brought from St. Louis, Lewis and Clarkdetermined that the southwestern branch was the Missouri River,even though all their men thought otherwise. Nevertheless, in agreat tribute to their leaders, the men followed Lewis and Clark,although they believed the captains were wrong. Then, on 13June, Lewis saw a majestic sight: the Great Falls of the MissouriRiver. The captains had been right. Here, the Corps of Discoverymade camp and prepared for the great portage.

Lewis and Clark were proud of their men. The Corps of

Discovery was “zealously attached to the enterprise, and anxiousto proceed.” Indeed, as Lewis wrote, there was not “a whisper ofdiscontent or murmur” among the men, who acted in unison and“with the most perfect harmoney [sic].” That the Corps of

Discovery was a tough, resourceful, and tightly knit group wasdue to the great leadership of the two captains, who complement19

Replica of Fort Mandan (© 2001, Charley Van Pelt)
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of future trading, and the good fortune that the chief of theShoshones was the brother of Sacagawea enabled the party tosecure horses and guides for the journey along the ContinentalDivide and over the rugged Bitterroots to the country of the NezPerce Indians. The hard, forced march across the Rockies alongthe Lolo Trail, where the freezing cold and lack of food pushedthe Corps of Discovery to the limits of its endurance, ended in lateSeptember, when the advance party under Clark met the NezPerce.

On 23 September Lewis and Clark held a council with Twisted

Hair and some lesser chiefs of the Nez Perce. Anxious to get to thePacific (and aware of the fact that they were no longer in U.S. territory), the captains dispensed with the usual displays of Americanmilitary might and instead passed out medals and gifts, explainedtheir mission to Twisted Hair, and requested his assistance inbuilding canoes for the expedition. Indeed, the soldiers were soweak from crossing the Rockies that they could hardly move andspent nearly a week recovering. The Nez Perce could have easilydestroyed the expedition, but thanks largely to their generosityand kindness, the canoes were finished by 6 October and theCorps of Discovery was ready for its final leg to the Pacific.

On 7 October the expedition began its journey down the

Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia Rivers to the ocean. In dealingwith the tribes they encountered along the way, Lewis and Clark

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more sheltered from the heavy winds and rough seas. There, thesoldiers built Fort Clatsop close to the present location of Astoria,Oregon.

The men of the Corps of Discovery named their winter quarters after the local tribe, as they had the previous winter. Fort

Clatsop was about fifty feet square, with two structures that facedeach other. One structure was divided into three rooms thathoused the three enlisted messes. The other structure was dividedinto four rooms, one of which served as quarters for the captainsand another the Charbonneau family. The third was the orderlyroom, the fourth a smokehouse. Palisade walls joined these twostructures. At one end was the main gate, at the other a smaller,“water gate” (fresh spring water was about thirty yards away). Inthe middle of the fort was a parade ground. On 30 December theexpedition completed Fort Clatsop as its winter quarters, establishing tight security to safeguard its equipment and to avoid anytrouble. Clark wrote that “the Sight [sic] of our Sentinal [sic]”brought a sense of peace and security to the Corps of Discovery.

Life at Fort Clatsop was depressing. Of the 112 (some say 102)

days the expedition was there, it rained every day except twelve,and only half of those were clear days. Most of the men sufferedfrom being constantly wet and cold, and their clothing was rottingoff their backs. Making salt was a vital diversion, but boiling oceanwater was a slow and tedious process. After two months the oper21
ation produced only one bushel of salt. Without salt, preserving

food in the wet and humid weather was a serious problem. Tomake matters worse, hunting parties had a difficult time findingenough palatable food for the expedition. Despite these challenges, Lewis and Clark kept everyone busy, including themselves.Lewis spent much of his time writing in his journal on botanical,ethnological, meteorological, and zoological topics, while Clarkcompleted the first map ever made of the land between NorthDakota and the Pacific coast. Together they discussed what theyhad seen and learned from the Indians.

