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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The expedition connection is direct. In April 1803, Meriwether Lewis traveled to Ellicott’s home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to learn celestial navigation and the practical field surveying he would need in the West, staying about three weeks. Ellicott — himself once a student of Robert Patterson, another of Lewis’s tutors — taught him to fix latitude and longitude with sextant and chronometer. Ellicott’s earlier mapping of the Ohio–Mississippi confluence also informed Nicholas King’s compiled map carried by the Corps of Discovery.

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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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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That anxiety is the throughline to Lewis and Clark. The same political drive to bind East and West — pressed by Jefferson’s treasury secretary Albert Gallatin — produced the National Road, which Jefferson signed into law in 1806, extending the improved corridor from Cumberland toward the Ohio River. The roads described here are the eastern arteries along which the expedition’s people, supplies, and correspondence moved.

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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For Lewis and Clark, the road matters as the realization of the East–West link Jefferson and Albert Gallatin pushed for in the very years of the expedition — and because its precursor, Braddock’s Road, was the route Meriwether Lewis himself took from Harpers Ferry to Pittsburgh in the summer of 1803.

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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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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In practice, commanders sentenced deserters to 180 lashes administered 25 at a time, although execution was not uncommon (Blyth, 5). At the outbreak of the War of 1812, when the regular army numbered around 19,000 people, commanders issued four death sentences for desertion, with three gaining reprieves. However, as the number of troops climbed to 31,000 in 1814, the number of death sentences climbed to 160, with only 14 reprieved (Grodzinski, 6). Courts martial generally decided the fate of those who deserted. Likely understanding the austere conditions of the expedition, Clark drafted guidelines prior to their departure on how to deal with misbehavior on the part of members of the expedition. In the guidelines, Clark wrote that courts martial would comprise seven individuals: one interpreter or sergeant to act as the president, at least one commanding officer, and five privates (Mussulman). Article 35 of the Articles of War dictated that all the members of the court-martial would give their vote toward a verdict.

The commanders of the expedition would have been bound by the June 30, 1775 Articles of War enacted by the Continental Congress. Depending on the nature of the offense, the court martial would have decided the punishment. According to Articles 8 and 9, for soldiers deserting, the punishment would be at the discretion of a court martial. However, Article 25 requires death for an ‘officer or soldier…who abandons any post committed to their charge’ (Vargas). According to Diffendal et al., there may have been no point to recapturing LaLiberté since he was a civilian and therefore his offense was not as serious, though he did steal a horse. Diffandal et al. may be in the minority, for other sources wrote that LaLiberté would have indeed been bound by the Articles of War (Maurer), particularly Article 32, which read: “All suttlers [sic] and retailers to a camp, and all persons whatsoever, serving with the continental army in the field, though not enlisted soldiers, are to be subject to the articles, rules, and regulations of the continental army.”

Little is known about LaLiberté after he escaped. However, there are a couple of possibilities. According to the St. Louis, Missouri archives, a Joseph LaLiberté married Julie Village on 11 January 1835. Others speculate that he may have lived with the Oto Indians for a number of years (Royot, 171). Others wrote that LaLiberté may have found himself near Jefferson City, MO, and dying under the name of Joab Barton in 1820 (Woodger & Toropov).

