The Influence of the Red-Headed Chief

Discovering John Colter • Remembering Gail M. Stensland • Patrick Gass’s Journal

Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation May 2014 Volume 40, No. 2

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TM Call 1.800.EXPEDITION or your travel agent for details or learn more at expeditions.com/lewisandclark Contents

Message from the President 2

L&C Roundup: Unfinished Columbia Gorge monument 5 comes down

Remembering: Gail M. Stensland 6

Letters: John Guice addresses President Gorski 7

The Influence of the Red-Headed Chief: William 8 Black Moccasin, p. 8 Clark’s Post-Expedition Interaction with Indian Nations By Jim Hardee

“Worthy of Notice”: The Journal of 19 Sergeant Patrick Gass By Barb Kubik

Discovering John Colter: New Research 25 on His Family and His Death By Timothy Forrest Coulter

Reviews: The Perilous West, by Larry E. Morris; 29 The Indianization of Lewis and Clark, by William R. Swagerty Patrick Gass, p. 20 Along the Trail: Lewis and Clark National Historical Park 32

On the cover: William Clark portrait by Joseph H. Bush, courtesy Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky. John Colter, p. 25

We Proceeded On welcomes submissions of articles, proposals, inquiries, and letters. Writer’s guidelines are available by request and can be found on our website (www.lewisandclark.org). Submissions may be sent to Robert Clark, WSU Press, P.O. Box 645910, Pullman, WA 99164-5910, or by email to [email protected]. President’s Message

A Message from the President May 2014 • Volume 40, Number 2 We Proceeded On is the official publication As I thought about what I should Trail.” As the Trail Stewardship Advi- of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Founda- tion, Inc. Its name derives from a phrase that share with Lewis and Clark Trail Her- sory Committee predicted, opening appears repeatedly in the collective journals of itage Foundation members and We the program to other nonprofit orga- the expedition. ©2014 Proceeded On readers, I couldn’t help nizations has increased the competi- E. G. Chuinard, M.D., Founder, We Proceeded On but get excited about what feels like a tion for the funding and the quality of ISSN 02275-6706 renewed energy among our ranks for the projects. Since the need is so great Editor working on projects that carry out across the entire Lewis and Clark Trail, Robert A. Clark the mission of our organization. I am I would expect this healthy competi- Washington State University Press humbled by the work being done by tion to continue. To more fully address Volunteer Proofreaders H. Carl Camp and Jerry Garrett our volunteers, board, and staff to keep the needs expressed in these grant Publisher our organization vital and relevant. I applications, we need a comparable Washington State University Press am immensely grateful for your work. grant program for educational proj- Pullman, Washington Our office in Great Falls is ticking ects. Currently, educational projects Editorial Advisory Board along quite nicely, improving commu- compete with trail infrastructure, pub- Wendy Raney, Chair Barbara Kubik Cascade, MT Vancouver, WA nication with our chapters and find- lic access, and preservation projects, Jay H. Buckley Glen Lindeman ing ways to enhance our membership which is often like comparing apples Provo, UT Pullman, WA services. Our committees are hard at to oranges. H. Carl Camp J.I. Merritt work identifying new avenues to reach Omaha, NE Pennington, NJ In order to strengthen our role Robert C. Carriker Robert Moore, Jr. out to old and new partners, revamp- expressed in the first half of our mot- Spokane, WA St. Louis, MO ing our website, researching ways to to—“Keepers of the Story”—I am Carolyn Gilman Gary E. Moulton make past issues of We Proceeded On announcing an aggressive fund rais- Washington, DC Lincoln, NE more accessible to scholars and mem- ing initiative, approved by your Board James Holmberg Philippa Newfield Lousville, KY San Francisco, CA bers, professionalizing our library and of Directors, called the “Double the Membership Information archives, and refreshing our vision and DAR” Education Campaign. mission statements to capture who we Membership in the Lewis and Clark Trail Her- The Raymond Darwin “Dar” Bur- itage Foundation, Inc. is open to the public. are and what we value as an organi- roughs Education Fund is one of the Information and applications are available by writing Membership Coordinator, Lewis and zation. We are particularly proud of Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foun- Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, P. O. Box the Trail Stewardship Advisory Com- dation’s restricted funds. Established 3434, Great Falls, MT 59403 or on our website. mittee’s work this year. Ten grants to in 1991 by Margaret Norris in mem- We Proceeded On, the quarterly magazine of the Foundation, is mailed to current mem six chapters and four other non-profit ory of her father, it honors a longtime bers in February, May, August, and November. organizations totalling over $50,000 friend and board member of the Lewis Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts and were awarded to complete various trail and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation America: History and Life. stewardship projects in nine states. and the author of Natural History of Annual Membership Categories: Every year improvements are made to the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1961). Student: $30 the grant process. A brief biography of “Dar” Bur- Individual $49 Individual 3-Year: $133 The Bicentennial Trail Steward- roughs, written by Robert Carriker, Family/International: $65/$70 ship Grant Program is a great exam- can be found in the 1995 reprint of Trail Partner: $200 Heritage Club: $100 ple of how effective a little bit of fund- this book. In reading more about Dar, Explorer Club: $150 ing can be in jump-starting projects I could not help but notice that the Jefferson Club: $250 Discovery Club: $500 that have local passion and commit- last half of his career with the Michi- Lifetime: $995, $2,500, and $5,000 ment behind them. The program has gan Department of Conservation was The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, enhanced our organization’s ability spent administering the department's Inc. is a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. Individ- ual membership dues are not tax deductible, The to be a leader in realizing one part of conservation education division, and portion of premium dues over $40 is tax deductible. our motto—of being “Stewards of the managing teacher training and edu-

2 We Proceeded On  February 2014 cation programs. It was during this fect sense why this fund was set up to time he also prepared his Natural His- fund youth activities and educational tory of the Lewis and Clark Expedi tion efforts. “Dar” stands tall among the for publication. So it now makes per- long line of scholars who have built

R. Darwin Burroughs (1899–1976) from We Proceeded On 2(4):7 (December 1976). Officers, directors, and members of the ral history of the exploring enterprise. Foundation were saddened to learn of His 329-page volume, The Natural the death of Foundation Director Ray- History of the Lewis and Clark Expe- LEWIS AND CLARK mond Darwin Burroughs on October dition, was published by the Mich- AMONG THE NEZ PERCE Strangers in the Land of the Nimiipuu 31, 1976. igan State University Press in 1961. By Allen V. Pinkham and We have enjoyed his presence and In 1966 he contributed a monograph Steven Ross Evans $29.95 HARDCOVER · 332 PAGES friendship at annual meetings in 1972 titled “The Lewis and Clark Expedi- 52 B&W ILLUS., 5 MAPS at Helena, Montana, and at Seaside, tion’s Botanical Discoveries,” which This extraordinary new look at Lewis and Oregon, in 1974, where he was the appeared in the January issue of Nat- Clark among the Nez Perce represents a breakthrough in Lewis and Clark studies. recipient of the Foundation’s Award ural History magazine. In recent years Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce is the of Meritorious Achievement. He also he has been working on and had first richly detailed exploration of the attended the annual meeting in 1975 at completed the manuscript for a vol- relationship between Mr. Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery and a single tribe. Bismarck, North Dakota, and at Great ume titled "Game Trails of Lewis and Falls, Montana, in August of this year. Clark." Last year he prepared for WPO Born in Iowa on August 20, 1899, he an interesting article published in Vol. spent his early years in Nebraska where 2, No. 1, titled “Lewis and Clark in he attended Nebraska Wesleyan Uni- Buffalo Country.” versity and graduated with a bachelor’s In recent years he has resided in Fay- degree in 1924. He received his mas- etteville, New York, with his daughter ter’s degree from Princeton University and family, and each summer has seen in 1925. His major interest and grad- him traveling throughout the west vis- uate training was in the field of biol- iting friends and relatives, and attend- ogy. A teaching career as assistant and ing, whenever possible, the founda- associate professor of biology followed: tion’s annual meetings. In a letter to At Willamette University, Salem, Ore- the editor since “Dar’s” passing, his gon; Oklahoma City University; and daughter, Mrs. William B. (Margaret) SOUTH PASS at Macalester College, St. Paul, Min- Norris, wrote: Gateway to a Continent By Will Bagley nesota. Joining the staff of Michigan “I felt very certain that Dad would $29.95 HARDCOVER · 336 PAGES Department of Conservation in 1937, prefer to have friends, who wished to 25 B&W ILLUS., 5 MAPS he held a number of administrative do something, remember him through South Pass has received much attention in lore and memory but attracted no positions until 1949. At that time, he the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage serious book-length study—until now. In transferred to the Education Division Foundation. I feel that it is a more per- this narrative, award-winning author Will Bagley explains the significance of South of the department to assume responsi- sonal memorial than some other things Pass to the nation’s history and to the bility of the teacher training and school would be. You must be aware of the development of the American West. education phases of the department’s enjoyment Dad got from belonging to program. He retired in 1965. the Foundation, and from the many He is best known to students and friendships he made. Dad needed to enthusiasts of the Lewis and Clark know some people who shared his spe- Expedition as the author of the first cial interest, and he spoke of these asso- book to deal exclusively with the natu- ciations often.”

