This date in 1774 was the birthdate of Meriwether Lewis, American explorer, known as one of the leaders of the Lewis and Clark expedition which took place between 14 May 1804 and 23 September 1806. Some facts about their trip:
First of all, why did they go? The voyage of discovery was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, on the heels of the Louisiana purchase in 1803. Jefferson wanted to find out about what lay to the west, whether there was a navigable river route to the Pacific, whether there were Native American tribes to trade with. There was also the political motivation of establishing American claims to the lands and stopping those pesky Europeans from trying to get a look in.
The expedition discovered 122 new species of animal and 200 new species of plant (at least, they were new to the Americans in the East – Native Americans had known about them forever), but scientific discovery was only a secondary purpose to those listed above. Their botanical specimens included bitterroot, ponderosa pine, and Douglas fir, and the new animals included grizzly Bears, prairie dogs, coyotes, jackrabbits, and pronghorn. Jefferson, however, was allegedly somewhat disappointed that they didn’t find a live mastodon.
The pesky Europeans did try to mess things up. Spain owned a huge amount of land in North America, and the Spanish government wanted to protect their claim to Gold in the Southwest, so when they got wind of the expedition, thanks to coded messages from one of their spies (James Wilkinson, a former Revolutionary War general known as Agent 13) set out to sabotage it. Spanish forces set out to coerce Lewis and Clark into going home, or to take them prisoner – but never managed to actually find them.
Lewis had served under Clark in the military but for the purpose of this trip, requested that they’d be equal co-leaders. The military weren’t having that, and said no, but once out in the wilderness the two men ignored the orders and referred to one another as “Captain” so the rest of the party wouldn’t know any different. There were also members of the party who, at home, would never get a say in anything, but whose expertise and opinions has as much weight as anyone else’s out on the trail.
These included the one African-American man in the party, whose name was York. He was Clark's “body servant,” or slave. York was allowed to help with the hunting although he’d never have been allowed to handle a gun at home and had a vote in expedition matters. The Indian tribes they encountered along the way were fascinated by a man with much darker skin and thought he had special powers. Sadly, when York asked for his freedom in exchange for giving up two years of his life and having to be away from his wife for such a long time, Clark refused.
There was also one woman in the party, who was also just 16 years old and pregnant. She was the daughter of a chief and her name was Sacagawea who had been traded to a French-Canadian trapper who lived with the tribe. Lewis and Clark hired this trapper as an interpreter, and he brought his young wife along, since she could speak even more languages. Not only that, she knew her way around parts of the unexplored country, having lived there all her life, and she also knew which plants were safe to eat. Even after she gave birth to a son while the company hunkered down for the winter, Sacagawea continued to travel with them, baby and all. It’s possible the company thought a woman and a baby would make them seem less threatening.
There was a pet Dog, too. Prior to departure, Lewis bought a Newfoundland dog for $20 and named him Seaman. Seaman was a beloved pet who is mentioned several times in Lewis’s journal. He saved men from drowning many times. When Seaman got attacked by a Beaver, Lewis feared his dog might die; but nursed him back to health. When Native Americans wanted to trade for the dog, Lewis refused. He also named a creek after Seaman, although the name didn’t stick and it’s called Monture Creek today. Although there were times when the party was so short on food they had to resort to eating candle tallow and dog meat, Seaman was strictly off the menu.
Although it was a potentially dangerous mission in uncharted territory, only one man died during it. He wasn’t killed by weather or starvation or hostile Native Americans or drowning or wild animals, but from an illness which it’s believed was likely to have been a ruptured appendix, which in those times was a death sentence even back home in the city. His name was Sergeant Charles Floyd, who was fit and healthy when they set off, and was educated and popular. He fell ill three months into the trip. William Clark sat up all night long watching over and trying to help Floyd, but to no avail. They buried him on a high bluff overlooking the Missouri River, placing a red cedar marker at his grave. Floyd River and Floyd Bluff were named for him.
York was the only man who’d left a wife at home, and the only woman in the party was spoken for, but that didn’t mean there was no nookie to be had. Some of the Native American tribes believed the party had special powers which, if they had sex with a woman, she would retain them and when she went home she would pass the powers on to her husband in the same way. Hence the party were often gifted with women for the night. That said, there was an incident where the fling was not sanctioned by the woman’s husband and Clark had to give away a pile of trinkets to stop the husband from stabbing his wife’s lover to death. It’s likely members of the party fathered a few children along the way, but unfortunately most of them ended up with sexually transmitted diseases as well.
Lewis died when he was just 35, three years after the expedition. The cause was being shot in the head and abdomen, which rather suggests foul play by bandits, as he was on another trip at the time and staying in an inn. That said, Lewis was known to drink heavily and suffer from depression, and had a history of being suicidal. He’d even made a will before setting off. Hence historians don’t know if it was suicide or murder.
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