William Clark 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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Meriwether Lewis’s Survey at Cumberland Gap

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

The expedition is usually said to have ended when the Corps of Discovery reached St. Louis on September 23, 1806 — but Lorna Hainesworth documents a little-known coda. Traveling east to brief President Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis went ahead of William Clark through the Cumberland Gap, the great pass where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet. There, on November 23, 1806, local gentlemen asked him to determine whether Dr. Thomas Walker’s old line — by then the Kentucky–Tennessee boundary — actually lay where it was supposed to.

The paper reconstructs the return party (Sheheke, or Big White, and his family; the Pierre Chouteau–led Osage delegation; Clark’s man York; privates Labiche and Frazier; and sergeants Gass and Ordway), the post roads they followed, and the long history of the Gap from Walker’s 1750 sighting through Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road. It is a window onto Lewis the trained surveyor still at work, weeks after the journey west was over.

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

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Planning a Transcontinental Journey

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

While researching connections between Maryland and the Lewis and Clark story, Lorna Hainesworth turned up a June 6, 1803 letter from Meriwether Lewis to William Linnard, the Army’s military agent in Philadelphia — a document missing from Donald Jackson’s standard Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and overlooked by Ambrose, Cutright, and Dillon. The letter lays out, in exacting detail, how Lewis wanted his accumulated stores moved from Philadelphia and Harpers Ferry to Pittsburgh: the team and driver to hire, the route to follow, the schedule, the careful handling of his box of mathematical instruments, and how the expenses were to be accounted.

Read alongside four related 1803 letters (including the “Portable Soup” letter to General William Irvine), it reconstructs Lewis’s spring-to-summer travels and introduces the cadre of quartermasters, purveyors, and armory officers — Israel Whelan, Thomas Cushing, Joseph Perkins, George Ingels, and Irvine — who outfitted the expedition. The find reveals Lewis at his logistical best: not only an explorer, but a meticulous quartermaster and project manager.

First published in the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation’s journal, We Proceeded On (August 2009). This summary is provided for reference on the Lewis and Clark Research archive; the full article is available at the source link.

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Clark Advances to Find the Shoshone Nation

Tue, 05 May 2026 15:15:12 +0000

Cap! Clark and 3 men Set out in order to go on to the 3
forks, expecting to find the Snake nation, near that place.
Some cloudy. the Musquetoes verry troublesome. I cannot
keep them out of my face at this time. the current verry
rapid. we proceeded on. the river Spreads wide, and full of
_ Islands. we passed the mouth of a Small River which came in
behind an Island on the South Side. passed livel Smoth large
plains, on each Side. high grass in places & fine Short grass
in general. considerable of good flax now going to Seed. the
thissels also pleanty & high now in blossom. the timber con-
tinues on the Island[s] and along the Shores. the beaver
pleanty. the pine timber continues on the Sides of the hills at
Some distance from the River. our hunter who Stayed out last
night came to us at noon where we delayed to dry the articles
wh[ich] is wet in the canoes. he had killed Several Deer, and
Saved the most of the meat. we hoisted up our flags and pro-
ceeded on the current verry rapid. Came 24 miles this day
and Camped on the South Side. the party in general much
fatigued. we find pleanty of wild Inions or garlick, in these
bottoms & Islands &c. &c.
[ 119 ]

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Clark's Goatskin Sign and Yellowish-Red Cliffs

Tue, 05 May 2026 15:15:12 +0000

a clear pleasant morning. we Set out as usal and proceeded
on. the current verry rapid. we found a goat Skin which
Cap! Clarks party had killed and left on Shore. passed a yal-
low or redish clift of rocks on N. S. Saw considerable of
ceeder on the Islands and along the Shores. in the afternoon
we passed a large plain on the N.S. the prickley pear abound
on it. Saw otter and beaver in great abundence. the willow
verry thick on the Islands and along the Shores. the Currents
still abound also the Rabit berrys, which the french call graze
the buff [graisse de beuf]. the rapid water continues all day.
Some bad rapids which it was with difficulty we passed over
them. Came 19% ml! this day and Camped on the large
plain N.S. one deer killed this day. a white bear Seen.
pleanty of Elk sign. we Saw a great many different kinds of
Snakes along the R [iver].