February 2014  We Proceeded On 3 We Proceeded On February 2014 ad.indd 1 1/10/14 9:18 AM President’s Message The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. upon each other’s work. He passed to moting the virtue, and advancing the P.O. Box 3434, Great Falls, MT 59403 the next generation of Lewis and Clark happiness of man.” 406-454-1234 / 1-888-701-3434 Fax: 406-771-9237 students what he had learned about Increasing our capacity to fund www.lewisandclark.org the scientific findings of the Lewis and educational projects through the Clark Expedition. “Dar” Burroughs Education Fund will Our mission is: In keeping with the donor’s wishes, strengthen our ability to carry out Jef- As Keepers of the Story ~ Stewards of the Trail, the Lewis and Clark the “Dar” Burroughs Education Fund ferson’s vision of who we can be as a Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. is managed so that five percent of the nation and as a people, and will enable provides national leadership in fund’s total value is released each year. us to live up to our motto of being the maintaining the integrity of the Trail In 2013, $3,200 was allocated for edu- true “Keepers of the Story and Stew- and its story through stewardship, scholarship, education, partnership cational projects. Past distributions ards of the Trail.” and cultural inclusiveness. have helped the Boy Scout Jamboree You will find an envelope in this and contributed to the development of edition of We Proceeded On for the Officers the “Meriwether” computer game. The “Double the DAR” Education Cam- President goal of “Double the DAR” is to build paign. I urge you to consider an extra Margaret Gorski up the fund so the yearly distribution donation today. Thank you. Stevensville, MT can support a grant program similar Immediate Past-President Margaret Gorski is President of the Dan Sturdevant to the current Trail Stewardship Grant Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Founda- Kansas City, MO Program. In this way we can stimulate tion and Chair of the Bicentennial Trail Vice-President more of the exceptional educational Steve Lee Stewardship Advisory Committee. Clarkston, WA projects proposed by our chapters and Secretary non-profit partners across the trail. As Larry Epstein of September of 2013 the fund had Essex, MT over $58,000. By adding to this fund Treasurer Clay Smith our project grants for education can Port Townsend, WA rise to match our accomplishments in trail stewardship. We hope you can Directors at large help us meet our goal to “Double the Della Bauer, Omaha, NE DAR” by the end of the year. As this Sue Buchel, Garden City, ID journal goes to press, members of our Lynn Davis, Spirit Lake, IA foundation's board have kicked in Dick Fichtler, Florence, MT $2,000 to launch the campaign. Ken Jutzi, Camarillo, CA One of the reasons I enjoy spending Barbara Kubik, Vancouver, WA time with the wonderful members of WE PROCEEDED ON Ron Laycock, Benson, MN (Back issues, 1974–current) Mark Nelezen, Oshkosh, WI this organization is sharing the passion All back issues of our quarterly Philippa Newfield, San Francisco, CA for the expedition story and discovering the many lessons we continue to historical journal are available. Some learn from it. I think Thomas Jeffer- of the older issues are copier We Proceeded On is published four times a year reproductions. Orders for a collection in February, May, August, and November by the son would be proud of this organiza- Washington State University Press in Pullman, of all back issues receive a 30 percent Washington, for the Lewis and Clark Trail tion’s goal to educate our youth about discount. Order your missing issues Heritage Foundation, 4201 Giant Springs Rd., this era in our nation’s history. In his to complete your set. Great Falls, Montana 59405. Current issue: May 2014, volume 40, No. 2. ISSN 02275-6706 letter to Cornelius C. Blatchly, noted Call 1-888-701-3434, mail your author on poverty and philanthropy, request to P.O. Box 3434, Incorporated in 1969 under on October 21, 1822, Jefferson said “I Great Falls, MT 59403, or Missouri General Not-For-Profit order at [email protected]. Corporation act. IRS Examption look to the diffusion of light and edu- Certificate No. 501(c)3, $10 originals or cds Identification No. 510187715. cation as the resource to be relied on $4 shipping & handling for ameliorating the condition, pro-

4 We Proceeded On  May 2014 L&C Roundup

Unfinished Columbia Gorge monument comes down

THE DALLES, Ore. (AP)—On Jan- uary 16 workers began tearing down the base of an abandoned monument in the Columbia Gorge that began as a jobs project in the Great Depression and was intended to memorialize the Lewis and Clark expedition. The monument was less than half its intended height when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, and the begin- ning of World War II meant the end of work on the project along the Colum- bia River Historic Highway, known as

Old Highway 30. Only the base of the Gi b so n Ma rk b y

planned tower, about twenty-five feet P h o t high, was completed using stone quar- ried near Sorosis Park and basalt from The Lewis and Clark Monument base at Thompson Park, partially constructed in the 1940s, is demol- Boyd, south of the Dalles, according to ished by a backhoe Thursday morning, January 15, 2014. The Northern Wasco County Park and Recre- ation board of directors approved the monument’s removal after the monument was found to have no local historian and archaeologist Eric historical “landmark” status, and thus protection, and no viable proposals for relocating the monument Gleason. were received. An artist’s rendering of the proposed monument shows a stone column rising 60 feet, with a ball at the top. rial Association. It was expected to cost for defraying architectural and other The monument was a project of $20,000. preliminary expenses incident to a the federal Works Progress Adminis- The Association was created to help joint federal and state project to estab- tration, locally supported by a Memo- “secure by popular subscription a fund lish a monument and civic center to perpetuate historic deeds of exploration and in appreciation of two great Americans,” according to an undated pamphlet published at the time. After the project was abandoned, the property was transferred to the newly-created Northern Wasco County Park and Recreation District. In the 1970s, The Dalles Lions Club built a wooden roof for a pic- nic shelter at the uncompleted monument. It was torn down in recent years, and park officials said that led to a marked decrease in crime in the area. The parks department cited safety Gi b so n Ma rk b y concerns and in March 2013 voted to P h o t tear down the base. The artifacts of the time capsule found in the monument base are displayed.

May 2014  We Proceeded On 5 L&C Roundup

As demolition of the monument base proceeded, the base was found to Remembering be made up of sandstone and basalt, with thick walls around a small hollow Gail M. Stensland area. The large blocks of basalt at the Gail base will be saved for reuse. On the evening of January 6, 2014, Stensland As the final basalt block was removed Gail Stensland, ninth president of in 2008 at Great Falls, from the Lewis and Clark Memorial the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Montana. To base at Thompson Park a small copper Foundation, passed away peacefully the left is Bob Gatten, and box was revealed beneath. at the Missouri River Medical Cen- ter in Fort Benton, Montana, sur- on the right, “I had heard that there might Ron Laycock. rounded by family. Born October 28, be something there,” said Execu- 1929, in Glasgow, Montana, he was In addition to his many volunteer tive Director Scott Green, of North- the second child of Harold Stensland commitments, Gail had a special love ern Wasco County Parks and Recre- and Annette (Cotton) Stensland. for the Lewis and Clark Trail Heri- ation District. But as they prepared Growing up on the family farm/ tage Foundation. His interest in the to remove the last block nothing had ranch on the Milk River outside of Lewis and Clark Expedition began as been found. Glasgow, he developed an early inter- an avocation in 1958, when he par- Then local archaeologist Eric Glea- est in agriculture, an interest that he ticipated in a float trip downstream son arrived, bearing a newspaper clip- carried throughout his life. Follow- from Fort Benton, Montana, through ping describing a sort of “time capsule” ing high school he attended Montana the White Cliffs area of the upper placed as construction of the monu- State College in Bozeman, where he Missouri River. Historical research ment began. received a bachelor's degree in voca- involving this segment of the river, It was found under the last stone to tional agriculture and a master's in with special emphasis directed to the be removed, and had been placed there education. Later in his life Gail was Lewis and Clark Expedition, eventu- July 3, 1941. honored as the first recipient of the ally led to the formation, with other The sealed copper box is sev- Montana State University Alumni individuals, of a commercial opera- eral inches thick and just wide and Achievement Award. tion which was incorporated in 1966, He served in the United States long enough to contain several thin now known as the Lewis and Clark Air Force both stateside and in Japan Cruise Company of Fort Benton. 8½-by-11-inch binders describing the and Korea. He worked extensively in support of project and the history of Lewis and He married Elinor Kathryn Montana Senator Lee Metcalf’s leg- Clark in The Dalles area. Tarum in Glasgow, Montana, and islation that culminated with this Other items sealed into the box they shared their lives for the next section of the Missouri River being included, among other things, three fifty-eight years. In 1956 Gail included in the Wild and Scenic Riv- copper ‘wheat leaf’ pennies from the accepted a teaching position in Fort ers System by Congressional approval ’30s, a signed portrait of President Benton where he would teach Mon- in October 1976. Franklin D. Roosevelt, signatures from tana history and vocational agricul- Gail also valued his time as a “river descendants of the Lewis and Clark ture for the next seventeen years. rat” floating the Missouri River. expedition, a small photograph of the Gail continued in education as Whether it was with the teacher new Chamber of Commerce building superintendent in Inverness (1973- group, family or guests, Gail loved and copies of three local papers, The 1976) and Culbertson (1976-1978). the opportunity to retrace the foot- Dalles Chronicle, The Dalles Optimist The Stensland family felt fortunate steps of Lewis and Clark and share and the Goldendale Sentinel. for the opportunity to return to the history and experience with Fort Benton, buying and operating others. [Article and photos from of The Dalles Chron- Stensland’s IGA from 1978-1991. Gail is survived by his wife, icle by Mark Gibson, January 17 and February Upon retirement Gail and Ellie were Ellie Stensland, his four chil- 25, 2014. http://www.thedalleschronicle.com] able to travel and indulge their love dren, and many grandchildren and of family. great-grandchildren.