References

• Avalon.law.yale.edu. 2022. Avalon Project – Journals of the Continental Congress – Articles of War, June 30, 1775. [online] Available at: <https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/contcong _06-30-75.asp> [Accessed 9 March 2022].
• Blyth, Lance R. “Fugitives from Servitude: American Deserters and Runaway Slaves in Spanish Nacogdoches, 1803-1808.” East Texas Historical Journal, vol 38, no. 2, 2000, pp. 3-14.
• Diffendal, Anne P.; Moulton, Gary E.; Shambaugh-Miller, Michael; and Diffendal, Robert F. (1999). “Reconnaissance Survey of Lewis and Clark on the Missouri National Recreational River, Nebraska and South Dakota”(1999). Papers in Natural Resources. 294
• Grodzinski, John R. “”Bloody Provost”: Discipline during the War of 1812.” Canadian Military History, vol. 16, no. 2, 2007, pp. 25-32.
• Maurer, Dan, “Military Justice Under Washington,” Military Affairs, vol. 18 (1964-65), 8.
• Mussulman, Joseph. “Discovering Lewis and Clark.” Discovering Lewis and Clark, 2022, http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/2640.
• Royot, Daniel. 2007. Divided Loyalties in a Doomed Empire. Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp.: Cranbury NJ.
• Vargas, Mark A. “The Military Justice System and the Use of Illegal Punishments as Causes of Desertion in the US Army, 1821-1835.” The Journal of Military History, vol. 55, no. 1, 1991, pp. 1-19.
• Woodger, Elin & Toropov, Brandon. (2004). Encyclopedia of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Facts on File: USA.
• W. Winthrop, Military Law and Precedents 17, 45 (2d ed. 1920 reprint) https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112101338624&view=1up&seq=14

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Evidence suggests that the Northwest Company may have employed Primeau prior to his work for Lewis and Clark (Johnson). During the expedition, Clark mentioned Primeau sparingly in his journal entries. Primeau appeared in Clark’s entry for November 6, 1804, returning on a pirogue with three others to the Arikaras (Clark). Aside from a few cursory mentions on a roster of engagés, hardly anything else is known about his involvement with the expedition.

There was evidence to suggest that multiple members of the Expedition, including the engagés, were involved in disputes with others or the law. Within the St. Louis Circuit Court archives there are records of Corps of Discovery members John Boley, John Collins, John Colter, George Drouillard, Etienne Malbouf, John Newman, Paul Primeau, Nathaniel Pryor, Isaac White, and Alexander Willard, who all remained in the St. Louis area after the expedition. Primeau’s record comes from 1810. As plaintiff, Primeau sought relief for a debt owed by Louis Lebeaume. Lebeaume apparently owed Primeau for ‘divers [sic] goods, wares, and merchandise’ but failed to pay him. The court ordered the sheriff then to summon Lebeaume (St. Louis Circuit Court Records). Since many transactions occurred through the use of promissory notes rather than currency, in Primeau v. Lebeaume, Lebeaume likely signed a promissory note which he probably could or would not later pay.

In a separate event, Primeau and his family appear again in court records. In 1820, Primeau’s brother-in-law Louis Bissonet and two others, as employees of Pratte and Vasquez, were wounded in an attack by Native Americans. Such occurrences were common at the time; similar to that of George Drouillard who also faced violence from Native Americans after relations soured due to continuing encroachment. Later, when Louis died in 1836, Paul Primeau was appointed as the administrator of Louis’ estate. The heirs to Louis Bissonet’s estate were his brother, his nephew and niece, and his sister Pelagie (Luttig).

When Primeau died in 1851 of old age, he was initially interred in the Rock Springs Cemetery, located in what is today the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, MO. The Rock Springs Cemetery was in use from about 1849 to 1866. Even though a few deceased were buried there afterward, the Catholic Church officially abandoned the cemetery in 1899, and the remains of many of the deceased were moved to Calvary Cemetery, north of downtown St. Louis, and a vault beneath St. Bridget of Erin Catholic Church in St. Louis, which subsequently closed. As recent as 2011, other remains have been found and moved from Rock Springs to Calvary (Campbell, Personal communication, 04 May 2022). However, other sources describe findings of human remains near the old Rock Springs cemetery as recently as 2014 (Currier). And many of the remains were moved unclaimed (Campbell). As far as Primeau is concerned, if his remains were not left behind in Rock Springs, he may have been moved to the vault beneath St. Bridget, and then moved to Calvary. Otherwise he may currently lay in section 5 of Calvary cemetery for a section designated ‘known only to God.’ There is a lesser likelihood his remains are in a plot set up by his son, Louis (Campbell, personal communication, 04 May 2022).

