The Lewis and Clark expedition painstakingly documented the uncharted West and befriended
the many Native American tribes they met along the way. That's the story you were told in
school, but the real expedition was far more brutal. This is the messed-up truth about
the Lewis and Clark expedition.
As Lewis and Clark prepared for their expedition into the western territories, the United States
government gave them numerous goals to accomplish. Foremost, they were to find a Northwest Passage
that connected the rivers of the Atlantic to the rivers of the Pacific, allowing for
continuous water travel across North America — a mission they would fail, as the Northwest
Passage turned out to be a myth. Furthermore, they were to keep detailed records of the
plants and animals of the West and to map out as much of the territory as possible.
But an often-ignored goal of the Lewis and Clark expedition was to gain the loyalty of
the Native American tribes of the West. As the Corps of Discovery encountered new tribes
on its push to the Pacific, they informed the Native people that they were living on
land that was now part of the United States. Lewis and Clark would offer gifts to the tribes,
from knives to peace medals, and encourage them to obey the rules of the United States
government. But the Corps of Discovery also demonstrated the steep price of disobeying
the United States. In front of each tribe, they would fire off their guns in a display
of military power.
Lewis and Clark knew that their dangerous voyage required obedient men. So, in the early
stages of the expedition, the two captains decided to construct an impromptu legal system
whereby they would court-martial and punish any members of the Corps who disobeyed orders.
Numerous enlisted men were penalized under this disciplinary system, especially in the
first year of the expedition. John Collins was accused of getting drunk
at his post. He pleaded not guilty, but a jury of his peers disagreed. Collins was sentenced
to receive 100 lashes on his back. Another man, Alexander Willard, was also sentenced
to 100 lashes for falling asleep while on guard duty. Even worse, Willard's lashes were
spread out over four days, which was intended to intensify the pain.
But perhaps the worst punishment went to Moses Reed, a man who attempted to steal a rifle
and desert the Corps. Once he was caught, Reed was forced to run a gauntlet through
the enlisted men as they whipped him with switches, and he was subsequently dismissed
from the Corps.
The diet of the Corps was diverse and unusual. The Corps departed with nearly seven tons
of dry goods, including flour, salt, coffee, pork, corn, sugar, beans, and lard. The men
particularly loved meat and would hunt for elk and buffalo whenever they could. Luckily
for them, animals were abundant across much of the Great Plains. When the men found themselves
running low on food, they often obtained more by trading with Native tribes in exchange
for tools and weapons. And, along the way, Sacagawea helped the Corps identify which
plants were edible and which were not. But some moments of the journey proved to
be more desperate than others. Journals from the expedition reveal that the protein-starved
men ate horse meat on numerous occasions, although it probably came from wild horses,
not the ones that they rode. If that's not desperate enough, animal lovers
might cry when they hear that the Corps frequently obtained dog meat from trading with Native
tribes. Some of the men actually began to like the taste of dog and continued to trade
for dog meat with the Natives along the Columbia River. All this despite the fact that the
Columbia teemed with salmon. Besides unusual meat, when food ran out in
one particularly rough situation in the Rockies, the starving men were prepared to eat candle
wax, but it's unclear if it ever came to that.
In their trek across the western United States, the men of the Corps of Discovery fell prey
to a variety of illnesses and injuries. One man became severely ill in the first few months
of the trip and died shortly after: This was Sergeant Charles Floyd, who, according to
modern historians, likely succumbed to a burst appendix. After Floyd's death so early in
the mission, Lewis and Clark probably expected to lose many more of their men. But surprisingly,
Charles Floyd was the only member of the expedition to die during the entire three-year journey.
Many other men did fall ill during the voyage, and the worst part about getting sick in the
early 1800s was that the treatment was usually worse than the illness. To treat their men,
Lewis and Clark primarily relied on a powerful mercury-based laxative. These pills were colloquially
known as "Rush's Thunderbolts" after Benjamin Rush, who manufactured them.
"They often used logic and philosophy. And unfortunately, their logic was often correct,
but the explanations were completely wrong." The mercury often made the men sicker than
they were before. Interestingly, modern historians have been able to track the exact voyage of
the Lewis and Clark expedition by looking for mercury deposits left behind by the men's
stool.