6 We Proceeded On  February 2014 Letters

[The following letter to President Marga- egotistical, I plead with you to re-visit him back in the mid-’70s here in Mis- ret Gorski is printed with the permission carefully my letter published in the sissippi when he did a couple of per- of the sender and the recipient. Ed.] August 2013 issue, the one in which formances as Thomas Jefferson, and I I addressed the discoveries of Tony invited him to do a session when I was Turnbow concerning James Neelly. national program chair for the Western Dear Margaret: While I make no claims of expertise History Association meeting in 1989 about the Lewis and Clark expedi- in Tacoma where I first met and grew First please accept my congratula- tion, I have researched the history of to like Nicandri. I have been on several tions upon assuming the presidency of the Old Southwest and particularly the programs with Clay through the years. LCTHF. Persons who have not experi- Natchez Trace since the early 1970s. Let me be clear. I do not know who enced such leadership positions often In the course of that work, I became fired the shots that killed Lewis, nor do are unaware of the challenges incum- interested in the demise of Lewis when I insist he was murdered. After decades bent upon those responsibilities. Your I discovered how many historians proof study and thought, I do suggest that initial letter in WPO indicates that claimed his suicide on such flimsy evi- he most likely died at the hands of an you have the energy and creativity to dence amounting basically to hear- unknown assailant. fulfill those challenges. say. The ironic part about Turnbow’s Wow, I did not mean to carry on I read your thoughtful letter several discovery is that his primary interest this long. Forgive me. I think my times and agree with many of the ideas was (and remains) NOT the death of friend Jay Buckley will tell you I am you expressed. It is, indeed, important Lewis, but the life and world of James not a “wild man.” I just have rather that we explore any and all angles hav- Neelly. In light of what Vardis Fisher strong feelings about historians and ing to do with the tremendous accom- and Richard Dillon suspected about their use of evidence. Early in my grad- plishments of the Lewis and Clark Neelly, Turnbow’s discovery about him uate study I realized just how little we expedition. For instance, David Nica- is particularly ironic. Tony continues historians often know about what hap- ndri is correct. We should place the to uncover more evidence about Neel- pened, why, and so what. As I said in Lewis and Clark expedition in context ly’s financial troubles. This in not sur- my published letter, I like my friend’s of what was happening in the United prising. There were, of course, on all quote: “The more a person knows, the States, North America, and the entire frontiers unsavory characters. less he/she knows FOR SURE.” world. Similarly, I found the article on Your reference to Professor James political reaction to L & C by Alicia Best wishes for 2014 and may your Ronda’s comment is particularly inter- DeMaio in the February 2013 issue presidency of the foundation bring esting. For way back in the early 1990s fascinating. Indeed, I was so impressed you much satisfaction, happiness, and Jim assured me that discussion of the with her research and prose that I many rewards. death of Lewis was a waste of time obtained a copy of her entire thesis. because “everybody KNOWS that he Though it was a senior thesis at the Sincerely, killed himself.” (I respect his scholar- University of Pennsylvania, it exceeded John D. W. Guice ship about the Indians and often used in quality—questions addressed, orga- Professor of History Emeritus his most noted book in my courses on nization, depth of research, and qual- University of Southern Mississippi the trans-Mississippi West.) Certainly ity of prose—many master’s theses I Coauthor of By His Own Hand: The Ronda is entitled to his opinions about have read from around the nation. Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis. Lewis as are Jenkinson, Nicandri, and Though I agree that we must Danisi. But their theories on his char- expand our discussion of L & C, I con- acter are basically unfounded opinions fess I was troubled by your inference based on their personal beliefs. Please that we should not continue to search understand that I have tremendous for the truth about the death of Meri- admiration for Clay’s writing, speak- wether Lewis. At the risk of appearing ing, and acting abilities. I first met

May 2014  We Proceeded On 7 The Influence of the Red-Headed Chief

William Clark’s Post-Expedition Interaction with Indian Nations

by Jim Hardee

Though Clark never went back to visit tribes of the upper Missouri River or the Rocky Mountains, many tribal leaders traveled long distances to see him. Clark’s impact on relationships with Native people from that initial tour of the West endured with such intensity that some people believed Indians held Clark in “rev- erential awe.”2 Explorers and fur traders who followed in the footsteps of the Corps of Discovery over the next several decades found that the Red-Head Chief’s influence amongst Natives remained strong. As evidence of Clark’s designation, Coues cited an 1821 council held in St. Louis under the leadership of Major Benjamin O’Fallon in which a Sauk chief

. reportedly said “American Chief! We have opened our ears to your words and those of the Red-head. Brother! We receive you as the son of the Red-head; inasmuch

e, K Y Louisvi ll e, S o c ie t y, as we love him, we will love you and do not wish to offend you.”3 Interestingly, this cognomen for Clark does not 4

t o r i c a l His Fi l so n T h e appear anywhere in the expedition journals. Exactly The Red-Headed Chief. William Clark in military attire. Painting by Joseph when the nickname was bestowed is difficult to ascer- H. Bush tain, though it was used prior to the example given by Coues. Sometimes the moniker was given as “Red- he legacy of William Clark extends beyond explo- Headed” or “Red-Haired” chief or some similar T ration and map-making. Clark made a well-doc- rendition.5 umented strong impression on Native Americans. The captain was known far and wide to Indians as the Clark’s Reputation Among Missouri River Tribes “Red-head,” noted Elliott Coues in a brief biography It is possible that Clark received this nickname during of Clark; a nickname stemming from the flaming color treaty negotiations with the Osage in 1808 near the site of his hair. “It is significant of his repute among [Indi- where Fort Osage was soon to be constructed. During ans],” Coues continued, “that St. Louis was for them the Expedition’s upriver trip, on June 23, 1804, Clark simply the Red-head’s town.”1 noted the site offered “a high commanding position,

8 We Proceeded On  May 2014 at the Fire Prairie—Old White Hair as well as my Chief agreed to settle there—We have kept our promises, they have not remembered theirs.”10 Thus, the Osage re ferred to Clark as Red Head at least by 1813 and Big Soldier’s reference to White Hair’s treaty with Clark may be evidence that the name existed in 1808 at the time the accord was entered. Several instances of the moniker also appeared in the report of the Stephen Fort Osage on the Missouri, based on a drawing by George Fuller Green for Jackson County, Missouri. Long Expedition. In the fall of 1819, Long Hair, a more than seventy feet above high water mark, and leader of the Grand Pawnee, having been insulted by overlooking the river which is here of but little width; a son of Lewis and Clark’s interpreter Pierre Dorion, this spot has many advantages for a fort, and trading accosted the trader saying, house with the Indians.”6 Dorion, I know you are a bad man…you have a forked It was to this place that Clark traveled with the St. tongue… You have abused me to the Whites, by calling Louis Dragoons in the summer of 1808, along with me a rascal, saying I robbed the traders, &c.; but go, I will not harm you; tell the red head that I am a rascal, George Sibley and Captain Eli Clemson, eighty-one robber &c., I am content.11 men, and six keelboats of supplies to erect a fort.7 Sub- sequently, Fort Osage represented the farthest western During Long’s expedition, a council was held at trading factory and military post of that day. Engineer Cantonment in October 1819, a few river Clark had sent Nathan Boone, youngest son of miles north of modern day Omaha, Nebraska. Knife renowned frontiersman Daniel Boone, to the Osage Chief, a Loup Pawnee, was reported to have said, “This villages to tell them of the trading post’s construction. medal which hangs upon my breast, I received from Soon after, two Osage chiefs, White Hair and Walk- my red-headed father below. I listened to his words, In-Rain, along with seventy-five followers, arrived and and on my return I told them to my people, and they Clark entered into treaty negotiations with them.8 At believed.” About the same time, Republican Pawnee least one historian, Kristie C. Wolferman, also placed headman, Petalesharo, held an audience with Indian another Osage head man, Sans Oreille (Without Ears), Sub-Agent John Dougherty who was trying to recover at that treaty council. Wolferman asserts that Sans property that had been stolen from Thomas Say. The Oreille called Clark his “white brother,” adopted him chief ridiculed the demand, stating that “he had but an into the tribe, and christened him “Chief Red Hair.”9 old pair of shoes that the Red Head had given him” and A few years later, the trade factory at Fort Osage if Dougherty so pleased, he could take the worn foot- was closed and relocated to Arrow Rock, Missouri. wear back to Clark.12 Dissension arose among the Osage people due to this Several months later, on April 25, 1820, Long Hair change. In November 1813 Osage Chief Big Soldier made another reference to Clark when he addressed asked, “Whose fault is it that these two Villages are his warriors at a meeting with Indian Agent Benja- divided? The Big Red Head (Genl. Clark) built a Fort min O’Fallon. In a loud, yet impassionate manner, the

