Reubin Field
Reubin Field, along with his brother Joseph, was among the first volunteers recruited for the Corps of Discovery. The Field brothers were skilled hunters and woodsmen from Kentucky who proved indispensable throughout the journey. Reubin was present at the violent encounter with Blackfeet warriors on July 27, 1806, during Lewis's exploration of the Marias River, where he killed one warrior in what was the expedition's only lethal confrontation with Native Americans. Lewis praised both brothers as "two of the most active and enterprising young men who accompanied us."
Biography
Reubin Field (c. 1781-c. 1822) and his brother Joseph were among the first men recruited for the expedition. Both were skilled Kentucky woodsmen and hunters whom Clark had known since childhood.
The Field brothers served as scouts, hunters, and advance reconnaissance throughout the journey. Reubin Field was involved in one of the expedition’s most dramatic events — the violent encounter with Blackfeet warriors on the Two Medicine River on July 27, 1806. During the fight, Reubin stabbed a Blackfeet warrior who was trying to steal the party’s rifles, killing him — one of only two violent deaths caused by the expedition.
Lewis consistently praised the Field brothers as “two of the most active and enterprising young men who accompanied us.” They served on many of the most dangerous advance parties and reconnaissance missions.
After the expedition, Reubin settled in Kentucky and lived a quiet frontier life. He died around 1822.
Related Locations
Note: the longest gap between tagged appearances is about 17 months (Aug 17, 1804 → Dec 28, 1805). Reubin Field may have been present in the corps during that span but is not named in the journals.
Journal Entries (23)
Cross-Narrator Analyses
AI-assisted scholarly analyses that cite or discuss Reubin Field — showing 24 of the most recent matches.
Two Rivers, Two Captains: Divided Command on the Plains
On July 17, 1806, the expedition's split detachments produce strikingly different journals. Lewis scans the Marias plains for hostile signs while Clark…
Four Pens, One Bear: Diverging Registers at the Weippe Camp
On June 20, 1806, four expedition journalists record the same hungry day at Weippe Prairie. A short-clawed bear, seven salmon-trout, and a…
A Day of Waiting at Weippe: Four Pens on Hunger, Fish, and Lost Horses
On June 19, 1806, four expedition journalists record the same anxious day of rest at Weippe Prairie. Their overlapping accounts of failed…
Sixty-Six Horses and a Slippery Road: Departing the Quamash Flats
On June 15, 1806, the Corps left the Weippe Prairie to recross the Bitterroots. Four narrators record the same wet, treacherous day…
Eight Deer, One Trade, and a Census of Nations
On a single waiting day at the edge of the Bitterroots, four narrators record the same small events with strikingly different priorities…
One Bear, Many Colors: Naturalist Inquiry and Camp Life at the Long Camp
At Camp Chopunnish, four narrators record the same May day in strikingly different registers — Lewis the naturalist, Clark the ethnographer, Ordway…
Four Pens at the Wah-how-pum Village: A Lost Horse and a Circle Dance
On April 23, 1806, four expedition journalists record the same day from strikingly different angles — Charbonneau's missing horses, a trade for…
Drying Elk and Describing a Quail: Four Pens at the Cascades
On a fair April day above the Cascades of the Columbia, four expedition narrators record the same routine of drying elk meat…
Four Pens at the Cascades: A Quail, an Elk Camp, and the Measure of a River
On April 6, 1806, four expedition journalists describe the same elk-drying camp above the Cascades — but diverge sharply when Reubin Field…
One Elk, Two Loons, and a Bandage of Flannel: Divergent Registers at Fort Clatsop
Four narrators record the same wet March day at Fort Clatsop, but their entries diverge sharply in scope and concern — from…
The Badger, the Rat, and the Brevity of Sergeants
On a damp February day at Fort Clatsop, three narrators record the same hunting returns in radically different registers — Ordway in…
Empty Stores and the Mystery of the Sewelel
With provisions reduced to three days of tainted elk, the captains dispatch hunting parties in every direction while Lewis turns naturalist, puzzling…
Hunters in the Rain, Botanists by the Fire: Four Voices at Fort Clatsop
On a wet February day at Fort Clatsop, four expedition journalists record the same routine departures — yet diverge sharply in what…
A Lost Canoe Recovered and a Sitka Spruce Described
On a snowy February day at Fort Clatsop, four narrators record the same events at strikingly different scales — from Gass's terse…
Ten Elk on a Mountainside, and a Mercury Cure at Fort Clatsop
On a snow-covered January day at Fort Clatsop, four narrators record the same hunting report from George Shannon — but only the…
Dog Meat, Whale Blubber, and a Captain’s Honest Disagreement
On a rainy day at Fort Clatsop, Clatsop visitors bring the first taste of whale blubber while Lewis and Clark, copying nearly…
Storm, Stolen Gig, and a Reconnaissance: Three Voices from a Disagreeable Camp
On a rain-lashed November day at the Columbia's mouth, Gass, Ordway, and Clark each record the same events — a broken canoe,…
The Blackfeet: Adversaries on the Marias
The Piegan Blackfeet appear briefly but consequentially in the Lewis and Clark journals — culminating in the only deadly violence of the…
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…
George Shannon: The Youngest Soldier of the Corps of Discovery
From a starving boy lost on the prairie to a trusted hunter and trader on the return journey, George Shannon's three-year apprenticeship…
At the Mouth of the White River: Four Voices, One Reconnaissance
On a cold September day in 1804, the expedition paused at the White River's mouth to send two men upstream. Four journal-keepers…
Wind-Bound on the Missouri: Four Voices on a Day of Forced Rest
On a blustery June Monday in 1804, the Corps of Discovery halted against a stiff northwest wind. Four journal-keepers recorded the same…
Captain Lewis Arrives at St. Charles in the Rain
Four narrators record the same rainy Saturday at St. Charles as Captain Lewis rejoins the Corps from St. Louis. Their entries —…
The Captain’s Eye: Meriwether Lewis as Naturalist, Quartermaster, and Reluctant Diarist
Across 394 entries, Meriwether Lewis writes as a man of measurements and margins—cataloguing eye color in pronghorns, weighing the merits of Mandan…
From Heacock's Writings
3 mirrored articles by Robert Heacock that mention Reubin Field.
