Lewis/Clark descending Missouri/Yellowstone to reunion — John Ordway: July 28, 1806
Around 9 a.m. the party reunited with Captain Lewis and his three men, who rejoined the main group by horseback after exploring Maria's River. Lewis reported that cloudy weather had prevented longitude observations at his northernmost camp. He recounted a violent encounter with eight Gros Ventre (Blackfeet) Indians, who tried to seize the men's guns at dawn; Reuben Fields stabbed one fatally and Lewis wounded another. Lewis rode 120 miles to rejoin the boats. The group recovered caches at Maria's forks, reunited with Gass and Willard, and pushed on through hail, thunder, and rain, camping under strict guard.
Howard killed two deer, we proceeded on as usal about 9 A. M.
we discovred on a high bank a head Cap* Lewis & the three men
who went with him on horse back comming towards us on N. Side
we came too Shore and fired the Swivell to Salute him & party
we Saluted them also with Small arms and were rejoiced to See
them &C. Cap* Lewis took us all by the hand, and informed us
that they had good Sucksess in going to their journeys end and
crossd a number of branches & forks of Marriohs River and fol-
low11 up a North fork to Latitude [blank in Ms.]1 got his ob-
servations for the Lat but the cloudy weather prevented him from
gitting the Longitude &C. but found it was not much difference
from the Mouth of Morriah they then Set off on their return the
day before yesterday and met with eight of the Grousevauntares
Indians with bows & arrows and 2 guns, they at first appeared
afraid but after a little wrode up and Shook hands with Cap*
Lewis & party and appeared friendly & they desired Cap* Lewis
to go with them to their Nation which they said was under the
blanket Mountn Some distance about 2 days march, but Cap*
Lewis told them that he could not wait but desired them to come
down to the Mouth of Morriah promiseing them the horse if they
would comply but they were afraid of being killed v”by us. they
had upwards of 20 horses but they were ordinary ones or the
most of them, they Camped2 with Cap* Lewis & men as they
expected they were friends, though Cap* Lewis had a watch up
all night, and at day break yesterday morning the eight Savages
Seased all our mens guns and Cap* Lewises also, they Instantly
Sprung up out of their Sleep and Ruben Fields chased an Indian
who Cap* Lewis had made a chief gave him a meddle last evening
1 Wheeler (II, 303) locales this point, where Lewis remained encamped three
davs in the hope of obtaining an observation to determine his position, “on
the Cutbank Fork of Marias River, very close to the in1″ meridian.” It
was in Teton County, eight or ten miles northwest of Blackfoot, a station on
the (‘.real Northern Railway. Because the state of the weather prevented
the desired observations Lewis named the place, Camp Disappointment.
2 The she of this camp, and of the battle of the following morning, was on
Two Medicine River about four miles below the month of Badger Creek.
1806] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL 383
& he was running of[f] with R. Fields and his brothers J° Fields
Guns. Reuben overhalled him [and] caught hold of the 2 guns
had his knife drawn & as he Snatched away the guns perced his
knife in to the Indians heart he drew but one breath the wind of
his breath followed the knife & he fell dead they all Seased their
arms from the Indians and took one of the Indn guns and all their
bows and arrows and their Shields which they were [wear] on
their backs at war. they then went at running after our horses
Cap* Lewis wounded one more badly but the Indn partly raised
and fired back at him but missed him. they cleared out with
Some of our horses and Some of theirs, though Cap* Lewis took
as many as he wanted of theirs and left the rest & made all haste
towards us and had wrode 100 and 20 miles Since yesterday
morning, and [was] much fatigued and turned out the horses in
the plain & threw the Saddles in the River & came on board the
canoes, then we proced on with as much Speed as possable. Soon
overtook the 2 hunters who had killed Several Elk a buffaloe
& one beaver, we now keep to gether and are concerned about
Serg* Gass & willard who went down by land, about 1 P. M.
we arived at the forks of Morriah opened the carshes found all
except 4 Steel traps which were put in a carsh by themselves &
we could not find the place. Some beaver skin and Robes &c.