May 2014  We Proceeded On 9 Pawnee chief proclaimed: “I am the only individual of My brothers I have been down to Saint Louis a few this nation that possesses a knowledge of the manners moons since to see our red headed Father, on the subject of the great treaty held at Prairie Du Chien three win- and power of the whites. I have been to the town of ters ago … The red head told me that all the land lying Red Head, and saw there all that a red skin could see.”13 along the left bank of the Missouri, from the mouth of the Nodoway to the Mouth of the Big Sioux (or Calu- Then, three years later, April 3, 1821, O’Fallon held met), and back to the Des Moines river belonged to the the council with the Sauk deputation in St. Louis that Sackes Foxes & Ioways, and further, that if the Otoes or was cited by Coues earlier. They discussed the warring Omahaws continued to hunt upon said land, I should order them off and make them go even were I obliged then going on between their people and the “Otoes, to kill them in so doing. I am a man, my brothers, who Missouries and Omawhaws.” After much conversa- obeys every word my red headed father tell me, therefor I 15 tion, the Sauk chief individually consulted the men advise you to keep your own side of the Missouri. with him, then replied to O’Fallon, “American Chief, I Not about to be so threatened, the Oto chief have been attentive, and I have heard your words, and replied, according to Dougherty, “that Keokuk might those of the red head (Gov. Clark). Yours enter one ear, have talked to Clark, but that they did not believe their and his the other: they shall not escape until my nation ‘father the red head’ had advised the killing of an Oto hears them.” [Emphasis in original]14 or Omaha who might cross to the wrong side of the Being headquartered at Council Bluffs, Indian river.”16 agent John Dougherty frequently met with several The above examples demonstrate the lasting tribes along the Missouri who knew William Clark. impression of the relationships built by the expedition Dougherty recorded the following exchange in Novem- captains, and particularly William Clark, with various ber 1828, as Sac and Fox Chief Keokuk talked with tribes along the Missouri River during their Western leaders from the Oto tribe. According to Dougherty, adventure some twenty years earlier.17 That same indel- Keokuk said ible mark could still be seen in the ensuing years as the y, W S H-3142 S o c ie t y, His t o r i c a l Wis c o n si A view of the treaty grounds at Prairie du Chien, 1825, as depicted by James Otto Lewis.

10 We Proceeded On  May 2014 fur trade shifted focus from the Plains into the Rocky Mountains.

Clark’s Influence on the Fur Trade The nineteenth–century American fur trade responded to Lewis and Clark’s report of the abundant supply of fur-bearing animals in the country they had so recently traversed. Among the pioneers of the western fur trade were Corps of Discovery veterans John Col- , J r . h a rr iso n , ter and George Drouillard, as well as another dozen or j ose ph 18 more Expedition members. The federal Trade and mr s.

Intercourse Acts, initiated in 1795 and subsequently o f g i ft renewed and augmented, required that all traders enter- m useu , ing Indian lands obtain a license from a federal Indian agent. As Superintendent of Indian Affairs for western tribes, William Clark was responsible for approving and issuing licenses from his office in St. Louis to trad-

19 a rt a m e r i c n s m i th so n ia th e

ers heading into the American West. o f y In 1832, artist George Catlin began a multi-year tour of the upper Missouri River. He visited and often Ga ll e r Re nw i ck painted portraits of many regional tribal leaders who George Catlin’s painting of Eh-toh´k-pah-she-pée-shah, Black Moccasin, did business with the various fur trade posts where Cat- 1832. Catlin estimated his age at 105. lin stayed. While with the Minataree, Catlin reported that he was treated kindly by the aged chieftain Black Having declared him a First Chief of the Hidasta village Moccasin, then “more than a hundred snows” in age. called Metaharta, the captains had given him a peace Catlin wrote: medal.21 “Black mokerson” visited the Expedition lead- This man has many distinct recollections of Lewis and ers in February and again in March of 1805, while the Clarke, who were the first explorers of his country, and Americans wintered at Fort Mandan. In August 1806 who crossed the Rocky Mountains thirty years ago. It the Corps called on Black Moccasin during their down- will be seen by reference to their very interesting history river return trip.22 of their tour, that they were treated with great kindness In a footnote to his letter, Catlin included by this man; and that they in consequence constituted him chief of the tribe, with the consent of his people; About a year after writing the above, and whilst I was in and he has remained their chief ever since. He enquired St. Louis, I had the pleasure of presenting the compli- very earnestly for “Red Hair” and “Long Knife” (as he ments of this old veteran to General Clarke; and also of had ever since termed Lewis and Clarke), from the fact, showing to him the portrait, which he instantly recog- that one had red hair (an unexampled thing in his coun- nized amongst hundreds of others; saying, that “they had try), and the other wore a broad sword which gained for considered the Black Moccasin quite an old man when him the appellation of “Long Knife.” they appointed him chief thirty-two years ago.”23 I have told him that “Long Knife” has been many years dead; and that “Red Hair” is yet living in St. Louis, A fascinating episode described in fur trade annals and no doubt, would be glad to hear of him; at which of 1834 illustrates the lofty position William Clark still he seemed much pleased, and has signified to me that held amongst Native Americans in the mountainous he will make me bearer of some peculiar dispatches to him.20 regions the Corps of Discovery passed through three decades before. This account comes from a greenhorn Lewis and Clark had met with Black Moccasin in named William Marshall Anderson who had accom- October 1804, recording his name as Omp-Se-ha-ra. panied the supply train led by William Sublette to the

May 2014  We Proceeded On 11 1834 rendezvous on Ham’s Fork of Green River. On to Sarah Marshall, first cousin of Chief Justice John June 17, 1834, Anderson wrote in his journal: Marshall. Sarah was also a relative of the Clarks on her Mr. Sublette has just returned from Fitzpatrick’s camp, mother’s side. Her grandmother, Ann Clark McLeod, bringing with him the Little Chief, Insillah, which sig- was William Clark’s aunt. William Marshall Anderson nifies in English the War Eagle’s plume. He is a short, was born from this latter union between Richard and well made, active man, and is, I understand, a splendid Sarah, who had family ties to the Clarks.25 horseman. The amiable little fellow was looking intently at my white hair which Sublette observing, pronounced On the trip west from their jumping off point at General Clark’s Flathead name, Red Head Chief, and Lexington, Missouri, Anderson had linked his Clark putting the first fingers of his right hand on his tongue, relative to some Native importance as he pondered the intimated that we were relatives, (the white head and concept of Indian “great medicine.” the red head) or had drawn sustenance from the same breast. He immediately pressed me to his side, and rap- This term I do not understand or appreciate. Is it not idly related his boyhood recollections of the Clark and a French misnomer? The Indians do not, as far as I can 24 Lewis expedition. learn, attribute medical qualities, physical or spiritual, to any wonder or extraordinary thing. Yet all rare and unusual occurrences, each and every variation from nature, they are made to call “a medicine.” A white deer, or buffalo, Gen. Clark’s red hair, was translated for them, a “big medicine.”26

Thus, when Insillah started telling stories about

8. Lewis and Clark, Anderson could not have been overly X O B , S R E surprised. Born about 1784, Insillah would have been P A P

Y L I in his early twenties when the Corps of Discovery M

A F

O S encountered the Flathead, or Salish, people. This Flat- R

A . head man appeared in primary accounts of the fur trade A

R era variously as Insula, Insala, Incilla, and Ensyla. Sig-

nifying the “war eagle’s plume” or the “war cap with the

R B

I war eagle’s feathers in it,” the name was also rendered as

O T

G simply “Red Feather.” This “Little Chief,” as Anderson

E identified the Flathead leader, should not be confused H T with the Shoshone headman called Ma-wo-ma, which is similarly translated.27 The day after Anderson was introduced to Insillah, he also met a Nez Perce man called “Kentuck,” later described by missionary William H. Gray as “a good natured, sensible, and yet apparently crazy Indian.”28 American trappers had tried their best to teach the native to sing the song “Hunters of Kentucky,” a pop- William Marshall Anderson. ular tavern ballad memorializing Andrew Jackson’s vic- tory at the Battle of New Orleans at the end of the War Sublette’s sign language indicated a familial relation of 1812. To his own people, he was known as Bull’s between Anderson and Clark that went beyond the Head, but he was Kentuck among the mountaineers color of hair. The first wife of Richard Clough Ander- who incessantly goaded him into warbling in fractured son, father of William Marshall Anderson, was Eliza- English.29 beth Clark, sister of William Clark. Elizabeth died in On that memorable day, Anderson described an 1795 and two years later, Richard remarried, this time exciting event:

12 We Proceeded On  May 2014 s 120205 P) 120205 m s c 9007 a i x s m e t ia n a d e e ( n aa n s t i u e i s m i th so n ia rch ives, a a nthr o p l g i c t io n a l n a c o ll e ct io n , Portrait of Chief Insula (Red Feather), called Michelle, 70 years old 26 April 1854. By Gustavus Sohon. pr ovi nc e

