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Defining the Corps cont

6/18/2022

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              When Jefferson first formulated this expedition, he specified it should be a military unit.  One of the reasons for him making that requirement was the military discipline system that resulted in the men following orders from their commander.  That is a great theory, but if a person reads about other military expeditions and campaigns, they will quickly discover how frequently orders were not followed or men deserted.  The abilities of the commander played a major part in orders being followed.  As both Lewis and Clark learned first-hand in their early military years during the Indian Wars poor training resulted in desertions and failed campaigns.
                When the Corps of Discovery formed at Camp Dubois during the winter of 1803-1804 Clark put his prior training under Gen. Anthony Wayne to good use and developed a cohesive military unit as Jefferson had specified.  But he went well beyond that expected basis.  As a result of his, and Lewis’, training and personal abilities as leaders the Corps of Discovery that left that spring was a team, officers and enlisted.  Respect for leadership and followship had been earned.
                In the eyes of the men, the Captains had earned the right to be the leaders by the way they conducted themselves and the “office of commander.”  Fairness of work assignments, appropriate discipline, adequate input into decision making, responsibility spread as needed all made this happen.  These are all the things that effective leaders today do to earn the respect of the men they command.  A mutual trust among the men enabled a cohesive team to develop.
                The Captains careful geographic decision followed by the men’s statement that they all disagreed, but would cheerfully follow wherever the Captains chose to lead and the Captains’ decision to take an advance party up the river they selected were the result of careful preparation by people with knowledge and used to making decisions.
                So far, we have seen the Captains made conscious decisions as the journey unfolded.  But the story of the Marias also shows an inner quality both Captains possessed that served them well.  Although they had spent months in planning and preparation for the expedition they did not hesitate to make changed when they encountered a situation that required it.
              As the “decision at the Marias” saga came to its conclusion Jefferson’s requirement to send a military unit to explore the Northwest was vilified.  The Corps of Discovery’s planning and training proved to have been key to insuring a successful mission.  A great deal of hard labor lay ahead, but the Corps showed it was ready for any challenge that presented itself.
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Defining the Corps

6/7/2022

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        It is just a small river, even by the standards of the western prairies it runs through.  But it nearly cost the Corps of Discovery its very life.  By assuming a frisky character known only during the late spring flood season, this river, masquerading as something much greater than it actually was, caused the Expedition to spend at least an extra week of precious time discovering its real nature.
          A close examination of this river reveals a great deal about Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the entire project of “discovery of the interior of the continent of North America.”  Such an examination reveals what sets this exploring party apart from all the others and why it was ultimately so tremendously successful in doing what it was supposed to do.
          In his book, River of Promise, David Nicandri discusses geography considerations faced by the Expedition as they traveled through the mountains of Western Montana and Idaho.  He appropriately points out the Expedition was totally at a loss in that area even with a native guide.  The entire Expedition could have easily perished if it had not been for friendly natives who helped them through the area.
          However, they were also struggling with their paradigm of “continental symmetry” so were not really using their full capabilities.  This part of the journey was not a true representation of the Captains’ real abilities.
          When the Corps of Discovery first saw this unknown river [we now call the Marias] on the evening of June 2, 1805, they were collectively baffled.  For a thousand miles they had followed the Missouri River knowing they were on course with only cursory references to maps and notes they had to keep them on track.  But this river was not in their collected references from St. Louis or their winter at Fort Mandan.  Bernard DeVoto said that Meriwether Lewis had no rival in his ability to read the geography of the land, except for William Clark; a very bold statement considering all the other explorers who traversed the continent turning an unknown land into a known one.
          By reading both Captains’ journal entries for the first few days of June we see how they studied the land and concluded that the South Fork was the Missouri River they should follow.  Those journal entries show just how the Captains’ minds digested the evidence at hand.  They reached their conclusion in one day’s time.  We find in this episode one of the Expedition’s finest hours.  If we continue to read the journal, we learn much more.

 
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Miscellany

5/31/2022

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                                                   Lewis and Clark Expedition
                                           Small Arms, Personnel, and Miscellany
                                                                by Walt Walker

             A nine part series examining details of the men and their guns

Miscellany 1:  Hunters

 
            In Chapter Two, I stated the nine men from Kentucky were issued rifles and my supposition was based on those men being hired as hunters according to letters between Clark and Lewis.  Each of those men was cited by the captains as sent out and returning from hunting forays after departure from Camp DuBois through the winter at Fort Mandan.
            Of the prior-enlisted men, Collins was sent out to hunt on numerous occasions. He was one of the best hunters and was cited by the captains as such several times in the Journals.  Willard was also an excellent hunter and when he accidentally dropped his gun while trying to cross a river, Ordway noted on July 28th, 1904 that the gun was a rifle. Ordway also noted on July 29th, 1804 that it was raining hard and he (Ordway) aimed to keep his rifle dry.
            By now, twelve of the fifteen rifles can be counted as issued.  Even though Windsor was cited as sent to hunt sometime after the Corps left Fort Mandan in 1805, he was not considered a hunter before that time.  Sergeant Floyd wrote on August 7th, 1804 that Reed took all of his clothes and all his powder and balls and hid them out the night before he deserted. Clark wrote on August 18th, 1804 that Reed confessed to desertion and stealing a public rifle, a shot pouch, powder, and balls.  From this, one could deduce that Reed had been issued one of the Harpers Ferry rifles.  Windsor most certainly was not issued a rifle prior to Reed’s court-martial.
            Sergeant Gass related at different times that he had been sent to hunt only after Sergeant Floyd’s death. It’s logical that he was issued Floyd’s rifle. Whitehouse wrote in his journal entry dated April 2nd, 1806, “The best of our hunters crossed over to the south side of the River Columbia to hunt”.  Gass and Windsor were two of those hunters. In Whitehouse’s journal, Cruzatte was cited several times as hunting, and LaBiche was cited as killing a deer on the same day as Cruzatte, August 2nd, 1804.   LaBiche was also among the hunters who were sent to find and return Reed. I have inferred from this and other instances that Cruzatte and LaBiche were both issued rifles.
            Two other prior-enlisted men cited as being sent out to hunt before reaching the Mandan Villages were Howard and Newman.  On September 2nd, 1804, together they killed an elk on the river shore.  They had seen the elk swimming in the river while they were eating breakfast and ran a mile up the river shore to get it.  Whether they used rifles is unknown.  Reed’s rifle was not mentioned as being reissued but might have been issued to Newman. Such a rifle would have been taken away from him upon his September 12th confinement and court-martial on September 13th, 1804. 
            At this point, only one rifle was left in the Corps Inventory. There were two hunters left to be issued rifles, Windsor and LePage. As mentioned before, LePage may have brought his own rifle with him. It wasn’t until the two accompanied Lewis up the north fork of the Missouri (the Marias River) that Windsor was probably issued that 15th rifle.  He hunted frequently after that.  Windsor was the man whose rifle muzzle had burst and then was fixed by Shields.  That rifle was given to one of the Nez Perce guides at Traveler’s Rest in 1806.  On June 4th, 1805, Whitehouse wrote that the six men with Lewis were hunters and the five men with Clark were hunters.  Lewis’s party explored the north (Marias River) fork and Clark’s party the south fork of the Missouri.
 
