Lewis and Clark Essay

Andrew Stutts

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States, departing in May, 1804 from near St. Louis on the Mississippi River, making their way westward through the continental divide to the Pacific coast.  This enterprise, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, consisting of a select group of U.S. Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark.  Their perilous journey lasted from May 1804 to September 1806.  The primary objective was to explore and map the newly acquired territory, find a practical route across the Western half of the continent, and establish and American presence in this territory before the European powers tried to claim it.  The campaign’s secondary objectives were scientific and economic.  They were to study the area’s plants, animal life, and geography, and establish trade with local Indian tribes.  Lewis and Clark’s interaction with the native people played a pivotal role in the success of this mission.  This paper will focus on the various cultural difference of the native people on this journey, diplomacy employed by the expedition, Native American networking, and Native American geographical contributions to the expedition.

The Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the territorial size of the United States.  Occupying this immense region were numerous indigenous people commonly known as Indian tribes.  Although we tend to think of Indians as one people, this is a misconception.  In actuality the tribes Lewis and Clark encountered were distinctly different from one another.  Indeed, in terms of language, appearance, and way of life they were as dissimilar from each other as the peoples of Europe. 

            The various tribal ways of living differed in many respects.  These indigenous people dwelled in a variety of different structures from wooden houses to skin houses.  Other areas of their life differed as well.  Many of these people traversed the water in boats made from a variety of material such wood, bark or even animal hides.  Their dietary habits differed as well.  For example many tribes had no qualms including dog meat as part of their regular meals where others would only eat it under dire conditions to prevent starvation.  Lastly, some tribes were warlike prescribing to a warrior ethos in contrast to other tribes that were peaceful and thought of war as barbaric.

These differences in the way the tribes lived their daily lives can be termed as cultural differences.  Furthermore, tribes that lived near one another, who shared a similar ways of living, and who spoke a similar language can be said to share the same culture and be grouped together in a culture area.  During their journey to the Pacific Ocean, Lewis and Clark traveled through three different culture areas:  the Plains, Plateau, and Northwest Coast.

 The Plains Indians were primarily nomadic buffalo hunters who lived most of the year in tipis.  The horse held a pivotal role in their culture.  Although a few of the Plains tribes, like the Mandan and Pawnees, lived in permanent villages most of the year, they hunted buffaloes and had a lifestyle similar to their nomadic neighbors.  Among the Plains tribes Lewis and Clark met were the Osage, Sioux, Cheyenne, Crow, and Mandan.

Upon reaching the Rocky Mountains, Lewis and Clark entered the country of the Plateau Indians.  Living here were the Blackfeet, Flathead, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Spokane, and Yakima Indians.  These Indians lived in the Columbia River Country and were fishermen as well as hunters.

When the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean, it encountered the indigenous tribes of the Northwest Coast Culture Area.  These people were excellent wood workers who built large houses, boats, and totem poles.  Living near the mouth of the Columbia River were the Clatsop, Tillamook, and Chinook Indians.

One of the most important mandates from President Jefferson for the Lewis and Clark expeditions was for them be ambassadors of good will.  Most of the tribes Lewis and Clark encountered were little known in the United States.  Many of these tribes, in fact, had already relations established with France, Spain, and England before the United States had even became a country.  It was vital for America to gain the loyalty and friendship of these tribes for a variety of reason to include economic, military and political.  Therefore, President Jefferson had given the expedition the primary task of making friends and developing trade relations with these Indians as well as collecting scientific and military information about them.

Lewis and Clark excelled at their job as ambassadors of good will.  Whenever they met a new band of Indians, the captains held conference, distributed presents, and explained to them that they now owed their allegiance to the United States and not to any of the European powers they formerly had relations with.  The most notable of the gifts presented were certificates, American flags, and Jefferson medals, known as peace medals from the clasped hands of friendship on one side of the medal.

The Corps of Discovery succeeded because of the help of the Indian peoples they met along the way and these people’s system of networking.   The Native American system of networking could be described as a chain of friendship.  This networking system or chain of friendship linked the Indian communities.  This chain of friendship stretched from the Mandan villages on the upper Missouri across the Rockies and then along the Columbia River to the Pacific coast.  For the Corps of Discovery Expedition this chain of friendship was a lifeline that enabled them to pass safely through unfamiliar and often dangerous territory.  The expedition benefited from the protection while within the regions occupied by each tribe they sojourned with.  The tribes provided the explorers with food, opportunities to rest, and recommendations concerning the route immediately ahead of the explorers

The expedition was particularly indebted to the Nez Perce, who the starving explorers met on September 20, 1805, after their ordeal on the Lolo Trail.  If it had not been for the Nez Perce the Corps of Discovery could have perished and never been heard from again.  Instead, the Nez Perce fed the explorers and then cared for their horses, which would be needed for their re-crossing of the Lolo Trail the following year.  After wintering at Fort Clatsop near the mouth of the Columbia River, the Corps of Discovery arrived back in Nez Perce country on June 10, 1806 to find their horses and other property in good order.  Not only did the Nez Perce out fit the explorers with food and provisions, they also lent them guides to lead them safely across the trail.