Whilst dining in our tent to-day, I heard the simulta- m issou r i neous cry from English, French and Indian mouths, of a bull, un caic, tsodlum and oh, Spirit of Nimrod, what a spectacle! A huge buffalo bull, booming through the a rch ive, j esui t

camp, like a steamboat, followed by an Indian yelling m i dw es t and shaking his robe. Loud shouts of “hurrah Ken- Insulah or Red Feather by Father Nicolas Point. tuck,” “Oka-hay trodlum,” “go ahead bull,” and whiz, whiz, went a dozen arrows, bang, bang, as many guns, a hero out of William Marshall Anderson at the mere and poor John Baptist leaped from the bank and floated, broad side up, down the rapid current of the Green thought of him being Clark’s shirt-tail relative. River. This wonderful exhibition of skill, perseverance Trapper Jim Beckwourth also referenced Clark by and daring, was performed by the Bull’s Head in fulfill- this nickname in his memoirs. Stories told by Beck- ment of a promise, made the night before, to Capt. Sub- wourth, a well-known mulatto mountaineer, are often lette, that he would drive an old bull through the camp examples of how facts can become muddled over to please Hi-hi-seeks-tooah, his Little White Brother. [Emphasis in original]30 time. His recollections were recorded by Thomas D. Bonner in 1854-55, who then polished the trapper’s But the gallantry did not end there. The next after- tales and published them the following year. That was noon, July 19, a large grizzly bear was frightened from ample time for either man to have heard legends of the the hill by a couple of Indian boys and the bruin ran Red-Head Chief. Stephen Long’s expedition journals, through the middle of camp, scattering men, women for example, had been published by 1823. More than and children as it fled. According to Anderson, after thirty years later when Beckwourth dictated his mem- about twenty minutes, oirs to Bonner, there was a high public demand for literature about the West.32 One or the other of these The discharge of a gun and the triumphant yell of Insil- lah announced its fate. This evening the skin of the ter- men could have, accidentally or on purpose, distorted rible animal was presented to me by the brave Flathead details, for example, confusing Pawnee chief Long Hair chief, with the ears and claws still on. I do not know that with a Crow leader of the same name. I ever felt so much pride and surprise as I did upon that In these chronicles, William Clark’s cognomen was occasion. It was both a trophy of his daring and proof of used in a discussion of the Charbonneau family. Beck- his high regard for the old “Red-head chief.”31 wourth knew Jean Baptiste, who had traveled with The memory of William Clark was strong in these the expedition as a baby, describing him as “my old two young Native American men—enough to make friend Chapineau” in 1849. During California’s gold

May 2014  We Proceeded On 13 coon had been converted to wheel-boats, powered by men walking on a treadmill. Atkinson and Agent Ben- jamin O’Fallon, whose flotilla had left Council Bluffs the previous May, had been negotiating treaties with numerous tribes along their Missouri River route.36 The incident Beckwourth related had transpired about two weeks before the trappers showed up. Tous- saint Charbonneau, of Lewis and Clark fame and father of Jean Baptiste, had returned from a visit to the Crow p u bl is h e r .

th e or Absaroka, informing Atkinson that a tribal deputation should “be in within two or three days.” After

esy o f esy c ou rt waiting impatiently for almost two weeks, three hundred lodges and six hundred warriors of the Absaroka people finally arrived on the morning of August 4.37 . 6. vo l . T r a d e, f u r

th e Beckwourth, one of Ashley’s men, reported in this second-hand narrative that these Crow had captured a nd m a n

ai n prisoners in a prior battle with the Blackfoot. Atkinson m ou nt ordered the release of these hostages but was refused. h a f e n , A terse argument ensued and the Crow threatened to James Beckwourth, from a photograph, about 1860. rush era, the two men were in business together, operating an inn near the town of Placerville. Beckwourth described young Charbonneau as having been adopted by “the Red-headed Chief (Clarke).”33 Clark is also alluded to in a dramatic account of the death of Crow chief A-ra-poo-ash who had been mortally wounded by a Blackfoot arrow.34 Calling for Beckwourth, the dying chief told the adopted trapper, “…take this shield and this medal; they both belong to you. The medal was brought from our great white father many winters ago by the red-headed chief. When you die, it belongs to him who succeeds you.”35 Beckwourth mentioned the Red-Headed Chief again in his account of an event that had occurred in the summer of 1825. William H. Ashley, having suc- cessfully completed the first Rocky Mountain Ren- dezvous only a few weeks earlier, was transporting the accumulated furs back to St. Louis. Ashley and his crew arrived at the mouth of the Yellowstone River on August 19, in time to meet the Atkinson-O’Fallon Expedition from whom they would receive an escort home. General Henry Atkinson, assigned to the expedition almost a year prior, had outfitted a number of keelboats with paddle-wheels. The Otter, Beaver, Mink and Rac- “Death of A-ra-poo-ash” from Bonner’s account of Beckwourth.

14 We Proceeded On  May 2014 fight. The next day, a Crow headman visited the mil- the Crows almost worshiped while he was among them, itary encampment and, according to Beckwourth, the and who yet hold his name in the highest veneration. He was considered by them to be a great “medicine man,” chief and they supposed him lord over the whole white race.38 had an interview with Major O’Fallen, who ordered him to give up the captives or prepare to fight. The The encounter with the Crow was reported in chief boastingly replied, through Rose, the interpreter, the official journals kept by Atkinson and expedition that the major’s party was not a match for the Crows; that he would whip his whole army. On this, the major, member Major Stephen Watts Kearny, as well as in the who was a passionate man, drew his pistol and snapped writings of Lieutenant Reuben Holmes, an eye witness it at the chief’s breast. It missed fire, and he then struck who later wrote extensively about Edward Rose. Wash- the Indian a violent blow on the head with the weapon, inflicting a severe gash. The chief made no resistance, ington Irving also related the tale from the viewpoint but remained sullen. When this occurrence reached the of “an Indian trader,” likely Beckwourth. There are a ears of the Indian warriors, they became perfectly infuri- variety of differences in these accounts; some are minor ated, and prepared for an instant attack. General Atkin- son pacified them through Rose, who was one of the nuances, some more material; however, the gist of the best interpreters ever known in the whole Indian coun- stories is accurate with the exception of the dialogue— try. During the hubbub, the Indians spiked the general’s only Beckwourth’s version recorded any conversation guns with wooden spikes, and stuffed them with grass. between the participants.39 This principal chief of the Crow contingent was Long Hair, a well-known tribal leader who appears fre- Clark and the Crow quently in primary documents of the Rocky Moun- As most Lewis and Clark devotees will rapidly point tain fur trade era. Beckwourth recorded the following out, the expedition did not see the Crow people at exchange between Atkinson and the Crow commander any time during their Journey of Discovery. The corps in which the General invoked Clark’s name: members had heard tales of the Absaroka, or Crow, and “White Chief, the Crows have never yet shed the blood anticipated meeting them; Clark had even prepared of the white people; they have always treated them like a speech expressly for them. At one point, Clark sur- brothers. You have now shed the first blood; my people mised that smoke rising in the distance could be “raisd are angry, and we must fight.” by the Crow Indians in that direction as a Signal for The general replied, “Chief, I was told by my friend, the great Red-haired Chief, that the Crows were a good us.” But ultimately, the only chance encounter may people; that they were our friends. We did not come to have come on July 19, 1806, when Charbonneau spot- fight the Crows; we came as their friends.” ted a lone, mounted Indian on the opposite side of the “The Red-haired Chief!” exclaimed Long Hair, in Yellowstone River from which William Clark’s party astonishment; “are you his people?” 40 “The Red-haired Chief is a great chief, and when he had camped. hears that you have shed the blood of a Crow, he will be On the morning of July 21, Clark had awakened angry, and punish you for it. Go home,” he added, “and to find half of the party’s horses missing. A few nights tell the Red-haired Chief that you have shed the blood 41 of a Crow, and, though our people were angry, we did later, the remainder of the herd disappeared. Could it not kill his people. Tell him that you saw Long Hair, the have been Crow raiders that pilfered Clark’s mounts? Crow chief, to whom he gave the red plume many win- Apparently, he believed so—on the Clark-Maximil- ters ago.” ian map (sheet 30) is the notation, “The Crow Indi- After this dialogue, Beckwourth related that Long ans stole 25 horses from Sergent Pryor and party on Hair and the interpreter Edward Rose counseled the night of the 25th July 1806.”42 In his undelivered with the Crow who agreed to release their captives. speech to the Crow, Clark went so far as to imply that In exchange, Atkinson presented the tribe with gifts, his remaining horses told him who took the missing including a number of guns and ammunition. Beck- animals, “my horses…complained to me of your peo- wourth concluded his description of this episode: ple haveing taken…their cummerads.”43 The reader who has perused “Lewis and Clarke’s Travels” However, tribal oral traditions say “Maybe, maybe 44 will please to understand that the “Red-haired Chief” not.” Crow leader William Big Day told of a bygone spoken of above was none other than Mr. Clarke, whom Crow war party who saw an Indian woman with a baby