For the most part, Lewis and Clark's men were able to stay on the good side of the Native
tribes they encountered. That's not to say that the Corps' men and the Native peoples
were immediately best friends. There were many tense interactions between the two groups.
One noteworthy example occurred early in the expedition, in the territory of the Lakota
along the Missouri River. When Lewis and Clark met the Lakota, they immediately began preaching
obedience to the United States and displaying their military power. Then, after eating together,
the Corps initiated trading with the Lakota, who were led by Chief Black Buffalo.
But a sect of the Lakota who were rivals with Black Buffalo decided to create tension with
the Corps, seizing the cable of a docked boat and demanding more goods. Clark escalated
hostilities much further, drawing his sword and ordering his men to point their guns at
Lakota. Thankfully, Black Buffalo intervened, reprimanding the Americans but ordering the
Lakota to fall back. The Corps of Discovery stayed with the tribe for several more days,
and the relationship remained mixed. Clark would later refer to the Lakota as, quote,
"the vilest miscreants of the savage race."
Violent conflict with Native Americans wasn't the only threat that the Corps faced. Unbeknownst
to the Corps' men, the government of Spain felt that the expedition was an encroachment
upon their territory and feared that it could be a precursor to further American expansion
to the West. Although the United States government had purchased a massive amount of land from
France, Spain still owned all the land west of the Louisiana Territory as far north as
modern-day Oregon. When word about the expedition spread, the
Spanish governor of New Mexico sent a force of 52 soldiers to intercept the expedition.
When the force reached the territory of the Pawnee, they learned that the Corps of Discovery
had passed through the area but were long gone by that time.
A second force of 100 men also failed to hunt down the Corps, as they were forced to return
to New Mexico after a Pawnee attack. Spain, refusing to give up, sent a third force of
300 men, but this group quickly fizzled as the soldiers turned against their commander.
A final force of 600 men was mustered to capture Lewis and Clark and to persuade Native tribes
in the region to side with Spain. Once again, this force failed.
Without realizing it, Lewis and Clark had evaded the largest military force Spain ever
sent into the Great Plains.
Despite certain tense interactions, the Corps of Discovery was able to maintain friendly
relations with most of the Native tribes they encountered. The Native peoples would show
their hospitality in a variety of ways. Dances and peace ceremonies were common. But one
bonding practice had disastrous implications for all those involved. This was the practice
of wife-sharing. At the time, it was common for Native men
to allow white visitors to sleep with their wives as a sign of goodwill. Unfortunately,
this likely occurred without regard for whether their wives consented or not. As we now know,
wife-sharing led to the rapid spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Many Native women in
the West had already contracted STDs from sleeping with French and British traders.
These diseases were then passed on to the men of the expedition.
Lewis and Clark had prepared for their men to contract venereal diseases, but at the
time, treatment options were limited. "Crazy VD! And Lewis, he would have to give
them a mercury tonic." "Mercury! On your genitals! Come on!"
"Crazy! It's crazy poisonous."
The Corps was able to avoid outright conflict with most of the Native tribes they met. But
that changed in 1806 when an encounter with the Blackfeet Tribe ended in tragedy.
On the return trip from the Pacific, Lewis and Clark decided that the men should break
into smaller groups in order to survey more of the unexplored Western territories. Lewis
took his crew up north, landing them in the territory of the Blackfeet, a Native tribe
known for their military dominance in the region. Lewis' crew encountered eight Blackfeet
men, who decided to camp with them for the night. But things went awry when Lewis informed
the Blackfeet that some of their rival tribes, the Shoshone and Nez Perce, had already agreed
to ally with the United States and would be receiving supplies and weaponry in return.
The Blackfeet felt threatened by the news that the power balance in the area was rapidly
shifting. During the night, the Blackfeet reportedly attempted to steal the Corps' guns.
In the fight that ensued, Lewis reports that one of his men stabbed a Blackfeet warrior,
while he personally shot another who was attempting to run off with the crew's horses. After the
fight, two men were dead at the hands of the Corps of Discovery. As a result, the Blackfeet
closed off their territory to Americans for the next 80 years.
It's been said that Thomas Jefferson thought it would take 100 generations for Americans
to thoroughly settle the lands west of the Mississippi. The American people did it in
under five. After the conclusion of the Lewis and Clark
expedition in 1806, the westward expansion of the United States began in earnest. Throughout
the 19th century, more territory was added to the U.S., while Native people were forcibly
pushed further and further west. It's estimated that the Native American population declined
from 600,000 in 1800 to a mere 237,000 in 1900. The land held by Native tribes suffered
an even sharper decline. "The deception. I mean, that's what hurt our
people later on. Why couldn't they be truthful. You know?"
