Arikara Archives - Lewis & Clark Research Database

Arikara Chiefs Arrive; Sioux Peace Delegation Announced

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:45:17 +0000

Intrepter and them that went with him returned brought with
them 4 of the RickaRee Savages. 2 of them Chiefs, they In-
formed us that only 10 of their nation had come up to the Man-
danes villages to treat & Smoak a peace pipe with them &.C.
they brought a letter from MrTabbo who lives with [the] R.Ree to
our officers with news that 3 of the Souix chiefs was going down
on the Big barge to see their Great father and that Some of the
Rick a Ree chiefs was going also, one of our hunters went out
at 11 oclock and killed a deer, we set three of Sd Rick Rees chiefs
across the River, the other one being lame Stayed in order to
go down to his nation in the Barge.
About 5 oClock we all went on board fired the Swivel and Set
off on our journey.1 at the Same time the barge Set off for
1 The reflections of the members of the little party at this juncture, as record-
ed by Captain Lewis are worthy of notice. “Our vessels consisted,” he writes,
“of six small canoes, and two large perogues. This little fleet altho’ not quite
so rispectable as those of Columbus or Capt. Cook, were still viewed by us
with as much pleasure as those deservedly famed adventurers ever beheld
theirs; and I dare say with quite as much anxiety for their safety and preserva-
tion, we were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles
in width, on which the foot of civilized man had never trodden; the good or
evil it had in store for us was for experiment yet to determine, and these little
vessells contained every article by which we were to expect to subsist or defend
ourselves, however, as the state of mind in which we are, generally gives the
colouring to events, when the immagination is suffered to wander into futurity,
the picture which now presented itself to me was a most pleasing one. enter-
talin]ing as I do, the most confident hope of succeeding in a voyage which had
formed a da[r]ling project of mine for the last ten years, I could but esteem
this moment of my departure as among the most happy of my life. The party
are in excellent health and sporits, zealously attached to the enterprise, and
anxious to proceed; not a whisper <>f murmur or discontent to be heard among
them, but all act in unison, and with the most perfict harmony.”
190
SERGEANT ORD WAY’S JOURNAL 191
S4 Louis 2 frenchmen1 in a perogue in company with them, they
took down the letters and all the writings which was necessary to
go back to the States also Some curious animals such as Goat
Skins & horns, a barking Squerrell Some Mountain Rams horns
a prarie hen & badgers Some birds cauled magpies & a nomber of
other curious things too tedious to mention &.C. we took with
us 2 large perogues and 6 small ones which we had loaded with pro-
visions, Indian Goods, ammunition &.C. we went on verry well
with a hard head wind about 4 mIs & Camped opposite the 1st vil-
lage of Mandans on N. S. wind high from N. W. the greater
part of the night their is 30 of of the party which continues to
Go on.2 their was 10 which went down in the barge, but only
two who had engaged for the route.3

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Passing Mandan Villages into Hidatsa Country

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:45:17 +0000

proceeded on. passed the 2d & 3d villages of Mandans took
breakfast at 2d vil the [wind] high from the W. all Saw Some
Snow on the N. S. of the hills, and thick Ice on and under the
banks of the River, the current Swift, we passed two villages
of the Grossvantars or Bigbelleys at the lowermost one comes
in a handsom River called Knife River.4 these 2 vill. are in a
1 These were Rivet, the man who danced on his head, and his companion
Degie, who had attached themselves to the expedition, Oct. 18, 1804, at the
mouth of Cannon Ball River.
2 On the respective number and composition of the two parties now setting
forth in opposite directions see the journal entries of Lewis and Clark for April
7, and Coues, I, 253-60, notes 7, 8, and 9. The party which continued the
exploration was composed of the two captains, three sergeants (Gass, Pryor,
and Ordway), twenty-three privates, two interpreters (Drewyer and Char-
bonneau), Sacajawea and her infant son, and York, Clark’s negro servant.
Tempbrarily the party included also a Mandan Indian, who had agreed to
accompany the expedition as far as the Snake nation in order to promote peace
between that tribe and his own.
3 The returning party, in charge of Corporal Warfington, consisted, in addi-
tion to the leader, of six private soldiers, Gravelines, who had been engaged
as pilot, and two other Frenchmen. Temporarily accompanying it, also,
were the two engages, Rivet and Degie, and a lame Arikara who had been
granted the privilege of transportation in the boat to his tribal home. The
party was to be joined at the Arikara village by Tabeau, the trader, and four
hands, making a party of fifteen to descend the river. None of them had
originally intended to become permanent members of the exploring expedition
with the exception of Newman and Reed, the two men who had been discharged
for misconduct.
4 Knife River, a stream of some importance, flows in a general easterly
direction to its junction with the Missouri. Near this point is the town of
Stanton, Mercer County.
192 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [April 9
bottom but little timber, back of which is high open plains which
is the Same on the N. S. we halted on a Sand beach on N. S.
for the crafts to come up which was behind as we was informed
that one of the Small perogues was in danger, cap1 Clark went
back to see what was the matter, they Shortly returned the
perogues had evidently filled and every thing in the perogue was
wet damiged a keg of powder a bag of buiscuit and a nomber of
other articles, we dined and proceeded on passed an Isld cov-
ered with timber on the N. S. high bluffs on the S. S. passed a
timbered bottom on the N. S. in which is a Village of the Gross-
vantars in the lower part of the bottom of cottonwood timber,
we proceded 14 mIs to day and camped at the bottom N. S.1 an
Indian came from the Mandan nation and joined us to go and
Show us the River as he tells us that he has been near the head.

