Meriwether Lewis &William Clark

Expedition Leader

Army Captain / naturalist

studied medicine, botany,

zoology, and navigation.

2nd in Command

Ex-Army officer/ mapmaker

geographer and nature artist

Excelled at hunting, fishing,

trapping, tracking, camping,

river and land navigation.

Goals of the Expedition

1. Scientific – Study plants, animals, geography

2. Mapmaking – chart the new American lands

3. Economic – What new resources will help

America?

4. Geographical – Source of the Missouri River? Is

there a river passage to Pacific?

5. Ambassadors to Indian Tribes – Bring messages

of friendship – “Peace Medals”

JEFFERSON PEACE MEDAL

The Corps of Discovery• Along with Lewis and Clark

went:

– Twenty-one soldiers,

– eighteen river men,

– an interpreter,

– Clark’s slave York

– Newfoundland dog

• Winter of 1803-1804

– camp was established at

Camp Wood, near St.

Louis Missouri.

– Training and final

preparations were made

for the departure in May.

On May 14, 1804, the Expedition

starts up the Missouri River with

three boats and 43 men

The Corps of Discovery

headed upstream along

the Missouri River.

Because they were

traveling against the

current, the men had to

pole, row or drag the

boats with ropes while

on the riverbank.

Headed Upstream:

A Grueling Start

Spring 1804Lewis and Clark met many Indian tribes along the way including the

famous Lakota, or Teton Indians in central South Dakota

• Lewis and Clark spend the

winter of 1804 in a

Mandan Indian village in

what is now North Dakota

• They hire a French trapper

to be their guide through

the Indian lands

• Sacagawea, the guide’s

wife and a Shoshone

Indian woman from the

Rockies joins the

expedition

WINTER 1804 /1805

Sacagawea and her infant son Pompey

Accompany Lewis and Clark on

their journey through the Rockies and

to the Pacific

Sacagawea

12 men packed the keelboat and a

canoe with specimens, maps

and notes for President Jefferson,

and headed back home in April to

deliver these important discoveries.

The remaining crew continued west

upriver on the Missouri in two

pirogues and six dugout canoes.

Spring 1805: Some go back,

the rest go onward to the Pacific

• The Corps meets with the SHOSONE

Indians , who are familiar with the

Rockies

• Sacagawea is reunited with her brother,

the Chief of the tribe

• The explorers buy horses and the

expedition takes 11 days to cross the

Rocky Mountains

Summer 1805: Shoshone Indians, Rocky

Mountains, and the Continental Divide

Once they cross the Rockies,

Lewis and Clark meet the Nez

Perce Indians who teach the

explorers how to make Canoes

from logs that will speed down

the Snake and Columbia Rivers

toward the Pacific Ocean

Fall 1805: The Home Stretch

Dugout

Canoes

November 1805: The Pacific Ocean!

The expedition emerges

on the bluffs of modern

day Oregon and

completes the most

impressive journey of all

time

Spring and Summer 1806:

The Journey Home

• The expedition begins a 6

month journey back to St.

Louis from the Oregon

Territory

•Lewis and Clark split up and

explore the Missouri and

Yellowstone Rivers

•In July, they meet a few

hostile Indians and kill two –

the only loss of life inflicted

by the expedition

•They reunite and return to St.

Louis as Heroes in September

of 1806

Strategic National Outcomes

1. Sets the stage for westward expansion and future western settlement

2. Sets the stage for Future Military presence in the west

3. Expands American trade in furs and lumber

4. Contact made with many unknown Indian Tribes Trade networks and Future Allies

Science and Nature

Outcomes

Accurate Maps

Plants

Animals