Corps of Discovery | |
---|---|
Active | 1803–1806 |
Disbanded | September 1806 |
Country | United States |
Branch | Army |
Role | Exploration |
Size |
|
Commanders | |
Captain | Meriwether Lewis |
Second Lieutenant | William Clark |
The Corps of Discovery was a specially established unit of the United States Army which formed the nucleus of the Lewis and Clark Expedition that took place between May 1804 and September 1806. The Corps was led jointly by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, the Corps' objectives were scientific and commercial – to study the area's plants, animal life, and geography, and to learn how the Louisiana Purchase could be exploited economically. [1] Aside from its military composition, the Corps' additional personnel included scouts, boatmen, and civilians.
On its two-year expedition through the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, the Corps encountered more than two dozen Native American tribes. Modern research now acknowledges that without such contact or help, the Corps of Discovery would have struggled to have completed their journey.
The foundations for the Corps of Discovery were laid when Thomas Jefferson met John Ledyard to discuss a proposed expedition to the Pacific Northwest in the 1780s. [2] [3] In 1802, Jefferson read Alexander Mackenzie's 1801 book about his 1792–1793 overland expedition across Canada to the Pacific Ocean; these exploratory journals influenced his decision to create an American body capable of reaching the Pacific as well. [4] [5] [6] Two years after taking the presidency, Jefferson asked Congress to fund an expedition through the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery, and named as its leader his personal secretary and U.S. Army Captain, Meriwether Lewis, who selected William Clark as his partner. [7] The goals of the Corps of Discovery, whose cadre would be raised primarily from the U.S. military, was to explore the Louisiana Purchase, and establish trade and U.S. sovereignty over the native peoples along the Missouri River. Jefferson also wanted to establish a U.S. claim to the Pacific Northwest and Oregon territory by documenting an American presence there before other European nations could lay title to the land. [8] [9] [10]
The U.S. mint prepared special silver medals with a portrait of Jefferson and had a message of friendship and peace, called Indian Peace Medals or peace medals. The soldiers were to distribute them to the nations they met. But the Corps would be prepared for any acts of hostility because it would be equipped with the most advanced weapons available, such as rifles and a .46 caliber Girandoni Air Rifle. [11] [12] [13] [14] The Corps of Discovery was equipped with sufficient black powder and lead for their flintlock firearms, knives, blacksmithing supplies, and cartography equipment. They also carried flags, gift bundles, medicine and other items they would need for their journey. Much time went into ensuring a sufficient supply of these items. [11] [12] [13] [14]
To create the Corps of Discovery, and to ensure any chance of success, Lewis wanted to find the best possible men he could and recruit them to join his expedition. Men were expected to be excellent hunters and possess skills that would ensure their survival in the wilderness. He also wanted men who were brave, unmarried, and healthy. Lewis entrusted recruitment to Clark. He went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he found his first recruits, then Clarksville, Indiana. This group eventually became known as the "Nine Young Men from Kentucky": William Bratton, John Colter, Joseph Field, Reubin Field, Charles Floyd, George Gibson, Nathaniel Pryor, George Shannon, and John Shields. In total almost a third of the party's permanent members – forming the heart of the Corps – were from Louisville, Clarksville or their surrounding areas. Lewis conducted interviews and recruited at Fort Massac, and at the old French Mississippi River village of Kaskaskia. [15] At Kaskaskia, he recruited the expedition's chief non-commissioned officer, John Ordway.
A total of 33 volunteers, including 29 in training, spent the 1803–1804 winter at Camp Dubois in Indiana Territory. On May 14, 1804, the Corps left Dubois by canoe in order to meet up with Lewis at St. Charles, Missouri. The expedition then set off west following the Missouri River on 21 May. Three days later, they passed the French settlement of La Charrette, the westernmost Euro-American settlement on the Missouri.
The expedition followed the Missouri through what is now Kansas City, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska. On August 20, 1804, Sergeant Charles Floyd died, supposedly by acute appendicitis. He would be the party's only death on the expedition over the next two years. Floyd was buried at Floyd's Bluff in what is now Sioux City, Iowa. During the coming weeks, the expedition would reach the Great Plains. They would be among a select group of white people to see the area abounding with elk, deer, bison, and beavers before the large-scale encroachment of European Americans.
Over the next two years, the Lewis and Clark Expedition established relations with more than two dozen indigenous nations between Missouri and the Pacific Ocean. Researchers now acknowledge that without such contact or help, the Corps of Discovery would have undoubtedly starved to death or become hopelessly lost in the Rocky Mountains. [16]
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select group of U.S. Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. Clark, along with 30 others, set out from Camp Dubois, Illinois, on May 14, 1804, met Lewis and ten other members of the group in St. Charles, Missouri, then went up the Missouri River. The expedition crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas near the Lemhi Pass, eventually coming to the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean in 1805. The return voyage began on March 23, 1806, at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, ending six months later on September 23 of that year.
Meriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade with, and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon Country for the United States before European nations. They also collected scientific data, and information on indigenous nations. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1806. He died in 1809 of gunshot wounds, in what was either a murder or suicide.
Toussaint Charbonneau was a French Canadian explorer, fur trapper and merchant who is best known for his role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition as the husband of Sacagawea.
Peter M. Weiser was an American soldier and member of the Corps of Discovery on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Sergeant John Ordway, the youngest of ten siblings, was an important part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition across the United States. John Ordway was one of the sergeants from the United States Army who stepped forward to volunteer for the Corps of Discovery. Ordway exercised many responsibilities on the trip, such as issuing the provisions, appointing guard duties, and keeping the registers and records. John Ordway also kept a detailed journal about Native American life during the expedition.
John Colter was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for explorations he made during the winter of 1807–1808, when he became the first known person of European descent to enter the region which later became Yellowstone National Park and to see the Teton Mountain Range. Colter spent months alone in the wilderness and is widely considered to be the first known mountain man.
Private John Shields (c1769–1809) was, at about 35 years old, the second oldest member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and its oldest enlisted member. Shields, born in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, moved at about 14 years old to the wilderness of Tennessee, helped build and lived in a family fort that provided protection from Native Americans, traveled with Captain Meriwether Lewis, Second Lieutenant William Clark, and Native American Sacagawea to the Oregon Coast where he helped build Fort Clatsop, and then returned to St. Louis, Missouri. At the completion of this great adventure Shields hunted and trapped with the famous American pioneer Daniel Boone.
Fort Mandan was the name of the encampment which the Lewis and Clark Expedition built for wintering over in 1804–1805. The encampment was located on the Missouri River approximately twelve miles (19 km) from the site of present-day Washburn, North Dakota, which developed later. The precise location is not known for certain. It is believed now to be under the water of the river. A replica of the fort has been constructed near the original site.
Camp Dubois, near present-day Wood River, Illinois, served as the winter camp and launch-point for the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
George Drouillard was a civilian interpreter, scout, hunter, and cartographer, hired for Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804–1806, in search of a water route to the Pacific Ocean. He later worked as a guide and trapper for Manuel Lisa on the upper Missouri River, joining his Missouri Fur Company in 1809. It is believed that Drouillard was killed in what is now the state of Montana while trapping beaver, in an attack by the Blackfeet or Gros Ventre tribes.
Patrick Gass served as sergeant in the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). He was important to the expedition because of his service as a carpenter, and he published the first journal of the expedition in 1807, seven years before the first publication based on Lewis and Clark's journals.
Nathaniel Hale Pryor (1772–1831) was an American explorer, who served as Sergeant in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who, in her teens, helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving their chartered mission objectives by exploring the Louisiana Territory. Sacagawea traveled with the expedition thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, helping to establish cultural contacts with Native American people and contributing to the expedition's knowledge of natural history in different regions.
Events from the year 1804 in the United States.
Events from the year 1806 in the United States.
The Missouri Fur Company was one of the earliest fur trading companies in St. Louis, Missouri. Dissolved and reorganized several times, it operated under various names from 1809 until its final dissolution in 1830. It was created by a group of fur traders and merchants from St. Louis and Kaskaskia, Illinois, including Manuel Lisa and members of the Chouteau family. Its expeditions explored the upper Missouri River and traded with a variety of Native American tribes, and it acted as the prototype for fur trading companies along the Missouri River until the 1820s.
Old Baldy, also known as the Tower, is a hill located near the village of Lynch, in Boyd County, in the northern part of the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. It was visited by the Lewis and Clark Expedition on their way up the Missouri River in 1804; nearby, they discovered a colony of prairie dogs, an animal previously unknown to scientists.
This is a bibliography of literature dealing with the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Otter Woman was a Shoshone woman who was the wife of Smoked Lodge. Otter Woman was likely kidnapped by the Hidatsa and purchased by Toussaint Charbonneau, who is best known as the husband of Sacagawea. At the time of Sacagawea's abduction and sale to Charbonneau, Otter Woman was already living with Charbonneau as his wife. Charbonneau and Sacagawea were to gain fame as part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, supported by the Corps of Discovery.
Lewis and Clark's keelboat was built as a galley in Pittsburgh in 1803 for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, after detailed specifications by Meriwether Lewis. A keelboat, it could be propelled by oars, sails, poles and towlines. The boat was the expedition's main vessel until the spring of 1805, when it was returned to St. Louis.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition By Harry W. Fritz.