A Captain Alone, A Crew Lamed: Convergence on the Jefferson
1805-07-31The entries for July 31, 1805 capture a moment of mild crisis on the Jefferson…
Topic
Diplomacy
Analyses (48)
View allA Council Postponed: Wind, Wonder, and the Bull-Boats of the Arikara
1804-10-09The 9th of October 1804 found the Corps of Discovery encamped near the Arikara villages…
A Fort in Motion: Industry, Diplomacy, and a Rival Company’s Gift
1805-03-07The journal entries for March 7, 1805, offer a revealing pair of perspectives on Fort…
A Lock on the Fort Gate: Discipline and Diplomacy at Fort Mandan
1805-02-07The two surviving entries for February 7, 1805 illuminate Fort Mandan from sharply different vantage…
A Robe, a Pipe, and Nine Bushels of Corn: Diverging Accounts of a Mandan Council
1804-10-31The journal entries for October 31, 1804, offer one of the clearest examples in the…
A Valley of Heat and Cold: Five Views of the Upper Jefferson
1805-08-02The Same March, Five RegistersThe party ascended the Jefferson on August 2, 1805, through a…
A White Robe, a War Dance, and Three Pens: Reading the Teton Council of September 26
1804-09-26September 26, 1804 marked a deliberate de-escalation after the previous day's near-violent confrontation with the…
Buttons, Basilicon, and a Dying Man’s Tomahawk
1806-06-02June 2, 1806, found the Corps of Discovery at Camp Chopunnish on the Clearwater, waiting…
Civility Among the Arikara: Four Voices on a Day of Diplomacy
1804-10-11The expedition's halt at the upper Arikara villages on October 11, 1804, produced four overlapping…
Clark’s Birthday Feast and the Naming of Council Bluff
1804-08-01One Day, Two StoriesThe August 1, 1804 entries split cleanly along rank. The enlisted narrators…
Council, Punishment, and a Deserter Returned: Three Enlisted Men Record August 18, 1804
1804-08-18August 18, 1804. Three enlisted journals in this corpus record the day: Whitehouse, Ordway, and…
Diplomacy, Roots, and a Yankee Phrase: Four Voices at Camp Chopunnish
1806-06-06The journals of June 6, 1806, written from Camp Chopunnish on the Kooskooske while the…
Drumbeats at Calumet Bluff: Three Witnesses at a Yankton Council
1804-08-30August 30, 1804, the council at Calumet Bluff. Three published journals in this corpus record…
First Contact Approaches: A Missouri Indian Joins the Camp
1804-07-28July 28, 1804, on the Missouri above the Nodaway. Four published journals in this corpus…
Four Pens at Council Bluff: Diplomacy, Venison, and a White Heron
1804-08-02The entries of August 2, 1804, offer a rare convergence: four narrators — Patrick Gass,…
Four Pens, One Council: Diplomacy and Doctoring Among the Chopunnish
1806-05-11The 11th of May 1806 finds the Corps of Discovery encamped among the Chopunnish (Nez…
Four Voices at the Arikara Villages: Diplomacy, Theft, and the Measure of a People
1804-10-12The expedition's final morning among the Arikara villages produced four strikingly uneven records. William Clark…
Frost, Mire, and Two Parties Diverging on the Jefferson
1806-07-10The entries for July 10, 1806 record a single hinge day in the Corps of…
Hunters, Visitors, and a Sick Wife: Routine and Diplomacy at Fort Mandan
1805-01-11The journal entries of January 11, 1805, offer a textbook example of how the Lewis…
Investing a Second Chief: Diplomacy and Diversion at Fort Mandan
1805-03-22The entries for 22 March 1805 capture a diplomatic ceremony conducted in the closing weeks…
Mush, Medicine, and a Unanimous Voice: The Nez Perce Council of May 12
1806-05-12The entries for May 12, 1806 record a day of intense diplomacy and medical practice…
One Deer, Three Ledgers: Diplomacy and Domesticity at Fort Mandan
1805-02-01The journal entries for February 1, 1805, offer a compact case study in how three…
Parting at the Arikara Village: Diplomacy, Departure, and Two Registers of the Same Day
1806-08-22August 22, 1806, finds the Corps of Discovery breaking camp at an Arikara village during…
Return to Council Bluffs: Three Views of a Familiar Shore
1806-09-08By early September 1806 the Corps of Discovery was driving hard down the Missouri, recognizing…
Routine and Diplomacy at Fort Mandan: Two Registers of a Quiet March Day
1805-03-05The entries for March 5, 1805, from Fort Mandan offer a useful demonstration of how…
Scarcity, Diplomacy, and a Frostbitten Return at Fort Mandan
1805-01-13The journal entries dated January 13, 1805 offer a revealing case study in how three…
