Contributions of Sergeant John Ordway to the Success of the

Corps of Volunteers for Northwest Discovery

by

Sergeant Major Donald P. McCrory – 55318

L579 History of the NCO

R-09 SGM James Moore

25 February 2005

McCrory 2

I propose to inform you of the contribution of Sergeant John Ordway to the success of the Corps of Volunteers for Northwest Discovery. Specifically, I will discuss

Sergeant Ordway’s duties and responsibilities during the expedition, the training techniques used to prepare the soldiers for the journey, the discipline obtained as a direct result of that training, and the weapons used by the soldiers of the .

Officially characterized as the “Corps of Volunteers for North Western

Discovery” (Hogan), Americans more commonly use the names Corps of Discovery and

the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I will refer to all three names in this article.

Born in 1775, John Ordway died in 1817 (Members). He was 29 years old at the

beginning of the Corps of Discovery (John). Three things set him apart from other

enlisted personnel of the Corps of Discovery. First, Sergeant Ordway was a native of

New Hampshire (Members). The majority of the other soldiers were from Virginia,

Kentucky, or Tennessee. Second, Sergeant Ordway represented the U.S. Army First

Infantry making him the only active duty NCO of the expedition (John). Third, he was

well educated (Sergeant). The majority of the enlisted making up the Corps of Discovery

were not well educated.

I will discuss Sergeant Ordway’s duties and responsibilities during the expedition

in three phases. First, before the departure (December of 1803 to May of 1804); second,

during the journey from Camp River Dubois just outside St. Louis, Missouri to the

Pacific Ocean (May of 1804 to November of 1805); and third, during the return trip to St.

Louis from the Pacific Ocean (March of 1806 to September of 1806).

McCrory 3

Captain William Clark selected Sergeant Ordway to serve as the senior sergeant of the expedition. His first duty was to assist Captain Lewis and Captain Clark and the

Corps of Engineers construct Camp River Dubois (Hogan). Located 18 miles up river from St. Louis, this would be the preparation site before the launch of the Lewis and

Clark Expedition (White).

After construction of Camp River Dubois, Sergeant Ordway would assist Lewis

and Clark receive, select, train, and discipline personnel for the expedition (Hogan).

After selecting the personnel, Sergeant Ordway trained and molded the new recruits into

an effective unit (Expedition Pt. 2).

On several occasions, both Lewis and Clark had to be away from Camp River

Dubois. On these occasions, Sergeant Ordway assumed command of the camp (Hogan).

Although he experienced some problems with the soldiers, Sergeant Ordway served

admirably in the position of command.

On May 14, 1804, the Corps of Discovery departed Camp River Dubois in search

of a northwest water passage from the Mississippi River system to the Pacific Ocean

(Thomas). Sergeant Ordway’s duties and responsibilities during this phase of the

expedition included:

Issuing daily provisions, keeping all registers and records, assigning kneel

boat duties, making entries in a daily journal, appointing details for

security, pitching and striking tents, collecting firewood and making fires,

hunting game, scouting, and salt making (Brown Pt. 5).

McCrory 4

Provisions were prepared once a day. In the evening, after camp was made for the night, rations were cooked and distributed to the members of the expedition. Each member kept a portion of the provisions for consumption during the next day (Hogan).

The keelboat stored most of the food and ammunition supplies. To ensure the well being of the keelboat, Sergeant Ordway placed the remaining three sergeants on duties that rotated from the front to the middle to the rear of the boat (Brown Pt 5).

Several members of the expedition kept journals or diaries, but Sergeant Ordway was the only member to make an entry in his journal every day (Members). His journal was so accurate, Lewis and Clark paid Sergeant Ordway $300 to incorporate his notes into a book they wrote detailing the expedition (Sergeant).

Sergeant Ordway appointed numerous details that recurred on a daily basis. The

most important of these details was for security. One-third of all the soldiers were on

security detail at all times (Brown Pt. 5).

The Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the Pacific Ocean in November 1805.

They camped there for the winter and the return trip began March 23, 1806 (Thomas).

Throughout the expedition, Captains Lewis and Clark relied implicitly on

the leadership of their noncommissioned officers. Nowhere is this more

evident than on the return trip. The officers split their command into four

groups and called upon their noncommissioned officers to lead separate

detachments (Hogan).

Sergeant Ordway’s mission was to lead a party of 10 men to recover a cache of supplies left behind at Camp Fortunate before crossing the Rockies on their way to the McCrory 5

Pacific Ocean (Expedition Pt. 4). Ordway would lead the men down the Jefferson River to the Great Falls of the Missouri, portage around the falls, and then proceed to the mouth of the Marias River to reunite with the main body (Sergeant). Separated for forty days the Corps of Discovery accomplished all of its objectives on the return trip without significant incident (Expedition Pt.4).

The willingness of Lewis & Clark to divide their command in such rugged, uncertain, and potentially dangerous country shows the high degree of confidence they had in themselves, their noncommissioned officers, and their soldiers (Brown Pt. 7).

