Corps of Discovery

New Orleans• By the early 1800s the United

States stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. With overland transportation still unreliable, the Mississippi River was a vital transportation route for farmers to get their products to markets in the East. President Thomas Jefferson knew whoever controlled New Orleans, controlled the Mississippi River.

• In 1802 Jefferson sent James Monroe to France to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans for $10 million. Monroe also was sent to Spain to negotiate the purchase of the territory of Florida.

• While the French initially refused America’s offer, the French now knew the United States was interested in paying for the territory.

Thomas Jefferson

Napoleon Bonaparte

Satellite Image of New Orleans

France’s Plans Are Foiled• France planned to use its island colony

of Haiti as a base for future French settlers to move into the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi.

• These plans were disrupted when a slave, Toussaint L’Ouverture, led a revolt against the French. The slaves took control of the island, and France’s plans for a French base were abandoned.

• At the same time, France was fighting a war with other European countries and badly needed money.

• These events caused Napoleon to approach the Americans with the greatest land bargain of all time! He agreed to sell New Orleans and the entire Louisiana territory for $15 million. This land purchase would double the size of the United States!

• However, the French could not define the borders of the land.

Toussaint L’Ouverture

Haiti

The Corps of Discovery

• Jefferson chose his secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis. He and his old friend organized an expedition of thirty-one men, mostly soldiers. This Corps of Discovery headed for the unknown lands west of the Mississippi River.

• The Corps’ mission was to travel up the Missouri River in search of a northwest passage, an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean. The men were to make contact with American Indian tribes in the region.

Captain William Clark

1770-1838

Meriwether Lewis

1774-1809

A Newfoundland named Seaman

accompanied the Corps of Discovery.

Training in Philadelphia

• In the spring of 1803, Meriwether Lewis made his way to Philadelphia, the scientific capital of the United States, to train for the mission. In Philadelphia he was educated in mapmaking and the sciences. Lewis spent much of his time at the museum of Charles Willson Peale located on the second floor of Independence Hall.

• Lewis also purchased scientific instruments and other supplies with the $2,500 Congress had given him to finance the expedition.

• After stopping in Pittsburgh to oversee the building of the keelboat, Lewis joined Clark at the Corps’ winter camp in Illinois.

The shop of Israel Whelan, Purveyor of Public Supplies. Lewis bought

many of his supplies here.

The Peale museum was located on the second floor of Independence Hall.

One Big Shopping List!

150 Yards (140 meters) of cloth to be oiled and sewn into tents and sheets 6 large needlespliers chisels handsawsoilskin bags 25 hatchets whetstones30 steels for striking or making fire iron corn mill 2 dozen tablespoons mosquito curtains 10.5 pounds (5 kilograms) of fishing hooks and fishing lines 12 pounds (5.4 kilograms) of soap 193 pounds (87.5 kilograms) of “portable

soup” (a thick paste concocted by boiling down beef, eggs, and vegetables, to be used if no other food was available on the trail) 3 bushels (106 liters) of salt writing paper, ink, and crayons

15 prototype Model 1803 muzzle-loading .54-caliber rifles "Kentucky Rifles"15 gun slings24 large knivespowder horns 500 rifle flints420 pounds (191 kilograms) of sheet lead

for bullets 176 pounds (80 kilograms) of gunpowder

packed in 52 lead canisters 1 long-barreled rifle that fired its bullet with

compressed air, rather than by flint, spark, and powder

Camping Equipment

Weapons

More Supplies ...

12 dozen pocket mirrors 4,600 sewing needles 144 small scissors 10 pounds of sewing thread silk ribbonsivory combs handkerchiefs yards of bright-colored cloth 130 rolls of tobacco tomahawks that doubled as pipes 288 knives 8 brass kettles vermilion face paint 20 pounds of assorted beads, mostly blue5 pounds of small, white, glass beads288 brass thimblesarmbandsear trinkets

45 flannel shirts 20 coats 15 frocks shoes woolen pants 15 blankets knapsacks 30 stockings 15 pairs of wool overalls

Presents for American Indians

Clothing

50 dozen Dr. Rush's patented "Rush's Thunderclapper" pills lancets forceps syringes tourniquets 1,300 doses of physic 1,100 doses of emetic 3,500 doses of diaphoretic (sweat inducer) additional drugs

Medicine

Transportation

• The primary means of transportation west was a large keel boat and two smaller open boats (pirogues). Lewis also brought a collapsible boat he had designed.

• The Corps hoped at some point they would be able to trade with native people for horses.

The keelboat was fifty-five feet long.

Securing horses as they traveled was vital to completing the Corps’

mission.

Starting Out

• On May 20, 1804, the Corps of Discovery left St. Louis on their journey up the Missouri River.

