Hugh McNeal
Private Hugh McNeal served in the Corps of Discovery and is remembered for several notable moments during the expedition. He accompanied Meriwether Lewis's advance party to Lemhi Pass in August 1805, where Lewis wrote that McNeal "stood with a foot on each side of this little rivulet and thanked his god that he had lived to bestride the mighty & heretofore deemed endless Missouri." He also had a dangerous encounter with a grizzly bear and narrowly escaped a potentially deadly situation in a Chinook village through the intervention of a friendly Native woman.
Biography
Hugh McNeal was a private in the Corps of Discovery remembered for two notable episodes. At Lemhi Pass on August 12, 1805, when Lewis reached the headwaters of the Missouri, McNeal “exultingly stood with a foot on each side of this rivulet and thanked his god that he had lived to bestride the mighty & heretofore deemed endless Missouri.”
McNeal also had a harrowing encounter with a grizzly bear. While traveling alone, he came upon a bear at close range. His horse threw him, and the bear approached. McNeal struck the bear on the head with his rifle, breaking the stock, then scrambled up a tree where he remained until the bear left after dark.
These vivid incidents make McNeal one of the more memorable minor characters in the expedition journals, despite his otherwise modest role.
Related Locations
Note: the longest gap between tagged appearances is about 13 months (May 26, 1804 → Jul 4, 1805). Hugh McNeal may have been present in the corps during that span but is not named in the journals.
Journal Entries (44)
Cross-Narrator Analyses
AI-assisted scholarly analyses that cite or discuss Hugh McNeal — showing 6 of the most recent matches.
Four Pens, Four Rivers: The Expedition Divides on the Plains
On a single July day in 1806, the Corps of Discovery scattered across the northern plains. Lewis pushed up the Marias, Clark…
Four Pens, One Whale: Reporting the Tillamook Skeleton
On a single January day in 1806, four expedition journalists recorded Clark's return from the Tillamook whale. Their accounts diverge sharply in…
Two Journeys, One Date: Diverging Accounts of October 15, 1805
On a single autumn day, Ordway and Gass record strikingly different experiences — one a chaotic elk-recovery expedition ending in a cold,…
Silas Goodrich: The Expedition’s Fisherman
Private Silas Goodrich served as the Corps of Discovery's most dedicated angler, contracted syphilis at Fort Clatsop, and was among the small…
Hugh McNeal: A Private’s Long March
Private Hugh McNeal of the Corps of Discovery served as Lewis's companion at the Shoshone encounter, suffered illness at Fort Clatsop, and…
Two Expeditions, One Day: The Divergence at Camp Fortunate
On August 13, 1805, Lewis advances overland toward first Shoshone contact while Clark hauls canoes through icy shoals. The journals split into…