Spoiled, the other articles all Safe and dry &C. Serg* Gass and
willard joined us with the horses, we left the horses here crossed
to the N. Side found the red perogue Safe but too Rotten to take
down. So we took some of the nailes out of hir and Set out.
Serg* Gass & Willard had killed Several buffaloe and 7 antelopes
as they came down from the falls by land, we Soon had a hard
Shower of rain & large hail. Some larger than a musket Ball
Thunder and high winds a head but we procd on untill evening and
Camped on South Side1 and kept a Strict guard. Collins killed a
buffaloe. we got the best of the meat of it. late in the evening
we had a Shower of rain which lasted about a hour.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Howard killed two deer. We proceeded on as usual. About 9 A.M. we discovered on a high bank ahead Capt Lewis (Capt. Lewis) and the three men who went with him on horseback coming towards us on the north side. We came to shore and fired the swivel gun to salute him and his party. We saluted them also with small arms and were rejoiced to see them, etc. Capt Lewis took us all by the hand and informed us that they had good success in going to their journey's end and crossed a number of branches and forks of Marriohs River (Marias River) and followed up a north fork to a certain latitude. He got his observations for the latitude, but the cloudy weather prevented him from getting the longitude, etc., but he found it was not much different from the mouth of Morriah (Marias).
They then set off on their return the day before yesterday and met with eight of the Grousevauntares Indians with bows and arrows and two guns. They at first appeared afraid, but after a little while rode up and shook hands with Capt Lewis and party and appeared friendly. They asked Capt Lewis to go with them to their nation, which they said was under the Blanket Mountain some distance away, about two days' march. But Capt Lewis told them that he could not wait, and asked them to come down to the mouth of Morriah, promising them a horse if they would comply. But they were afraid of being killed by us. They had upwards of 20 horses, but they were ordinary ones, or most of them. They camped with Capt Lewis and his men, as they expected they were friends, though Capt Lewis had a watch up all night.
At daybreak yesterday morning, the eight Indians seized all our men's guns and Capt Lewis's also. They instantly sprung up out of their sleep, and Ruben Fields (Reuben Fields) chased an Indian whom Capt Lewis had made a chief and given a medal to the evening before, and who was running off with R. Fields's and his brother J. Fields's (Joseph Fields's) guns. Reuben overtook him and caught hold of the two guns. He had his knife drawn, and as he snatched away the guns, he pierced his knife into the Indian's heart. The Indian drew but one breath—the wind of his breath followed the knife—and he fell dead. They all seized their arms from the Indians and took one of the Indian guns and all their bows and arrows and their shields, which they were wearing on their backs at war. They then went running after our horses. Capt Lewis wounded one more badly, but the Indian partly raised himself and fired back at him, but missed him. They cleared out with some of our horses and some of theirs, though Capt Lewis took as many as he wanted of theirs and left the rest, and made all haste towards us. He had ridden 120 miles since yesterday morning, and was much fatigued. They turned out the horses in the plain and threw the saddles in the river and came on board the canoes.
Then we proceeded on with as much speed as possible. We soon overtook the two hunters, who had killed several elk, a buffalo, and one beaver. We now keep together and are concerned about Sergt Gass (Sergeant Gass) and Willard, who went down by land. About 1 P.M. we arrived at the forks of Morriah, opened the caches, and found all except four steel traps, which were put in a cache by themselves and we could not find the place. Some beaver skins and robes, etc., were spoiled, but the other articles were all safe and dry, etc. Sergt Gass and Willard joined us with the horses. We left the horses here and crossed to the north side, found the red pirogue safe but too rotten to take down. So we took some of the nails out of her and set out. Sergt Gass and Willard had killed several buffalo and 7 antelopes as they came down from the falls by land. We soon had a hard shower of rain and large hail, some larger than a musket ball, with thunder and high winds ahead. But we proceeded on until evening and camped on the south side and kept a strict guard. Collins killed a buffalo. We got the best of the meat of it. Late in the evening we had a shower of rain which lasted about an hour.
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