In 2006 we caught the tail-end of the 200th reenactment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They were sent off by President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 after the Louisiana Purchase and returned in September 1806.
They started off from just north of St Louis, up the Missouri River:
Capt Merriwether Lewis, Capt William Clark, Clark's servant York, and Clark's dog Seaman, a Black Newfoundland Retriever.
Lewis and Clark with Sacajawea (or Sakagawea, as the Mandan Indians called her). She was especially important to them as Indian war parties never had women with them, let alone babies; so it was immediately obvious they had peaceful purposes. P.S. Nobody really knows what she looked like
The first year they poled rather large boats full of equipment up the Missouri River, getting only as far as Fort Mandan, N Dakota.
Capt Merriwether Lewis, Capt William Clark, Clark's servant York, and Clark's dog Seaman, a Black Newfoundland Retriever.Lewis and Clark with Sacajawea (or Sakagawea, as the Mandan Indians called her). She was especially important to them as Indian war parties never had women with them, let alone babies; so it was immediately obvious they had peaceful purposes. P.S. Nobody really knows what she looked like The first year they poled rather large boats full of equipment up the Missouri River, getting only as far as Fort Mandan, N Dakota.A Mandan Indian lodge-
A map of trading routtes involving the Mandans. They were already middleman traders, getting furs etc from Indians further north and trading them in turn with St Louis; in fact, the Mandan and Hidatsa village had a bigger population then St Louis did.
To pass the winter, L&C built a fort near the Inidan villages. The whole thing was conducrted as an army expedition; those of the party that were not already in the army were sworn in for the duration of the expedition. The winter was used to get everyone used to military discipline (which does take some getting used to).
Some of the journals they kept, which were voluminous and very useful. In addition to L&C, four of the enlisted members kept some sort of journal.
Surveying instruments. They did a lot of pretty high-quality surveying and mapping.
Lewis & Clark's quarters.
Some of the trade goods. The whole thing was half exploration and half diplomatic mission. They shmoozed bigtime with every tribe they met, telling them all about the Great White Farther in Washington and passing out medals and gifts. This must have bemused some of the tribes, who had already gotten the same message about a Great White Father in France, or England, or Spain. Hey, let's start a collection of these medals!
Pierre Cruzat, a most engaging character. A one-eyed fur trapper, he played the fiddle every time they met the Indians, and the soldiers danced. The Indans reciprocated ith singing, drumming and dancing, and the good times rolled. Later on, towards the end of the expedition, being one-eyed and not seeing all that well out of the other eye, he shot Capt Clark in the backside, under the impression that he was a deer. Clark recovered all right, but was never quite as fond of Cruzatte after that.
After spending the winter at Fort Mandan (before that, they had spent a winter at St Louis, getting ready), they took off up the Missouri. 
Most of their boats were pirougues like this one.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to see most of their route: up the Missouri to Great Falls, Montana, over the mountains to the Columbia, down the Columbia to the sea where they spent the winter, then back the other way. On the way back, they split their party at one point. Here, Capt Clark's section stopped at a large rock which Clark named Pompey's Pillar - Pompey being his name for the infant Sacajawea had borne and carried most of the way. (Later, after Sacajawea died, Clark adopted Pompey and educated him. He became a man of parts, spending several years in Europe and exploring extensively.)
Nearby, he cut his name into the rock - the only physical evidence they left along the way.
We did get there for the grand finale: the reenactment of their arrival back at St Louis. After two winter and three summers, most people assumed they had died along the way. The Arch, which commemorates the fact that a great number of emigrants to the west passed thru St Louis.
Re-enactors awaiting the arrival of the boats:
One of the pirougues:
The flatboat:
The arrival: Capt Lewis with the pike he generally carried, called an Espontoon, and York.
Clark
Well yes, the Indians did play a significant part in the whole business. Diplomatically as well as exploration-wise, the expedition was a pretty big success.
Indian drummers
and dancers
After that, it was time to head for home. We stopped at Churchill Downs, site of the Kentucky Derby,
A map of trading routtes involving the Mandans. They were already middleman traders, getting furs etc from Indians further north and trading them in turn with St Louis; in fact, the Mandan and Hidatsa village had a bigger population then St Louis did. 
