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LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION. Little Was Known About Western America When The Lewis And Clark Expedition Set Out In 1804. Twelve
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| Term Paper Title | LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION. Little Was Known About Western America When The Lewis And Clark Expedition Set Out In 1804. Twelve |
| # of Words | 2308 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 9.23 |
LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION. Little was known about western America when the Lewis and Clark Expedition set out in 1804. Twelve years earlier Captain Robert Gray, an American navigator, had sailed up the mouth of the great river he named the Columbia. Traders and trappers reported that the source of the Missouri River was in the mountains in the Far West. No one, however, had yet blazed an overland trail.
President Thomas Jefferson was interested in knowing more about the country west of the Mississippi. In 1803, two years after he became president, he asked Congress for $2,500 for an expedition.
To head the expedition, Jefferson chose his young secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis. Lewis invited his friend Lieutenant William Clark to share the leadership. Both were familiar with the frontier and with Indians through their service in the army. (See also Lewis, Meriwether; Clark, William.)
Before Lewis and Clark set out, word came that Napoleon had sold an immense tract of land to the United States (see Louisiana Purchase). The expedition would therefore be exploring American territory.
Plans for the expedition were carefully laid. The party was to ascend the Missouri to its source, cross the Continental Divide, and descend the Columbia River to its mouth. In preparation for the historic journey, Lewis studied map making and learned how to fix latitude and longitude. In the winter of 1803-04 the expedition was assembled in Illinois, near St. Louis. The party consisted of the two leaders, Lewis and Clark; 14 soldiers; nine frontiersmen from Kentucky; two French boatmen; and Clark's servant, York.
On May 14, 1804, the explorers started up the Missouri in a 55-foot (17-meter) covered keelboat and two small craft. On July 30 they held their first powwow, or meeting, with Indians at a place the explorers named Council Bluff. (Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the river from the site, perpetuates the name with the slight change.) On October 26 they reached the camps of the Mandan Indians.
On a site close to present-day Stanton, N.D., the explorers built Fort Mandan and spent the winter. It was here that they hired Toussaint Charbonneau, a French interpreter, and his Indian wife, Sacagawea, the sister of a Shoshone chief. While at Fort Mandan, Sacagawea gave birth to a baby boy. This did not stop her from participating in the group. She carried the child on her back for the rest of the trip. As an Indian interpreter she proved invaluable.
In the spring of 1805 th
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