On the morning of 23 September 1806, the Corps of Discovery arrived at

St. Louis to the cheers of crowds lining the riverfront (Brown Pt. 8).

Now I will take you back to the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to

Camp River Dubois near St. Louis. After the camp was constructed and the recruits selected, Sergeant Ordway trained the new recruits and instilled the discipline in them necessary to ensure mission success. A few years before the expedition began, the U.S.

Army had returned to using the 1779 Drill Manual (the Blue Book) of General Friedrich

Steuben (Hogan). These fundamentals, along with Sergeant Ordway’s direction, proved to be a successful combination.

Lewis & Clark obviously possessed a keen judgment of men and Ordway was a successful drill sergeant. The non-commissioned officers and the enlisted soldiers prove these points by successfully accomplishing all the missions assigned to them (Reardon).

The men also overcame a variety of physical ills: boils, blisters, bunions, sunstroke, dysentery, fatigue, injuries, colds, fevers, snakebites, ticks, gnats, toothaches, McCrory 6 headaches, sore throats, and mosquitoes (Hogan). Soldiers possessed toughness, team- work, discipline, and training appropriate for the rigors they would face (Brown Pt. 1).

On June 2, 1805 at the junction of two rivers, there was great confusion

concerning which route to take. After a reconnoiter of the area, the two

Captains assured themselves of one route, but the enlisted men believed

otherwise. In a great tribute to their leaders, the men followed Lewis and

Clark, although they believed their leaders were wrong. After eleven days

of travel, the expedition reached the Great Falls of the

proving the Captains correct (Journey).

Captain Lewis wrote in his journal, “There was not a whisper of discontent or a murmur among the men, who acted in unison and with the most perfect harmony”

(Brown Pt. 6). The soldiers stuck together during eleven days of uncertainty in a wild, uncharted, untamed, and hostile wilderness. The Corps was a tough, resourceful, and tightly knit group (Brown Pt. 6).

The disciplinary record of the Corps of Discovery produced a record unmatched by any other U.S. Army unit of the time (Hogan). This fact is an obvious reflection on the quality of training received from Sergeant Ordway and the level of discipline displayed by the soldiers during the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Before departure in March of 1804 and while still at Camp River Dubois, cases of drunk and disorderly conduct, defiance of Sergeant Ordway’s orders while in command, and two soldiers placed on trial for mutiny rank as the most serious problems (Sergeant).

McCrory 7

During the expedition, desertion was the most serious problem. Flogging and

other harsh punishments commonly resulted if discipline lagged. The expedition

discharged Pvt Reed for desertion and Pvt Newman for mutinous conduct (Brown Pt. 6).

Captain Lewis suggested numerous innovations concerning weapons for the

expedition. I will highlight the innovations with asterisks as I cover the weapons used by

the Corps of Discovery.

The expedition outfitted the soldiers with fifteen Model 1792 rifles with

bayonet. These weapons were .49 and .54 caliber weapons. * The 42-

inch barrels were shortened to between 33 and 36 inches. * Swivels were

added to make it possible to carry them with a leather sling.

*Interchangeable, replacement locks and spare lock parts were made for

each rifle (Rifles).

The expedition departed with 200 rifle flints, 420 pounds of sheet lead for bullets,

*176 pounds of gunpowder packed in 52 lead canisters, and 50 pounds of powder

(Lewis).

Once filled with gunpowder and capped with wax, the canisters proved

both waterproof and buoyant. The soldiers had only to melt the lead

canisters into bullet molds to produce more musket balls. * The rations

were packed in the same way providing even more potential for musket

balls (Reardon).

* One long-barreled rifle fired its bullet with compressed air, rather than by flint, spark, and powder. Like a BB gun, the air gun operated by air pressure, was nearly silent, and McCrory 8 was capable of firing a .31-caliber round forty times before recharging (Brown Pt. 5). A small cannon was mounted on a swivel on the bow of the kneel boat. Two blunderbusses

(huge shotguns) were positioned on either flank of the keel boat (Reardon).

In summary, I have informed you of Sergeant John Ordway’s contributions to the success of the Corps of Volunteers for Northwest Discovery. I have covered Sergeant

Ordway’s duties and responsibilities before departure from Camp River Dubois, on the journey to the Pacific Ocean, and on the return trip to St. Louis. I have informed you of

Sergeant Ordway’s training of the recruits and of their disciplinary record during the expedition. In addition, finally, I have informed you of the innovations in weapons used by the Corps of Discovery.

In conclusion, over the past two hundred years, the Lewis and Clark Expedition

have become famous as an epic of human achievement, covering 7,689 miles in two

years, four months, and ten days (Brown Pt. 8). Perhaps no other episode in American

history better represents the courage, determination, and dedication of the American

soldier than the epic journey of the Corps of Discovery (Recent). The U.S. Army made a

singular contribution to the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Brown Pt. 8).

Sergeant John Ordway served as the senior sergeant and contributed greatly to this

success.