References

• Brown-Trogdon, Jo Ann. “The St. Charles Boatmen.” lewis-clark.org, https:// https://lewis-clark.org/members/st-charles-boatmen/
• Campbell, Mike. Email. 03 May 2022. RE: Webform submission from: Contact Us > Widgets > Section Items.
• Clark, William. “November 6, 1804 Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.” Lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu, https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1804-11-06#lc.jrn.1804-11-06.02
• Currier, Joel. June 6, 2014. “Tomb is found during excavation near St. Louis IKEA site.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/tomb-is-found-during-excavation-near-st-louis-ikea-site/article_399296f4-e0fd-50a7-81a0-d4e524e91163.html
• Johnson, Simone, A. The French Presence in Kansas, 1673-1854. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/21248/Dinneen_FrenchInKs_full.pdf.txt;jsessionid=FB441FCF34EC501CE5CDA3258D6D0108?sequence=3
• Luttig, John C. Journal of a Fur-trading Expedition on the Upper Missouri: 1812-1813. St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society, 1920.
• Rock Springs Cemetery in Saint Louis, Missouri – find a Grave. (n.d.). Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/31190/rock-springs-cemetery.
• St. Louis Circuit Court Records. Paul Primeau v. Louis Labeaume. (2011). Retrieved May 3, 2022, from http://digital.wustl.edu/legalencodingproject/ccrweb/ccr1810.00088.008.html

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According to the archives of the St. Paul Catholic church in St. Paul, Oregon, Rivet had been hunting and trapping for 20 years prior to the expedition. Then, from 1813 to 1824, Rivet worked as an interpreter and hunter (Tubbs & Jenkinson). Rivet had a reported third son in 1816, Francois Jr. (Watson). In 1824, Rivet served as an interpreter for Alexander Ross’ Snake Country Expedition (Elliot). Afterward, he arrived in Oregon to interpret for the Hudson Bay Company and act as “kind of a hedge blacksmith” at Fort Colville in what is now Kettle Falls, Washington (Munnick, A-85). Francois’ youngest son died in 1830 on a Snake River bound expedition, drowning in a whirlpool in the Dalles (Watson). In 1839, Rivet took a claim south of St. Paul (Munnick, A-85; Tubbs & Jenkinson). By accounts of the church archives, Rivet became active in the community.

The Catholic Church recognized Francois Rivet’s marriage to Therese Flathead [Tete Platte in French, (Jackson)] in 1838 (Tubbs & Jenkinson), and there is evidence to suggest that Francois and Therese may have originally married in late 1782 (Rivet). Rivet met Therese when she was a young 19-year-old widow with a baby girl (Jackson). Rivet was Therese’ second husband. Her first husband was killed in battle against the Blackfeet (Flora & Courchane). Therese brought her baby daughter, Julia into her marriage with Rivet (Jackson), and Julia took Rivet’s name (Phillips). On July 13, 1840, Rivet was the Godfather to Archange Tyelis, a middle-aged Indian woman who was baptized (Munnick, p. 7), and another infant girl of mixed descent (Munnick, p. 20) later that year. On November 29, 1840, Rivet was again Godfather to a teenage girl, Catherine Hu (Munnick, p. 16). Rivet also served as a witness for three marriages (Munnick, pgs 59, 67, 86) and was present for the burial of a Joseph PendOreille (Munnick, p. 35). Even though Rivet was mentioned briefly on 13 occasions in the Lewis and Clark journals, one can gather a sufficient idea as to who the man was. In fact, Rivet’s active life full of love and loss served as inspiration for a fictional account of his life in The Gates of the Mountains (Henry).

Reference

Elliott, Thompson C. “Journal of Alexander Ross—Snake Country Expedition, 1824.” The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. 14, no. 4, (1913): 366-385.

Flora, Stephanie, and Chalk Courchaine. “Peter Skene Ogden: Pioneer of 1817.” Retrieved from http://www.oregonpioneers.com/bios/PeterSkeneOgden_1817.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjCieDtrd32AhWKD0QIHcmXAL8QFnoECAQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0GvUoAIxcGc0tBzmheCXOe

Henry, Will. The Gates of the Mountains. NewYork, Random House, 1963.