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Sioux Warriors Debate Attacking the Expedition

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:45:11 +0000

Mr Roie 2 frenchman came up from the Rickarees 2 of the R. Ree
Indians came with them they all Informed us that they Saw the
Souix Savvages who Robed our men of the 2 horses, & they said
their was 106 in nomber and that they had a mind for to kill our
men & that they held a counsel over them whether to kill them
and take their arms and all or not. but while they were doing
that our men were off and got clear, but they Say if they can
catch any more of us they will kill us for they think that we are
bad medicine and say that we must be killed. Mr Tabbo a french-
man who is among them & RickaRees trading, Sent a letter up
to the commanding officers & Mandans chiefs to keep a good
lookout for he had beared the Souix Say that they Should Shurely
1805] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL 185
come to war in the Spring against us and Mandanes. in the even-
ing the men returned who had been cutting trees to day for the
perogues. they said they had several good trees cut, but had
Broke Several of their axes.

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River Drops Two Feet; Keelboat Sits Dry on Shore

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:44:57 +0000

about 12 Inches on a level, a cold frosty clear morning. 2 or 3
men out hunting, the River fell ab* 2 feet last night So that
our Boat lay dry on Shore, we took out the mast & every thing
1 It was made of “9 strans of Elk skin.” Clark, November 24.
2 “to see the Indians in the different Towns & camps in this neighbourhood.”
Clark.
3 Rivet was one of the Frenchmen who had been picked up by the expedi-
tion at the mouth of Cannon Ball River, October 18. He spent the winter
at Fort Mandan, returning as far as the Arikara villages with the party sent
back to St. Louis when winter quarters were broken up, in April, 1805.
168 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [Nov. 30
which was in hir & let hir lay as She appeared to be Safe, one
of the hunters killed an old Elk bro4 in the horns which were
verry large, but it being poor we did not go for the meat.

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Lower Mandan Chief Brings Meat to Winter Quarters

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:44:55 +0000

frost, froze Some last night, we continued our buildings as usal.
the chief of the lower village of the Mandens brought us Some
chiefs to Washington. President Jefferson sent him back with a commission
to teach the Arikara agriculture, and to “make every enquirey” after Lewis
and Clark’s party. Clark, Sept. 12, 1806.
1 The Frenchman was Charbonneau, who served the expedition as inter-
preter from its departure from Fort Mandan in the spring of 180.”) until its
return to this vicinity in August, 1806. One of his wives, here alluded to,
was the noted Sacajawea, the heroine of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Thus
modestly does she make her entry into our story. But her modesty was equaled
by her greatness of soul; again and again in the further course of the expedition
we shall find evidences of the truth of this statement.
1804] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL 165
buffalow meat1 which we were in want [of] as our hunters has
not arived yet. we unloaded the pearogue in order to fetch Stone.

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Frenchman Dispatched with Tow Rope to Damaged Pirogue

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:44:55 +0000

frenchman who went after them, he Informed us that the pearogue
was ab* 18 m1 below loaded with meat, the frenchman Sent back
to the pearogue with a kittle to put on2 the Bow of the pearogue
was cut with the Ice &.C.
1 Big White, or Sheheke, principal chief of the lower Mandan village. Clark’s
description of the visit carries a characteristic flavor of savage manners: “he
packd about 100lb of fine meet on his squar for us.” In addition to this load
the “squar” carried, seemingly, her child, for Clark further notes that some
small presents were made to it.
Sheheke and his squaw descended the Missouri with Lewis and Clark, upon
their return journey in 1806, to visit the President at Washington. In 1807 Ser-
geant Pryor was intrusted with the duty of escorting the chieftain to his Dakota
home. But the detachment of soldiers was attacked by the Arikara and com-
pelled to beat a retreat; not until 1809 was Sheheke returned to his village.
After all this trouble and exile a sad fate awaited him. The “extravagant tales”
which he told of the things he had seen on his excursion into civilization caused
his fellows to set him down as a trifler and braggart; “for,” writes Brackenridge,
“the Mandans treat with ridicule the idea of there being a greater or more
numerous people than themselves.” Early Western Travels, VI, 137.
2 “we sent by the man Tin, to put on the parts of the Perogue exposed to
the ice & a toe roape.” Clark.
166 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [Nov. 16