May 2014  We Proceeded On 15 and a group of white men in a boat with a sail floating ern Teton Valley, Idaho), to the Bear River, penetrat- down the Yellowstone. The raiders had captured the ing to the Green River. McDonald was six feet, four best horses from this group’s herd and later learned that inches tall, broad shouldered, had large bushy whis- Blackfeet had taken the rest only to realize all they got kers and red hair which often went years without the were mules. Other Absaroka elders reported “We didn’t benefit of scissors. He was known to several tribes as steal them…we just took them…some Crow people “the big red-headed chief.” However, there is no doc- today won’t brag about taking the expeditions’ horses. umentation that McDonald ever encountered the It was too easy.” Finally, contemporary Crow historian Crow.50 Howard Boggess suggested “the Crow did not count Jim Beckwourth’s tales, though fraught with inac- the capturing of horses from Clark and Pryor as a coup curacy, highlight the impact of William Clark, the because the white men slept too much.”45 Red-Headed Chief, among Indians of the Rocky The Crow chief, Long Hair, did indeed sign a treaty Mountains. It also illuminates that trappers like Beck- with Atkinson and O’Fallon in 1825—he was the wourth, or their editors, recognized the importance to first of sixteen Crow chiefs to have made their mark their readership of highlighting the role Clark played in on that agreement. Long Hair was also mentioned the mountain men’s ability to trap beaver in the Trans- by several other fur trappers of the period, including Mississippi West. Zenas Leonard, Osborne Russell, and Isaac Rose.46 Incredibly, as big as the Rocky Mountains seem to What made this chief of the Mountain Crows mem- be, it is remarkable that the Crow Chief Rain, the very orable was the length of his hair. Allegedly, he never man Benjamin O’Fallon had accosted during the treaty cut it and wore it in a bundle at his back. The Crow negotiations described by Beckwourth, also appeared man’s locks were estimated by various reports as any- in William Marshall Anderson’s journal, as does Long where from nearly ten feet in length to over eleven feet. Hair. At the end of August 1834, Anderson wrote One account measured the tresses at thirty-six feet in Old Burns, alias Long Hair, is, and has long been a 47 length. Long Hair was also known as Red Feather at principal chief—Like Sampson, his strength lies in his the Temple, hence Beckwourth’s reference to the man hair… When Mr. Campbell measured it (tis a great favor having been given a “red plume many winters ago.”48 to touch it) two years ago, —twas eleven feet & four Despite Beckwourth’s retelling, it was clearly not inches—This spring my friend Mr. Vasques took its dimensions and found it to be 11 ft. 8 ins … After wind- William Clark who gave Long Hair any feathers in ing twice around his body, it is secured over his stomach, the past. A likely guess might be Francois Larocque, in a ball, as large as a man’s head — The Rain, is another who had visited the Crow about the time of Lewis and very old and distinguished chief. He is the same indi- Clark’s expedition. Larocque gave assorted gifts to the vidual who suffered the degradation of being knocked 51 Crow that included down in full council, by Majr. O’Fallon. A present of axes, knives, ivory combs, vermillion, Coincidentally, O’Fallon, a nephew of William wampoon shells, rings, fire steels and flint, papers Cor’d Clark, was instrumental in keeping alive numerous Glasses, cassetete, awls, B.C. beads, blue beads, cock attributions to his uncle’s nickname. Throughout fur feathers, balls & powder, and tobacco. [emphasis added]49 trade primary sources there are references, like those Not all references to a red-headed leader applied described here, that reflect the influence of William to William Clark. Another such candidate was Fin- Clark, the Red-Headed Chief, among Native Ameri- nan McDonald who had joined the North West Com- cans. When the first election of governor occurred in pany (NWC) about 1804 and soon found himself in the new state of Missouri in 1820, candidate Clark was the Pacific Northwest working with David Thomp- not voted into office. Reasons for his defeat included son. When NWC merged with Hudson’s Bay Com- a willingness to negotiate with Indians, an emphasis pany (HBC), the Scot became an HBC brigade leader, on trade over settlement, and advocating the govern- trading with numerous tribes. His 1823 contingent ment-monopolized factory system that controlled the trapped to the southeast, through Pierre’s Hole (mod- fur trade.

16 We Proceeded On  May 2014 Still, as a principal citizen of St. Louis, Clark’s and conventions on topics of fur trade history. Jim served as hospitality to whites and Indians alike was legendary historical and technical adviser to the History Channel’s pro- throughout the West. The big Indian Council Room gram, “Taming the Wild West, the Legend of Jedediah Smith.” adjoining his house was often filled with visiting Native He lives in Pierre’s Hole (modern Teton Valley, Idaho), site of the 1829 and 1832 Rocky Mountain fur trade rendezvous. American dignitaries. Clark’s status among the many Indian nations with whom he met was so integral that END NOTES: some tribes viewed treaty negotiation as invalid unless 52 1. Elliott Coues, ed., The History of the Expedition under the Com- it was personally conducted by Clark. mand of Lewis and Clark, 4 vols. (New York, NY: Francis P. Harper, For three decades after the Expedition, Clark was 1893), 3:lxxx. instrumental in developing American Indian policy. 2. Robert Reynolds, et al., “Recommendation of William Clark as Governor,” April 29, 1809, Clarence E. Carter, ed., The Territorial There would yet be many conflicts and battles in a long Papers of the United States: the Territory of Illinois, 1809-1814 (Wash- struggle over control of the West but the Red-Head ington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1948), 16:32. Chief “was a link in that chain of history which reached 3. Ibid. beyond his knowing.”53 As John Bakeless noted 4. This was determined by searching the online version of the Lewis and Clark Journals using a variation of wording and spelling. While William Clark in his later years looked every inch the the nickname appears in some of the extraneous material on the site, governor—tall, erect, dignified, ever with the air of the it did not show up in any journal entry. The journals are on line at: old soldier about him… At first the hair for which the http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/ (accessed 10-12-13). Indians named him—“very red in those days”—flowed 5. Many Clark biographers are quick to bestow Clark’s nickname, long about his head. Then, as it grew grayer and scant- but do not appear to have investigated the origin of the title. For ier it was bound up in the conventional eelskin queue. example, these authors mention, but do not discuss the background When the Indians could no longer call him Red Head, of, the name: Bernard DeVoto, The Journals of Lewis and Clark (Bos- he became the “Sand-haired Father.”54 ton, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953), xlviii; Jay H. Buck- ley, William Clark, Indian Diplomat (Norman, OK: University of William Clark’s tenure as Superintendent of Indian Oklahoma Press, 2008), 148; William E. Foley, Wilderness Journey, The Life of William Clark (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri 55 Affairs was the longest in American history. His expe- Press, 2004), 236; Landon Y. Jones, William Clark and the Shaping riences during the Lewis and Clark Expedition had of the West (New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2004), 256, 327; David Lavender, The Way to the Western Ocean (New York, NY: Harper & exposed him to the vast diversity amongst native cul- Row, 1998), 387; James J. Holmberg, ed., Dear Brother, Letters of Wil- tures, for which he gained tremendous appreciation. liam Clark to Jonathan Clark (New Haven, CT; Yale University Press, The Red-Headed Chief mutually represented the views 2002), 6; James P. Ronda, “Red-Head’s Domain: William Clark’s Indian Brokerage,” in Between Indian and White Worlds: The Culture of the federal government and those of tribal delega- Broker, edited by Margaret Connell Szasz (Norman, OK: University tions with insight few others possessed. Clark will be of Oklahoma Press, 1994), 81-97. Coincidently, Foley and Jones both used the nickname in the title of the ninth chapters in their respective remembered for his master map of the West drawn biographies of Clark. from his exploration of the interior of this continent. 6. Nicholas Biddle, ed., The Journals of the Expedition Under the But it was Clark’s ability to establish lasting relation- Command of Capts. Lewis and Clark, 2 vols. (New York, NY: The Her- ships that made him heroic to men who, though he itage Press, 1962), 1:10. had met them thirty years earlier, not only remembered 7. Buckley, William Clark, Indian Diplomat, 73-77. the Red-Headed Chief but were still transfixed by all 8. Kate L. Gregg, Westward With Dragoons (Fulton, MO: The Ovid Bell Press, Inc., 1937), 38, 59n66. Chief Walk-In-Rain was identi- that William Clark represented.  fied as Walking Rain by George Sibley, see Jeffery E. Smith,Seeking a Newer World: The Fort Osage Journals and Letters of George Sibley, 1808–1811 (St. Charles, MO: Lindenwood University Press, 2003), Jim Hardee is the director of the Fur Trade Research Center 80. and serves as the Editor of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade 9. Kristie C. Wolferman, The Osage in Missouri (Columbia, MO: Journal, the annual peer-reviewed publication of the Museum University of Missouri Press, 1997), 68. of the Mountain Man and the Sublette Historical Society in 10. Letter, George C. Sibley to William Clark, November 28, 1813, Pinedale, Wyoming. He has written numerous magazine arti- in Clarence E. Carter, ed., Territorial Papers of the United States, Vol. 14: The Territory of Louisiana-Missouri 1806-1814. cles and book reviews, and is the author of two books: Pierre’s Hole! The Fur Trade History of Teton Valley, Idaho and 11. Edwin James, Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains Performed in the Years 1819, 1820, in Early Western Obstinate Hope; The Western Expeditions of Nathaniel J. Travels Series, edited by Reuben G. Thwaites, 32 vols. (New York, Wyeth. He has spoken at many national fur trade symposiums NY: AMS Press, Inc., 1966), 14:242-43.

