The Lewis and Clark Expedition Across Missouri

The Lewis and Clark Expedition Across Missouri. . , William Clark, in command of the boats and men of the future Lewis and Clark Expedition, passed this place on Dec. 7, 1803, on his way to Cahokia, Ill., where he would meet his co-commander, Capt. Meriwether Lewis. On the previous evening, the party camped on the Missouri shore, three quarters of a mile above the mouth of the Meramec River. A hard wind, accompanied by rain, blew all night, and continued the next day. The party pushed off at 7:15 a.m., and made their way up the river in the face of a hard wind. Around 10 a.m., the wind changed to the southeast and, according to Clark, "gave us an opportunity to Sailing.", Four and a half hours of travel brought Clark and his men to the vicinity of today's Jefferson Barracks. This country was described on a map of the period as "Undulated country interspersed with woods and meadows." At noon, just downstream from this site, the wind started to blow violently and took off a mast, possibly of the keelboat (see Clark map)., The last leg of the journey took the flotilla past the small French village of Carondelet, known locally as "Vice Poche," French for empty pockets. At 3 p.m., the party reached the landing for the Illinois town of Cahokia after 13.5 miles of travel. Lewis also arrived at Cahokia that day. He had traveled on horseback from Kaskaskia, Ill., in order to learn if Spanish officials in St. Louis would permit the Lewis and Clark Expedition to winter on the Missouri River. This permission was denied and the expedition spent the winter of 1803-1804 on the American (Illinois) shore at Camp Dubois. , (sidebar:), Jefferson Barracks, Jefferson Barracks, named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson, was established in 1826 to maintain peace between American settlers pouring into the Louisiana Territory and the Native American tribes whose lands were being encroached upon by the new arrivals. Presiding over this tense confrontation was William Clark, who was Superintendent of Indian Affairs - a position he held for 30 years under six presidents. The most tense Indian conflict of Clark's tenure was the Black Hawk War. Clark had long known the fearsome Sauk leader, Black Hawk, and he was familiar with the powerful and warlike affiliated Sauk-Fox tribe. He had seen their war paths while going up the Missouri River in 1804. In 1816, he had forced Black Hawk to sign a treaty surrendering tribal homelands or "blood would be split for their disobedience." , In 1832, the Black Hawk War erupted when a band of Sauk and Fox Indians, led by Black Hawk, attempted to return to former homelands east of the Missouri River. Troops from Jefferson Barracks, including Clark's West Point educated son, Meriwether Lewis Clark, participated in the brutal suppression of the uprising and Black Hawk was brought back to Jefferson Barracks in chains. Thanks in part to Clark's petition for Black Hawk's freedom, Black Hawk was eventually allowed to rejoin his people in Iowa where he lived out the rest of his life on a reservation. Ironically, the two old foes, William Clark and Black Hawk, died within a month of each month in 1838., (quotes:), "A Dark rainey morning with hard wind at N, E, upon which point it blew all the last night accompanyd with rain-- Set out a quarter past 7 oClock, the wind much against us." , William Clark, Dec. 7, 1803, "When I painted this chief, he was dressed in a plain suit of buckskin, with strings of wampum in his ears and on his neck, and held in his hand his medicine-bag, which was the skin of a black hawk, from which he had taken his name, and the tail of which made him a fan, which he was constantly using.", George Catlin., Captions , On Dec. 7, 1803, William Clark stated that a wind came up so violent as to take off one of the Mast's." This is possbily a reference to one of the masts of the keelboat. A doodle on a map by Clark drawn ca. Nov. 25, 1803, clearly suggests that the keelboat had two masts at this time. In late January, while at Camp Dubois, Clark had the keelboat fitted with a single 32-foot tall mast that was jointed so that it could be pivoted to a horizontal position. , This portrait of Black Hawk is a reproduction of a painting by George Catlin done in 1832 while the Sauk leader was imprisoned at Jefferson Barracks.