Jackson, John C. “Old Rivet.” The Magazine of Northwest History vol.18, no. 2 (2004): 1-7

Munnick, Harriet Duncan. 1979. Catholic Church Records of the Pacific Northwest: St. Paul, Oregon 1839-1898. Binford & Mort: Portland, Oregon

Phillips, Lisa. “Transitional Identities: Negotiating Social Transitions in the Pacific NW 1825-1860s.” Canadian Political Science Review, vol 2, no. 2, (2008): 21-40.

Rivet, Tom. “François Rivet (1754 – 1852).” Wikitree, 2014, https://www.wikitree.com/ wiki/Rivet-234.

Tubbs, Stephenie Ambrose, and Clay Jenkinson. The Lewis and Clark Companion: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Voyage of Discovery. Macmillan, 2003.

Watson, Bruce McIntyre. Lives Lived West of the Divide: A Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies, 1793-1858. The University of British Columbia, 2010.

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While it is possible that Whitehouse stayed behind and others relayed their experience upon return, there is evidence to suggest that he also attended. As he was dying around 1860, Whitehouse gave his journal to his Catholic confessor (Gatten and Fifer Joseph Whitehouse | Discovering Lewis & Clark ®). If Whitehouse took the sacraments of the Catholic Church seriously to the point where he confessed his sins prior to his passing, he likely would have also attended the Mass where he could witness the discomfort of his comrades during the Catholic mass (Whitehouse May 20, 1804 | Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition). It would not have been a ‘novelty’ to a Catholic; but it would have been a novelty to “them,” as he wrote in his journal.  Due to the documented changes in the Catholic Church, it is possible to make some assumptions pertaining to the service that was held on May 20, 1804. Prior to the second Vatican Council in 1969 which implemented the Novus Ordo (new order of the Mass), Catholic services were conducted in Latin. A Catholic service prior to Novus Ordo conducted in Latin may certainly have looked unique to American members of the expedition. Additionally, whereas Protestant services and Catholic Novus Ordo services would have the pastor facing the congregation, in a traditional Latin mass the priest faces toward the altar, with his back to the laity (Evangelista). Thus, the entire church faces God in their worship.

Lastly, since Catholic services operate on a calendar, it is thus possible to determine what the readings were for that day. In 1804, Easter fell on April 1. The seventh Sunday after Easter was May 20, which also happened to be Pentecost. Using the schedule of readings for the old Tridentine calendar, the reading would have been from Acts 2:1-11 and the Gospel reading would have been from John 14:23-31. These would likely have been the scriptures that the members of the expedition heard.   

As far as Lewis and Clark were concerned, they were both Deists (Slaughter, 20; Mussulman). While Deists accept the concept of providence, generally they do not ascribe to a particular religion or offer any strict allegiance toward one. Even though Clark had his three eldest children baptized Catholic, he also helped to establish the first Episcopal parish in St. Louis (Mussulman). Though it is unknown to what faith the other expedition members ascribed, due to the Great Awakening that had swept the English-speaking world in the 1730s and 1740s, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists had become the largest Protestant denominations by the start of the 19th century (Library of Congress). Depending on where the members of the expedition hailed from, researchers can make some assumptions. For example, Pennsylvania had a large German population, many of whom were Lutheran. New England was chiefly Congregational and Unitarian. Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians were growing especially in regions west of the Appalachians. Many folks were happy to support Protestant churches as signs of civilization and community uplift, but this says little about their religious beliefs, if any. The Great Awakening had diversified religion in America in the 18th century, but the early republic was one of the lowest periods in American history for church membership and religious practice (Erickson, Nov. 17). However, there is reason to suggest that the French engagés were at least nominal Catholics. The baptism, marriage, and burial registers at St. Charles Borromeo make note of Jean Baptiste Deschamps, Charles Pineau, Charles Hebert, Paul Primeau, Jean Baptiste Lajeunesse, Etienne Malboeuf, and Pierre Roy. In fact, Father Lusson baptized Charles Pineau at St. Charles Borromeo the week before the expedition left St. Charles (Brown). Deschamps, La Jeunesse, Malboeuf, and Pineau, were among those tasked with returning to St. Louis with Corporal Warfington (Buckley, 51), and Deschamps was listed as the “patroon” [sic] of the engagés (Moore, 3). 