May 2014  We Proceeded On 17 12. James, Account of an Expedition…, 15:348-349, 355. See also, 34. Arapooish, also known as Rotten Belly, was a famous Crow chief- Mark William Kelly, Lost Voices on the Missouri, John Dougherty and tain who was killed in the summer of 1834. The notoriety of his the Indian Frontier (Leavenworth, KS: Sam Clark Publishing Co., shield is well documented, Robert H. Lowie, The Crow Indians (Lin- 2013), 186-189. coln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1963), 86, 234; Frederick E. 13. Ibid., 15:147. Hoxie, The Crow (New York, NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989), 62-64. 14. Ibid., 14:317. 35. Beckwourth, Life and Adventures, 264. 15. Letter, John Dougherty to William Clark, November, 1828, Office of Indian Affairs, Incoming Correspondence, Upper Mis- 36. Richard E. Jensen and James S. Hutchins, Wheel Boats on the Mis- souri, cited in Chester L. Guthrie and Leo L. Gerald, “Upper Mis- souri (Helena, MT: Montana Historical Society, 2001), 155-56, 194- souri Agency: An Account of Indian Administration on the Frontier,” 97 and 205-11. Pacific Historical Review 10, no. 1 (March 1941): 49n9. 37. Dale Morgan, The West of William Ashley (Denver, CO: Old West 16. Ibid. Publishing, 1964), 130, 296n245; Jensen and Hutchins, Wheel Boats 17. It should be noted that two other “Red Heads” can be found on the Missouri, 140-45. during this period of history along the Missouri River. First was Rob- 38. Beckwourth, Life and Adventures, 83-85. ert Dickson, a British fur trader, who became a primary antagonist 39 For these varying accounts, see Jensen and Hutchins, Wheel for Clark during the War of 1812 and whom Landon Jones labeled Boats on the Missouri, 143-145; Captain Rueben Holmes, “The Five Clark’s doppelganger. Jones, William Clark, 203. The other was a Scalps,” reprinted in Glimpses of the Past, Missouri Historical Society, Sauk chief, Mess-con-de-bay, a hereditary chief second only to Black 5, no. 1-3 (January-March, 1938), 55-54; Washington Irving, The Hawk. Kerry A. Trask, Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A. edited by Edgeley W. Todd (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2007), 70-71. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961), 167-68. 18. A good history of the men who entered the fur trade can be found 40. Moulton, ed., Journals, 8:201, 206. in Larry Morris, The Fate of the Corps, What Became of the Lewis and Clark Explorers After the Expedition (New Haven, CT: Yale University 41. Ibid., 8:209, 285. Press, 2004). 42. Ibid.,1:Atlas map 117. 19. See, Buckley, William Clark, Indian Diplomat, 147-62, for a dis- 43. Ibid., 8:213. cussion of fur trade licensure. 44. This quote comes from Barney Old Coyote and is found in C. 20. George Catlin, Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condi- Adrian Heidenreich, Smoke Signals in Crow (Apsaalooke) Country: tion of the North American Indians in a Series of Letters and Notes, 2 Beyond the Capture of Horses from the Lewis & Clark Expedition (Bill- vols. (London: Herny G. Bohn, 1851), 1:186-87. This information ings, MT: by the Author, 2006), 46. comes from Catlin’s Letter 23. The portrait of Black Moccasin is also 45. Ibid., 46-47. in volume 1, plate 72. 46. Zenas Leonard, Narrative of the Adventures of Zenas Leonard 21. Gary E. Moulton, ed., The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expe- (Chicago, IL: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 1934), 228; Osborne dition, 13 vols. (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1983- Russell, Journal of a Trapper, edited by Aubrey L. Haines (Portland, 2001), 3:209, 211, 213n7. OR: Champoeg Press, 1955), 55; James B. Marsh, Four Years in the 22. Ibid., 3:303, 311, 8:298. Rocky Mountains; or, the Adventures of Isaac P. Rose (New Castle, PA: 23. Catlin, North American Indians, 187. W. B. Thomas, 1884), 189. 24. Dale L. Morgan and Eleanor Towles Harris, eds., The Rocky 47. Recordings of the length of Long Hair’s tresses can be found in Mountain Journals of William Marshall Anderson: the West in 1834 Morgan and Harris, William Marshall Anderson, 335. (San Marino, CA: The Huntington Library, 1967), 133. A portrait of 48. Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indians, 20 vols. (Cam- Insillah was made by Father Nicolas Point in 1842. Gustavus Sohon bridge, MA: University Press, 1909-30), 4:28-30, 47-48. also sketched the chief in 1854. Sohon estimated the Indian’s age at 49. Francois A. Larocque, “Francois Antoine Larocque’s ‘Yellowstone that time as seventy. Journal’” in Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Trad- 25. Ibid., 46, 52n7. ers among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, edited by Raymond W. 26. Ibid., 91. Wood and Thomas D. Thiessen (Norman, OK: University of Okla- 27. Ibid., 329-33. Alfred Jacob Miller painted the Shoshone chief in homa Press, 1985), 170-71. 1837. 50. Merle Wells, “Finnan McDonald,” in Leroy R. Hafen, The Moun- 28. William H. Gray, A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 (New York, tain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, 10 vols. (Glendale, CA: NY: Arno Press, 1973), 564. The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1968), 5:206, 211–13; Jim Hardee, Pierre’s Hole! The Fur Trade History of Teton Valley, Idaho (Pinedale, 29. Morgan and Harris, William Marshall Anderson, 135, 333. WY: The Museum of the Mountain Man, 2010), 34, 120-21. 30. Ibid., 135. 51. Morgan and Harris, William Marshall Anderson, 198-201. 31. Ibid., 139. 52. Buckley, William Clark, Indian Diplomat, 148. 32 James P. Beckwourth, The Life and Adventures of James P. Beck- wourth as Told to Thomas D. Bonner, edited by Delmont R. Oswald 53. Ernest S. Osgood, “The Return Journey in 1806: William Clark (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1972), ix; Edwin James, on the Yellowstone,” Montana, the Magazine of History 18, no. 3 Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains Per- (Summer 1968): 29. formed in the Years 1819, 1820, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, PA: H. C. Carey 54. John Bakeless, Lewis & Clark, Partners in Discovery (New York, and I. Lea, 1823). NY: William Morrow & Company, 1947), 446. 33. Beckwourth, Life and Adventures, 509, 528. 55. Buckley, William Clark, Indian Diplomat, 234.

18 We Proceeded On  May 2014 “Worthy of Notice”

The Journal of Sergeant Patrick Gass

Barb Kubik

s the Corps of Discovery vations…with great pains and A prepared to set out from accuracy” during the journey.4 winter quarters at Fort Mandan We have the journals of the two in spring 1805, Captain Meri- captains (Meriwether Lewis and wether Lewis wrote a long letter William Clark), three of the four to President Thomas Jefferson sergeants (Charles Floyd, Patrick with the details of their depar- Gass, and John Ordway), and one ture and an inventory of the col- private (Joseph Whitehouse). Of lections of cultural and natural these six, all the original journals history, maps, and journals the are preserved except that of Ser- Corps of Discovery was sending geant Patrick Gass. downriver in the keelboat. In his Records indicate Private Rob- letter, Lewis noted the two cap- ert Frazer kept a journal and drew tains encouraged the corps’ lit- a map. Lewis had given Frazer erate members to keep journals, permission to publish his journal,

and that seven of them did so, Patrick Gass in old age. While still in the Army in and late in 1806, Frazer printed adding the two captains had pro- 1813, he accidentally had lost the vision in his left a “prospectus” announcing the eye. Woodcut from an ambrotype by E. F. Moore, in vided these seven journal keep- J. G. Jacobs, The Life and Times of Patrick Gass planned publication of his jour- ers with “every assistance in our (Wellsburg, Va., 1859). nal and map.5 The map, titled “A power.”1 Map of the discoveries of Capt. Lewis & Clark from What did that “assistance” look like? the Rockey mountain and the River Lewis to the Cap From Joseph Thompson in Philadelphia, Lewis of Disappointment Or the Columbia River at the purchased six boxes made specifically for stationery North Pacific Ocean By observation Of Robert Frazer” products for $2.00 each. At the same time, he requi- may be found in the Library of Congress. Frazer’s jour- sitioned six brass inkstands, six papers of ink powder, nal has not been found, and there is no evidence he and 100 quills from the “public stores.”2 Included in ever published it.6 the undated inventory of supplies called the “Bail- It is possible Sergeant Nathaniel Hale Pryor kept ing Invoice of Sundries, being necessary Stores” were a journal. On May 26, 1804, the two captains issued eight tin boxes with two memorandum books in each a set of detachment orders, detailing the sergeants’ box, four papers of ink powder, nine quires of foolscap duties, noting “The sergts. in addition to those duties paper and eighteen half-quires of post paper.3 are directed each to keep a seperate journal from day Two hundred years later, we still cannot identify today of all passing occurences, and such other obser- with certainty the seven men who took advantage of vations on the country &c. as shall appear to them the two captains’ “assistance” to record “their obser- worthy of notice— .” 7 Military regulations of the time