A note on Drewyer:
            He was a civilian and was hired to be an interpreter and a hunter.  He was not hired to be a laborer or an oarsman. When they left Camp Dubois, he was either on horseback, on foot, or riding on the keelboat.  When they left Fort Mandan, he would hunt on foot or command the rudder on the White Pirogue.  After they left the Canoe Camp above the Great Falls of the Missouri, he hunted on foot most of the way to Camp Fortunate. From there to the Shoshone, he was alternately on foot or horseback.  From the Lemhi Shoshone to Travelers Rest to the Canoe Camp near the mouth of the Clearwater, he was on horseback. Of necessity, he traveled in a canoe from that camp to the various camps at or near the mouth of the Columbia.
          On the return trip, he was in the advance hunting party with the Field brothers and, once beyond the falls of the Columbia, he reverted to walking and riding a horse all the way to Decision Point.  From there to St. Louis, he rode in the White Pirogue and only occasionally hunted.
 
Lone Hunters:
Drewyer, Collins, Labiche, Ruben Field, Shannon, Colter, Joseph Field, Lewis, Clark, York
 
Hunting Partners:
Shannon/Labiche                   Field/Field                                Collins/Drewyer  
Shannon/ J. Field/Shields        Collins/R. Field                         Willard/ Colter
Drewyer/ Labiche                   Drewyer/ Labiche/ Collins         
R.Field/ Frazer/ Shields       Drewyer/ J. Field                     
Drewyer, Labiche./ Cruzatte      Drewyer/ Field/ Field
Drewyer/ J.Field/ Frazer        J.Field/Collins/Shannon/Labiche
Pryor/Gibson                         J.Field/Pryor/Gibson                Drewyer/Shannon
Drewyer/Shannon/Labiche             Collins/Willard 
Drewyer/ LePage                   Shannon/Labiche/R.Field              
J. Field/Willard/Gibson     Drewyer/ Lewis                      Collins/Windsor              J. Field/ Shannon/ Shields
Collins/ Shields/Shannon      Gass/ R. Field/ Thompson
Gass/ R.Field/ J. Field           Ordway/Willard                            Collins/ Colter 
Drewyer/Clark                         Collins/Field/Field                       Drewyer/ R. Field
Collins/Shannon                      Drewyer/ any other man               
J.Field/ any other man
R. Field/ any other man          Collins/ any other man
 
Seven Best Hunters:
Drewyer, Collins, R. Field, J. Field, Colter, Shannon, Gibson
 
Other Exccellent Hunters:
Shields, Willard, Clark, Lewis, Labiche, Gass, Pryor, Ordway, Windsor, Cruzatte, Bratton
 
Other Hunters:
Frazier, LePage, Howard, Weiser, York, Potts, Charbono
 
Non-Hunters (though each might have hunted on occasion):
McNeal, Werner, Whitehouse, Thompson, Hall, Goodrich
 
Fowlers:
Labiche, Collins, J. Field, R. Field, Drewyer, Lewis, Clark, York
 
Fisherman:
Goodrich
 
Miscellany 2:  Grizzly bears killed or wounded
 
1.   10/20/1804         First, encounter, Pierre Cruzatte wounds a grizzly. It                                                escapes.
2.  4/28/1805            One of the hunters wounds a grizzly but it escapes.
3.   4/29/1805           Lewis and one hunter, near Culbertson, MT killing one                                            and wounding one.  The wounded bear got away.
4.   5/5/1805             Clark and Drouillard kill a grizzly near Wolf Point, MT—                                       10 shots.
5.   5/11/1805           Bratton wounds a grizzly that chases him awhile.                                                        Hunters kill the bear.
6.   5/13/1805           Gibson wounds a grizzly, but it is too late in the
​                                       day to pursue.      
7.   5/14/1805            Six hunters shoot a grizzly that chases each of them.                                                Many shots
                                      later, the bear is downed with a headshot.
8.    5/15/1805           The hunters wound a grizzly.
9.   5/17/1805            The hunters shoot a grizzly.
10.   5/19/1805          Clark along with other hunters shoots a grizzly.
11.   5/22/1805          Hunters kill a grizzly late in the afternoon.
12.   5/23/1805          Hunters kill a grizzly but lose it in the river.
13.   6/2/1805            Drouillard kills a grizzly.
14.   6/4/1805            Drouillard shoots and wounds a grizzly.
15.   6/5/1805            Clark’s party kills three grizzlies. 
16.   6/12/1805          Lewis’s party kills two grizzlies.
17.   6/25/1805          Drouillard and J. Field kill three grizzlies.
18.   7/2/1805            Drouillard kills a grizzly.
19.   7/26/1805          Clark’s party kills two grizzlies.
20.   9/1/1805            A hunter wounds two grizzlies.
21.   5/14/1806          Collins kills two grizzlies.
22.   5/14/1806          Labiche kills a sow and two large cubs.
23.   5/16/1806          Drouillard wounds three grizzlies.
24.   5/17/1806          Collins kills a grizzly.
25.   5/25/1806          Gibson and Shields wound a sow with two cubs.
26.   7/10/1806          Drouillard kills a grizzly.
27.   7/13/1806          Hunters wound a grizzly.
28.   7/13/1806          Pryor’s party kills a grizzly.
 29.   7/19/1806         Shields shoots two grizzlies from his horse while
                                       they are chasing him.                                            
30.   7/30/1806          Ordway and Willard kill a grizzly.
31.   7/31/1806          Clark’s party wounds a grizzly.
32.   8/1/1806             Lewis and Drouillard kill a grizzly.
33.   8/1/1806             Lewis’s party kills a grizzly.
34.   8/2/1806             Clark kills a grizzly.
35.   8/2/1806             Clark’s party wounds a grizzly.
36.   8/4/1806             Ordway and Willard kill a grizzly.
37.   8/5/1806             Clark and one other man kill a grizzly 
38.   8/5/1806             The Field brothers kill two grizzlies.
39.   8/6/1806             Clark’s party wounds a grizzly.
40.   8/7/1806             The Field brothers kill two grizzlies.
41.   8/7/1806             Lewis’s party wounds two grizzlies.  
 
