Nathaniel Hale Pryor Archives - Lewis & Clark Research Database

The Corps in the War of 1812

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:14:16 +0000

The Corps of Discovery disbanded in 1806, but its members walked straight into the run-up to the War of 1812. Lorna Hainesworth gathers brief biographies of more than thirty expedition veterans and associates and traces what each did during the conflict. The sketches are organized into three groups: Corps military members (William Clark, John Colter, Patrick Gass, John Ordway, Nathaniel Pryor, George Shannon, William Bratton, Joseph Whitehouse, and others), Corps non-military figures (the Charbonneau family, Sacagawea, Jean Baptiste, and York), and associates ranging from Thomas Jefferson and Albert Gallatin to Pierre Chouteau, Manuel Lisa, Zebulon Pike, and William Henry Harrison.

Framing the sketches is a concise narrative of the war’s origins — from the embargo years through the treaties of 1815 — along with an appendix on the presidents involved. It is a useful group portrait of where the expedition’s people landed in the decade after the journey home.

This summary is provided for reference on the Lewis and Clark Research archive; the full compilation by Lorna Hainesworth is available at the source link.

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Nathaniel Hale Pryor

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:42:22 +0000

Nathaniel Pryor (1772-1831) was one of the three sergeants of the Corps of Discovery and a cousin of William Clark. He was among the most trusted and capable members of the expedition.

Pryor was given several important independent commands during the journey, including leading the horse herd during the return trip. When Crow warriors stole the horses near the Yellowstone, Pryor improvised by building bullboats — circular hide boats — and descended the river to rejoin Clark.

After the expedition, Pryor led the ill-fated 1807 attempt to return Chief Sheheke to the Mandan villages, which was repelled by the Arikara. He served with distinction in the War of 1812, reaching the rank of captain, and later settled among the Osage in present-day Oklahoma as a trader and Indian agent.

Pryor married an Osage woman and was adopted into the nation. He died in 1831 and was buried with Osage honors near present-day Pryor, Oklahoma — the town later named for him.

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Sergeant Floyd Dies: Expedition's Only Fatality

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:34:27 +0000

Sergeant Charles Floyd, one of the three sergeants of the expedition and the youngest at approximately 22 years old, died on August 20, 1804 — the only member of the Corps of Discovery to perish during the entire journey.

“Serjeant Floyd Died with a great deal of Composure, before his death he Said to me, ‘I am going away. I want you to write me a letter.'”

Floyd had been ill for several days with what modern physicians believe was acute appendicitis — a condition that would have been fatal even in the best hospitals of the era. He was buried atop a bluff overlooking the Missouri River near present-day Sioux City, Iowa.

Clark named the nearby river “Floyd’s River” in his honor. Patrick Gass was later elected by the men to replace Floyd as sergeant — a remarkable example of frontier democracy within a military unit.

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