The
Eastern Legacy. The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery was
the first of the great explorations undertaken by the United
States. The idea, the planning, and the journey began in the
East. "Jefferson gave you the country. Lewis and Clark showed
you the way." Elliott Coues.
The vision of Jefferson....The origin of this greatest of American adventures was a product of the visionary intellect of President Thomas Jefferson.
Why did
they want to go? In the early 1899's the Spanish were
weakening and had ceded the Louisiana Territory to France.
The French had regained control of the Louisiana Territory, and the
English were exploring overland to the Pacific. President
Jefferson's top priority for the Corps of Discovery was to find and map
an all water route across the continent - critical for future commerce
and expansion of the American Empire - The Manifest Destiny of the
United States. The president also wanted information about
the natural sciences and Indian cultures of the new West. He
personally chose, tutored and mentored Lewis to lead the expedition.
Exploration of the great West was critical to the creation of the American Empire envisioned by Jefferson and to the stabilization of the expansion of the United States to the western territories lying east of the Mississippi River.
Getting ready for the Trip. Captain Lewis began preparation by reading from Jefferson's extensive private library at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Va. and by studying with America's leading scientists in Philadelphia, Pa. In late 1802, Lewis also began to make the complex logistical preparations necessary for the trip. Congress authorized the expedition in 1803 with combined purposes of scientific, geographical, commercial, agricultural, and ethnographic discovery for the new nation.
On March 15, 1803, Captain Lewis began his journey to Harper's Ferry, Va. where he ordered arms, ammunition, and an iron frame boat for the trip. Lewis received $2,5oo from Congress to obtain supplies, materials, and services needed for the expedition. His list of items and their associated costs were:
Mathematical
instruments...$217....Arms and accouterments Extraordinary
(clothing)...$81...Camp equipage...$255....Medicine and
packing...$55...Means of transportatio9n...$430...Indian
presents...$696...Provisions extraordinary...$224...Materials for
making up the various articles into portable packs...$55...for the pay
of hunters, guides and interpreters...$300...In silver coin, to defray
the expenses of the party from Nashville to the last white settlement
on the Missouri...$100...Contingencies...$87. He was also
given a line of credit and Lewis total expenditures was about
$39,000.00.
Why the Army? The expedition was a military operation. Lewis and Clark were commissioned military officers, and all of the men were enlisted soldiers except for the guides and interpreters. Organization, planning, equipment, firearms, and discipline, including Army court-martial, were all Army matters contributing to the Corps of Discovery.
What did they achieve? Lewis and Clark succeeded in mapping a route beyond the Mississippi River to the West Coast. the Corps of Discovery completed its difficult mission with only one Corps fatality, Sergeant Floyd, who died of appendicitis and is buried near Sioux City, Iowa.
What happened to Lewis and Clark after the Expedition? Clark settled in St. Louis where he served as Indian agent for the Louisiana Territory (1807-1813) and superintendent of Indian Affairs until 1838. He also served as governor of the Missouri Territory (1813-1820). Clark died in 1838 and is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. His expeditions a, journals and maps were published. Lewis died on the Natchez Trace. See related article under "The tragic death of Meriwether Lewis."
The expedition begins...
On July 5, 1803 the day after the purchase of the Louisiana Territory was made public in a Washington newspaper, Captain Lewis set out for Pittsburg, Pa. He arrived there on July 15, 1803. At Pittsburg, Lewis was delayed because of problems with construction of a 55 foot masted keelboat. Unreliable labor and subsequent delays did not allow Lewis and his crew of 11 to leave Pittsburg until August 31 after months of careful preparation. The journey west was a very difficult one because of historically low water conditions on the Ohio River. Grounding on shoals in the river was a constant problem that necessitated hand excavation and towing.
By September 4, Lewis was only 30 miles downstream from Pittsburg; he had already dismissed one of the crew, and one of the boats had sprung a leak. On September 7 they finally reached the village of Wheeling, Va. (now city of Wheeling, W. VA.), where they picked up the shipment of rifles and ammunition that had arrived earlier from Pittsburgh.
The expedition camped at many locations as they journeyed along the Ohio River. While in the Cincinnati area from September 28 - October 4, Lewis acquired supplies, conducted archaeological investigations at several sites for President Jefferson, rested his crew and wrote letters to William Clark in Louisville, and to President Jefferson. The party continued on down the Ohio River to the Falls of the Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky, arriving on October 14, 1803. After passing through the Falls the party tied up at Clarksville (Indiana Territory). It was here that William Clark joined the expedition.
During the next twelve days the two Army officers made preparations and enlisted the nucleus of the Corps (which had been recruited by Clark in the Falls area and by Lewis in Pittsburgh and Maysville. This group of Corps members became known as the "nine young men from Kentucky." On October 26, 1803, the expedition set out from Clarksville and headed for Ft. Massac and ultimately the Pacific. On November 11, the party arrived at Fort Massac,( later in the state of Illinois). Once they reached St. Louis, Missouri, their departure from that point marked a movement into the Louisiana Territory and beyond.
Their journey covered about 8,000 miles to the West Coast and back. The men traveled in boats on the rivers, rode horses, and walked across seemingly endless plains and mountains. The expedition would not return to the Ohio River for three years, not until 1806.
Members of the Corps of Discovery
Sergeants: Charles Floyd, Patrick Gass, John Orday and Nathaniel pryor.
Privates: John Boley, William Bratton, John Collins, John Colter, Pierre Cruazatte, John Dame, Joseph Field and Reubin Field (brothers), Ribert Frazer, George Gibson, Silas Goodrich, Hugh Hall, Thomas P. Howard, Francois Labiche, Baptiste Lepage, Hugh McNeal, John Newman, John Potts, Moses B. Reed, John Robertson, George Shannon, John Shields, John B. Thompson, Ebenezer Tuttle, Corporal Richard Warfington, Peter Wiener, William Werner, Issac White, Joseph Whitehouse, Alexander Willard and Richard Windsor.
William Clark, U.S. Army
Engages (boatmen): E. Cann, Charles Caugee, Joseph Collin, Jean Baptiste, Deschamps, Charles Herbert, Jean Baptiste La Jeunesse, Etinenne Malboeuf, Peter Pinaut, Paul Crimea, Francois Rivet, and Peter Roi.
Building the Dream.. President Jefferson wanted a navigable water route across the continent to improve and increase commerce. Although Lewis and Clark did not find a Northwest Passage, the US. Army Corps of Engineers later built a part of Jefferson's dream of a navigable water system. Modern locks and dams maintain a navigable pool all year round on the Ohio and other American rivers