Summary
 
            The first grizzly sighting was actually a grizzly track.  On October 7th, 1804 Captain Clark found the tracks along the Moreau River a mile up from the Missouri River in present-day Dewey County South Dakota.  He stated that “the tracks were very large”.
            The first encounter with a live bear was by Cruzatte who wounded the bear and, then, ran as it chased him. He dropped his tomahawk and rifle as he fled. The bear escaped and, fortunately, Cruzatte was able to retrieve his weapons.
            The next encounter was by Captain Lewis and another hunter near present-day Poplar, MT. on April 29th, 1804.  Each of the men shot at one of two grizzlies.  The one Lewis shot charged them.  Fortunately, they were able to run and reload and killed the charging bear.  The other wounded bear escaped.
            These two instances were typical of most of the Corps’ encounters with grizzly bears.  Some of the hunters were barely able to escape being caught. In one instance, a bear chased a man and got close enough to swipe his foot. This incident was the first of two close calls the hunter had with grizzly bears. In both cases, the bear ambushed the man.
           Another incident occurred when six men shot at a bear that pursued each of them in turn.  Five men ended up in the river with one of them jumping off a twenty-foot cliff and the bear following him into the river. The only man left on-land was able to kill the bear, shooting him in the head. The bear had eight ball wounds in his body before he was taken down.
           Lewis’s encounter with a grizzly that chased him into the river leaving Lewis holding nothing but his espadrille is well-known. The bear finally ran away but it could have been a different story.
          When the Corps were returning from their mission in 1806, Gass and Thompson were riding horses and leading other horses along the Medicine River. They were chased a long distance by a grizzly but managed to escape without losing the horses. Shields experienced a similar situation while riding a horse along the Yellowstone River.  He was pursued by two grizzlies but was able to shoot both of them from his horse.
           In the frequent grizzly bear encounters, almost sixty of them, many bears escaped, others were wounded and others were not shot at by the men. From those grizzlies killed, hides, meat, and fleece were utilized by the Corps.  The fleece was rendered to provide oil used in cooking for all the party.  The oil was a valued commodity, especially in cooking for 30 plus people.
          In 1805 all of the grizzly bear encounters occurred in present-day Montana east of the Continental Divide.  No black bears were sighted until the Corps reached the three forks of the Missouri River.
          The Corps did not encounter more grizzlies on their journey forward after the Continental Divide until their return trip in 1806 when they reached Nez Perce country in the mountains of Idaho. Passing over the Continental Divide on their return, the bears were, again, found on the high plains where bear food was plentiful.  The last grizzly encountered by the Corps was killed near present-day Williston, North Dakota.
 
Miscellany 3:  Clark’s Various Spellings of “Sioux”
Scioux ….. Sioux …… Seioux ….. Soux ….. Suxex            
Sciuex ….. Sisouex ….. Seeoux ….. Souiex ….. Sues
Sciouex ….. Sieoux ….. Seouex ….. Souis ….. Sueoux
Sceiouex ….. Sicux ….. Seaux ….. Souix ….. Suouex
Scoux ….. Sieuix ….. Seauex ….. Soue
Sceouex ….. Siouex ….. Seauix ….. Souex
Sceoux ….. Siouxs ….. Seaus ….. Sous
Scouix ….. Siaus ….. Seoux ….. Soauex
Sciaux ….. Sious ….. CueouSx ….. Souixs
Sceaux ….. Sieuex ….. Souxs
Scious  ….. Sieaux ….. Soos
 
 
                                                      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 
Many thanks to my wife, Angela for her much-needed help editing, suggestions and typing this effort. My thanks also to Phil Scriver for his encouragement and suggestions. Many thanks go to Gary Moulton and his herculean effort transcribing the journals of Lewis and Clark completely for all of us to explore and enjoy.  
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Going Home

5/24/2022

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                                               Lewis and Clark Expedition
                                 Small Arms, Personnel, and Miscellany
                                                           by Walt Walker

                 A 9 part series examining details of the men and their guns

Chapter 10:  Homeward Bound
 
          On August 15th, Colter was discharged from the corps with the captains’ blessing.  He was furnished with powder and lead, but no rifle. The captains would not have given him his government rifle but would have put it back in the inventory.  He might have received a gun from the two men with whom he partnered. Colter also might have been given the gun Lewis retrieved from the encounter with the young warriors. Either way, Colter would not receive a government gun.
                Charbonneau and his family left the party at the Mandan Villages, but LePage went on to St. Louis. It has been stated before that he had no strong ties with the villages.  He had lived with the Cheyenne and had only come to the villages in the late summer of 1804.
               On the 17th August, two more of the largest canoes were converted into a catamaran to carry some chiefs and their families and an interpreter to St. Louis and on to Washington.  Pryor, Willard, and Weiser were assigned to man this catamaran.  The two small canoes held the best hunters, except for Drewyer and the third canoe is under Ordway's command.  All of the rest of the enlisted hunters, except Gass, traveled in those three canoes. Gass commanded the catamaran Clark built on the Yellowstone. He had Hall, Howard, Potts, and Whitehouse on board. The Field brothers, Shannon, Shields, and Collins were the hunters in the two small canoes.  Gibson and Bratton were in Ordway’s canoe as were Frazer and LePage. Two extra oarsmen picked up on the way were on Gass’s catamaran. On August 28th and 29th, Frazer and Bratton were ordered to collect some prairie dogs.
              Excepting Gass, Cruzatte, and Ordway, the Field brothers, Collins, Shannon and Shields did most of the hunting on this leg. Pryor, Willard, Drewyer, and Labiche only hunted a little.  The last day the hunters were sent out was the 18th of September.
 
Chapter 11:  The Sprint
 
          On September 20th, 1806, the catamaran Clark built on the Yellowstone was set adrift and its passengers distributed among the other vessels.  The Corps arrived in the afternoon and spent the night in the village of LaCharrette. The next day, they arrived at St. Charles.  On the 22nd they arrived at Fort Belle Fontaine. 
                On the 23rd, they arrived at St. Louis amid a boisterous welcome. Clark’s journal entries end on the 26th of September, 1806 with his writing the phrase, “a fine morning, we commenced wrighting &c”.

