Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 printed from the original manuscripts in the library of the American Philosophical Society and by direction of its committee on historical documents |
I. |
[DISCIPLINE AND ORGANIZATION] |
II. |
III. |
IV. |
V. |
VI. |
VII. |
VIII. |
The ORIGINAL JOURNALS OF
LEWIS AND CLARK Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 | ||
[DISCIPLINE AND ORGANIZATION]
[The following
"Detachment Orders" are in the Voorhis
collection of Lewis and Clark
manuscripts—see note 2, p. 3,
ante. The
documents show that the "robust helthy hardy
young men," many of them
fresh from the Kentucky woods,
found it not easy to accustom themselves to
the rigid discipline
of a military corps; and illustrate the difficulties
which beset
the two captains during the first winter camp. The orders relating
to the personnel of the expedition, with
the organization
of the messes, etc., are especially interesting and
suggestive.—Ed.][5]
.
[Lewis:]
Detatchment Orders
Camp River Dubois, Febr. 20th.
1804.
The Commanding officer directs that During the absence
of himself and Capt. Clark from Camp, that the party
shall
consider themselves under the immediate command of Sergt.
Ordway, who will be held accountable for the good
poliece
and order of the camp during that period, and will also see
the subsequent parts of this order carried into effect.
The sawyers
will continue their work untill they have cut
the necessary quantity of
plank, the quantity wanting will be
determined by Pryor; during the days
they labour they shall
recieve each an extra gill of whiskey pr. day and be exempt
from guard duty; when the work is
accomplished, they will
join the party and do duty in common with the
other men.
The Blacksmiths will also continue their work untill they
have completed the articles contained in the memorandom
with which I
have furnished them, and during the time they
are at work will recieve
each an extra gill of whiskey pr. day
and be exempt
from guard duty; when the work is completed
they will return to camp and
do duty in common with the
detatc[h]ment.
The four men who are
engaged in making sugar will continue
in that
employment untill further orders, and will recieve
each a half a gill of
extra whiskey pr. day and be exempt from
guard
duty.
The practicing party will in futer discharge only one round
each pr. day, which will be done under the direction
of Sergt.
Ordway, all at the same target and at the
distance of fifty yards
off hand. The prize of a gill of extra whiskey
wil1 be recieved
by the person who makes the
best shot at each time of
Practice.
Floyd will take charge of our
quarte[r]s and store and be
exempt from guard duty untill our return, the
commanding
by the rigid performance of the orders given him on that
subject.
No man shal absent himself from
camp without the knowlege
and permission of
Sergt. Ordway, other than those who
have obtained
permission from me to be absent on hunting
excurtions, and those will not
extend their absence to a term
by which they may avoid a tour of guard
duty, on their return
they will report themselves to Sergt. Ordway and receive his
instructions.
No whiskey
shall in future be delivered from the Contractor's
store except for the legal ration,
and as appropriated by
this order, unless otherwise directed by Capt. Clark or myself.
read the inclosed orders to them.
[Lewis:]
Detatchment Orders
March 3rd. 1804.
The Commanding officer feels
himself mortifyed and disappointed
at the
disorderly conduct of Reubin Fields, in refusing
to mount guard when in
the due roteen of duty he was regularly
warned; nor is he less surprised at the want of discretion
in those
who urged his oposition to the faithfull discharge of
his duty,
particularly Shields, whose sense of propryety he had
every reason to
believe would have induced him reather to have
promoted good order, than
to have excited disorder and faction
among the party, particularly in the
absence of Capt. Clark and
himself: The Commanding
officer is also sorry to find any man,
who has been engaged by himself and
Capt. Clark for the expedition
on which they have entered, so destitute of understanding,
as not to be able to draw the
distinction between being
placed under the command of another officer,
whose will in
such case would be their law, and that of obeying the orders
of
Ordway, who, as one of the party, has during their necessary
absence been charged with the execution of their orders; acting
from those orders expressly, and not from his own caprice, and
who, is in all respects accountable to us for the faithfull observance
of the same.
