In 1803, President Jefferson sent a confidential message to congress urging the establishment of Indian trading houses on the United States frontier. Also, he proposed that an exploring party be sent "to trace the Missouri to its source, to cross the Highlands, and follow the best water communication which offered itself from thence to the Pacific Ocean." Congress approved and voted $2,500 "for the purpose of extending the external commerce of the United States." Jefferson chose Meriwether Lewis to head the expedition, and Lewis suggested William Clark as co-leader.[1]
On May 14,
1804, Captain Meritwether Lewis and Lt. William Clark, along with 41 men
began their trek up the Missouri River. Captain Lewis was 29 years old
at the time of the expedition and Clark was 33. Clark was the Map-maker
of the expedition, while Lewis was the Naturalist and Medical expert.
Soldiers
at the time were paid $5.00 per month, plus another $5.00 for clothing.
The military men were incited to sign up for the trip by being offered
double pay, being able to get out of the army when they returned, and received
a gift of several hundred acres of land. Interpreters and boatmen were
the only nonmilitary members as well as York, the personal slave and manservant
of Clark. Lewis also brought along a Newfoundland dog named Seaman.
The expedition
arrived at Kaw's Point on June 26, 1804. Kaw's Point was where the Kansas
River runs into the Missouri River. Kaw's Point, in 1804, was about 1/4
mile up river from its current location. [2]
On June
26, five weeks after leaving St. Charles, the explorers arrived at the
mouth of the Kansas (Kaw) River. They had travelled more than 300 long,
tedious, contrary miles, averaging about 10 miles daily. During spring
freshets the Missouri flood created inland pools where mosquitoes bred
in tremendous numbers. As the party neared the Kansas, Ordway announced:
"Got musquetoes bears [biers] from Capt. Lewis to sleep in." (Ordway, 87)
This bier (or bar), Lewis tells us later, was "made of duck or gauze, like
a trunk to get under" (II, 256)*. [3]
On the day
the explorers first saw the Kansas, Clark wrote that they had encountered
"a great number of Parrot queets" (I, 59). Although more than 500 different
species of typical parrots have been described for the Western Hemisphere,
only one, the Carolina paroquet, Conuropsis carolinensis, inhabited
the eastern part of the United States at that time. This handsome bird,
bright green with yellow head, the size of a mourning dove, ranged from
Florida and Virginia to Wisconsin and Colorado. It moved about in compact
flocks often numbering hundreds. Lewis and Clark were the first to encounter
this colorful bird west of the Mississippi, and thus extend its known range.[4]
"The Countrey
about the mouth of this river is verry fine," (II, 365) Clark wrote about
the site of present-day Kansas City. He measured the width of the rivers;
the Kansas was 230 yards wide, the Missouri 500. Lewis weighed the water
of the two rivers and found the Missouri's to be heavier, meaning it carried
more mud. Still, Clark found "the waters of the Kansas is verry disigreeably
tasted to me." (II, 327)
Desiring to "recruit" the party, Lewis and Clark halted at the mouth of the Kansas for three days. In this period they sunned powder, hunted buffalo, repaired pirogues, dressed deer skins, took equal and meridional altitudes, and built a six foot high redoubt of logs and brush. Though reports had the Kansas Indians out on the plains, it was well to take precautions. The hunters retuned to camp reporting that they had been unable to get within shooting range of buffalo they had seen. Already this magnificent animal (Bison bison), with its characteristic shaggy coat and high-arched shoulders, which once had roamed in great numbers as far east as the Alleghenies and occasionally beyond, had been driven back well beyond the Mississippi. Though Lewis and Clark encountered it here, they had to wait eight more weeks, until August 23, before they succeeded in killing one.[5]
On the evening
of June 28, the party made ready to push back into the river at dawn. But
that night there was a raid on the whiskey supply, serious enough to cause
a delay. Just after midnight, June 28-29, Private John Collins was on guard
duty. He tapped a barrel. Just one little sip wouldn't hurt. Just one more.
Another. Soon he was drunk. Private Hugh Hall came up; Collins offered
him a drink; Hall accepted. Soon they were drunk together. At dawn, the
sergeant-of-the-guard put them under arrest, and shortly thereafter Clark
began drawing up court-martial papers.
While Clark
prepared for the trial, Lewis took advantage of a clear sky and a morning
moon. He measured the distance between the sun and the moon's nearest limb
forty-eight times between 7:06 and 8:57 a.m. He faithfully recorded whatever
he could whenever he could, leaving up to experts back east to work out
the meaning of the figures.
At ll:00
a.m., the court convened agreeable to order. Sergeant Ordway charged Collins
with "getting drunk on his post this morning out of whiskey put under his
Charge as a Sentinal and for Suffering Hugh hall to draw whiskey out of
the Said Barrel intended for the party.
Collins plead "Not guilty!"
The court deliberated, then concluded, "Guilty," and sentenced Collins to one hundred lashed on his bare back.
Hall was charged with "takeing whiskey out of a Keg this morning which was contrary to all order, rule or regulation." (II, 330)
Having seen what happened to Collins, Hall tried a bit of plea-bargaining: "Guilty!"
He was sentenced to receive fifty lashes well laid on.
Lewis and Clark approved the sentence and ordered it carried out at 3:30 p.m. It was, with vigor. Clark noted that "we have always found the men verry ready to punish Such Crimes." (II, 332)
Flogging
was cruel, but not unusual. Slaveholders had seen it all their lives. Officers
in the army saw it done on a regular basis to their own men. In this case,
it fit the need perfectly. It allowed the men to let out their anger in
a direct, physical way. It caused Collins and Hall great pain. But the
expedition didn't lose their services; both men were at the oars--groaning,
but at the oars--that afternoon. After a couple of sleepless nights of
tossing and turning, they would be all right. Besides, there was no guardhouse
on the boat to lock them up in.[6]