                                            ______________________________________
 

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Exploring New Lands

5/9/2022

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                                                      Lewis and Clark Expedition
                                  Small Arms, Personnel, and Miscellany
                                                        by Walt Walker

         A 9 part series examining details of the men and their guns

Chapter 9: Divided Forces

      
          Lewis left from Travelers’ Rest with Drewyer, the Field brothers, Gass, Frazer, Werner, Thompson, McNeal, and Goodrich.  Lewis said that the last three men were not hunters.  They were chosen to be treated with the medicine Lewis had left at the Portage and Werner was the cook. Gass and the Field Brothers had Harpers Ferry rifles and Frazer had his musket. The balance of the party possessed muskets except for Goodrich as his musket had been traded to the Shoshone. Understandably, McNeal would have been issued one of the muskets cached at Decision Point to replace his broken one and Goodrich would have been issued the other musket.
          Clark and his party left Travelers Rest with the rest of the party and all but seventeen of the horses which Lewis had taken with him. They headed for Camp Fortunate and the cached canoes. With Clark were York, Charbono, Sacajawea, Pomp, Bratton, Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, Gibson, Hall, Howard, Labiche, LePage, Ordway, Potts, Pryor, Shannon, Shields, Weiser, Whitehouse, Willard, and Windsor. Ten of the men had rifles- Ordway, Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, Gibson, Labiche, Pryor, Shannon, Shields, and Willard.  Ordway, Collins, and Willard also had muskets.
          After arriving at Camp Fortunate and recovering the canoes, Ordway's party set out in six canoes having cut up the seventh canoe for paddles, headed for the three forks.  Pryor's party set out with the horses to meet up with Ordway again at the three forks. Clark later joined Ordway's party on the way. Collins killed a goose as the party descended the Beaverhead River.  It isn’t known whether he used his rifle or musket.  He was close to Labiche's ability as a fowler. On July 11th while descending the Jefferson River, Clark sent out Colter, Collins, Willard, and Gibson to hunt. All of them brought in game for the party.  Clark called them four of the best hunters.
         Ordway had with him in the canoes, the men who would descend the Missouri from the three forks. He took Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, Howard, LePage, Potts, Weiser, Whitehouse, and Willard.  Ordway, Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, and Willard all carried their rifles.  Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, and Willard did the hunting for Ordway’s party all the way from the three forks to the lower camp at the falls. On July 13th, 1806, Ordway left the three forks to descend the Missouri while Clark’s party went overland to the Yellowstone.
          Clark’s party had the balance of thirteen personnel who would travel overland from three forks to the Yellowstone River. He also took along forty-nine horses and a colt. Included in the party were York, Charbonneau, Sacajawea, Pomp, Pryor, Shannon, Shields, Gibson, Labiche, Windsor, Hall, and Bratton.  Windsor and Hall carried muskets, Bratton probably carried Clark’s fusil or one from the inventory list from the coast. Charbono’s firearm is unknown. He probably carried one of Clark’s when needed.  The other enlisted men carried rifles.
          Clark chose his personnel so that, if they met the Crow Indians along the way, he would have Sacajawea, Charbono, and Labiche as interpreters.  He took Bratton because he might need the medical attention that Ordway could not provide.  By that time Lewis had taken his party up the Marias and would not have been available to administer medicine. Pryor and Shannon and Windsor were specifically chosen to take the horses overland to Fort Mandan. Hall was soon also sent with Pryor. Labiche, Shields, and Gibson were the designated hunters for Clark’s remaining party of nine. Before Pryor’s party separated from Clark’s, they all stopped to make two canoes, which Clark then utilized to construct a catamaran which better suited their needs.
            Of Clark’s party, Bratton, Hall, and Windsor were the non-hunters.  Bratton set some traps near the mouth of the Yellowstone, but most of the way, he was too weak to work.  All of the other enlisted men hunted, as did Clark and York. Charbono met with a bad accident when his horse stepped in a hole while he was chasing a buffalo. Gibson also became injured on July 18th and he did not hunt again until the 30th of July.
          On August 3rd, Clark’s party arrived at the mouth of the Yellowstone.  They stayed for two nights before going on. Pryor’s party joined them on August 8th.  Pryor’s party had all their remaining horses stolen on their second night out. They, then, made bull boats to descend the Yellowstone. Shields, Shannon, Gibson, and Labiche then did all the hunting up to the time Lewis’s party caught up to them.
          As regards Lewis's party, they reunited on July 28th and, after opening the caches at Decision Point and stripping metal from the rotted red pirogue, proceeded down the Missouri.  Gass and Willard hunted and brought the horses and the meat from the Lower Camp.  Ordway brought the balance of fourteen personnel in the White Pirogue and five canoes from the Lower Camp to Camp Disappointment. The combined parties consisted of twenty men, eight of whom had Harpers Ferry rifles.  They also had the two cached muskets and the gun Lewis brought from the encounter on the Marias.
            Howard and Frazer were named as hunters on July 28th and 29th.  Howard brought down two deer on the 28th and Frazer killed a buffalo with his musket on the 29th. When they left Decision Point on July 28th Lewis, Drewyer, Cruzatte, and likely, McNeal, Goodrich, Thompson, Werner, and the injured Weiser manned the White Pirogue. There were three small canoes all manned by hunters and two large canoes.
           The Field brothers were in one small canoe and Collins and Colter were in the other small canoe. Ordway and Willard were in a little larger canoe. Likely, Gass, LePage, and Frazer manned one large canoe.  Likely, Potts would be in charge of the other large canoe since he was one of the best canoe handlers. He probably would have had Whitehouse and Howard with him.
           Ordway hadn’t hunted for a long time, but teamed with Willard to kill a bear.  Both of them carried rifles.  Colter and Collins in one canoe and the Field brothers in another were sent ahead of the party to hunt most days.
Drewyer killed a doe on August 3rd, the first day he was reported hunting after the encounter with the young warriors.  Lewis, Drewyer, and the Field Brothers had just completed a grueling ride on horses a few days earlier. It is amazing that any one of them could walk with ease let alone go hunting.                  Lewis’s party arrived at the mouth of the Yellowstone on the 7th. Drewyer hunted again on the 8th.  On the 11th of August, Lewis and Cruzatte pursued a herd of elk and Cruzatte accidentally shot Lewis because of the thick brush and his limited vision. When Lewis and Cruzatte got back to the White Pirogue, Gass dressed Lewis’s wound.
           On the 12th of August, Lewis’s party caught up with Clark and the Corps was united. Lewis’s party readjusted loads and people when they met  Clark. There were five men assigned to oar the White Pirogue since none of these men were hunters.  Clark came aboard the White Pirogue to attend to Lewis.  York probably came with Clark along with, possibly, the Charbono family.  The assigned boat crew stayed on the white Pirogue and the balance of Clark's party manned the catamaran. Possibly, two or three men were placed in canoes. The next day, Clark and Drewyer walked on the shore to hunt.  The party arrived at the Mandan Villages on August 14, 1806.

