Not knowing exactly how many Indian tribes they would encounter between St. Louis and the Pacific Ocean, Lewis and Clark could only make a semi-educated guess as to how much to carry in the way of gifts and trade goods.  An examination of their expenditures reveals that Lewis spent about $720 on purchases that went for items which were exchanged with the Indians.  These items were selected to not only supply some of the Indians’ anticipated wants but also to showcase some of the more attractive goods they might learn to want.

The captains’ lists consisted of fifty-one individual types of items altogether.  It was in part an inventory of everyday items available in Philadelphia shops at the time.    Included was a silk ribbon embroidered with patterns for the Indian women.

On Sunday, May 13, 1804, the day before the Corps of Discovery left St. Louis on their nearly twenty-nine month adventure to the Pacific and back, Lewis made a brief entry in his journal:

“Every thing Complete, with the necessary Stores of provisions & such articles of merchendize as we thought ourselves autherised to precure — tho’ not as much as I think necssy for the multitude of Inds. tho which we must pass on our road across the Continent &. &.”

His judgement was correct.  By the time the Corps left Fort Clatsop in Oregon and started their journey home on Sunday, March 23, 1806, they were already trading off their dress uniforms, and giving buttons to the Indians in return for food.

One thing Lewis did not think of back in Philadelphia was “hairpipes” (tubular beads, of bone, shell, copper, or stone usually less than two inches long that had been manufactured by Indians as costume decorations since pre-Columbian time.  At the last minute Lewis managed to find twenty-four of these for sale in St. Louis.  This was hardly adequate considering their widespread popularity and use at the time.

When the Corps passed the mouth of the Platte River, they noted that the current of the river was of great velocity and it was carrying a voluminous amount of sand into the Missouri.  The many sand bars created navigation problems for the pathfinders.

Platte is French for “flat.”  It drains nearly the entire state of Nebraska.  The comparatively safe and easy terrain in Nebraska is why in the middle 1800s, the route to the Southwest, California, and Oregon was not Lewis and Clark’s trail, but overland along the Great Platte River Road, which began in Omaha.

After the Corps left St. Louis, the American flag was first mentioned by Clark on July 22, 1804, above the mouth of the Platte River on the Nebraska side of the Missouri.    A flag staff was erected and the American flag was visible above their camp along the river.  They stayed at this camp for five days to meet with many Indians in the area.

Clark wrote:  “We concluded to delay at this place a few days and Send for Some of the Chiefs of that nation to let them Know of the Change of Government.  The wishes of our Government to Cultivate friendship with them, the Objects of our journey and to present them with a flag and Some Small presents.”

Their supplies and provisions had gotten wet and they needed several days to get everything dry.  Furthermore, the men needed some time to rest and the captains needed time to prepare dispatches which they planned to send back to President Jefferson.  It was the first specific mention of plans to send back a party with dispatches for President Jefferson.  Their intentions were honorable; however, they were not actually carried out until April of 1805.

The Corps camped for four days (July 30 – August 2, 1804) near a large bluff about fifteen miles above the present site of Omaha.  This bluff became known as the Council Bluff because of the meetings the captains held with the Indians.  They “raised a flag Pole” to identify their site and Lewis reported in his journal that “Sergt. Floyd very unwell.”  This was the first indication in the journals of the illness that would result in Floyd’s death in less than a month.

It was at this site that they had found and killed a badger.  This became the first zoological specimen preserved by Lewis on the expedition.  It was skinned and stuffed and sent back to Jefferson to be put on display.

Also at this site, the Indians presented the familiar watermelon to the members of the Corps for desert.  It has been documented that it had been cultivated by the American Indians from as early as the 1600s.

On August 11, 1804, members of the Corp placed a white flag on the grave of Blackbird who had died four years earlier.  He was chief of the Omahas and was known as a notorious character along the Missouri River.  He was noted for his friendship with the white fur traders and his strong rule over his own people.  Under his leadership the Omahas rose to prominence on the eastern plains.  Legend has it that he was buried seated on the back of his horse, on the hilltop where he used to watch for the coming of his friends and traders.

For the men of the Corps, their large flag was a symbol of their own heartfelt patriotism, inspired by their father’s and grandfathers’ service in the War of Independence.  Those men who left St. Louis in May of 1804 must have begun to understand that they had committed their lives to an historic and momentous enterprise.

 

 

Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on June 22, 2022