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Two Hundred Sioux Gather Under White Flag

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:44:49 +0000

wind from the E. passed a willow Island N. S. passd a large
Bottom covered with Timber on N. S. Barron hills on S. S.
See an Indian on S. S. Spoke to him. found it was one of those
we Saw at village below, he told us that the other band was
comming on, and wished us to Stop, we told him we could not
Stop neither did we wish to see them, passed a handsom Bottom
prarie on N. S. a bottom covered with Timber on S. S. proceeded
on 10 miles at 10 oClock we discovered a large nomber of Indians
1 Eleven and one-half miles above Bad River.
2 The Arikara tribe of Indians. The village was at the mouth of a stream
which the explorers named No Timber Creek. Coues identifies it as modern
Chantier Creek, Stanley County.
3 In Stanley County, 3£ miles above the mouth of Chantier Creek,
144 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [Oct. 1
on a hill S. Side comming down towards the river a head of [us]
we halted on a Sand bar, took breakfast, the Indians assembled
on S. Shore [and] hoisted a white flag, we then took down our
red flag, directly after they hoisted another. We then took them
to be our friends, the weather being cool, cloudy a mist of rain
our officers Gave Each man of the party a draghm. we then hoisted
our Sails & Sailed up to where the Indians was assembled about
200 of them on the Bank of the River S. S. had put up one or 2
lodges which was white, we ankered out opposite to them about
100 yards. Spoke to them to know what they wanted, they Sayed
they wanted us to come on Shore and eat with them & Smoak,
for they were our friends &.C. our Capts told them our reason was
that we had been ill treated by the band below, and that we would
not Stop but we were friends to them & would Send them Some
tobacco for a token that he had taken them by the hand. And
then we Should go on to the RickRees where we Should halt
again, we then Sent them Some tobacco & C. hoisted Sail pro-
ceeded on passed a creek on S. S. passd a bottom covered with
Timber on N. S. passd an Island & large Sand bars on S. Side,
the old Teton chief remained with us in order to go to the R.
Rees nation. We passed a large quantity of Grass in the Bottom of
Small Timber on N. Side, proceeded on till about 4 oClock
put to Shore in order to take Some fire wood on board, when we
put off the Stern of our Barge got fast. She Swang round in the
Stream the wind being So hard from E. that [it] caused the
waves to run high the Boat got in the trough & She Rocked verry
much before we could git hir Strait we hoisted Sail and came
Strait. Sailed verry fast, the Indian chief we had on board was
verry fraid. he Said he thought our Boat was a medicine £ he
would go no further with us. we then put him to Shore our
Captains Gave him a Blanket. Some tobacco a knife and Some
other Small articles, he then Set of[f] to return to his Band. We
Sailed on verry fast, came 24 miles this day. Camped on a Sand
bar on N. S.1

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Court-Martial of John Newman at Stone Idol Creek

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:44:43 +0000

bottom covered with Timber on S. S. passd a creek6 & Black
1 In council the chief, Lassel, had requested the white men to take one of
the Arikara chiefs on with them to the Mandan and the other nations above
on the river in order that peace might be made between them and the Arikara.
1 In Campbell County, about the 1,334 mile point of the Missouri.
8 Clark calls this Stone Idol Creek, from three stone images found in the
vicinity, and relates an interesting legend concerning them. Here as frequently
there is some confusion as to which side of the Missouri the stream comes in.
It is modern Spring, or Hermaphrodite Creek, in northern Campbell County.
4 The trial of John Newman and Moses B. Reed, who had been confined
the day before. Here as in earlier similar cases there is an evident disinclina-
tion on the part of the diarists to speak of the matter. Ordway alone, even
mentions Reed’s name in connection with it. The Orderly Book discloses
that Newman was charged with “having uttered repeated expressions of a
highly criminal and mutinous nature,” to the obvious subversion of discipline
and loyalty on the part of the members of the expedition. He was convicted
by a jury of nine of his peers and sentenced to receive seventy-five lashes on
his bare back and to be “henceforth discarded from the perminent party en-
gaged for North Western discovery.”
6 The last camp in South Dakota, on or near the site of former Vanderbilt
post office.
8 “this creek we call after the third chief Pisheto (or Eagles feather).”
Clark. Laid down as Eagle Feather Creek

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Meeting Arikara Hunters Descending in Hide Canoes