 

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In the Bosom of Friends

5/2/2022

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                                       The Lewis and Clark Expedition
                                Small Arms, Personnel, and Miscellany
                                                     by Walt Walker

               A 9 part series examining details of the men and their guns

Chapter 7; Time to Leave
          
          On March 23rd, 1806, the Corps departed for home. Drewyer and the Field brothers had been sent ahead to hunt from a small canoe on March 22nd. As the party proceeded up the Columbia, Willard and Bratton were still in a weakened state.  However, by the 29th Willard had recovered.
          The corps had two  Indian-made canoes.  They were for Pryor’s squad. Pryor’s canoes were manned by Pryor, Shields, Whitehouse, Weizer, Cruzatte, Labiche, and Howard.  Gibson’s canoe had Gibson, Collins, Shannon and Colter. Up ahead there was the small canoe with Drewyer and the Field brothers. There were nineteen people left for the other canoes, including Charbono’s family. The three other large canoes would have been capable of carrying six to seven people each. York was probably in Clark’s canoe. Seaman was probably in Lewis’s canoe.  Baggage and other personal gear were probably distributed among the canoes not designated for the hunters.  Going upriver, they were not walking on land.  The hunters sent out were the good hunters. All met at their canoes and no one was left behind to catch up.
          On the 31st the Corps arrived at the Quicksand River and set up camp for several days. Again, parties were sent out to hunt.  Gass, Windsor, and Collins were among one party of five. Drewyer and the Field brothers were with a party of four also sent to the south side of the Columbia.  Gibson, Shannon, and one other,   were sent to the north side.
          Clark took a pilot, Cruzatte, Weiser, Thompson, Howard, Potts, York and Whitehouse to examine the Multnomah River.  Colter, Willard and Labiche were likely sent to hunt with the parties on the south side. The balance of the party stayed with Lewis in the camp on the north side.
          On April 4th, Gibson, Shannon, Howard, and Weiser were sent ahead to hunt.  On the 5th, Drewyer and the Field brothers were sent to join Gibson’s party.  The main party left the Quicksand River on the 6th of April. On that day Frazer used his musket to kill a grouse. On April 20th, Lewis bought a gun from the chief of the Skillute Tribe. On the 29th Lewis gave one of his personal cased pistols and ammunition to one of Wallowah chiefs.
          By the 12th of May, the party encountered the Nez Perce and Lewis gave the gun he purchased on April 20th along with powder and ball to Twisted Hair, by a previous agreement with Twisted Hair to look after the Corp’s horses over the winter. During this time, Pryor was named a hunter on May 16th and LePage on the 18th. Whether the captains gave Twisted hair another promised gun is unknown as Twisted hair did not deliver on his promise to move his abode next to Lewis and Clarks’ Camp and no mention was made of the second gun.  Twisted Hair had men deliver the balance of the horses on May 31st.  He was missing two horses that had been taken by Toby, the Shoshone guide, after Toby and his son left the Corps in 1805.
 
Chapter 8; Back to Buffalo Country
 
          On June 10th, 1806, the corps left Camp Choppunish and headed to Travelers’ Rest.  The usual hunters were sent out. On June 16th, Windsor burst his rifle barrel and he is never named as a hunter for the rest of the trip home. On June 18th, the captains sent a rifle back with Drewyer and Shannon to entice the Nez Perce guides to come up more quickly to conduct them over the Lolo Trail. Gass and the Field brothers were sent forward to hunt on the 21st. On the 22nd, all hands who could hunt were sent out. The guides arrived with Drewyer and Shannon on June 23rd and all the party arrived at Travelers’ Rest on June 30th. 
          At that point, on July 1st, Shields set to work repairing guns. Windsor’s rifle was fixed and was traded for the gun previously given to one of the Indian guides.  On July 2nd, the second promised gun, a rifle also shortened by Shields, was given to the guides.  An inventory at this point of the trip would show 13 of the contract Harpers Ferry rifles, at least one gun of the two guns listed in inventory on the coast, and 14 muskets. One musket had been traded the previous fall for a horse and two muskets were cached at Decision Point.
          Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, the Field brothers, Gass, Gibson, Labiche, Pryor, Shields, Shannon and Willard actively hunted and would continue to do so. These hunters accounted for twelve of the thirteen rifles.  Ordway had the thirteenth.  Bratton had been disabled since February and didn’t hunt again until August 28th, 1806, when he and Frazer hunted prairie dogs.
Bratton’s rifle might have been the first gun given the Indian guides while Windsor’s damaged and then shortened rifle was traded to the guides for that first rifle (Bratton’s). That first rifle was then given to the other hunter who had a damaged gun that Shields fixed by shortening the barrel. The newly fixed gun was given to one of the Indian guides.

 
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Fort Clatsop

4/25/2022

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Lewis and Clark Expedition
Small Arms, Personnel and Miscellany
By Walt Walker
 
