Lewis: May 26, 1804
Captains Lewis and Clark issued detailed detachment orders reorganizing the Corps of Discovery into structured messes and crews. Three squads under Sergeants Floyd, Ordway, and Pryor were assigned to the keelboat, while Patroon Deschamps' engages manned the red pirogue and Corporal Warfington's mess the white pirogue. The orders specified each sergeant's station and duties aboard the boat, established guard procedures and sentinel posts, set rotations for relieving watches, required sergeants to keep daily journals, and laid out a provisioning schedule rotating corn, pork, flour, and meal. Labuche and Cruzatte were designated alternating bowsmen.
Detatchment Orders. May 26th 1804. The Commanding Officers direct, that
the three Squads under the command of Sergts. Floyd Ordway and Pryor
heretofore forming two messes each, shall untill further orders constitute
three messes only, the same being altered and organized as follows (viz)
1 Sergt. Charles Floyd. (1)
Privates:
2 Hugh McNeal
3 Patric Gass
4 Reubin Fields (2)
5 John B Thompson
+ 6 John Newman
7 Richard Winsor
+ Francis Rivet &
8 Joseph Fields (3)
9 Sergt. John Ordway.
Privates.
10 William Bratton (4)
11 John Colter (5)
X 12 Moses B. Reed
13 Alexander Willard
14 William Warner
15 Silas Goodrich
16 John Potts &
17 Hugh Hall
18 Sergt. Nathaniel Pryor. (6)
Privates.
19 George Gibson (7)
20 George Shannon (8)
21 John Shields (9)
22 John Collins
23 Joseph Whitehouse
24 Peter Wiser
F 25 Peter Crusat &
F 26 Francis Labuche
The commanding officers further direct that the remainder of the
detatchmen shall form two messes; and that the same be constituded as
follows. (viz)
Patroon, Baptist Dechamps
Engages
Etienne Mabbauf
Paul Primaut
Charles Hébert
Baptist La Jeunesse
Peter Pinaut
Peter Roi &
Joseph Collin
1 Corpl. Richard Warvington.
Privates.
2 Robert Frasier
3 John Boleye
4 John Dame
5 Ebinezer Tuttle &
6 Isaac White
The Commanding officers further direct that the messes of Sergts. Floyd,
Ordway and Pryor shall untill further orders form the crew of the
Batteaux; the Mess of the Patroon La Jeunesse will form the permanent crew
of the red Perogue; Corpl. Warvington’s mess forming that of the white
perogue.
Whenever by any casualty it becomes necessary to furnish additional men to
assist in navigating the Perogues, the same shall be furnished by daily
detale from the Privates who form the crew of Batteaux, exempting only
from such detale, Thomas P. Howard and the men who are assigned to the two
bow and the two stern oars.For the present one man will be
furnished daily to assist the crew of the white perogue; this man must be
an expert boatman.
The posts and duties of the Sergts. shall be as follows (viz)when
the Batteaux is under way, one Sergt. shall be stationed at the helm, one
in the center on the rear of the Starboard locker, and one at the bow. The
Sergt. at the helm, shall steer the boat, and see that the baggage on the
quarterdeck is properly arranged and stowed away in the most advantageous
manner; to see that no cooking utensels or loos lumber of any kind is left
on the deck to obstruct the passage between the burthshe will also
attend to the compas when necessary.
The Sergt at the center will command the guard, manage the sails, see that
the men at the oars do their duty; that they come on board at a proper
season in the morning, and that the boat gets under way in due time; he
will keep a good lookout for the mouths of all rivers, creeks, Islands and
other remarkable places and shall immediately report the same to the
commanding officers; he will attend to the issues of sperituous liquors;
he shall regulate the halting of the batteaux through the day to give the
men refreshment, and will also regulate the time of her departure taking
care that not more time than is necessary shall be expended at each haltit
shall be his duty also to post a centinel on the bank, near the boat
whenever we come too and halt in the course of the day, at the same time
he will (acompanied by two his guard) reconnoiter the forrest arround the
place of landing to the distance of at least one hundred paces. when we
come too for the purpose of encamping at night, the Sergt. of the guard
shall post two centinels immediately on our landing; one of whom shal be
posted near the boat, and the other at a convenient distance in rear of
the encampment; at night the Sergt. must be always present with his guard,
and he is positively forbidden to suffer any man of his guard to absent
himself on any pretext whatever; he will at each relief through the night,
accompanyed by the two men last off their posts, reconnoiter in every
direction around the camp to the distance of at least one hundred and
fifty paces, and also examine the situation of the boat and perogues, and
see that they ly safe and free from the bank
It shall be the duty of the sergt. at the bow, to keep a good look out for
all danger which may approach, either of the enimy, or obstructions which
may present themselves to passage of the boat; of the first he will notify
the Sergt. at the center, who will communicate the information to the
commanding officers, and of the second or obstructions to the boat he will
notify the Sergt. at the helm; he will also report to the commanding
officers through the Sergt. at the center all perogues boats canoes or
other craft which he may discover in the river, and all hunting camps or
parties of Indians in view of which we may pass. he will at all times be
provided with a seting pole and assist the bowsman in poling and managing
the bow of the boat. it will be his duty also to give and answer all
signals, which may hereafter be established for the government of the
perogues and parties on shore.
