Introduction
François Labiche — variously spelled Labieche, Labiech, Labeech, and Labice in the journals — was an enlisted private of the permanent party of the Corps of Discovery. Of mixed French and Omaha heritage by some accounts (though the journals themselves do not detail his ancestry), he served the expedition as hunter, waterman, and occasional interpreter. The 27 entries in which he is named span from August 1804, near the Otoe country, to late August 1806, on the return journey down the Missouri. Across this record he emerges as one of the steady, useful members of the party — repeatedly entrusted with difficult tasks but rarely the subject of extended commentary.
Pursuit of the Deserters (August 1804)
Labiche first appears prominently in William Clark’s entry of August 7, 1804, when he was sent with a small detachment after Moses Reed, who had deserted, and to seek out the missing La Liberté:
at 1 oClock dispatched George Drewyer, R. Fields, Wm. Bratten & Wm. Labieche back after the Deserter reid with order if he did not give up Peaceibly to put him to Death &c. to go to the Ottoes Village & enquire for La Liberty and bring him to the Mahars Village
(Note that Clark here calls him “Wm.” Labieche; elsewhere the journals consistently treat him as François.) The detachment succeeded in apprehending Reed, though La Liberté escaped them. Clark recorded the partial success on August 17, 1804: “they cought both Deserters, one of them La liberty, got away from them.” Two days later, on August 19, 1804, the party was reunited during the council with the Otoes at which presents were distributed and chiefs named. This early mission established Labiche as a man trusted with consequential, semi-independent assignments.
Hunter on the Columbia (Autumn 1805)
By the time the expedition descended the Columbia, Labiche had become one of the corps’ more productive hunters of waterfowl. Clark’s entry for November 2, 1805, below the Cascades, records a striking single day of fowling:
We Labiech killed 14 Geese & a Brant, Collins one Jos. Fields & R 3 those gees are much Smaller than Common, and have white under their rumps & around the tale
The next day, November 3, 1805, Clark again noted: “This morning Labich killed 3 Geese flying Collins killed a Duck.” His knack for shooting birds on the wing made him valuable on a river where the party’s diet often depended on whatever fowl could be brought down quickly. On November 20, 1805, when Clark returned from his trip to view the ocean, Labiche was again employed in this specialty:
dispatched Labiech to kill Some fowl for our brackfast he returned in about 2 hours with 8 large Ducks
Winter Hunter at Fort Clatsop (January–February 1806)
During the dreary winter at Fort Clatsop, Labiche was repeatedly paired with George Shannon and Reuben Field on extended elk-hunting forays into the Coast Range — the most demanding and important hunting work of the season, since elk meat was the garrison’s staple. Clark’s entry of January 21, 1806 records: “Two of the hunters Shannon & Labieche returned haveing killed three Elk.” The next day, January 22, 1806, “Rieuben Field Shannon and Labiech remained in the woods to hunt.” On January 27, 1806, Shannon reported that he and his companions had killed ten elk, leaving “Labiech & R Field with the Elk.”
The hunting party returned with skins on February 19, 1806, when Sergeant Gass came back “with the flesh of Eight Elk, and Seven Skins haveing left one Skin with Shannon and Labiche who remained over the Netul to Continue the chase.” By February 24, 1806, however, success had run out: “Shannon and Labiche returned in the forenoon, they had killed no Elk, and reported that they believe the Elk have returned from their former haunts and gorn further back in the mountains.” Clark called this “very unwelcom information,” since elk flesh was “our principal dependance for Subsistance.” Labiche’s name in these entries is shorthand for the corps’ food security itself.
The River That Bore His Name
On the return up the Columbia, on April 14, 1806, Clark recorded a small but telling honor — a tributary named for the hunter:
the bead is rock except at the enterence of Labiech’s river which heads in Mt. Hood and like the quick Sand River brings down from thence Vast bodies of Sand
The naming of “Labiech’s river” (later identified by historians with the Hood River drainage) places him among the enlisted men granted such recognition by the captains.
Portage and Horse Duty (April 1806)
At the Long Narrows portage of the Columbia, Labiche was again chosen for special duty. On April 19, 1806, Clark wrote: “I then took Sgt. Pryor, G. Shannon & Crusat & Labiech and went up to the falls.” A few days later, on April 23, 1806, when Toussaint Charbonneau’s horses strayed, Labiche was sent to recover them:
we imedeately dispatch him, R. Fields & Labiech in Serch of the horses… at 10 Shabono and Labiech returned also unsucksessfull they had went on the back trail nearly to the last Village and took a circle around on the hills.
Hunting on the Clearwater (May–June 1806)
While the expedition was detained at Camp Chopunnish waiting for the Bitterroot snows to melt, Labiche was constantly in the field. On May 1, 1806, the captains sent four hunters ahead with orders “to kill every Species of game which they might meet with.” On May 20, 1806, he came in from Collins’s Creek with a mule deer:
at 2 P.M. Labiech Came in with a large Buck of the Mule Deer Speces which he had killed on Collins’s Creek yesterday.
On May 23, 1806, Clark noted the return of “Shannon, Colter, Labiech, Crusatt Lapage and Collins” from the hunt. On May 25, 1806, “Drewyer Labiech and Peter crusatt Set out hunting towards the quarmash grounds.” On May 27, 1806, “Drewyer, Labiech & Crusat return at 4 P.M. with 5 Deer.” And on June 5, 1806, “Reuben Fields, G. Shannon, Labiech, & Collins returned from the chaise and brought with them five deer and a brown Bear.” In every instance Labiche is paired with the corps’ most accomplished hunters — Drouillard, Shannon, Fields, Collins, Cruzatte — confirming his standing among them.
The Return Journey (July–August 1806)
When the expedition divided at Travelers’ Rest, Labiche was assigned to Clark’s detachment. Clark’s roster entry of July 13, 1806, at the Three Forks, names him explicitly:
my party now Consists of the following persons Viz: Serjeant N. Pryor, Jo. Shields, G. Shannon William Bratton, Labiech, Windsor, H. Hall, Gibson, Interpreter Shabono his wife & Child and my man york
On August 12, 1806, after the reunion with Lewis on the Missouri, Clark sent Labiche and Shields to hunt deer in a bottom while waiting for Shannon and Gibson to come up with a missing tomahawk. On August 29, 1806, near the White River in present-day South Dakota, Labiche was again teamed with Shannon and Willard, and waded the White with Willard, reporting it “2 feet water and 200 yards wide” and “nearly as white as milk.” This is the last journal mention of him in the entries provided.
Character in the Record
Labiche appears entirely in William Clark’s hand within these entries — no other narrator is quoted. He is never the subject of disciplinary remark, never sick, never complained of. He is summoned by name when the captains need a man who can shoot accurately, paddle reliably, retrieve stray horses, ford a swollen river, or pursue a deserter. The journals as preserved here say nothing of his speech, his temperament, his French or Omaha relations, or his life before or after the expedition. What they do show, repeatedly, is a man whom Lewis and Clark called upon when something needed doing — and a tributary of the Columbia they thought worthy of his name.