Chapter 6:  Fort Clatsop and Winter
                                                                                                                                                   
          Crossing over to the Southside of the Columbia, Lewis left the camp on November 29th to look for game and a site for the winter quarters.  He took Drewyer, Colter, R. Field, Shannon, and Labiche with him. All of these men were hunters, four of the seven best with Labiche being the best fowler.  Drewyer killed an elk on the 1st of December and J. Field from Clark’s party killed one on the 2nd of December. These two elk were the first the party killed since they came over Lolo Pass. Gibson and Pryor killed two more while York was sent out to fish and hunt fowl. One of the men York surely took with him was Silas Goodrich, an excellent fisherman.
          Importantly, a list of supplies and compass directions to various points around the mouth of the Columbia and estuary was inserted between mileages on the Columbia from TIMM to Cape Disappointment. This list included two guns, one of which they found in the mountains above the falls of the Missouri.
          Charbono lost his fusil in a flash flood near the Great Falls and Clark traded one of the men’s muskets to the Shoshone for a horse.  Clark gave the man his fusil to use temporarily.  Clark later noted that Charbono hunted buffalo on the Yellowstone.  It is questionable as to what gun he used.  It would not have been a government issue. Clark must have traded Goodrich’s musket since Goodrich only liked to fish and not hunt. Muskets, not being rifled, could be used by the fowlers.  Collins was known to hunt fowl with a musket, which would indicate that the prior-enlisted men also likely kept their issued muskets along with their rifles. 
          Collins, Windsor, Ordway, and Gass were all named as hunters some time on the expedition with Collins being near Drewyer in hunting prowess.  Notable, also, is that at least until this time, the captains sent out only the men who were noted as hunters.  Frazer appears only to have hunted with his musket and other prior-enlisted men shot game and fowl from their canoes. Later, however, while wintering at Fort Clatsop, several nonhunters occasionally hunted with the regular hunters.  Hunting was very hard work and these nonhunters were mostly used to help retrieve downed game and perform garrison duties.  All the sergeants hunted, with Gass doing the most because Pryor had been assigned duties to keep him from dislocating an injured shoulder and Ordway, as the first sergeant, had charge of all the enlisted men.
            All the riflemen from Kentucky hunted during their stay at Fort Clatsop although Gibson and Bratton became disabled for a long time. Bratton’s illness even kept him disabled and weak on the return trip. He recovered somewhat at the Yellowstone and was mentioned as trapping.  He was sent out hunting again well below the Teton Sioux on the Missouri in 1806.  
          It is difficult to know which of the fifteen prior-enlisted men did not have a musket, but Goodrich seems the likely candidate.  LePage was listed as hunting often during the latter days at Fort Clatsop since Bratton, Willard, and Gibson were ill.  He also hunted at Camp Choppunish.  LePage is not listed as hunting after Travelers’ Rest. Frazer also did some hunting at Fort Clatsop. However, some of his behavior during his trip with Clark from the whale site might have limited his full participation, even though he was a good hunter.
          Potts was sent out with Collins and R. Field on the 26th of December to hunt and the party returned on January 3rd.  Drewyer and LePage set out to hunt and trap on January 17 and returned on January 24th.  Drewyer and LePage again set out to hunt on January 28th and returned on February 3rd.  Drewyer killed seven elk on this trip.  The two hunters set out again on February 4th and returned on February 9th.  Collins and Weiser hunted on February 9th and 10th.  Gass, R. Field, and Thompson set out to hunt on February 11th and returned on the 17th.  On February 15th, Drewyer and Whitehouse left to hunt and returned on the 17th.  John Thompson and R. Field hunted from the 17th to the 18th of February.  R. Field and Thompson again hunt from March 12th to March 14th. 
          In their account of the time at Fort Clatsop, the captains each said that most of the party had become experts using their rifles. The above-listed men who were not regularly mentioned as hunters might have used the rifles issued to the hunters, but once a man is issued a firearm by the army, he is responsible for its use, care, and maintenance. While at Fort Clatsop, the captains might have pulled one or some of the rifles back into company inventory to be signed out as needed. An arrangement like this would make sense since most of the men had become experts with the rifle.
          Labiche lost the front site of his gun causing him to miss several shots at elk on March 15th, thus proving he had one of the rifles. Ordway is never named as a hunter in the time at Fort Clatsop.  He does leave the fort, but for other reasons. Pryor didn’t hunt, but it may be to keep from reinjuring his shoulder.  Bratton and Gibson did not hunt again while at Fort Clatsop after their illnesses occurred.  Shields hunted late in the Corps residency at Fort Clatsop, but I believe he was needed at the fort to keeps the guns in working order. Since there were now many excellent hunters in residence, he was not utilized to hunt. Shields was an excellent hunter and would have been ranked with the best had he hunted more.
          Other than one extended foray, Gass usually attended to other duties at the fort including being in charge of the parties bringing in meat from the hunters’ kills.  Cruzatte is not mentioned as hunting.  Nor were Goodrich, Hall, McNeal, and Werner. The captains actually call Werner and Howard, “not good woodsmen”.  Willard cut his knee badly with his tomahawk so he didn’t hunt at Ft. Clatsop after that time.
          Willard returned from the Saltworks on February 10th.  He was badly injured and reported Bratton to be very sick and Gibson to be so sick that he could not sit up, stand or walk alone.  Pryor and four men went to the Saltworks to bring back Bratton, Gibson, Colter, and Weiser.  They returned with Gibson and Bratton. The Saltworks was closed down and the rest of the men returned to Fort Clatsop with salt kettles, etc.  On the 26th of February, Drewyer took Cruzatte and Weiser up the Columbia to get sturgeon and anchovies. They returned on March 2nd with a good supply.
 
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The Unknown

4/18/2022

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                                        The Lewis and Clark Expedition
                                  Small Arms, Personnel, and Miscellany
                                                            By Walt Walker                     
 
                          A nine-part series examining some details of the
                 Corps of Discovery to make the Expedition more personal
 
Chapter 4:  Into the Unknown
 
            The Expedition left Fort Mandan on April 7,1805, using six canoes they had built over the winter and the Red and the White pirogues and sent the keelboat, commanded by Corporal Warfington, with his crew and some passengers to St. Louis. Until April 16th, the party found that game was scarce along the river due to the number of Hidatsa and Assiniboine winter camps all along the way.  The game was extremely wary after being chased all winter by the tribesmen. At one point, the captains sent out ten hunters and none were able to shoot any game. When the Corps was able to get an animal, it was in poor condition after coming through the bitter winter and had not had enough time to restore its condition during spring feeding.
        After the 16th they began to encounter more game for their meat supplies and hunters were sent out more frequently. On one of those hunts on the 21st, Potts killed a buffalo calf. Buffalo calves and beaver became the preferred meats on this leg of the journey.  Potts and Drewyer were the only hunters mentioned by name, other than the captains.  Lewis wrote on April 27th, as the Corps was passing the mouth of the Yellowstone River, that he thought two hunters could supply a regiment with provisions from this area. Lewis and Drewyer made the party’s first grizzly bear kill on the 29th and Clark and Drewyer make the second kill on May 5th.  These grizzly bears were the first two of forty that the Corps would kill on their way. All but the last bear were killed in present-day Montana and Idaho. The 40th bear was killed near present-day Williston North Dakota on August 5th, 1806. Most were taken by rifle, but muskets were also used.
           From the Yellowstone to the Musselshell River, the hunters mentioned by name were Gibson, Bratton, Shields, J. Field, Labiche, Drewyer, Shannon, and the captains.  After the Musselshell, the game became scarce until after the party passed the White Cliffs and traveled on to the Marias River.  Bratton, Drewyer, Charbono, and the captains were the hunters mentioned by name on this leg.
          Here, at the mouth of the Marias River, also called Decision Point, the Field brothers, Pryor, Gass, Drewyer, Shannon, Shields, Windsor, Cruzatte, LePage, York, and the captains divided into two parties to explore up the Missouri and up the Marias trying to determine which branch was the true Missouri River. Note that all of these men were hunters and all carried rifles, except maybe LePage. After it was decided that the south branch was the Missouri the Corps drew the red pirogue out of the water and secured it between trees. Two muskets were cached near the Marias with other items. These were the muskets that had been issued to Leekens and Reed. Lewis took Drewyer, J. Field, Gibson, and Goodrich by land to find the falls, to confirm that this was the way. Hunters mentioned were Drewyer, the Field brothers, Gibson, Frazer, Shannon, Willard, and Colter.
          The White Pirogue was cached near the Lower Camp below Portage Creek and the canoes were portaged. On the portage past all of the falls of the Missouri, until the Corps reached the Upper Camp and later, the Canoe Camp nearby (where two more canoes were built). Drewyer, the Field brothers, Shannon, Willard, Shields, Gass, York, Ordway, and the captains were mentioned as hunting.   
         On July 15th, 1805, the Corps departed the Canoe Camp in eight canoes. They continued to find game plentiful with the captains and Drewyer being the named hunters.  As the party proceeded upriver into the mountains, the game became scarce. At one of their stops on July 22nd, they found a fusil, to be added to their inventory.  Clark went ahead onshore with York, Potts, and J. Field to, hopefully, find the Lemhi Shoshone.  They hunted as they went.  Then Clark changed his crew and took J. and R. Field, Frazer, and Charbono with him on land. Drewyer hunted on his own. 
            On July 30th, the Corps proceeded on from the Three Forks to find the headwaters of the Missouri, the Shoshone Indians, and a route to the Pacific Ocean.  Lewis took Drewyer, Charbono, and Gass by land.  Hunters included the captains, Drewyer, and the Field brothers.  On August 6th, one canoe overturned, and several articles were lost including a shot pouch and implements for one rifle. Two more canoes filled with water with Joseph Whitehouse thrown out and injured when one canoe passed over him. The next day they cached one of the canoes near the mouth of the Wisdom River.
            On the 10th, Lewis and his party including Drewyer, Shields, and Hugh McNeal (the cook) arrive at the future site of Camp Fortunate.  The game has not been plentiful for them.  Clark, with the remaining fourteen hunters and the rest of the party, did not arrive until August 17th.  Collins, Colter, and the Field brothers had been sent out in advance to hunt as standard procedure since leaving the Three Forks up to reaching Camp Fortunate. Leaving there, all of the hunting was done by men with the Harpers Ferry rifles from Camp Fortunate to the Canoe Camp on the Clearwater in Nez Perce country. Frazer, however, continued to hunt with his musket.  While ascending the Jefferson and Beaverhead rivers to Camp Fortunate several musket men, along with the regular rifle hunters, took game along the river as well as in the river. The rifle hunters were able to hunt the ground further away from the water.
          At Camp Fortunate and upon meeting the Shoshone Tribe, the party started trading for horses.  Clark traded a pistol, balls, powder, and a knife for a horse on the 29th of August.  The next day, he traded a fusil to a soldier for the man’s musket which Clark then traded for a horse. After they met the Tushepaws, the hunters procured enough game for their immediate needs until they traveled up and over the pass on the trail from Travelers Rest.
 