After three months of constant rain, dietary problems, fleas,

and boredom, the Corps of Discovery left Fort Clatsop on 23March 1806. Concerned with the security of the expedition, thetwo captains wanted “to lose as little time as possible” getting tothe Nez Perce. They decided to return along the same path theyhad come, satisfied that it was the best possible route. Eventhough security was rigid, at various points on the way up theColumbia, Lewis and Clark had to use the threat of violence topreclude trouble with the Indians. In early May they finallyreached their old friends, the Nez Perce. Once again, the NezPerce demonstrated their hospitality by feeding and taking care of

the Corps of Discovery. During a two-month stay with the Nez

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Relica of Fort Clatsop (© 2001, Charley Van Pelt)
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Replica of the “Captains Quarters” Occupied by Lewis and Clark 

at Fort Clatsop (© 2001, Charley Van Pelt)

Perce, Lewis and Clark held councils with the tribal elders, while

their men participated in horse races and other games with youngIndian warriors. Clark also used his limited medical skills to createmore goodwill. These activities built great relations with theIndians. Indeed, Lewis wrote that the Nez Perce considered Clarktheir “favorite physician.” 

On 10 June, over the objections of the Nez Perce, the Corps of

Discovery set out toward the Lolo Trail. The Indians had warnedLewis and Clark that the snow was still too deep to attempt arecrossing of the Rockies. Eager to get home, the captains ignoredthis sound advice and proceeded on without Indian guides. In aweek the expedition found itself enveloped in snow twelve to fifteen feet deep. Admitting that the going was “difficult and dangerous,” Lewis and Clark decided to turn back. “This was the firsttime since we have been on this long tour,” Lewis wrote, “that wehave ever been compelled to retreat or make a retrograde march.”Sergeant Gass agreed, and noted that most of the men were“melancholy and disappointed.” Two weeks later, the Corps ofDiscovery set out once again, this time with Indian guides.
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Yellowstone River to its juncture with the Missouri River.Meanwhile, Sergeant Pryor and three privates would take thehorses overland to the Mandan villages and deliver a letter to theBritish North West Company, seeking to bring it into an Americantrading system Lewis sought to establish. Lewis and Clark wouldunite at the juncture of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers inAugust.

The willingness of Lewis and Clark to divide their command in

such rugged, uncertain, and potentially dangerous country showsthe high degree of confidence they had in themselves, their noncommissioned officers, and their troops. In addition to the physical challenges the expedition would certainly meet, war parties ofCrow, Blackfeet, Hidatsa, and other tribes regularly roamed thecountryside and threatened to destroy the expedition piecemeal.By dividing their command in the face of uncertainty, Lewis andClark took a bold but acceptable risk to accomplish their mission.

Separated for forty days, the Corps of Discovery proceeded to

accomplish nearly all its objectives. Lewis and his team successfully

explored the Marias but narrowly escaped a deadly confrontation with the Blackfeet in which two Indians died. What had

begun as a friendly meeting turned into a tragedy. On the afternoon of 26 July Lewis came upon several Blackfeet, greeted them,handed out a medal, a flag, and a handkerchief, and invited themto camp with his party. They agreed. Lewis was thrilled, but at the

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same time, another Indian had stealthily slipped behind JosephField and grabbed both his and Reubin’s rifles. The men chasedthe Indians, and Lewis and Drouillard managed to recover theirrifles without incident. But when the Field brothers caught theIndian with their rifles, a fight ensued and the Blackfoot died of aknife wound to his heart. After recovering the weapons, the soldiers saw the Blackfeet attempting to take their horses. Lewisordered the men to shoot if necessary. Running after twoBlackfeet, Lewis warned them to release the horses or he wouldfire. One jumped behind a rock while the other raised his Britishmusket toward Lewis. Instinctively, Lewis fired, hitting the Indianin the abdomen. The Blackfoot fell to his knees but returned fire.“Being bearheaded [sic],” Lewis wrote, “I felt the wind of his bullet very distinctly.” Fearing for their lives, Lewis, Drouillard, andthe Field brothers began a frantic ride southeastward to reunitewith Sergeants Gass and Ordway at the mouth of the Marias. Thisthey accomplished on 28 July, after riding nearly 120 miles inslightly more than twenty-four hours.