The history of St. Charles Borromeo was indicative of the events surrounding the Louisiana Purchase. While the French had control of the area, a government stipend was paid to priests who ministered in their respective churches. However, once the U.S. had acquired the territory, the stipends ceased, despite U.S. Army Captain Amos Stoddard’s objections. Eventually, Father Lusson left the parish in October 1804, but not before educating the remaining faithful of St. Charles. There was evidence to suggest that Lusson prepared the parish to operate without him, for there were baptisms and burials shortly after Fr. Lusson’s departure performed by laymen Noel Prieur and Pierre Troge (Brown, 29, 30). Pierre Troge would have likely been at the service on May 20, 1804 also. Having moved to St. Charles from Cahokia in 1791, Troge served St. Charles as the parish sacristan, who was in charge of the vestments, sacred objects, and the room in which they were stored. Noted for his poor penmanship and spelling, Troge died in 1812 and was buried under the floor of the original log church (Brown, 26).  

The Council of Trent had formally codified the right for Catholic priests to grant the laity the ability to conduct baptisms and burials in the 16th century.  Both Catholics and Orthodox have always allowed laypersons to baptize and to bury in case of emergency or other exceptional circumstances. By the time of the expedition, the Concordat between Napoleon I and the Pope had smoothed out difficulties between revolutionary France and Rome, and other provisions of Trent would be in force throughout French possessions (Erickson, Nov.11). Even though St. Charles was no longer a French possession, the allowance for the laity to perform baptisms and burials continued in lieu of an assigned priest.  

References

• Brown, Jo Ann. St. Charles Borromeo 200 Years of Faith. The Patrice Press, 1991.
• Brown, Jo Ann. “The St. Charles Boatmen | Discovering Lewis & Clark ®.” The St. Charles Boatmen | Discovering Lewis & Clark ®, Www.lewis-clark.org, 2021, http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/309#footnote3_aba0fao.
• Buckley, Jay H. William Clark: Indian Diplomat. University of Oklahoma Press, 2008.
• Clark, William. “May 20, 1804 | Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.” May 20, 1804 | Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu, 30 August. 1803, https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1804-05-20#n04052007.
• Erickson, John. Email to Andrew Fournier. November 11, 2021.
• Erickson, John. Email to Andrew Fournier. November 17, 2021.
• Evangelista, Mark Aurel. “Philippine Sacred Architecture-design Of a Village Chapel.” Vienna University of Technology, 2021.
• Gatten, Robert E., and Barbara Fifer. “Joseph Whitehouse | Discovering Lewis & Clark ®.” Joseph Whitehouse | Discovering Lewis & Clark ®, Www.lewis-clark.org, http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/2583.
• Moore, Robert. “The French Connection of Lewis and Clark.” Le Journal, vol. 25, no. 1, 2009, pp. 1–7.
• Mussulman, Joseph. “Deists in the ‘Wilderness’ | Discovering Lewis & Clark ®.” Deists In the ‘Wilderness’ | Discovering Lewis & Clark ®, Www.lewis-clark.org, 2013, http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/2451#Note4.
• “Religion in Eighteenth-Century America – Religion and the Founding of the American Republic Exhibitions (Library of Congress).” Loc.gov, 2018, www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel02.html.
• Slaughter, Thomas P. Exploring Lewis and Clark: Reflections on men and wilderness. Vintage, 2007.
• Whitehouse, Joseph. “May 20, 1804 | Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.” May 20, 1804 | Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu, 30 August. 1803, https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1804-05-20#n04052007.
• TAGS: French Language and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Lewis and Clark, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Lewis and Clark Trail, religion, Joseph Whitehouse, Catholicism

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