Scouting an Island, Sounding the Mandan Council
1804-10-30The entries for 30 October 1804 capture a pivotal moment in the search for winter…
Sheet Iron for Corn: Diplomacy and Provision at Fort Mandan
1805-02-06The entries of February 6, 1805, by Meriwether Lewis and Sergeant John Ordway describe the…
Stolen Tomahawks and Gambled Horses: Frustration at the Eneeshur Villages
1806-04-20The expedition's struggle to acquire horses from the Eneeshur and Skilloot peoples on April 20,…
The Arikara Nation: Diplomatic Crossroads on the Upper Missouri
First Encounters and Abandoned VillagesThe Corps' first recorded brush with Arikara presence came not through…
The Black Cat’s Visit: Diplomacy and Hunger at Fort Mandan
1805-02-08The journal record for February 8, 1805 offers a striking contrast in narrative register. Meriwether…
The Chippewa (Ojibwe) in the Lewis & Clark Record: Named, Not Encountered
Named, not encounteredNo Chippewa (Ojibwe) town sits on the expedition's track. The journals still use…
The Iowa (Aiaouez) in the Lewis & Clark Journals: Named on the Lower Missouri
Named in passing, not visitedThe Corps did not council with the Iowa. Clark still writes…
The Omaha (Maha) Nation: A Diminished People in the Journals of Lewis & Clark
Introduction: A Nation in the Journals' ShadowThe Omaha — written variously as Mahar, Maha, Mahas,…
The Osage Nation in the Lewis & Clark Journals: A Synthesis
Heard of, traded past, not visitedThe expedition did not call at an Osage town. Clark…
The Otoe Nation: First Diplomatic Council on the Missouri
IntroductionThe Otoe (also spelled Oto) were a Siouan-speaking people of the lower Missouri valley, closely…
The Otoe-Missouria: First Council on the Plains
Who They WereBy the time Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri in 1804, the Otoe…
The Pawnee Nation: A Distant Presence in the Expedition’s Record
IntroductionThe Pawnee Nation — one of the dominant Caddoan-speaking peoples of the central Plains in…
The Sac and Fox Nation in the Lewis & Clark Record
Sauk in the first month on the MissouriThe Corps did not council with the Sac…
The Shawnee Nation in the Lewis & Clark Record
A thin record, not an empty oneThe Corps did not travel through Shawnee towns on…
The Sioux Nation in the Lewis & Clark Journals: Traders in June, Tetons in September
Not absent — mis-taggedA generic "Sioux Tribe/Nation" tag on this site once held no journal_entry…
The Stolen Tomahawk Recovered: Four Accounts of a Tense Reunion at Wah-clel-lah
1806-04-09The expedition's upriver passage through the Cascades of the Columbia on April 9, 1806 produced…
The Teton Sioux (Lakota): Gatekeepers of the Upper Missouri
Introduction: A Single Entry, A Defining ConfrontationThe journal record provided here is exceptionally limited —…
The Walla Walla Nation and Chief Yelleppit: Hosts of the Homeward Crossing
IntroductionThe Walla Walla (rendered variously in the journals as "Wallah wollah," "Wallah wallah," and "Wallahwallahs")…
The Yakama Nation in the Lewis & Clark Journals: A Brief Encounter at the Great Confluence
IntroductionThe Yakama (also rendered historically as Yakima) are one of the great Sahaptin-speaking nations of…
The Yankton Sioux: Calumet Bluff and the Long Shadow of Diplomacy
IntroductionThe Yankton Sioux (Nakota), one of the seven council fires of the Sioux nation, occupy…
Thomas Jefferson: The Distant Architect of the Voyage of Discovery
An Absent PresenceThomas Jefferson never set foot on the expedition trail, yet his shadow falls…
Three Forks of the Jefferson — A Note Left on a Pole
1805-08-04Lewis Scouting, Clark HaulingThe August 4 record splits cleanly along a line of responsibility. Lewis,…
Translations (5)
View allAuguste Chouteau to Thomas Jefferson, November 20, 1804
November 20, 1804Sir, Captain Lewis, during the stay he had here before departing for Missouri, charged me…
Auguste Chouteau: Dinner Invitation to General William Clark
Auguste Chouteau requests General W. Clark to do him the honor of dining at his…
Pierre Chouteau to Thomas Jefferson, December 1, 1805
December 1, 1805Sir, The [Osage, Wazhazhe] chiefs who arrives last in St. Louis gave me indirect news…
Pierre Chouteau to Thomas Jefferson, July 20, 1805
July 20, 1805Sir, Captain Lewis has sent by his barge returning from high on the Missouri, some…
Pierre Chouteau to Thomas Jefferson, November 19, 1804
November 19, 1804Sir, Captain Lewis on his visit engaged the chief of the [Iowa, Baxoje] tribe to…
