May 14, 1804: The Lewis and Clark Expedition begins.
The Corps of Discovery, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, consisted of over four dozen members, a motley group of officers and military men, fur trappers, a blacksmith, a fiddle player, a slave, and a dog named Seaman. They disembarked from Camp Dubois (near Hartford, Illinois) nine weeks after the Louisiana Territory was transferred from France to the United States. One of the expedition members wrote enthusiastically on May 14, the first day of the expedition:
A sense of duty, and of the honour, which would attend the completion of the object of the expedition; a wish to gratify the expectations of the government, and of our fellow citizens, with the feelings which novelty and discovery invariably inspire, seemed to insure to us ample support in our future toils, suffering and dangers.
The group made contact with many Indian tribes, with whom they remained relatively peaceful - save for the Sioux, described by Clark as “vilest miscreants of the savage race”. In the winter of 1804-05, the group met Toussaint Charbonneau and his pregnant Shoshone wife Sacagawea, nicknamed “Janey”. Sacagawea would prove indispensable in the coming years not only as a guide and interpreter, but as a symbol of the peaceful intentions of the expedition. Clark, who was fond of her (and her son), wrote that “a woman with a party of men is a token of peace.”
Other links: A basic timeline of the journey, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (much of it is a description of local geography and flora/fauna).
It’s Lewis and Clark Expedition Anniversary! American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took off from St. Louis, Missouri, on their cross-country exploration on May 14, 1804. They reached the Pacific Ocean in November of 1805 and returned to St. Louis on September 23, 1806.