The Sergts. will on each morning before our departure relieve each other
in the following mannerThe Sergt. at the helm will parade the new
guard, relieve the Sergt. and the old guard, and occupy the middle station
in the boat; the Sergt. of the old guard will occupy the station at the
bow, and the Sergt. who had been stationed the preceeding day at the bow
will place himself at the helm.The sergts. in addition to those
duties are directed each to keep a seperate journal from day today of all
passing occurences, and such other observations on the country &c. as
shall appear to them worthy of notice
The Sergts. are relieved and exempt from all labour of making fires,
pitching tents or cooking, and will direct and make the men of their
several messes perform an equal propotion of those duties.
The guard shall hereafter consist of one sergeant and six privates &
engages.
Patroon, Dechamp, Copl. Warvington, and George Drewyer, are exempt from
guad duty; the two former will attend particularly to their perogues at
all times, and see that their lading is in good order, and that the same
is kept perfectly free from rain or other moisture; the latter will
perform certain duties on shore which will be assigned him from time to
time. all other soldiers and engaged men of whatever discription must
perform their regular tour of guad duty.
All detales for guard or other duty will be made in the evening when we
encamp, and the duty to be performed will be entered on, by the
individuals so warned, the next morning.provision for one day will
be issued to the party on each evening after we have encamped; the same
will be cooked on that evening by the several messes, and a proportion of
it reserved for the next day as no cooking will be allowed in the day
while on the mach
Sergt. John Ordway will continue to issue the provisions and make the
detales for guard or other duty.The day after tomorrow lyed corn
and grece will be issued to the party, the next day Poark and flour, and
the day following indian meal and poark; and in conformity to that ratiene
provisions will continue to be issued to the party untill further orders.should
any of the messes prefer indian meal to flour they may recieve it
accordinglyno poark is to be issued when we have fresh meat on
hand.
Labuche and Crusat will man the larboard bow oar alternately, and the one
not engaged at the oar will attend as the Bows-man, and when the attention
of both these persons is necessary at the bow, their oar is to be maned by
any idle hand on board.
Meriwether Lewis Capt. Wm. Clark Cpt.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Detachment Orders. May 26th 1804. The Commanding Officers direct that the three squads under the command of Sergeants Floyd, Ordway, and Pryor, which up to now have formed two messes each, shall until further orders constitute only three messes, the same being altered and organized as follows (viz):
1 Sergt. Charles Floyd. (1)
Privates:
2 Hugh McNeal
3 Patrick Gass
4 Reubin Fields (2)
5 John B. Thompson
+ 6 John Newman
7 Richard Windsor
+ Francis Rivet &
8 Joseph Fields (3)
9 Sergt. John Ordway.
Privates:
10 William Bratton (4)
11 John Colter (5)
X 12 Moses B. Reed
13 Alexander Willard
14 William Warner
15 Silas Goodrich
16 John Potts &
17 Hugh Hall
18 Sergt. Nathaniel Pryor. (6)
Privates:
19 George Gibson (7)
20 George Shannon (8)
21 John Shields (9)
22 John Collins
23 Joseph Whitehouse
24 Peter Wiser
F 25 Peter Cruzat &
F 26 Francis Labiche
The commanding officers further direct that the remainder of the detachment shall form two messes, and that these be constituted as follows (viz):
Patroon, Baptist Deschamps
Engagés:
Etienne Mabbauf
Paul Primaut
Charles Hébert
Baptist La Jeunesse
Peter Pinaut
Peter Roi &
Joseph Collin
1 Corpl. Richard Warfington.
Privates:
2 Robert Frazier
3 John Boley
4 John Dame
5 Ebenezer Tuttle &
6 Isaac White
The Commanding Officers further direct that the messes of Sergeants Floyd, Ordway, and Pryor shall, until further orders, form the crew of the bateau; the mess of Patroon La Jeunesse will form the permanent crew of the red pirogue; and Corporal Warfington's mess will form that of the white pirogue.
