EXPANSION AND REFORM (1801–1861) The Lewis and Clark Expedition

IN 1803 THE paid $15 million to built and hired French-Canadian trap- France for 820,000 square miles of land stretching per Toussaint Charbonneau as their interpreter; from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, an Charbonneau’s Shoshone wife acted as agreement known as the Louisiana Purchase. Eager to translator and sometimes as guide. In April 1805 the explore this territory and beyond, President Thomas expedition proceeded from Fort Mandan up the Jefferson commissioned Army captain Meriwether Missouri, then traversed the Rocky Mountains and Lewis to conduct a scientific exploration of lands west three rivers before reaching the Pacific Ocean in of the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast. Lewis mapped November. They returned the following spring, out a route and, with former Army officer William bringing with them maps and journals filled with vital Clark, assembled an expedition of 30–48 men, called information concerning the Northwest Territory’s the . They started from St. Louis geography, flora, fauna, and Native American inhabi- in May 1804, traveling up the to a site tants. The expedition’s success paved the way for U.S. near present-day Bismarck, . Here they settlement of the West.

Timeline

1803 January U.S. Congress appropriates $2,500 for the expedi- tion (final cost: $38,000). June invites his former commanding offi- cer, , to co-lead the trip. July 4 The Louisiana Purchase is announced. August 31 A Lewis-designed keelboat is completed and launched; Lewis begins writing his journals. December The Corps of Discovery encamps near St. Louis.

1804 American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific coast during their exploration of the Louisiana May 14 The expedition starts up the Missouri River. Territory. Painting by Frederic Remington. August First encounters with western Native Americans are peaceful. Sergeant Charles Floyd dies of a probable burst Biographies appendix, the expedition’s only fatality. October Fort Mandan is built near Mandan and Hidatsu vil- Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809) lages. Son of a wealthy Virginia family, Lewis had served on the November Toussaint Charbonneau and Sacagawea are Ohio-Tennessee frontier before becoming President hired as interpreters.

ht protected by the publisher. Jefferson’s private secretary in 1801. His preparation for the expedition included two years of scientific study. In 1805 1808 Jefferson appointed him governor of Louisiana February 11 Sacagawea gives birth to a boy, whom Clark Territory, a role in which he proved highly inept. Lewis was nicknames “Pomp.” also prone to depression. In September 1809, while on his April 7 From Fort Mandan the keelboat returns to St. way to Washington, he died in a tavern under mysterious Louis; the expedition continues up the Missouri in pirogues circumstances, a suspected suicide. and canoes. June Nearly a month is needed to bypass the Great Falls William Clark (1770–1838) of the Missouri. One-time Army officer Clark was managing his family’s August The Corps crosses the Continental Divide guided by plantation when Lewis invited him to co-com- Old Toby, a Shoshone. mand the expedition. He was rewarded in 1807 with an September The explorers accomplish a treacherous cross- appointment as Indian agent and brigadier general of the ing of the Bitterroot Mountains. Louisiana Territory militia. In 1813 he adopted October 18 Mount Hood is sighted after journeys over the Sacagawea’s children. After failing to be elected as Missouri’s governor, in 1822 he was appointed Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia rivers. Superintendent of Indian Affairs, a post he held until short- November The Corps of Discovery reaches the Pacific ly before his death. Ocean; they encamp in (near present-day Astoria, Oregon). Sacagawea (ca.1789–1812) Shoshone by birth and kidnapped by the Hidatsu, 1806 Sacagawea’s memories of her girlhood home proved March 23 The return trip is begun. invaluable when the expedition reached the Rocky July The expedition splits into smaller groups to explore Mountains. Clark described her in his journal as a “token other sections of Louisiana Territory. of peace.” Seven years after the expedition’s return, August The Corps reunites; Charbonneau and Sacagawea Sacagawea bore a daughter, Lisette, whom Clark adopted leave the expedition. along with her son Pomp after her death in December September 23 The explorers arrive back in St. Louis as 1812. heroes. © Media Projects Incorporated Published by Facts on File Inc. All electronic storage, reproduction, or transmittal is copyrig