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Saint Louis, Missouri: The Journey Begins
Soon after the finalization of the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark depart from Camp Dubois in Saint Louis, Missouri. The "Corps of Discovery" was comprised of about 45 men They made their way up the Missouri River in a 55-foot long keelboat and two smaller boats called pirogues. The start of the journey was not a very pleasant one, according to Clark's journal entries it "...rained the greater part of the day" and "Some provisions on examination is found to be wet". -
Sergeant Charles Floyd passes on. Near what is now Sioux City, Iowa.
Sergeant Charles Floyd was a diarist on the expedition who came from Kentucky. He died from a burst appendix and was the only one to die on the expedition. He had two landmarks named after him; Floyd's Bluff and Floyd's River. -
Good tribe, Bad tribe: The Sioux. South Dakota
After meeting with the Yankton Sioux (close to what is now Yankton, South Dakota) things look good for forming friendly relations with the Sioux as President Jefferson hoped. After departing from the Yankton with a warning about the Tenton Sioux and traveling 26 days (Sep. 25) the expedition came across the Tenton. Things didn't turn out well with the tribe demanding a pirogue as payment for moving on and a fight almost ensuing (no pun intended).After a short but uneasy 3 days the Corps move on. -
Fort Mandan under construction. North of what is now Bismark, North Dakota.
Here they stop for the winter and decide to build Fort Mandan near the main villages of the Mandans and Hidatsas. Two months later on December 24 they finish the fort. In this time they hunt and hire Toussaint Charbonneau and his wife Sacagawea as an interpreter. Lewis and Clark work on putting together what they've learned to send back to St. Louis.http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_leg_5.html -
Jean Baptiste is born. Fort Mandan, North Dakota.
Before moving on from Fort Mandan, Sacagawea gives birth to a baby boy named Jean Baptiste. Lewis writes "about five oclock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was delivered of a fine boy." The baby was nicknamed Pomp or "Pompy" by Clark. Lewis gave Sacagawea a potion of crushed rattle snake rings which helped to speed up the delivery. Clark will later help provide the education for Jean Baptiste in St. Louis until a traveling Prince Paul of Wurttemburg takes Jean to Europe for 6 years. -
Grizzly encounters past the mouth of the Yellowstone
The grizzly bear had a reputation for being ferocious. Until the men had their own experience being chased by a few, they would not have believed it's repute. The size and aggression they witnessed made them sure that these bears were nothing to be trifled with. Lewis writes, after an especially fierce grizzly bear attack where Clark and another member of the expedition had to fire 10 shots at it before it died, that the bear was a "most tremendous looking animal, and extreemly hard to kill". -
Sacagawea is "verry" sick.
Sacagawea becomes extremely sick for 7 days and has a weak pulse, fever, and can barely move. Clark writes "The Indian woman verry bad … if She dies it will be the fault of her husband…" While Lewis and Clark take care of her they give her bark and opium as well as water from a nearby spring which contains sulfur and was attributed to her recovery. -
Shoshones offer help to the Corps of Discovery.
Toussaint Charbonneau was hired as an interpreter for the Corps and this development proved very beneficial. He had a Shoshone wife, Sacajawea and information about her native people. When the Corps approaches the Shoshone's for horses, it is discovered that their chief is Sacajawea's brother. Besides giving the expedition horses and information they also provided them with a guide called Old Toby. -
New canoes to continue the journey.
After spending time and eating with the Nez Percé a chief named Twisted Hair teaches the group how to make canoes with hollowing out pine tress using fire. Without this knowledge and these trees to construct the canoes it would have been difficult for the men to continue the expedition. -
Hungry near present day Weippe, Idaho.
After travelling through the Bitterroot Mountains(on the boarder of Montana and Idaho), which Sergeant Patrick Gass calls “the most terrible mountains I ever beheld", they lose a trail and become extremely hungry due to provisions running out. They are forced to butcher a horse for food and Clark names a creek Hungry Creek. When they wander out of the mountains finally near what is now known as Weippe, Idaho, they are received by Nez Perce and fed till they are sick. -
A most disagreeable time.
The weather during the journey was usually unpleasant with "excessively cold" winters, but after Clark thinks they reach the Pacific is when the weather is terrible with high winds and fierce storms. Clark writes that it was "the most disagreeable time I have experienced”. -
Across the country and a winter at Fort Clatsop. Near the mouth of the Columbia River.
After traveling across the country, and being the first white men to do it, the Corps of Discovery construct Fort Clatsop (named after a nearby Indian tribe) to be their winter quarters. The location was a wet one and it rained almost the whole 3 months they were there. Clark describes the location as "the most eligable Situation for our purposes of any in its neighbourhood." While they were here they planned for the return trip, finding out they took a harder route through the Rockies. -
The Two Medicine Encounter. 25 miles southeast of Browning, Montana.
The Two Medicine Encounter was the only bloodshed (with men) during the trip and occurred on the return trip after Lewis and several other men ran into 8 warriors from the Blackfeet tribe. After camping the night together and talking about where they could go to trade Lewis tells of how they had given the Shoshones and Nez Perce guns and ammunition. The Blackfeet took this as an offense (being enemies with them) and tried stealing horses and guns. Two Blackfeet were killed in the process.