A moments reflection must convince every man of our
party, that were we to neglect the more important and necessarry
arrangements in relation to the voyage
we are now entering
on, for the purpose merely of remain[in]g at camp in
order to
communicate our orders in person to the individuals of the
party on mear points of poliece, they would have too much
reason to
complain; nay, even to fear the ultimate success of
the enterprise in
which we are all embarked. The abuse of
some of the party with respect [to
the] prevelege heretofore
granted them of going into the country, is not
less displeasing;
to such as have made hunting or other business a pretext
to
cover their design of visiting a neighbouring whiskey shop,
he
cannot for the present extend this previlege; and dose
therefore most
positively direct, that Colter, Bolye, Wiser, and
Robinson do not recieve
permission to leave camp under any
pretext whatever for ten days, after this order is read on the
parade,
unless otherwise directed hereafter by Capt. Clark or
himself. The commanding officers highly approve of the
conduct of
Sergt. Ordway.
The Carpenters Blacksmiths, and in
short the whole party
(except Floid who has been specially directed to
perform other
duties) are to obey implicitly the orders of Sergt. Ordway, who
has recieved our instructions on these
subjects, and is held
accountable to us for their due
execution.
Capt. 1st. U. S. Regt. Infty Comdg Detatchment
morning after the reciept of the same.
[Orderly Book; Clark:]
Detatchment Order
Camp River Dubois, April 1st. 1804.
The Commanding officers did yesterday proceed to take the
necessary inlistments, and select the Detachment destined
for the Expedition through the interior af the Continent of
North America; and have accordingly seelected the persons
herein after Mentioned, as those which are to Constitute their
Perminent Detachment. (Viz).
William | Bratten | John | Ordway |
John | Colter | Nathaniel | Pryor |
John | Collins | John | Potts |
Reubin | Fields | Moses B | Reed |
Joseph | Fields | George | Shannon |
Charles | Floyd | John | Shields |
Patrie | Gass | John B. | Thompson |
George | Gibson | Richard | Winser |
Silas | Goodrich | William | Werner |
Thomas P. | Howard | Peter | Wiser |
Hugh | Hall | Joseph | Whitehouse |
Hugh | Mc. Neel | Alexander | Willard |
John | Newmon |
The
commanding officers do also retain in their service
untill further Orders:
The following Persons, Richard Warvington,
Rabert Frasure, John Robertson, & John Boyley
(Moses B. Read)[6]
who whilst they remain with the Detachment
same, and are to be treated in all respects as those men who
form the Permonant detachment except with reguard to an
advance of Pay, and the distrebutions of Arms and Accoutrements
intended for the expedition.
The following persons (viz Charles Floyd,
John Ordway, and
Nathaniel Pryor are this day
appointed Sergeants, with equal
Powers (unless when
otherwise specially ordered). The authority,
Pay, and emouliments, attached to the Said rank of
Sergeants in the
Military Service of the United States, and to
hold the Said appointments,
and be respected Accordingly,
dureing their good behaviour or the Will and
pleasure of the
sd. Commanding officers.[7]
To insure
order among the party, as well as to promote
a regular Police in Camp, The
Commanding Officers have
thought proper to devide the detachment into
three Squads
and to place a Sergeant in Command of
each, who are held
imediately responsible to the Commanding officers, for
the
regular and orderly deportment of the individuls Composeing
their respective Squads.
The following individuals after being duly
balloted for, have
fallen in the several Squads as
hereafter stated, and are Accordingly
placed under the derection of the Sergeants whose names
preceeds
those of his squad. (Viz :)
George | Gibson |
Thomas P. | Howard |
George | Shannon |
John | Shields |
John | Collins |
Joseph | Whitehouse |
Peter | Wiser |
Hugh | Hall |
Hugh | Mc.Neel |
Patric | Gass |
Reubin | Fields |
Joseph | Fields |
John B: | Thompson |
Richard | Winser |
Richard | Worthington |
Robert | Frasure. |
William | Bratten |
John | Colter |
Alexander | Willard |
William | Warner |
Silas | Goodrich |
John | Potts |
John | Robertson |
John | Boleye |
The Camp Kettles, and other Public utensels for cooking
shall be produced this evening after the parade is Dismissed;
and an equal division shall take place of the same, among the
non commissioned
officers Commanding the squads. Those
non-commissioned officers shall make
an equal Division of the
proportion of those utensels between their own
Messes of their
respective squads,—each squad shall be devided
into two
Messes, at the head of one of which the commanding Sergeant
shall Preside. the sergeants Messes will Consist of four privates
only to be admited under his discression,
the ballance of
each squad shall form the second mess of each
squad.