• On August 2, the Corps had their first encounter with Indians when they met members of the Oto and Missouri tribes. The tribes warned the Corps of the powerful Teton-Sioux that lived farther up the Missouri. The group would soon learn why the Sioux earned the nickname, “Pirates of the Missouri”.

Mississippi River

Missouri River

St. Louis (Missouri)

Camp Wood (Illinois)

Satellite image of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers

The Pirates of the MissouriSeptember 1804

“Capt. Lewis ordered all under arms in the boat, those with me also

Showed a Disposition to Defend themselves and me, the grand

Chief then took hold of the rope & ordered the young Warriors away,

I felt My Self warm & Spoke in very positive terms. Most of the Warriors appeared to have their Bows strung and took out their

arrows from the quiver.”

• In September 1804, the Corps of Discovery entered Sioux territory and began to have contact with the natives.

• The Corps presented the Sioux with gifts of glass beads, sewing needles and thread, mirrors, and other items.

• As the group prepared to leave, several Sioux braves demanded more goods. Clark drew his sword as the Sioux braves notched their arrows.

• An old chief eased the tension when he requested that his people be allowed to meet the strangers.

Captain William Clark September 25, 1804

Teton-Sioux

Warrior

A Whole New World• One of the missions

assigned to the Corps was to record the discovery of new plants and animals. They also hoped to bring some animals back for further study.

• Throughout their 8,000- mile journey, the group would discover one hundred seventy-eight plants and one hundred twenty-two species and sub-species of animals.

When members of the Corps first saw a

grizzly bear, they decided to shoot it. This angered the

bear, and the bear charged the men.

The men used soapy water to flush the

black–tailed prairie dog out of its burrow. It was the only animal

that survived the return journey to

Washington, D.C.

William Clark drew many of the plants and animals he saw on the journey. Scientists would take years to review the mountains of new information that Lewis and Clark brought back with them.

Sketches from Clark’s Journal

Fort MandanWinter Quarters 1804-1805

• The Corps reached what is today Bismarck, North Dakota, in October 1804 and began constructing their winter quarters.

• This was the traditional homeland of the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians who lived off the plains buffalo.

• It was here that the Corps would hire Toussaint Charbonneau and his young wife, Sacagawea, to guide them west.

• On February 11, 1805, Sacagawea gave birth to a son with the help of Meriwether Lewis. She named her son Jean-Baptiste. The members of the Corps nicknamed him Pompy, or “little dancer.” Pompy became the youngest member of the Corps.

View from the Front Gates of a Replica of Fort Mandan.

In 1804 millions of buffalo still roamed the plains of the Midwest. Today only small herds exist in national parks such as Yellowstone.

Sacagawea c. 1788-1812

• Sacagawea was a young Shoshone women who had been kidnapped from her tribe when she was young.

• She later married a French fur trapper, Toussaint Charbonneau .

• When the Corps arrived at Fort Mandan, they hired Charbonneau to be their guide. It was agreed his wife Sacagawea and their young son, Jean-Baptiste, would accompany the expedition.

• Sacagawea proved to be an unexpected asset to the Corps. Throughout the expedition, she would play the crucial roles of guide, translator, and even more importantly, a peace symbol. Indians who saw the Corps approaching assumed the group came in peace because the group of men included a woman and young child.

York

• One of the men in the Corps of Discovery was York, the slave of William Clark.

• As the Corps met Indians in their journey west, York’s appearance amazed the Indians. Many Indians had never seen an African-American man and believed him to be part bear.

Many former slaves went west in search of freedom in the territories. The Indians

treated them as equals.

Indians who met York thought he was covered in paint and attempted to wipe it

off.

Toussaint Charbonneau

Sacagawea

Meriwether Lewis

William ClarkYork

John Colter

The Source of the MissouriAugust 12, 1805

• As the group traveled up the Missouri, they were unable to continue in their boats. They could also see the snow-capped mountains ahead.

• At this point the Corps realized a northwest passage did not exist.

• At this point the group had to find Indian tribes to trade for horses or they would run the risk of being caught in the Rockies during the winter.

Source of the Missouri River

The expedition had been told that they only had to cross a small range of mountains. They were astounded to discover the true

size of the Rockies.

Sacagawea Saves the Day• On August 17, 1805, the Corps

reached a Shoshone village at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and they began to trade for horses.

• During this initial meeting, Sacagawea realized the Shoshone chief, Cameahwait, was her long-lost brother. This was the same tribe from which Sacagawea had been kidnapped many years before!

• Needless to say, the Shoshone provided the Corps with the horses they needed and even sent guides to help the expedition through the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains.

