The same day, in every journal that recorded it.
For dates when two or more expedition journalists were writing, this database compares what each preserved. Analyses are drafted from the cited journal entries, then checked against the quoted text. They sit beside the primary record — they do not replace Gary Moulton’s edition, or reading the journals themselves.
The Silence of Meriwether Lewis: What Clark and the Sergeants Preserved, August 1805–January 1806
Among the unresolved mysteries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, none is more consequential to the historical record than Meriwether Lewis's prolonged silence after August 26, 1805, until he opened Codex J on January 1, 1806. During this stretch —…
Read the analysisFeatured analyses
A curated mix — thematic essays, per-figure deep dives, and rich multi-narrator dates.
Sacagawea: The Shoshone Interpreter of the Corps of Discovery
Sacagawea entered the expedition record indirectly, through her husband. On November 4, 1804, Clark’s journal for that day records that "A Mr. Chaubonee interpreter for the Gross Ventre…
Cameahwait: The Lemhi Shoshone Chief Who Traded Horses
Cameahwait — chief of a band of Lemhi Shoshone encountered west of the Continental Divide in August 1805 — became, in the span of two weeks, a Native…
At the Mouth of the Kansas: Four Pens, One Encampment
The Corps of Discovery laid by at the mouth of the Kansas River on June 28, 1804, to refit the boats, dry stores, and take observations. Four extant…
Camp White Catfish: Instruments, Emissaries, and the First Long Halt
The entries for July 22, 1804 fracture along unusually clean lines. Clark handles the navigational and diplomatic rationale, Lewis devotes the day to a technical disquisition on his…
Three Pens at The Dalles: Diplomacy, Fiddle Music, and a Fish Fried in Bear’s Oil
The Corps of Discovery spent October 26, 1805, encamped below the Celilo Falls portage at the mouth of Mill Creek, drying soaked stores, repairing battered canoes, and receiving…
Three Routes to the Ocean: Diverging Accounts of the Salt-Camp Reconnaissance
The entries of William Clark, Patrick Gass, and John Ordway for December 8, 1805 describe the same coordinated operation — Clark's reconnaissance toward the Pacific shore and a…
Hunger at Canoe Camp: Three Journals, One Empty Kettle
The entries dated October 2, 1805 by William Clark, Patrick Gass, and John Ordway present an unusually instructive cross-narrator puzzle. Two of the three accounts describe the Corps'…
Measuring the Columbia: Three Pens at the Confluence
The entries of Patrick Gass, John Ordway, and William Clark for October 18, 1805, document a single morning at the confluence of the Columbia and the river they…
Thematic essays
Long-form analyses that cut across many dates — diet, illness, language, weather, copying patterns, naming conventions.
Diet Across the Expedition: A Seasonal Analysis
An earlier version of this page said the diet essay could not be written because no journal entries had been supplied. The…
The Silence of Meriwether Lewis: What Clark and the Sergeants Preserved, August 1805–January 1806
Among the unresolved mysteries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, none is more consequential to the historical record than Meriwether Lewis's prolonged…
Shadowing the Sergeant: How Joseph Whitehouse Copied — and Quietly Expanded — John Ordway’s Journal
Among the enlisted journalists of the Corps of Discovery, Sergeant John Ordway and Private Joseph Whitehouse have long been recognized as textually…
Per-narrator studies
One essay for each expedition diarist — their distinctive voice, omissions, recurring themes, and how their writing evolved.
Key figure profiles
Biographical syntheses drawn from journal entries that mention each person or nation.
Auguste Chouteau: St. Louis Patron of the Corps of Discovery
Auguste Chouteau (1749–1829), co-founder of St. Louis and patriarch of its dominant mercantile family, is woven throughout the Lewis and Clark journals…
Cameahwait: The Lemhi Shoshone Chief Who Traded Horses
Cameahwait — chief of a band of Lemhi Shoshone encountered west of the Continental Divide in August 1805 — became, in the…
François Labiche: Hunter, Waterman, and Interpreter of the Corps of Discovery
François Labiche — variously spelled Labieche, Labiech, Labeech, and Labice in the journals — was an enlisted private of the permanent party…
George Catlin in the Lewis & Clark Journal Record
George Catlin (1796–1872) is not mentioned in any entry of the Lewis and Clark journals. The dataset underlying this synthesis contains zero…
George Drouillard: Hunter, Interpreter, and Sign-Talker of the Corps
No member of the Corps of Discovery save the captains themselves appears more frequently in the journals than George Drouillard — variously…
George Shannon: The Youngest Soldier of the Corps of Discovery
George Shannon was, at roughly eighteen years of age, the youngest enlisted member of the permanent party of the Corps of Discovery.…
Hugh McNeal: A Private’s Long March
Hugh McNeal first appears in the expedition record on May 26, 1804, when Captain Lewis issued detachment orders organizing the permanent party…
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau: The Infant Traveler of the Corps of Discovery
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau entered the expedition record on February 11, 1805, when his mother Sacagawea gave birth at Fort Mandan. Meriwether Lewis…
John Colter: The Hunter Who Walked Away From Home
John Colter first appears in the official record on May 26, 1804, when Meriwether Lewis issued detachment orders organizing the Corps into…
John Shields: The Expedition’s Blacksmith and Gunsmith
John Shields was, at thirty-four when the expedition departed, the oldest enlisted man in the permanent party — and one of the…
Ninian Edwards in the Lewis & Clark Journals: A Figure at the Margins of the Record
The corpus of journal entries supplied for this synthesis contains zero references to Ninian Edwards. No narrator — not Meriwether Lewis, William…
Old Toby: The Shoshone Guide Through the Bitterroots
The two journal entries provided for this synthesis (dated September 4 and September 16, 1805) do not mention Old Toby by name.…
Browse by date
859 date-bound analyses, in chronological order.
How these analyses are written
Each analysis is drafted from the primary-source journal entries cited on the page, then checked against the quoted journal text. The comparison is machine-assisted. It is not a substitute for the journals, or for Gary Moulton’s thirteen-volume edition. Date essays compare journalists who wrote on the same day. Thematic and figure essays only hold when those citations are real journal text — not later histories, and not editorial summaries.