As Lewis and his party made their way from the site where

they had encountered the Blackfeet, Sergeant Ordway’s group hadrecovered the cache at Camp Fortunate, proceeded down theMissouri River, and linked up with Sergeant Gass without incident.Gass’ team had already recovered the cache at the portage campat the Great Falls and was awaiting Lewis and Ordway. Meanwhile,

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while Clark and his party were exploring the Yellowstone River,

Pryor could not complete his mission. On the second night out, aCrow raiding party stole all the soldiers’ horses. Demonstratingtheir ingenuity, Pryor and his men remained calm, walked toPompey’s Pillar (named in honor of Sacagawea’s infant son, whomClark nicknamed Pomp), killed a buffalo for food and its hide,made two circular Mandan-type bullboats, and floated downriverto link up with Clark on the morning of 8 August. Four days later,Lewis and his group found Clark along the banks of the MissouriRiver.

Clark was astonished to see Lewis lying in the white pirogue

recovering from a gunshot wound in the posterior, but he wasrelieved to learn it was not serious. While hunting on 11 August,Private Cruzatte apparently had mistaken Lewis for an elk. On 14August the expedition reached the Mandan villages. After a threeday visit with the Mandans, the Corps of Discovery bade farewellto the Charbonneau family and Private Colter (who had requestedan early release so he could accompany two trappers up theYellowstone River) and proceeded down the Missouri River. On 1September Lewis and Clark held a council with some friendlyYankton Sioux. Three days later the Corps of Discovery stoppedto visit the grave of Sergeant Floyd. On the morning of 23

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Pompey’s Pillar (© 2001, Charley Van Pelt)
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zation and much of the manpower, equipment, and supplies.Military discipline and training proved crucial, both to winningover potentially hostile tribes and to overcoming the huge naturalobstacles to crossing the continent. The journey of the Corps ofDiscovery demonstrated, as today’s force continues to, that theU.S. Army has many roles and helps the nation in many ways. 

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Moulton, ed., 

The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988), is the latest andmost extensive edition of the journals kept by the two captainsand some of their men. Stephen E. Ambrose, UndauntedCourage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Openingof the American West (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996), isby a noted historian who has spent many summers on the Lewisand Clark Trail. Other works include Robert B. Betts, In Search ofYo

rk: The Slave Who Went to the Pacific with Lewis and Clark

(Boulder: Colorado Associated University Press, 1985); David J.Peck, Or Perish in the Attempt: Wilderness Medicine in the Lewisand Clark Expedition (Helena, Mont.: Farcountry Press, 2002);Eldon G. Chuinard, Only One Man Died: The Medical Aspects ofthe Lewis and Clark Expedition (Glendale, Calif.: Arthur H. Clark,1979); Jerome O. Steffen, 

William Clark: Jeffersonian Man on the

Frontier (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1977). Thoseinterested in following the Lewis and Clark Trail may like ThomasSchmidt, National Geographic’s Guide to the Lewis & Clark Trail(Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1998), or Roy E.Appleman, Lewis and Clark: Historic Places Associated with

their Transcontinental Exploration, 1804–1806 (Washington,D.C.: National Park Service, 1975). On the U.S. Army of this era,see Theodore J. Crackel, Mr. Jefferson’s Army: Political and SocialReform of the Military Establishment, 1801–1809 (New York:

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Cover: Detail from Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross’ Hole

by Charles M. Russell, 1912 (Montana Historical Society)
divert from it’s [sic] direction,

careful as a father of those committed to his charge, yet steady

in the maintenance of order &

discipline . . . honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding and a fidelity to truth so

scrupulous that whatever he

should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves.”

Without the courage,

determination, skill, andteamwork, not only of Lewisand Clark, but of each individual soldier, the Corps of

Discovery would have fallen far short of its objective

and may well have

encountered disaster. The spirit of

the corps lives on

in the soldiers

and values of

today’s Army.

1st U.S. Infantry—Full Dress

by Michael Haynes

(Michael Haynes Historic Art)
SELFLESS

SERVICE

HONOR

INTEGRITY

PERSONAL

COURAGE

Capt. Meriwether Lewis—Full Dress

by Michael Haynes

(Michael Haynes Historic Art)
PIN : 078474–00