Dureing the indisposition of Sergeant Pryor, George Shannon
is appointed (protempor) to discharge his the Said Pryor's
duty in
his squad.
The party for the co[n]venience of being more imediately
under the eye of the several sergeants haveing charge of them,
will
make the necessary exchanges of their Bunks and rooms
for that Purpose as shall be verbally derected by us.
Untill
otherwise derected, Sergeant John Ordway will continue
to keep the rouster
and detaile the men of the detachment
perform, as also to transcribe in a book furnished Him for
that purpose, those or such other orders as the Commanding
officers shall think proper to publish from time, to time for
the government of the Party.
The
Lewis and Clark manuscripts were, as explained in the Introduction. ante,
for a time in the hands of Nicholas Biddle. who
prepared from them his paraphrase
Narrative,
published in 1814. Clark, in assisting Biddle, not infrequently" made
interlineations in the text; so did Biddle—in our opinion, the
former thus wrote in
black ink, the latter in red. In 1893, Elliott Coues
also made emendations in the
Philadelphia codices; and there are some
erasures and interlineations by an unknown
hand. In seeking to reproduce
the manuscripts with fidelity, the present Editor has
deemed it desirable
to retain all emendations made by contemporaries, although he
has ignored
many made by Coues, who often sought to correct and modernize the
spelling
of proper names. Words reproduced by us in ltalics enclosed by parentheses,
are corrections in red ink, presumably by Biddle—e.g. (Moses B. Read); those set
in Italics enclosed by
brackets, are in black ink and by several persons—Clark, Coues,
or
an unknown hand—e. g. [Petite
côte]; words in Italics, unenclosed, were underlined
by the author himself; the present
Editor's signed or unsigned emendations are
in Roman, bracketed—e.
g. [Lewis); plain parentheses (enclosing matter in Roman
type) are as in
the text.—Ed.
The above spelling is
somewhat erratic. Following is the now generally
accepted list of members
of the expedition, as verified by the official pay-roll at the
close of
the venture: Meriwether Lewis, Captain in 1st Reg. U. S. Infantry, commanding;
William Clark, and Lieutenant in U.
S. Artillery; sergeants—John
Ordway, Nathaniel Pryor, Charles
Floyd, Patrick Gass; and privates—William
Bratton, John Colter,
John Collins, Peter Cruzatte, Reuben Fields, Joseph Fields,
Robert
Frazier, George Gibson, Silas Goodrich, Hugh Hall, Thomas P. Howard,
Francis Labiche, Hugh McNeal, John Potts, George Shannon, John Shields,
John B.
Thompson, William Werner, Joseph Whitehouse, Alexander Willard,
Richard
Windsor, Peter Wiser. Besides these men, the party included two
interpreters,
George Drewyer (or Drouillard) and Toussaint Charbonneau; an
Indian woman,
Sacajawea ("Bird-woman"). Charbonneau's wife; and a negro
slave of Captain
Clark's, named York. Two soldiers, John Newman and M. B.
Reed, who had
set out with the expedition, were punished for misconduct,
and sent back to St. Louis
on April 7, 1805. Baptiste Lepage was enlisted
in Newman's place, at Fort
Mandan, Nov. 2, 1804, and remained with the
expedition until the discharge of its
men at St. Louis, Nov. 10, 1806.
Fort more detailed information regarding them,
see Coues's Lewis and Clark, i, pp. 253–259.—Ed.
[Orderly Book; Ordway:][8]
Detachment Order
River a Dubois, April 7th. 1804.
