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Starting
The expedition left St. Louis Missouri about 4 p.m. on May 14. Clark led the expedition by boat up the Missouri river. Lewis did not start with the corps because he had other business in St. Louis to attend to. He did however join up with them later by cutting across land to save on time. -
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Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean
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Causality
A member of the expedition, Sergeant Floyd, had been very sick for quite some time, but he was starting to improve. Then towards the middle of the day he suddenly passed away. Most historians think that he died from a ruptured appendix. Sergeant Floyd was the only causality that occurred among the group on their journey. -
Sioux Tribe
While the expedition was traveling they came across traces of the Sioux Indians, so the group prepared gifts for them. The next morning they were greeted by the Tetons, a Sioux tribe, who were waiting for them on shore. The expedition gave the Indians gifts like: medals, knives, food, and other little things as a sign of friendship. -
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Fort Mandan
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Tree
The men cut down trees to build homes for the winter. They were building Fort Mandan which means they need a lot of wood to build shelter. If they did not have access to all of the timber they would not have been able to build homes. This could have caused the expedition to fail that first winter. -
Fort Mandan
A Chief from a lower village of the Mandan’s paid them a visit. Also as a gift he brought them 100 pounds of fine meat. This was great for a group of hungry men as winter was approaching. Through an interpreter he told them how small pox had killed a large sum of their once great nation, now because of their weakness they were attacked by the other tribes. This forced who was left of their tribe to move farther north in order to survive. http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/section2/ndcities/Bisma -
Baby Born
At about 5 p.m. Charbonneau’s wife Sacajawea gave birth to a baby boy. Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was Sacajawea’s first child. One of the men, Mr. Jessome had given Sacajawea bits of crushed rattle snake tail and water in order to ease her pain. -
Animal
Lewis and another member of the expedition were out hunting when they come across two grizzly bears; Lewis shot and wounded one, but the bears ran. They chased after it and soon caught up with it and kill it. This was the first grizzly bear ever described for science and this made black bears seem small in comparison. Lewis also says how the group was impressed at how hard the bear was to kill. -
Shoshone
The expedition had just met the Shoshone tribe the day before, so Lewis spent the day getting information about the land ahead like short cuts and the Jefferson River. Lewis had sent his men to hunt for food, but both Lewis’s men and the Indians had no luck. As a result they had to settle for flour cakes and berries. Then Lewis talked about how they saw that the Shoshone tied their horses to a stake so they were able to ride at any time. -
Idaho
While the expedition made its’ way through what is now Idaho they encountered members of Sacajawea’s home village. As they reached the camp a childhood friend of Sacajawea recognized her and they embraced. Then as they spoke to the Chief Sacajawea recognized him as her brother and she was overjoyed. Clark wrote how she had a hard time after that because her emotions had over whelmed her. -
Indian help
The corps was able to trade for 28 horses and one mule for about 100$ from the Shoshone tribe. The horses were used to travel over the mountains through the pass the Nez Pierce took. They really needed the horses or they might have not been able to complete their journey. They did not just get them for packing, but as Clark said, “To eat if necessary.” -
Peaceful trade
The expedition was now traveling down the Snake River. They meet a group of Indians in one of the villages that had about 10,000 pounds of Salmon according to Clarks estimates. The men were tired of Salmon so they traded with the Indians for dogs that they could eat instead. Then some of the Indians gave them gifts made from fish parts. -
Weather
The expedition made camp near a river, but when they woke up in the morning their canoes were filled with water. Then a little later the wind started to pick up and about 2 p.m. huge waves tore through their camp. They saw 200 foot tall trees being swept away by the rushing water and now their camp was under water due to the waves. -
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Fort Clatsop
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Fort Clatsop
While the expedition was staying at Fort Clatsop a Chief and 4 braves from a local tribe came to see them. They brought them some called Shannatahque or black root. It tasted like a type of black liquorish to Lewis and Clark so in return they gave the Indians some ribbon and fishing hooks. The expedition was very grateful for the food because all the food they had left was some spoiled Elk meat.
http://www.nps.gov/lewi/planyourvisit/fortclatsop.htm -
Indian Killed
The man on watch got careless, set his gun by a tree while on duty and a group of Indians decided to take the corps weapons. One of the Indians stole the guard’s as well as Lewis’s gun while the men slept but the guard saw him and yelled for his brother to stop him. The brother quickly caught up to the Indian seized the guns then stabbed the Indian in the heart and killed him. According to the journal Lewis did not know about the Indian until later. -
Sickness
Clark wrote that several of the men suffered from severe boils on their skin. This was made worse because they were having mosquito trouble with the summer heat. The mosquitoes carried disease so the men with boils might end up with bad sickness as a result.
