Creating a Council Ceremony

Creating a Council Ceremony. . Shaded by the keelboat sail, which was used as an awning, Lewis and Clark met with members of the Oto and Missouri tribes. This type of meeting was called a "Council" and this meeting would be the Expedition's first. , Expedition members had looked forward to this meeting with an Indian tribe since they first set out from St. Louis 2 1/2 months earlier. For five days in July, they waited at their camp that they named Camp White Catfish near the mouth of the Platte River, while a search party looked for Indians to invite to a meeting. The search party found Indian villages, but the villages were empty. On July 27, the Expedition left Camp White Catfish, arriving here on July 30. , Finally, on August 2, members of the Ota and Missouri tribes visited the camp and announced they would return the following day for the Council. Expedition members spent the morning of August 3 in last-minute preparations, which included unpacking gifts, putting on their dress uniforms, and raising the American flag. , Once the group gathered, Meriwether Lewis talks for a long time about President Thomas Jefferson's hopes for peace and trading partnerships with the tribes. The chiefs also delivered speeches. All of these speeches needed to be translated between English and Oto and Missouri languages. , A demonstration followed, in which Lewis fired an air gun that he said, "astonished the natives." Lewis and Clark presented gifts, including medals, cloth, gunpowder, whiskey and face paint. Before the Indians left, they smoked a peace pipe and shared food and whiskey with the American visitors. , This ceremony, included speeches, a parade, firing the air gun, and presenting gifts, was repeated as Lewis and Clark continued up the Missouri River and held Councils with a dozen more tribes.