To pass the winter, L&C built a fort near the Inidan villages. The whole thing was conducrted as an army expedition; those of the party that were not already in the army were sworn in for the duration of the expedition. The winter was used to get everyone used to military discipline (which does take some getting used to).
Some of the journals they kept, which were voluminous and very useful. In addition to L&C, four of the enlisted members kept some sort of journal.
Surveying instruments. They did a lot of pretty high-quality surveying and mapping.
Lewis & Clark's quarters.
Some of the trade goods. The whole thing was half exploration and half diplomatic mission. They shmoozed bigtime with every tribe they met, telling them all about the Great White Farther in Washington and passing out medals and gifts. This must have bemused some of the tribes, who had already gotten the same message about a Great White Father in France, or England, or Spain. Hey, let's start a collection of these medals!At another point, they lectured one tribe about how the Great White Father wanted them all to live peacefully with each other and stop raiding and fighting. Their question was, if we stop fighting how do we choose our chiefs?
The one thing all the tribes wanted the most was rifles, so they'd have an advantage in fighting the other tribes. This L&C absolutely refused to give them.
Pierre Cruzat, a most engaging character. A one-eyed fur trapper, he played the fiddle every time they met the Indians, and the soldiers danced. The Indans reciprocated ith singing, drumming and dancing, and the good times rolled. Later on, towards the end of the expedition, being one-eyed and not seeing all that well out of the other eye, he shot Capt Clark in the backside, under the impression that he was a deer. Clark recovered all right, but was never quite as fond of Cruzatte after that.
After spending the winter at Fort Mandan (before that, they had spent a winter at St Louis, getting ready), they took off up the Missouri. Most of their boats were pirougues like this one. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see most of their route: up the Missouri to Great Falls, Montana, over the mountains to the Columbia, down the Columbia to the sea where they spent the winter, then back the other way. On the way back, they split their party at one point. Here, Capt Clark's section stopped at a large rock which Clark named Pompey's Pillar - Pompey being his name for the infant Sacajawea had borne and carried most of the way. (Later, after Sacajawea died, Clark adopted Pompey and educated him. He became a man of parts, spending several years in Europe and exploring extensively.)Nearby, he cut his name into the rock - the only physical evidence they left along the way.We did get there for the grand finale: the reenactment of their arrival back at St Louis. After two winter and three summers, most people assumed they had died along the way. The Arch, which commemorates the fact that a great number of emigrants to the west passed thru St Louis.
Re-enactors awaiting the arrival of the boats:
One of the pirougues:
The flatboat:
The arrival: Capt Lewis with the pike he generally carried, called an Espontoon, and York.
Clark
Well yes, the Indians did play a significant part in the whole business. Diplomatically as well as exploration-wise, the expedition was a pretty big success.
Indian drummers
and dancers
After that, it was time to head for home. We stopped at Churchill Downs, site of the Kentucky Derby,
The Baseball Hall of Fame,
Fort Knox, where you can no longer see where the gold is stored (thank you very much, Osama) but can see the Army Armor Museum
which features a lot about General Patton ("This business about Dying for your Country is a lot of crap. The whole idea is to get the other poor bastard to die for his country").
A piece of the Berlin Wall:
And later, to Montgomery, Alabama, where son Daniel was graduating from Air Force Officer Training School. He's now in Boston, dointg research under the Air Force Satellite program.
Aaaaand, home - until next year...
Fort Knox, where you can no longer see where the gold is stored (thank you very much, Osama) but can see the Army Armor Museum
which features a lot about General Patton ("This business about Dying for your Country is a lot of crap. The whole idea is to get the other poor bastard to die for his country").
A piece of the Berlin Wall:
And later, to Montgomery, Alabama, where son Daniel was graduating from Air Force Officer Training School. He's now in Boston, dointg research under the Air Force Satellite program.
Aaaaand, home - until next year...
3 comments:
Thank you very much for your blog! My kids and I are learning about lewis and clark in our homeschooling. Your pictures shined allot light on it for us. It was very neat to look at, thank you.
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