Chapter 5:  Ocean in View
 
          The party had to kill three colts and a horse to survive on the trek through the mountains to Nez Perce country. Here, the hunters took some game.  However, after leaving the Canoe Camp on the Clearwater River, where they built five canoes, large game was not to be found all the way to the Columbia River and below. They took some waterfowl and some upland birds.  However, they did not take enough to feed the party, so they had to trade for salmon and dogs to subsist.  Labiche, noted for taking waterfowl, used his fusil since the party had at least one canister of shot and some shot pouches.  
          It was not until the party reached The Dalles that they were able to successfully hunt deer.  From the Dalles, nearing the Quicksand River, several of the men traveled out hunting while the men left in camp shot several geese flying overhead.  Collins and the Field brothers killed waterfowl as did the captains but not any big game.
        Passing through the coastal mountain ranges, the thickness of the vegetation prevented hunting on foot.  The hunters took only waterfowl from there to the coast. Initially, the Corps reached the mouth of the Columbia on the north side and sent out hunters and fowlers.  Labiche was the best fowler and Collins was also very good.  Several riflemen and musket men were also good fowlers. 
          Whenever the party went to explore on foot, all the party was considered to be on the hunt.  Clark would probably not have relied on Peter Weiser or Charbono given that he had six of the seven best hunters with him on his tour of the coast north from Cape Disappointment. Lewis had previously made a similar tour and was in camp with the rest of the party. Colter stayed in camp along with the only other hunters: Shields, Cruzatte, Frazer, and Gass. There were, possibly, some other fowlers among the men who stayed.

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Winter Camp

4/11/2022

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                             The Lewis and Clark Expedition
                     Small Arms, Personnel, and Miscellany
                                             By Walt Walker                     
 
                A nine-part series examining some details of the
        Corps of Discovery to make the Expedition more personal
 
Chapter 3:  Up the Missouri to Fort Mandan and Winter Camp

 
            Pierre Cruzatte and Francois Labiche came aboard at St. Charles, their dates of enlistment being the same, May 16, 1804. They each had been recruited earlier. They were issued rifles and each also brought their “fuzees”, being cited as fowlers much later.
        The Captains issued orders on the 26th of May,1804 directing each squad to form only one mess.  Hall and Howard were removed from Pryor’s squad.  Hall was assigned to Ordway’s squad and Howard was unassigned.  
The three sergeants’ duties were issued for the management of the Batteaux and the men.  Cruzatte and Labiche were directed to be bowsman and larboard oarsman on alternate days.  One man from the rowing crew, excepting Howard and the two bow and two stern oarsmen, would be furnished daily to assist the men in the White Pirogue.  With these duties, the sergeants, Cruzatte, and Labiche did not have much time to hunt except for the times when the keelboat was stopped for the night or for repairs. The main hunters mentioned in this first part of the voyage were the Field brothers, Drouillard, Shields, and Collins.  Usually, two or three hunters went out at a time because most men were needed to man the keelboat. The Kentucky men and the two soldiers, Collins and Willard, were the hunters on this leg.
          Reed deserted on August 4th, 1804.   He stole a Harpers Ferry rifle, shot pouch, powder, and ball.  When he was caught and confessed on August 18th he was expelled from the party. However, he was kept on to be returned with Warfington’s party in 1805.
            After Floyd’s death on August 20th, 1804, Patrick Gass was chosen by a large majority of the men to take his place on August 22nd, 1804.  This was accomplished by orders dated August 26th, 1804. Floyd’s death left one extra rifle.  Gass was issued this rifle.
           From this time until the party arrived at the Mandan Villages, Gass and Howard were added to the list of hunters. However, the Field brothers, Shields, Colter, the captains, and Drouillard continued to do most of the hunting. On the 8th of October 1804, Frazer, in the return party, was transferred to the permanent party in John Newman’s place.
         From September 24 through October 5 the Corps was travelling through Teton Sioux territory and did not hunt because of perceived hostilities from the Teton. After they passed into Aricara territory they resumed hunting and once beyond the Aricaras' villages game became plentiful again. By the time they reached the Heart River at present day Bismarck game was scarce again. From there to the Mandan villages they encountered several tribal hunting parties and did not hunt again until building and settling in to winter quarters near the Mandan villages. They hunted the same territory between the Mandan villages and the Heart River over the course of the winter, most of it done from 30 to 50 miles below Fort Mandan.
            Once the site of the fort at the Mandan Villages was chosen, the work began on the 2nd of November, 1804. Most of the men were engaged in building and finishing the fort for most of November. Willard, Shields, and Bratton, all of whom were blacksmiths, were likely retained to help build the fort. Shields was also a carpenter as was Gass and they were needed at the fort. The sergeants and all the other enlisted men would also be needed. The blacksmiths were kept busy all winter making items to trade for food and making repairs as needed.  Drouillard, Cruzatte, and Labiche's interpretive skills were needed throughout the winter. Several of the men became ill from colds, etc. and the very cold weather for most of November kept the men inactive at times.  
          Six men, most likely the Field Brothers, Colter, Collins, Gibson, or Shannon and including Drewyer were sent out on November 3rd to hunt downriver. These men were the best hunters. The hunters were successful because the game was more plentiful far away from habitations and the severe cold kept the meat from spoiling. The hunters went on forays for days at a time as the game was not to be found nearby. The hunters harvested large quantities of game.
          Of the aforementioned prior-enlisted men, only Collins and Willard were excellent hunters but Willard's blacksmithing duties kept him from hunting. The other prior-enlisted men’s participation was not significant. Each of the three sergeants hunted, but only Gass was mentioned as being on more than one of the hunting forays from Fort Mandan.  Some of the hunting parties were very large and consisted of the hunters with rifles and other men with their muskets.
          Over the winter at Fort Mandan, the Corps enlisted a Frenchman named Jean Baptiste LePage who had been living in the Hidatsa villages. LePage was enlisted to replace Reed. He didn’t seem to have any particular ties to the villages, so he most likely brought his personal firearm, either a rifle or a fuzee. He was cited as hunting elk later, so he might have had his own rifle. LePage was enlisted to be a laborer and also because of his knowledge of some of the country into which they would be traveling.
          He was rarely listed as hunting until late winter and spring at Fort Clatsop and, again, in the Nez Perce country in 1806. When the Corps returned to the Mandan villages in 1806, LePage continued on with them to St. Louis.
          The Corps also hired Toussaint Charbonneau (aka: Charbono) as an interpreter.  He was accompanied by one of his Shoshone wives, Sacacawea and their child, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (Pomp). 

