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Lewis and Clark Expedition
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good weather
Expedition sets off from Camp Dubois “under a jentle brease,” Clark writes. -
First death
Near what is now Sioux City, Iowa, Sergeant Charles Floyd becomes the expedition’s first casualty from what was probably a burst appendix. (Also becomes first United States soldier to die west of Mississippi.) Captains name hilltop where he is buried Floyd’s Bluff and nearby stream Floyd’s River. -
The begining
Expedition establishes Camp Wood (also called Camp Dubois) on east bank of Mississippi, upstream from St. Louis. More men recruited and trained. -
Yankton Sioux
Expedition holds friendly council with Yankton Sioux (near what is now Yankton, South Dakota). According to Yankton oral tradition, when a baby is born, Lewis wraps him in a United States flag and declares him “an American.”whites or other tribes. -
Fort Mandan
Clark notes a temperature of 45 degrees below zero – “colder,” John Ordway adds, “than I ever knew it be in the States.” A week later, on Christmas Eve, Fort Mandan was considered complete and the expedition had moved in for the winter. -
Birth
Sacagawea gives birth to a baby boy, Jean Baptiste. Lewis assists in speeding the delivery by giving her a potion made by crushing the rings of a rattlesnake’s rattle into powder. -
The Shoshones
Sacagawea recognizes another landmark – Beaverhead Rock, north of present-day Dillon, Montana – and says they are nearing the river’s headwaters and home of her people, the Shoshones. Desperate to find the Indians and their horses, Lewis decides to scout ahead with three men. -
Experience with the Shoshone
Having discovered a village of Shoshones, Lewis tries to negotiate for the horses he now knows are all-important to cross the daunting mountains. On this day, Clark and the rest of the expedition arrive and Sacagawea is brought in to help translate. Remarkably, the Shoshone chief, Cameahwait, turns out to be her brother. The captains name the spot Camp Fortunate. -
Present day Idaho
Near what is now Orofino, Idaho, the expedition pushes its five new canoes into the Clearwater River, and for the first time since leaving St. Louis has a river’s current at its back -
Meat
Having raced down the Clearwater, then the Snake rivers, they reach the Columbia. The river teems with salmon – Clark estimates 10,000 pounds of salmon drying in one village – but the men want meat to eat, so they buy dogs from the Indians. -
Substitute
Having previously run out of whiskey, the expedition now runs out of tobacco. Patrick Gass reports that the men use crab tree bark as a substitute. -
Indian Deaths
Heading back toward the Missouri, Lewis sees eight Blackfeet warriors. They camp together warily, but the morning of the 27th the explorers catch the Blackfeet trying to steal their horses and guns. In the fight that follows, two Blackfeet are killed – the only act of bloodshed during the entire expedition. -
Fort Clatsop
Fort Clatsop is presented to the Clatsops, and the expedition sets off for home.