Building Fort Mandan — John Ordway: October 29, 1804
The captains held a council with chiefs and warriors of the Mandan, Gros Ventre, and Wattasoon nations, opening and closing the meeting with cannon fire. Captain Lewis delivered a speech through an interpreter, and the officers presented each head chief with a medal, flag, suit of clothes, cocked hats, feathers, and assorted goods, naming first and second chiefs for each village. The Mandans received a steel corn mill, which delighted them. Lewis demonstrated his air gun. The chiefs were asked to return the next day with answers about making peace with the Arikaras.
Indians to assemble to day for to hold a Council with our officers.
Specially the chiefs & warries of 3 nat3 at 11 oClock the counsel
commenced a Gun was fired from our Bow peace when our
officers took the chiefs by the hand Cap* Lewis delivered a
Speech to them through Interpreter, & counseled with the
Manden Grovanters & Weta Souix4 nations, the counsel was
ended about 4 oC. P. M. another Gun was fired, & then our
officers Gave the or each head chief a meddel & a flag and made a
l3t & 2nd chief to each village & Gave the head chiefs a Suit of
cloaths and a quantity of Small Goods for their nations, cocked
hats & feathers &. C. &. C. Gave also a Steel corn mill to the
1 This was Rene Jessaume, for whom see post, 163, note 1.
2 In McLean County, one or two miles below the mouth of Knife River.
3 More properly known by the French name, Grosventre.
4 The traveler, Maximilian, questions the correctness of many of the Indian
names given by Lewis and Clark, ascribing them to errors in interpreting.
“Wattasoon” is the more common form of the last name here given.
160 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [Oct. 30
Manden nation which pleased them verry much1 the captains
requested them to assemble again tomorrow if possable to Give
us answer to what we;had-Sd to them respecting makeing peace
with the Rickarees and all other nations & whether they mean to
Go to See their Great father &. C. Cap* Lewis Shot the air Gun
which pleased them much they returned home to their village,
hoisted the flag we Gave them as well as the officers Gave an
american flag for each village &. C. &. C.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Indians were to assemble today to hold a Council with our officers, specifically the chiefs and warriors of three nations. At 11 o'clock the council commenced. A gun was fired from our bow piece, and our officers took the chiefs by the hand. Capt Lewis (Capt. Lewis) delivered a speech to them through an interpreter, and counseled with the Manden (Mandan), Grovanters (Gros Ventres/Hidatsa), and Weta Souix (Wattasoon) nations. The council ended about 4 o'clock P.M., when another gun was fired.
Then our officers gave each head chief a medal and a flag, and made a 1st and 2nd chief to each village. They gave the head chiefs a suit of clothes and a quantity of small goods for their nations, cocked hats and feathers, etc., etc. They also gave a steel corn mill to the Manden (Mandan) nation, which pleased them very much. The captains requested them to assemble again tomorrow if possible, to give us an answer to what we had said to them respecting making peace with the Rickarees (Arikara) and all other nations, and whether they mean to go to see their Great Father, etc. Capt Lewis (Capt. Lewis) shot the air gun, which pleased them much. They returned home to their village and hoisted the flag we gave them, as the officers gave an American flag for each village, etc., etc.
This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.
Entities mentioned in this entry
Auto-extracted from the entry text. Hover any entity for context.
