Read on for a crash course on the Lewis and Clark expeditions.
Is there more than one expedition?
No. There is just one single expedition that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had been ordered to take, and it officially began on May 14, 1803 as the men left St. Louis, Missouri and traveled west. Almost three years later, the expedition would end at Fort Clatsop. On March 23, 1806, Lewis and Clark and their “band of brothers” finally head back home.
Who funded the expedition?
Since it was an expedition officially commissioned by President Jefferson, funding came from the government treasury. Clark’s slave, York, however, received no pay at all during the entire journey.
Can you retrace the exact route of the expedition today?
Absolutely not since most of the passages that they had taken are not completely blocked.
How many members made up the expedition?
A long time after the expedition had completed its return journey, William Clark drew up a list of the expedition’s members in his Dubois journal. He counted thirty-eight men in total as enlisted members of the expedition and several French civilians who served as their boatmen during the journey.
The expedition was divided into two parties. The “return party” was never intended to complete the entire journey. Their mission was to return back home, bearing all important records, gifts, artifacts, and samples and specimens that the expedition had collected in the first legs of their journey.
The remaining members would make up the “permanent party”, destined to complete the journey until its very end.
Members of each party were chosen based on their character and ability.
For a time, the expedition was also accompanied by a Native American family, with Toussaint Charbonneau, his wife Sacagawea, and their son Jean Baptiste in tow.
Did the expedition suffer any casualties?
Only one member of the expedition died. Sgt. Charles Floyd, however, died of entirely natural causes – probably due to a ruptured appendicitis – during the early days of the journey. At that time, the cure for such an illness had not yet been fully realized.
Although Sgt. Floyd was the only one who suffered a life-threatening condition during the expedition, the rest had not been spared from illness. All members of the expedition had suffered intestinal disorders at one time or another due to the drastic changes in their diets. Jean Baptiste, the infant son of Sacagawea, had also experienced various injuries and illnesses as well as accidental knife and axe cuts.