One reason the various tribes were so welcoming and provided aid to the endeavors of Lewis and Clark may have been their Indian companion, Sacagawea, and her infant son.  This Shoshone woman, married to the French trader Toussaint Charbonneau and accompanied the Corps of Discovery from the Mandan villages to the Pacific Ocean and then came back with them.  These various tribes might have otherwise suspected the explorers on a warlike mission would were it not for the reassuring of the presence of this Indian woman and her child.  According to William Clark, “The Wife of Shabano our interpreter” we find reconciles all the Indians, as to our friendly intentions.  A woman with a party of men is a token of peace.” (Adams)

Indigenous people who know the land are always and asset to explorers of an unknown territory.  Of particular benefit to the expedition was the geographical information obtained from the Indians they encountered.  For example, on August 14, 1805, at a critical juncture of the expedition, Lewis wrote in his journal: “I now prevailed on the Shoshone Chief to instruct me with respect to the geography of his country.  This he undertook very cheerfully, by delineating the rivers on the ground.”  He did this, Lewis noted, by placing “a number of heaps of sand on each side which he informed me represented the vast mountains of rock eternally covered with snow which the river passed.”  (Moulton, August 14 1805)   In this passage Lewis described the construction of one of the native maps that would guide the Corps of Discovery through the rugged Rocky Mountains by way of the Lolo Trail.  In accomplishing this, the explorers had to forsake the relative ease of river travel for hazardous and inclement travel over snow by foot and horseback. 

Lewis and Clark were not the first explorers to benefit from Indian geographical knowledge.  Indeed, from the time of Captain John Smith and Samuel de Champlain, Indians assisted Europeans in the exploration of North America.  In this process, Native Americans recorded and transmitted concepts of their cultural, physical, and sacred landscapes using a variety of cartographic devices.  These devices took several forms such as inscribed maps drawn with charcoal on tanned animal hides or scratched in the ground on snow; raised relief maps modeled with sand, dirt, or snow, and storytelling communicated through sign language.  Many times these transitory maps were recorded by explorers or government officials and incorporated in printed maps, in which case Indian geographical concepts were widely disseminated.  On the Nicholas King map used by Lewis and Clark on their journey, most of the information on the American Northwest was based on Indian information.  However, it is important to note another significant culture curiosity and that is difference in Native American and Euro-American concepts concerning geography.   Indian concepts of geographical space differed from those held by Europeans and Americans.  These differences were primarily in the methods of measuring time, distance and directions.  The native’s methods were based on their way of life and cultural influences, and experiences as hunters and gatherers.  Time and distance were expressed in terms of the number of nights or “sleeps” that it would take to travel from one point to another.  Direction was given with reference to the location of the sun.  This often led to errors of interpretation by the explorers.  Despite these errors the information garnered by the Americans from the indigenous people greatly aided the expedition before, during and after the undertaking of this endeavor. 

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, was an epic exploratory trek that traversed what is now the western portion of the United States and took over two year to complete.  Its primary purpose was to to explore and map the newly acquired territory of the Louisiana Purchase and find a practical route across the Western half of the continent.  Also of vital importance to the mission of this expedition was to establish an American presence in this territory before the European powers tried to claim it.  The campaign’s had secondary scientific and economic objectives to study the area’s plants, animal life, and geography, and establish trade with local Indian tribes.  Lewis and Clark’s interaction with the native people shaped the success of this mission.  They encountered indigenous people with diverse cultures and had to use diplomacy and tact to ensure successful first encounters.  Lastly, the networking employed by the Native Americans and their contributions to the geographical knowledge of the area greatly aided the expedition in the successful completion of their mission. 

Works Cited

Moulton, Gary. "The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition." n. page. Print. <http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/index.html>.

Adams, Anne. "Sacajewea,,." Sacajewea. Web. 31 Aug. 2014. <http://www.historyswomen.com/earlyamerica/Sacajewea.html>.

White, Charles. "Lewis and Clark Misperception and Reality." Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery. Centery of Military History U.S. Army. Web. 1 Sept. 2014.

"Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of AmericaLewis & Clark." Lewis & Clark. Web. 1 Sept. 2014. <http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-landc.html>.

"Lewis & Clark: Mapping the West." Lewis & Clark: Mapping the West. Web. 1 Sept. 2014.