 Article
From River Life, Volume 5, No 25 July 22, 2004
Up The River
With Lewis and Clark
Part 3, July 9, 1804-July 22, 1804
By Bill Markley
By July 9, 1804, the Corps of Discovery had traveled
on the Missouri River to a position upriver from present-day St. Joseph,
Missouri. One of their objectives was to inform the tribes who lived
along the river that they were now part of the United States and that
the Corps of Discovery came in peace and friendship. They had yet to
see, let alone meet any tribes. The French engagés told Lewis and Clark
the tribes were probably off hunting buffalo at this time of year.
The Corps of Discovery traveled twelve
miles upriver before setting up camp for the night. Several of the men
were hunting on the far side of the river and did not plan to return
that evening. The Corps saw a fire on the far shore. Thinking it was the
hunters, they sent a pirogue over to let the hunters know they were
across the river. When the men in the pirogue paddled near the fire on
the riverbank, they shouted to whom they thought were the hunters. It
appeared someone immediately put out the fire; and no one responded to
their shouts. The men in the pirogue reported to Lewis and Clark what
had happened. Thinking it could be a Sioux war party, Lewis and Clark
had the swivel cannon fired to warn the hunters. That night they were
ready to repel any attacks.
The next day, they went to the site of
last night’s fire on the far bank to discover it was their hunters after
all. The hunters had gone to sleep early. Due to the direction of the
wind, they never heard the shouts or the swivel cannon. The Corps of
Discovery made another ten miles that day.
July 11, 1804, while out exploring on
his own, Clark found another stray horse. They made six miles that day
and camped on a sand island opposite the Big Nemaha River just above the
present Nebraska-Kansas State line. Sergeant Charles Floyd wrote, “Came
to about 12 oclock P.m. for the porpos of resting one or two days the
men is all Sick”
That evening Private Alexander Hamilton
Willard was on sentry duty. Alexander was born in New Hampshire in 1778.
He had moved to Kentucky, had training as a blacksmith, and had been a
member of Captain Amos Stoddard’s artillery company that took possession
of St. Louis for the United States.
The men were tired and sick. They would
be spending a day or two on this island to recuperate. Alexander must
have been exhausted. Why not lay down for a minute? Why not close the
eyes just for a second?
Next morning the first thing Alexander
knew, Sergeant John Ordway was accusing him of lying down and sleeping
at his post. Alexander admitted he was lying down, but not sleeping.
Lewis and Clark convened a
court-martial. They presided over this court-martial instead of the men
since the guilty sentence could mean death. They determined Alexander
was asleep at his post. What to do? They needed every man; but they
could not lose discipline. They decided on a middle course of action;
400 lashes on Alexander Willard’s bare back, one hundred each evening at
sunset.
That day Clark took a few men in a
pirogue up the Big Nemaha River to explore. They found many large
artificial mounds built by people many years ago; and it appeared people
were still using these highpoints for burial practices.
July 13, 1804, the Corps of Discovery
made over twenty miles this day and stopped at a large sandbar in the
middle of the river for the night. The next morning, it was raining hard
when they set off and began passing the rest of the sandbar. The
riverbanks were sloughing into the current. Just as they passed the end
of the sand island, the rainstorm intensified. A sudden squall hit the
keelboat forcing it back onto the sandbar. All the men jumped off into
the water to hold the boat off the bar. Some of the men were able to
manhandle the cable and anchor out into the river to assist in keeping
the boat from wrecking on the island. The storm lasted forty minutes.
Clark was sure that their efforts kept the boat from “being thrown up on
the Sand Island, and dashed to pieces.” The storm abated and the surface
of the river was as smooth as glass. Everything was in good shape except
for Clark’s notes, “My notes of the 13th of July by a Most
unfortunate accident blew over Board in a Storm ... obliges me to refur
to the Journals of Serjeants, and my own recollection.”
Thick fog prevented the men from
starting out as early as they had wanted to on the morning of July 15.
They made over nine miles and encamped on a woody point. Clark had been
off exploring by himself again. While waiting for the boat to catch up,
he swam across the mouth of the Little Nemaha River and hiked three
miles further upriver to wait for the rest of the expedition.
Meanwhile, Lewis was keeping scientific
records. Compared to Clark and the Sergeants’ accounts, Lewis’ journal
entries are dry. He makes distance, time, and weather observations. On
this day, he was having problems with one of his instruments and writes,
“This evening I discovered that my Chronometer had stoped, nor can I
assign any cause for this accident: she had been wound up the preceding
noon as usual. This is the third instance in which this instrument has
stopt in a similar manner since she has been in my possession...”
Sergeant Charles Floyd writes on July
16, “we Set out verry early and prossed on the Side of a Prarie the
wind from the South Sailed ouer Boat Run on a Sawyer Sailed all day
made 20 miles passed Sevrall Isd Camt on the North Side”
The Corps decided to stay at this
campsite for the day on July 17 to make some corrections to the
scientific equipment and allow the men to rest. Several of them still
had boils. Later that day Lewis joined the hunters who killed four deer.
July 18, they passed some bad sandbars.
The men found a stray dog, fed him, and tried to coax the dog to
following them; but he would not join them.
The next morning after a breakfast of
deer ribs and coffee, Clark set out alone while the Corps continued
upstream. “Soon after I got on Shore, Saw Some fresh elk Sign, which I
was induced to prosue those animals by their track to the hills after
assending and passing thro a narrow Strip of wood Land, Came Suddenly
into an open and bound less Prarie, I say bound less because I could not
See the extent of the plain in any Derection ... This prospect was So
Sudden & entertaining that I forgot the object of my prosute ...”
On July 20, the Corps traveled 18 miles
before camping for the night. While out hunting, Clark killed “an emence
large yellow wolf.”
After 600 miles and 68 days, the Corps
of Discovery reached the mouth of the Platte River on July 21. Beyond
this point, few white traders had ventured; the land would be changing
to predominately prairie; and this was the beginning of Sioux territory.
Lewis and Clark ascended the Platte
River in a Pirogue for a mile taking scientific observations. The Corps
worked its way around the sandbars at the mouth of the Platte and camped
that night along the Missouri River upstream of the Platte’s mouth. The
men saw and heard a large number of wolves that evening.
July 22, 1804, the Corps of Discovery
continued up the Missouri River ten miles and set up camp for a few
days. Lewis and Clark decided they would send out scouts to find the
local tribes and invite them to their camp so they could, “...let them
Know of the Change of Government, The wishes of our Government to
Cultivate friendship with them, the Objects of our journey and to
present them with a flag and Some Small presents.”
Up The River With Lewis and Clark
Part 4, July 23, 1804-August 5, 1804
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