by KRISTEN LOKEMOEN
The
summer of 1804 was a somewhat idyllic time for Lewis and
Clark and the Corps of Discovery. On many mornings they set
out "under a gentle breeze," as Clark and others would
write in their journals. Almost everything about the
experience was new to them-the country through which they
were traveling, the animals and plants that Lewis was
discovering and analyzing, even some of the food that they
were eating. Beaver tail and buffalo hump, which became
favorites of the men, were not served in their homes back
east.
During those first two and a half months the expedition had
also avoided encounters with Indian tribes, who were out on
their summer buffalo hunts. While establishing relations
with the Native Americans was one of their more important
directives from President Jefferson, Lewis and Clark were
very aware of the potential for danger in such meetings.
They would travel almost 650 miles before meeting up with
their first tribe.
The city of Council Bluffs, Iowa is named for the nearby
site of Lewis and Clark's meeting with the Otos on August
3, 1804. The Otos were a small tribe that lived in what is
now Nebraska. They had been joined by the remaining
Missouri Indians in the late 1700s. While the Otos were
peaceful, primarily farmers and hunters, just knowing that
they were in the vicinity made the night before the council
an anxious one for the men.
However, there was little need for worry. This first
experience with the Indians would be mostly positive. The
Captains dressed for the occasion in their full military
regalia. Lewis prepared a lengthy speech, telling the Otos
that the Missouri River country was no longer in the hands
of the French or Spanish. It now belonged to the United
States and they had a new white father.
The Otos saw the amount of goods that the expedition
carried and were disappointed when the gifts they were
given were small and of no real value. Instead of the
desired guns, powder or whiskey, they were given small
amounts of paint, a comb or a peace medal that featured a
likeness of Jefferson, their new white father, on one side.
The Pacific Ocean was still very far away and the captains
knew that it would take everything they had with them to
make the journey successfully. They simply couldn't afford
to be too generous.
After the council, the two groups went their separate ways.
They would meet again upriver near present day Sioux City
on August 18. George Drouillard and three other men had
been sent out to find Private Moses Reed, who had returned
downriver to retrieve his knife. When he didn't return
after three days absence, the captains feared that he had
deserted. It took ten days, but Drouillard got his man. He
also brought in Little Thief, the head chief of the Otos,
who had been out hunting at the time of the first council.
As the expedition continued upstream that day, a new
concern had arisen. Sergeant Charles Floyd, one of the most
respected members of the group, had become seriously ill
with "Biliose Chorlick" as Clark described it. The Captain
also wrote, "we attempt in vain to relieve him, I am much
concerned for his situation."
On Monday, August 20, the boats put to shore in a vain
attempt to help revive Floyd. Sergeant John Ordway wrote in
his journal: "Sergt. Charles Floyd Expired directly after
we halted a little past the middle of the day. He was laid
out in the Best Manner possable. We proceeded on to the
first hills. There we dug the Grave on a handsome slightly
Round knob close to the Bank. We buried him with the
honours of war." The bluff was named Floyd's Bluff and a
nearby river also named for him. The tallest monument to
any member of the Corps of Discovery marks his grave today
on the bluff above the Missouri.
As August drew to a close, the men entered Sioux country.
On August 29 at Calumet Bluffs a council was held with
chiefs of the Yankton Sioux. The meeting went much as the
one with the Otos had. Old Dorion, the French-Canadian they
had met in central Missouri and persuaded to return upriver
with them, did the translating. Lewis gave his speech and
truly had no comprehension how insulting and condescending
it was to the Indians with whom he was trying to build
trust.
But Lewis was lucky. The Yankton Sioux were generally
peaceful and the young men of the Corps and the young
Indians accompanying the chiefs enjoyed showing off their
skills and getting to know one another. Clark was impressed
with the quality of this tribe of Indians, calling them "a
Stout bold looking people & well made."
Like the Otos, the Yanktons were disappointed in the gifts
they were given, but the Yankton chief agreed to go to
Washington in the spring. The captains agreed to let Dorion
spend the winter with the tribe to help make the
arrangements for the trip east. They sent Dorion and the
chiefs off across the river with a bottle of whiskey and
carrots of tobacco. Lewis and Clark and their men headed
the keelboat and pirogues upriver, with the words of one of
the chiefs resounding loudly within them: "I fear those
nations above will not open their ears, and you cannot I
fear open them." Those nations above included the Teton
Sioux.
Kristen
Lokemen is a staff writer and travel specialist for Show-Me
Missouri. She assisted in conducting several tours of the
Lewis and Clark Trail from Missouri to the Oregon
coast.