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Basic Training

4/4/2022

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                              The Lewis and Clark Expedition
                        Small Arms, Personnel, and Miscellany
                                                     By Walt Walker                     
 
              A nine-part series examining some details of the
      Corps of Discovery to make the Expedition more personal
 
Chapter 2:  Basic Training

 
          Lewis reported himself as doing some squirrel hunting coming down the Ohio in 1803.  Nathaniel Pryor hunted for a couple of days on the voyage up the Mississippi near Cape Girardeau. Lewis reported that while coming down the Ohio, the rifles (contract rifles modified at the Harpers Ferry Arsenal and in this writing: aka Harpers Ferry rifles) needed attention from getting wet even though they had been wrapped in oilcloth. From this report and the winter spent at Camp Dubois, it is difficult to determine exactly when the Harpers Ferry rifles were issued to the troops.
            Clark mentioned several times after January 1st, 1804, that the men were shooting at a mark and in contests with the country people around Camp Dubois. Deer was the only big game taken that winter. Turkeys, grouse, and some waterfowl were taken frequently. The men were not having to “live off the land” yet.  They had sufficient provisions, including butter, available to them. Even at that, the men who would become the party’s main hunters began to stand out.  Drouillard was already known to be an outstanding hunter. Reuben Field, John Collins, John Colter, George Gibson, John Shields, and Joseph Field began to show their prowess, while George Shannon (the youngest of the party) would develop later as an excellent hunter.  Shannon was only eighteen at this early stage and was a novice compared to the others. Richard Windsor would also later become a good hunter. Alexander Willard was not mentioned as a hunter but later became an excellent hunter. Nathanial Pryor and Charles Floyd also hunted but Clark used them more for other duties developing their skills in order to promote them to sergeants later on that winter or spring.  John Ordway was a sergeant and sometimes hunter, but he usually had other duties.  William Werner, Hugh Hall, and John Thompson appeared to have a knack for trapping rabbits and Moses Reed later developed into a good hunter.
            Clark reported giving out the knives, tomahawks, etc. to the men on the 6th of April.  Whether that meant that the rifles were issued to the hunters at the same time is hard to tell.  On the 10th of May, Clark ordered the men with rifles to have a hundred balls for their rifles and two pounds of buckshot for those men with muskets and fusils (also called “fuzees”). Clark reported that, on the 14th of May, the men had powder, cartridges (for the muskets), and each issued a hundred balls.
            Muskets carried by the men transferred from other army units could use buckshot for birds or use a single ball at close range for the deer-sized game to be had from the wooded country around Camp Dubois. Fusils could use either a round ball or buckshot. The French engaged for the mission carried fusils.
          So, the question to be asked is: Did the men from Kentucky use their own rifles and/or fusils before finally getting issued the Harpers Ferry rifles? The other question without an answer yet is: “Did some of the soldiers transferred into the corps have contract rifles issued from their former companies or did these men all bring muskets with them? And, finally, the soldiers who were discharged (Leekins for theft and, later, Reed for desertion) would have been stripped of all firearms and accouterments. Such arms would have been retained by the captains and probably were the two muskets cached at Decision Point to be picked up on the return trip in 1806.
          Looking into this background, I am going to assume that, as the Corps departed Camp Dubois on May 14th, 1804, the recruits from Kentucky: William Bratton, Colter, J. Field, R. Field, Floyd, Gibson, Pryor, Shannon, and Shields were the men issued the Harpers Ferry rifles.
          Further, the soldiers who transferred to the Corps brought their issued muskets with them since none of the men came from rifle companies. This does not answer the question of whether any of these men brought private firearms with them.
          All of the men designated for the return trip with the keelboat and under the command of Corporal Warfington were soldiers and carried muskets, including Robert Frazer, who later became part of the permanent party.  Pierre Cruzatte and Francois Labiche, enlisted as boatmen and interpreters, might have brought their personal firearms since Labiche was cited as being the best fowler while at Fort Clatsop and that meant that he used a fusil (fuzee).   Both of these men were also hunters of big game. Neither of them hunted much before Fort Mandan. They were kept busy with the keelboat. 
            Upon departure from Camp Dubois, the nine men from Kentucky carried issued rifles.  Also, four rifles were issued to Sgt. Ordway, Collins, Willard, and Windsor, with the two extra rifles being carried as Corps supplies along with the Leekens’ musket. All sixteen soldiers assigned to the permanent party carried their muskets.  Thus, there were fifteen Harpers Ferry contract rifles along with seventeen muskets in the company’s inventory of government guns. (16)

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16. Norm Flayderman: “Flayderman’s Guide to Antique Firearms. 8th edition, page 499 IX-B “Secondary Military Firearms”

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