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White Bear Spotted; Snow-Capped Mountains Ahead

Tue, 05 May 2026 15:15:12 +0000

a clear pleasant morning. we Set out as usal and proceeded
on. Saw a large white bear on an Island. Saw a nomber of
otter. Saw a flock of goats or antelopes one of the hunters
killed one of them. we Saw a Camp where Cap! Clark had
Stayed one night. discovered mountains a head which appear
to have Snow on them, if not Snow it must be verry white Clay
or rocks. we eat abundance of red & yallow currents. the
timber and Island[s] not So pleanty as yesterday. large plains
on each Side of the River & looks pleasant and extensive. in
the afternoon we entered in to Some rough rockey hills which
we expect from the Indian account is the commencement of the
Second chain of the rockey mountains, but they do not appear
So high as the first nor So Solid a rock. at the entrence we
found Several bad rockey rapids which we had to pass through
and So Shallow the rocks Show themselves across the River
and appear Shallow all the way across. we double manned
and got up Safe. I cut my foot with the Stone a towing along
the Shore. Saw excelent Springs which ran from under the clifts.
we came 16 miles this day and Camped on the N.S. our hun-
ter killed one goose, which was all that was killed this day.
[ 120 ]
1805] WHITEHOUSE’S JOURNAL

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Second Mountain Chain Still Not Reached

Tue, 05 May 2026 15:15:12 +0000

a clear morning. we Set out as usal, and proceeded on the
current rapid. Saw Several Springs along the Shores. one of
the men killed a beaver. the pine and ceeder timber pleanty
along the Shores. passed clifts of rocks on each Side but
the hills make off lower. we find that we have not entered the
2″ chain of Mountains but can discover verry high white toped
mountains Some distance up the River. the River verry wide
and full of Islands. the current verry rapid in general. passed
over Several verry bad rapids which was difficult to pass. our
hunter on Shore killed 4 Deer. the wind blew hard at 2 oClock
& a light Sprinkling of rain. we found an Indian bow. took
on board a Deer Skin which Cap! Clark had left with a note,
that they had Seen no Indians, but had Seen fresh horse tracks.
considerable of cotton & ceeder timber on the Islands &c.
Came 19 miles this day, and Camped on the South Side of
the River. found Servis berrys &c.

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Hauling Canoe and Baggage to Upper Portage Camp

Tue, 05 May 2026 15:15:11 +0000

a fair pleasant morning. the wind as usal. the party all
raised up eairly. Cap! Lewis and Clark with all the party
except 3 Set out with a waggon & baggage to take the canoe
& loading which was halled on the hill yesterday up to the
upper end of the portage, where we Shall form a Camp. Capt
Lewis & 3 or 4 men carried all their baggage in order to Stay
up their, in order to git the Iron boat in readiness &c. the
buffalow around the lower Camp verry thick Some gangs
Swam the River Cap! Clarks Servant york killed one which
was verry fat. Cap! Clark informed us that he Saw 40 or 50
Swimming the River ab’ the falls and Some went down over
them which he could not See them rise any more. a nomber
got to Shore half drowned. in this way great numbers of
those animels are lost and accounts for So many as we Saw
lying on the Shores below the falls ever Since we came from
[ 105 ]
LEWIS AND CLARK JOURNALS _ [June 23
the Mandans & Grossvauntares but a vast deal pleantier near
them. the country in general is verry high. no timber back
from the river and but verry little on the river, but bluffs &
high Clifts the most of the Shores. we are a little South of
the Mandans, but have had no verry hot weather as yet.

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Red Cloth Offerings at Abandoned Indian Camp

Tue, 05 May 2026 15:15:06 +0000

at day light it began to Snow & blow So that we did not Set
off this morning. Some men went out to hunt. Killed Some
buffaloe & Some Deer. one of the party kill* two beaver last
night. the men who was out a hunting found Several peaces
of red cloath at an Indian camp, where we expect they left last
winter for a Sacrifice to their maker as that is their form of wor-
ship, as they have Some knowledge of the Supreme being, and
anything above their comprihention they call big medicine.
about 3 oC the wind abated & quit Snowing. we Set off. pro-
1805] WHITEHOUSE’S JOURNAL
ceeded on. the [wind] had shifted and blew from the west.
the Snow lay on the Edge of the Sand beaches where the wind
blew it against the bank about 12 Inches Deep but their was
not more than about one Inch ona level. Cap! Clark & one
of the party Shot 3 beaver on the South Shore. the air verry
cold. we Camped on the N.S. at a handsom bottom partly
covered with timber. came 5 miles to day.

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Black-Tailed Deer Killed; Buffalo Shot in River

Tue, 05 May 2026 15:15:01 +0000

we Set off eairly. a clear day. we passed handsom large
bottoms on Each Side covered with timber j? Fields killed
a black tailed Deer & hung it up on the bank of the river.
Cap! Clark & 2 men went out to hunt on N.S. at noon we
Saw Some buffaloe Swimming the river. we Stoped and
Killed 2 of them. proceeded on. Cap! Lewis and Drewyer
went to hunt on an Island opposit to this Isl‘ comes in
River called the Souix pass over of the three Rivers. at the
upper end of the Same Is? comes in a creek called Elm Creek
up the bluffs ab! 2 miles comes in another Creek called wash
LEWIS AND CLARK JOURNALS _[Sept. 20
creek. Cap! Lewis and Drewyer Came to the Boat again.
about 2 miles we pass? another creek called night Creek, at
which place we Camped on the South Side. Here Drewyer
came to us had killed 2 deer of the black tal kind.

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