It's unclear whether Lewis and Clark openly supported this brutal territorial expansion.
The men had promised most of the tribes they encountered that they would be treated with
respect by the U.S. government, but did they honestly believe that was the case? It's hard
to say for sure. But we do know that Lewis and Clark's expedition west inspired many
future settlers to do the same, and that the geographic and scientific information they
collected was of great benefit to America's future expansion.
After completing their mission, nearly every member of the Corps of Discovery was given
a generous reward. Besides monthly wages, each enlisted man received 320 acres of land,
while Lewis and Clark both received 1,600 acres. While Sacagawea received nothing, her
husband Charbonneau was granted the same payment as the other enlistees. But one man was left
out entirely. That man was York, the expedition's sole African-American
participant and personal slave to William Clark. As a slave, York was forced to join
the Corps against his will. Some of the expedition's men treated York with hostility. One man threw
sand in his face, causing York to almost lose an eye. As he traveled with the Corps, York
was likely motivated by the hope that finishing the expedition could earn him his freedom.
Slaves who went above and beyond for their masters were sometimes freed.
But when the mission concluded, William Clark refused to free York. In fact, York's request
to be freed enraged Clark, who threatened to sell him to a more severe master in the
South. Furthermore, Clark denied York's appeal to be hired out to the farm in Louisville
where his wife worked, going so far as to give him a, quote, "severe trouncing" for
his "insolent" behavior. Clark did ultimately free York sometime before the 1830s, but he
continued to claim that York preferred life as a slave.
There is some mystery surrounding the death of Sacagawea. Three years after the expedition
had finished, Sacagawea's family accepted an invitation from William Clark to come live
in St. Louis. Clark gave her and her husband Charbonneau some land to farm and offered
their son Jean-Baptiste a Western education. But farming proved unsuccessful, so Sacagawea
and Charbonneau joined a fur-trading expedition, leaving Jean-Baptiste under the guardianship
of William Clark. After this point, written records of Sacagawea's
life become sparse. It’s reported that she gave birth to a daughter, Lisette, in late
1812 and became fatally ill soon after. According to the journal of fur trader John Luttig,
she died of a fever on the evening of December 20, 1812. Historians have generally accepted
this as Sacagawea's official death date. She was only 25 years old. William Clark adopted
both Lisette and Jean-Baptiste the following year, but Lisette likely died as an infant.
However, fans of Sacagawea may have reason to hope. Sacagawea was not Charbonneau's only
wife, so Luttig's journal entry is unhelpfully vague. Furthermore, Native American oral tradition
says that Sacagawea left her husband and moved out west, eventually returning to the Shoshone
Tribe in Wyoming, where she remained until her death in 1884. If this is true, then Sacagawea
would have been in her nineties when she died, a happy ending for the most beloved member
of the Corps of Discovery.
Captain Meriwether Lewis was rewarded handsomely for his role in the Corps of Discovery expedition.
Not only was he celebrated as an American hero and granted 1,600 acres of land, but
President Thomas Jefferson personally appointed Lewis to be the governor of the new Upper
Louisiana territory. But honor did not bring Captain Lewis happiness.
He'd been plagued by depression for much of his life, a mental illness that may have been
exacerbated by neurosyphilis, according to some modern medical historians. His depression
left him incapable of completing a journal of his expedition, which disappointed President
Jefferson. To add insult to injury, Lewis' dealings with the War Department left him
in steep debt, so he took a trip to Washington D.C. to sort out his financial situation.
In 1809, in a remote inn on the route to Washington, Meriwether Lewis took his own life. He was
35 years old. But the circumstances surrounding Lewis' death
have led some to speculate that he was actually killed. Lewis was found with gunshot wounds
to both the head and chest, and the innkeeper's wife reportedly saw him crawling around before
he died. It was also well-known that bandits roamed the area. Could Lewis have been the
victim of a mugging gone awry? Possibly. But it's far more likely that his death was a
tragic botched suicide. Lewis had composed his will before his trip to D.C. and had attempted suicide just a few weeks earlier.