During the absence of the Commanding officers at St. Louis,
the Party are to Consider themselves under the immediate
command of Sergt. John Ordway; who will be held accountable
for the Poliece; and good order of the Camp, dureing
that period. Every individual of the party will Strictly attend
to all the necessarry duties required for the benefit of the
party; and to the regulations heretofore made which is now in
force. Sergt. Floyd will stay in our quarters, attend to them,
and the Store; and to the other duties reqeired of him; he
will also assist Sergt. Ordway as much as possable.
From this point until the
end of the Orderly Book, the entries therein are by that
officer, unless
otherwise noted.—Ed..
[Orderly Book:]
Detachment Orders
April 21st. 1804.
Dureing the absence of the
Commanding officers at St. Louis
the Party are to be
under the immediate Command of Sergeant
John
Ordway agreeable to the Orders of the 7th.
Instant
[Orderly Book:]
Camp at River a Dubois, May the 4th 1804
Orders Corporal Warvington, Frasier,
Boley & the Detachment
late from Captain
Stoddards Company will form a
mess under the direction of the Corporal,
who shall be held
accountable for their conduct in Camp.
Orders: The Sergeants are to
mount as officers of the
Day During the time we delay at this place, and
exhibet on
Duty to Command the Detachment in the absence of the
Commanding officer—he is to see that the Guard doe their
Duty, and that the Detachment attend to the regulations heretofore
made and those which may be made from
time to time,
No man of the Detachment Shall leave Camp without permission
from the Commanding officer present,
except the French
Hands who have families may be allowed to Stay with
their
families whilst at this place
2 Sergt. Ordway for Duty to Day. Sergt. Floyd
tomorrow
& Sergt. Pryor the next
day.
[Clark:]
A Memorandom of Articles in readiness for the Voyage[9]
Viz: | 14 | Bags of Parchmeal of 2 bus: | each about. | 1200w |
9 | do - Common Do . do . | do . | 800 | |
11 | do - Corn Hulled . do . | do . | 1000 | |
30 | half Barrels of flour) (Gross 3900w) | do | ||
. | 3400 | |||
2 | Bags of . do ) | |||
7 | do of Biscuit) | |||
( . Gross 650) | do . | 560 | ||
4 | Barrels do ) | |||
7 | Barrels of Salt of 2 bus: each" (870) | do . | 750 | |
50 | Kegs of Pork . (gross 4500) . | do . | 3705 | |
2 | Boxes of Candles 70lb and about 50lb (one of which has 50lb of soap. |
do . | 170 | |
1 | Bag of Candle-wick . . | do . | 8 | |
1 | do" Coffee . . . | . . | 50 | |
1 | do "Beens & 1 of Pees . | . . | 100 | |
2 | do "Sugar . . . | do . | 112 | |
1 | Keg of Hogs Lard . . | do . | 100 | |
4 | Barrels of Corn hulled (650) . | do . | 600 | |
1 | do of meal 170 | do . | 150 | |
600lb | Grees | |||
50 | bushels meal | |||
24 | do Natchies Corn Huled | |||
21 | Bales of Indian goods Tools of every Description &c &c. |
our party
2 Capts. 4 Sergeants, 3 Intptrs., 22 Amns. 9 or 10 French, & York
also I Corpl. & Six in a perogue with 40 Days
provisions for the party
as far as these provisions last
A loose sheet, in the
Voorhis collection, with map of neighborhood of River
Dubois camp on
reverse side.—Ed.
The first two orders
(Lewis) are on separate sheets of paper. The others are
contained in a
pocket note-book, which we designate as the "Orderly Book." This
book (at
first in Clark's hand, and then for the most part in that of Sergeant John
Ordway, with a few entries by Lewis) covers the dates April 1-October 13,
1804.
It is but a fragment; the remaining leaves are missing, save those
containing an entry
dated Fort Clatsop, January, 1, 1806. After the start
of the expedition from River
Dubois camp, we have incorporated into the
text the several entries from this document,
designating them as "[Orderly Book :]".—Ed.
The ORIGINAL JOURNALS OF
LEWIS AND CLARK Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 | ||