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
Analyses that cite or discuss Hugh McNeal — showing 6 of the most recent matches.
Hugh McNeal: A Private’s Long March
Enlistment and Mess AssignmentHugh McNeal first appears in the expedition record on May 26, 1804, when Captain Lewis issued detachment orders organizing…
Four Pens, Four Rivers: The Expedition Divides on the Plains
By July 19, 1806, the Corps of Discovery had splintered into multiple detachments executing Captain Lewis's ambitious return strategy. The journals from…
Four Pens, One Whale: Reporting the Tillamook Skeleton
The return of Captain Clark's whale-viewing party to Fort Clatsop on January 10, 1806, produced an unusually rich documentary record. Four journalists…
Two Expeditions, One Day: The Divergence at Camp Fortunate
August 13, 1805 is a hinge date in the expedition record, and the journals reveal it by splitting cleanly in two. Lewis,…
Two Journeys, One Date: Diverging Accounts of October 15, 1805
The journal entries dated October 15, 1805 present a puzzle for readers of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Sergeant John Ordway and…
Silas Goodrich: The Expedition’s Fisherman
Enlistment and Mess AssignmentSilas Goodrich first appears in the expedition record on May 26, 1804, when Captain Meriwether Lewis issued his Detachment…
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