Sacagawea began to weep when she recognized her brother. The translation at this meeting was very complicated. It involved Sacagawea translating the Shoshone language into Mandan and Charbonneau translating the Mandan into French. Another member of the Corps would translate the French into English.

The Fastest People on Earth!!

• On September 23, 1805, the Corps reached the other side of the Rockies.

• When the Corps reached the Columbia River, on the present-day Washington-Oregon border, they built canoes and began to float down the river with the current.

• As they made their way down the swiftly moving river, they were traveling faster than any other people on Earth.

• The Columbia did have many treacherous rapids that threatened the group several times. At some points the Corps was forced to carry its canoes and supplies around steep rapids and falls.

Rapids on the Columbia River

The name Nez Perce was mistakenly given to the group even though they

did not pierce their noses.

“Ocian in View! O! The Joy!”William Clark, November 7, 1805

• The expedition reached the Pacific Ocean in November 1805. They immediately began to look for a ship to carry copies of the records of the Corps’ discoveries back to Washington, D.C.

• At the mouth of the Columbia River, the group began to build its winter quarters.

• When Clark wrote the words, “Ocian in view! O! The Joy!” he believed he had seen the Pacific Ocean. However, he was just seeing the widening of the Columbia River. It would take another two weeks to reach the ocean.

View of the Pacific Ocean

The Nez Perce taught the Corps how to make dugout canoes.

Fort ClatsopWinter 1805-1806

• Shortly after their arrival at the Pacific Ocean, Lewis and Clark held a vote among the Corps to decide where to build their camp.

• Both Sacagawea and York were allowed to vote. This demonstration of America’s democratic values would not be repeated for more than a hundred years.

• The Corps decided to build its winter quarters near the Clatsop people who lived by fishing the abundant salmon that migrated up the Columbia every year. The Corps named their fort in honor of the Clatsop.

Replica of Fort Clatsop

Salmon Drying on Racks

Conflict with the Blackfoot

• On their return to St. Louis, the Corps decided to split up in order to map more territory. One group met a pair of Blackfoot Indians who attempted to steal their horses early the next morning.

• In the altercation that followed, one Indian was shot; and the other stabbed to death.

• The members of the Corps laid the peace medals they brought with them on the dead Blackfoot Indians to send a warning to the Indians.

• The Blackfoot people were not frightened. They attacked future settlers and soldiers that entered their territory. They pointed to the killing of their warriors as the reason for their attacks.

Blackfoot Indian

Peace medal placed on dead

Blackfoot Indians

Hell on Earth!• One of the members of the Corps,

John Colter, split from the group and stumbled into the Yellowstone Valley. Colter was the first European to see the Yellowstone geysers.

• Lewis did not believe the stories Colter told him about what he had seen in the Yellowstone Valley. In fact, other members of the expedition and people in St. Louis made fun of him when he returned to St. Louis with what seemed to be outlandish tales of what he had seen. Until the claims were proven correct, the area was known sarcastically as Colter’s Hell.

• Yellowstone became America’s first national park in 1872 when Congress passed the legislation, and President Ulysses Grant signed it into law.

Mountain man Jim Bridger also traveled through the Yellowstone Valley. When he told

people of this place, few believed the stories of his experiences.

Back in St. LouisSeptember 23, 1806

• When the Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis more than two years after it had left, the Corps was greeted with cannon fire and hailed as heroes.

• Many Americans, including Thomas Jefferson, had given up hope of the Corps returning alive.

• When Jefferson finally received the maps the expedition had prepared, he is reported to have spread them on the floor and studied the maps for days.

Re-enactors play the roles of Lewis, Clark, Colter, and even Seaman

during the bicentennial celebration of Lewis and Clark’s journey.

Captain William Clark took nearly two years to piece together his maps (right) and create a complete map of the expedition (above).

The Legacy• The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United

States. The United States paid France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory. When the final calculations were done, this vast tract of land cost about four cents and acre!

• The final cost of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was $39,000, which was substantially more than the $2,500 Congress had authorized.

• Only one man died on the journey, and he appeared to have succumbed to an appendicitis.

• What happened to Jean-Baptiste, Sacagawea’s son? He grew up, traveled to Europe, and returned to America. He made his fortune as a forty-niner during the California Gold Rush.

• Sacagawea became only the second American woman to be honored on American currency. In 2000 she and her son’s likenesses were engraved on a new $1 coin.

• Sadly, Sacagawea died of an unknown illness in 1812. William Clark took responsibility for raising Jean-Baptiste and Lisette.

• When York returned home, he asked Captain Clark for his freedom. Clark refused and noted in his diary that he had to whip York because Clark stated that York became “uppity.” Clark told Washington Irving in 1835 that he had freed York. However, there is no official record that Clark freed York.

St. Louis Arch “Gateway to the West”

Sacagawea Dollar – 2001