Whenever by some accident it becomes necessary to furnish additional men to help navigate the pirogues, those men shall be supplied by daily detail from the privates who form the crew of the bateau, exempting only from such detail Thomas P. Howard and the men assigned to the two bow and two stern oars. For the present, one man will be furnished daily to assist the crew of the white pirogue; this man must be an expert boatman.
The posts and duties of the Sergeants shall be as follows (viz): When the bateau is under way, one Sergeant shall be stationed at the helm, one in the center on the rear of the starboard locker, and one at the bow. The Sergeant at the helm shall steer the boat and see that the baggage on the quarterdeck is properly arranged and stowed in the most advantageous manner; he shall make sure that no cooking utensils or loose lumber of any kind is left on the deck to obstruct the passage between the berths. He will also tend to the compass when necessary.
The Sergeant at the center will command the guard, manage the sails, and see that the men at the oars do their duty; that they come on board at a proper hour in the morning, and that the boat gets under way in due time. He will keep a good lookout for the mouths of all rivers, creeks, islands, and other remarkable places, and shall immediately report them to the commanding officers. He will tend to the issuing of spirituous liquors; he shall regulate the halting of the bateau through the day to give the men refreshment, and will also regulate the time of her departure, taking care that no more time than necessary is spent at each halt. It shall also be his duty to post a sentinel on the bank near the boat whenever we come to and halt during the day, and at the same time he will (accompanied by two of his guard) reconnoiter the forest around the landing place to the distance of at least one hundred paces. When we come to for the purpose of camping at night, the Sergeant of the guard shall post two sentinels immediately upon our landing; one of whom shall be posted near the boat, and the other at a convenient distance in the rear of the encampment. At night the Sergeant must always be present with his guard, and he is positively forbidden to allow any man of his guard to absent himself on any pretext whatever. At each relief through the night, accompanied by the two men last off their posts, he will reconnoiter in every direction around the camp to a distance of at least one hundred and fifty paces, and also examine the situation of the boat and pirogues to see that they lie safe and free from the bank.
It shall be the duty of the Sergeant at the bow to keep a good lookout for all danger that may approach, whether from the enemy or obstructions that may appear in the path of the boat. Of the first, he will notify the Sergeant at the center, who will communicate the information to the commanding officers; of the second, or obstructions to the boat, he will notify the Sergeant at the helm. He will also report to the commanding officers, through the Sergeant at the center, all pirogues, boats, canoes, or other craft that he may discover in the river, and all hunting camps or parties of Indians in view as we pass. He will at all times be provided with a setting pole and assist the bowsman in poling and managing the bow of the boat. It will also be his duty to give and answer all signals which may hereafter be established for the direction of the pirogues and parties on shore.
The Sergeants will, each morning before our departure, relieve each other in the following manner: The Sergeant at the helm will parade the new guard, relieve the Sergeant and the old guard, and occupy the middle station in the boat; the Sergeant of the old guard will occupy the station at the bow; and the Sergeant who had been stationed the preceding day at the bow will place himself at the helm. The Sergeants, in addition to those duties, are directed each to keep a separate journal from day to day of all passing occurrences, and such other observations on the country, etc., as shall appear to them worthy of notice.
The Sergeants are relieved and exempt from all labor of making fires, pitching tents, or cooking, and will direct and require the men of their several messes to perform an equal proportion of those duties.
The guard shall hereafter consist of one Sergeant and six privates and engagés.
Patroon Deschamps, Corporal Warfington, and George Drouillard are exempt from guard duty. The two former will attend particularly to their pirogues at all times, and see that their lading is in good order and is kept perfectly free from rain or other moisture; the latter will perform certain duties on shore which will be assigned him from time to time. All other soldiers and engaged men of whatever description must perform their regular tour of guard duty.
All details for guard or other duty will be made in the evening when we encamp, and the duty to be performed will be taken up by the individuals so warned the next morning. Provisions for one day will be issued to the party each evening after we have camped; the same will be cooked that evening by the several messes, and a portion of it reserved for the next day, as no cooking will be allowed during the day while on the march.
Sergeant John Ordway will continue to issue the provisions and make the details for guard or other duty. The day after tomorrow, lyed corn and grease will be issued to the party; the next day, pork and flour; and the day following, Indian meal and pork; and in keeping with that ration, provisions will continue to be issued to the party until further orders. Should any of the messes prefer Indian meal to flour, they may receive it accordingly. No pork is to be issued when we have fresh meat on hand.
Labiche and Cruzat will man the larboard bow oar alternately, and the one not engaged at the oar will serve as the bowsman; and when the attention of both these men is needed at the bow, their oar is to be manned by any idle hand on board.
Meriwether Lewis, Capt. Wm. Clark, Cpt.
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