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:44:43 +0000

Set off eairly. passd a Timbred bottom where we Saw Some
Indians, at 7 oC. we met a hunting party of the Rickarees
comming down the river returning to their village, they had 12
Cannoes made of Buffalow hides loaded with excelent fat meat,
we halted with them about 2 hours, they Gave us Some of their
fat meat to carry with us & Gave us Some that they cooked to eat.
we Smoaked with them, their party consisted of men women &
children our officers Gave them in return Some fish hooks Beeds
&.C. we proceeded on passed Barron hills on the South Side
of the River at 10 oC. we passed another hunting party who
were Encamped in a timbred bottom on S.S. passed a hand-
some Bottom prarie & the Mouth of a creek where their was an
Creek on other recent maps. It is in Corson County, S. Dak., just below the
northern boundary of the state.
1 Newman’s punishment presents several aspects of unusual interest. To
the least detail the setting of the grim wilderness tragedy satisfies the sense of
dramatic propriety. The prompt trial and conviction by a jury of his peers;
the stern sentence imposed, of which the infliction of seventy-five lashes may
be accounted far the lesser part; the noonday halt on the lonely sand bar in
the dreary October rain for the discharge of the disagreeable duty, to the end
that discipline might be maintained and the safety of the expedition conserved;
the manly course of the culprit who strove through weary months to atone for
his fault and win from his grim commanders remission of his sentence of dis-
missal; finally, the lofty sense of duty and justice displayed by Lewis, who
while himself refusing to abate in the slightest degree the punishment decreed,
yet, the expedition safely over, warmly recommended Newman to the clemency
of his superiors (see for the latter his letter to the secretary of war, Jan. 15,
1807, printed in Thwaites, VII, 355-57). The silence of the journals of New-
man’s comrades concerning his disgrace is no less eloquent. Two of them,
Gass and Ordway, were members of the court that sentenced him. Yet Ord-
way barely mentions the facts that a court-martial was held and punishment
inflicted, while Gass is even less communicative. The Arikara chief who was
present was affected at sight of the punishment to the point of weeping; yet
Whitehouse, the one other comrade of Newman whose journal we have, con-
cludes his perfunctory 2 line entry for the day, concerning the weather and
the rate of progress of the expedition, with the quiet commonplace, “nothing
else extraordinary hapened this day.” The silence of Gass and Ordway, to-
gether with this remarkable statement of Whitehouse, constitutes by no means
the least interesting phase of the affair.
‘ On the south side according to Clark. Camp was about five miles above
the state line, either in Emmons or Morton County, N. Dak.
154 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [Oct. 16
old village Some years ago of the Chian Nation on S.S. we
proceeded on. passed timbred bottoms on each Side of the River
we Saw a nomber of Indians on the Shore on N.S. passd a creek
on s.s. at Sunset we Camped on N.S. at a hunting Camp of the
R.Ree nation, their was ab* 30 men & a nomber of women &
children at this Camp, they treated us in the Same manner as the
rest of their nation did. the Greatest Curiousity to them was York
Cap4 Clarks Black Man. all the nation made a great deal of him
the children would follow after him, & if he turned towards them
they would run from him & hollow as if they were terrefied, &
afraid of him.

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Passing Abandoned Cheyenne Fort Along the Missouri

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:44:43 +0000

off at day light, passed an old Shian fort on the S.S. where
the Chian nation of Indians lived Some years ago. proceeded on
passed a creek on s.s. called [blank in Ms.]1 passed a Bottom
covered with Timbers on N.S. at half past 7 oC. we halted [and]
took breakfast on a willow Island S.S. passd the Mouth of a
River on S. S. called [blank in Ms.]2 high naked hills back from
the River, we proceeded on under a gentle breeze from the S.W.
towards evening Cap1 Lewis & one hunter went out hunting on
S. S. of the River, directly after we passed a hunting Camp of the
R.Ree nation on N.S. ab° the camp we Saw a Great nomber of
Indians on each side of the River, they were Shooting a flock of
Goats which they had drove into the River. They Shot upwards
of 40 of them & got them to Shore, they had Shot them all with
their Bows & arrows, we Saw Some of the Goats floating down
with the arrows Sticking up in them, we Saw a large flock of
Goats back on the hills, which we Suppose they had Scared from
the River, our hunter killed 3 Goats out of the Same flock,
the Indians killed theirs when the Indians killed the Goats in
the River they Swam in & drew them out to each Shore, we Saw them
all lying along the Shore &. Some Indians on horseback to keep
them or the flock in the River. So that they might kill as many
as they pleased, we Camped on the S.S.3 where Cap* Lewis &
our hunter joined us.
1 “which we call Chien Creek.” Clark.
2 Clark notices and names five streams passed this day, all in southern
Emmons and Morton counties. It is not possible to identify all of them with
assurance. One of them, called Wan-crone by Clark, Cones identifies as modem
Big Beaver Creek which flows across (lie central part of Emmons County.
3 In Morton County, four miles above the mouth of Big Beaver Creek.
1804] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL 155

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