May 2014  We Proceeded On 19 required sergeants to be literate, and there are vague a 12.5 percent discount. By July 7, 1807, A Journal of references to Pryor’s literacy and his “papers” in Clark’s the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery, under the journal in the summer of 1806.8 command of Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clarke of the Army One of the most fascinating stories of the Corps’ of the United States, from the Mouth of the River Mis- journals is that created by Sergeant Patrick Gass. His souri through the Interior Parts of North America to the was the first journal to be published in both the United Pacific Ocean, During the Years 1804, 1805 & 1806, States and in Europe. Yet, little is known about his Containing an Authentic relation of the Most Interest- original journal, his editor David M’Keehan, or the ing Transactions During the Expedition,--A Description numerous foreign-language reprints that followed the of the Country,--and an Account of its Inhabitants, soil, initial publication in 1807. climate, Curiosities and Vegetable and Animal Produc- Not long after the Corps’ return, David M’Keehan tions by Patrick Gass One of the Persons Employed in the purchased Gass’s journal from him. We do not know Expedition with Geographical and Explanatory Notes by how the two men, Gass, the explorer and journal- the Publisher was available for purchase at the prospec- keeper, and M’Keehan, the teacher-turned-bookseller, tus-stated price of $1.00.13 editor and publisher, came to be acquainted. Nor do we As M’Keehan completed his editing work in the know how much K’Keehan paid Gass for his journal. spring of 1807, he became involved in an acrimonious We believe he gave Gass the copyright and 100 compli- exchange of letters with Meriwether Lewis in the Pitts- mentary copies of the finished work, but the copyright burgh Gazette and the National Intelligencer [Wash- was ignored by subsequent editors, and none of Gass’s ington D.C.] over his plan to publish Gass’s journal. descendants have seen any of the complimentary cop- M’Keehan’s lengthy rebuttal to Lewis, fully filling the ies of the original Gass/M’Keehan edition.9 second page of the April 14, 1807, Gazette reveals M’Keehan’s father, Samuel M’Keehan, was a Pres- M’Keehan to be a man of education, skilled with byterian Ulster Scot (Scotch Irish) who moved his fam- words, with a talent for repartee and a solid knowledge ily between Presbyterian communities in Delaware of the literary and political world.14 and Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s. M’Keehan fam- Until recently, few scholars of the Corps’ journals ily tradition holds that young David M’Keehan grad- have valued the Gass/M’Keehan narrated journal, due uated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylva- in part to what they saw as the “bowdlerizing” of Gass’s nia in 1787, and that he was admitted to the bar in original entries by his editor, David M’Keehan, whom Mifflin County two years later.10 In the early 1800s, they believed to be far more literate than Gass.15 Don- David M’Keehan was living and teaching in Wellsburg, ald Jackson called it “a miserable piece of work, for (West) Virginia. By 1807, he had a book and stationery upon Patrick Gass’s sketchy notes the editor had placed store near the Allegheny County Courthouse on Mar- the burden of an elegant prose style.” Paul Russell ket Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.11 Cutright, in his A History of the Lewis and Clark Jour- On March 23, 1807, M’Keehan published his “pro- nals, accused M’Keehan of taking “exceptional liberties spectus” in the weekly Pittsburgh Gazette, the city’s first with the wording of Gass’s journal.”16 newspaper.12 According to M’Keehan’s prospectus, A Despite Gass’s assertion to his biographer, John G. Journal of the Voyages & Travels of a Corps of Discovery, Jacobs, that he had a mere nineteen days of formal edu- under the command of Captain Lewis and Captain Clarke cation, Gass’s later journals reveal a man who could would be “an authentic relation of the most interesting maintain a balanced account book, who was well-read, transactions during the expedition.” Of approximately and who could write thoughtfully and succinctly. His 300 pages, of a duodecimo-size, and “handsomely spelling is no better, or worse, than his former captains bound in boards,” the book would include a “descrip- and fellow sergeants. An avid reader, Gass owned a tion of the country, and an account of its inhabitants number of books; he also subscribed to the local news- By Patrick Gass, one of the persons employed in the paper, the Wellsburg Weekly Herald.17 His account book expedition.” M’Keehan planned to offer the book for is meticulous. Gass noted his annual income, a military just $1.00; those who paid in advance were entitled to disability pension of $48.00, and his expenditures. He

20 We Proceeded On  May 2014 regularly purchased tobacco (one and a half pounds for 25¢ on July 29, 1827) and coffee (four pounds for $1.00 on September 4); on November 2, he purchased an almanac for 12.5¢. In fact, Gass purchased nine almanacs between 1827 and 1837, missing only 1830 and 1833.18 Gass also purchased paper products, an indication he continued his record-keeping.19 Zadok Cramer, a well-known Pitts- burgh printer and author, printed the first two editions of the M’Keehan/Gass journal for M’Keehan. Like M’Keehan, Cramer owned a bookshop on Mar- ket Street in Pittsburgh called The Sign of the Franklin Head. Here, he first sold books and provided a book-bind- ing service. An enterprising man, Cra- mer soon began publishing informa- tive books for migrants headed west. He authored several almanacs and The Navigator, a well-respected, and oft-up- dated and reprinted, guide to the rivers of the Ohio Valley. By 1807 Cramer was a successful author and printer who understood the demand in Pittsburgh for books about all-things “west.”20 It was only natural he print A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Dis- covery… in 1807 and again in 1808 for M’Keehan.21 That same year, the book was printed in London by John Budd, a bookseller located on prestigious Pall Mall. In 1810 the Gass/M’Keehan edition was printed in Paris as Voyage des Capitaines Lewis et Clarke, Depuis l’em- Title page of the 1810 French edition of Gass’s journal. bouchure du Missouri, jusqu’à l’entrée de la Colombia dans l’Océan Pacifique; fait dans les années 1804, 1805, et 1806, par ordre du gouvern- Gass, Employé dans l’Expédition; Et traduit en Français ment des États-Unis: contenant Le Journal authentique par A. J. N. Lallemant, l’un des Secrétaires de la Marine. des Événements les plus remarquables du Voyage, ainsi que Avec des Notes, deux Lettres du Capitaine Clarke, et une la Description des Habitants, du Sol, du Climat, et des Carte gravée par J. B. Tardieu.22 Productions animals et végétales des pays situés à l’ouest de Antoine Jean Noel Lallemant translated the l’Amerique Septentrionale. Rédigé en Anglais par Patrice Gass/M’Keehan edition from English to French as Le

May 2014  We Proceeded On 21 Journal authentique. Lallemant was a secretary in the 300-page book was an amalgamation of fact and fic- French Naval Ministry and an experienced translator of tion, based in part on the exploratory journals, reports exploratory narratives. His translated works included and letters of Jonathan Carver, Alexander Mackenzie, the African explorations of Mungo Park in 1798 and of Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and John Ledyard and Simon Lucas in 1804, and of James Sergeant Patrick Gass. The work included a folded C. Murphy’s Travels in Portugal. Lallemant neatly listed map, entitled “Map of the Country Inhabited by the the contents of the translated edition, adding several Western Tribes of Indians.”26 items which did not appear in the English-language This particular Apocrypha was reprinted in Lon- version from Pittsburgh. Lallemant included M’Kee- don that same year by one of the most reputable British han’s preface (Préface de l’éditeur américan) and a table publishing houses, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme. of contents (Table des Chapitres); he expanded the foot- Longman hired British engraver and lithographer Sam- notes and added a map (une Carte gravée par J. B. Tar- uel John Neele to make the map for their work. Like dieu] and two letters written by William Clark (deux Tardieu, Neele was well-known and respected for his Lettres).23 detailed, hand-colored maps for atlases and exploratory The first letter,Lettre du capitaine Clarke à S. E. le narratives. Neele based his map on a copy of a map gouverneur Harrison, was one Clark wrote to his col- made by Samuel Lewis of the United States. In 1804 league and friend, the governor of Indiana Territory, Samuel Lewis, working with another well-known car- William Henry Harrison, as the corps prepared for its tographer Aaron Arrowsmith, produced A New and departure from Fort Mandan on April 2, 1805. The Elegant General Atlas. The Lewis/Arrowsmith Atlas second, Lettre du capitaine Clarke à son frère le general would accompany Jedediah Morse’s American Univer- Clarke, was presumably to his brother Jonathan Clark. sal Geography. It was Samuel Lewis’s map of Louisiana Clark wrote this particular letter from St. Louis on Sep- Tardieu used for his map in the Lallemant edition.27 tember 23, 1806, announcing the safe return of the Arthus-Bertrand, a publishing and book-sales com- Corps of Discovery. As was common in the early nine- pany (Librárie) in Paris, published the French edition. teenth century, both letters had been published previ- Like Zadok Cramer in Pittsburgh, the French com- ously, the Harrison letter in the Baltimore Telegraphe pany was well-known for the printing, promoting, and and Daily Advertiser, and the brother’s letter in the two sales of books of science, travel, and exploration. The Frankfort (Kentucky) newspapers, Palladium and West- company was also the official publisher for the Naval ern World. That letter was soon picked up by numerous Ministry, for whom Lallemant worked.28 other newspapers, including the Pittsburgh Gazette and At the same time, a Philadelphia newspaper owner, the National Intelligencer.24 All-in-all, it appears Lal- publisher, and bookstore owner, Mathew Carey, lemant’s translation came directly from a copy of the acquired the Gass/M’Keehan journal. In three consecu- Gass/M’Keehan work of 1807. tive years, 1810, 1811, and 1812, Carey reprinted that Jean Baptiste Pierre Tardieu, a well-known French edition, with the addition of six charming woodcuts.29 cartographer and engraver was selected to create the As Carey prepared to issue his first edition of the 7¾" x 9½" folded map (une Carte gravée) Lallemant Gass/M’Keehan journal, another Philadelphia editor, inserted in the French edition. Tardieu was known for Nicholas Biddle, was diligently working on the two his detailed, hand-colored maps for many atlases and captains’ own narrative journal. In a letter to William exploratory narratives, including maps of Australia, Clark on July 7, 1810, Biddle brought Clark up-to- Oceana, and the Spanish-held territories of Mexico date on his work, including information about the and the present-day southwest United States.25 “large connected map of the whole route & the adja- Scholars believe Tardieu copied a map found in an cent country” and his own progress using the cap- unauthorized and falsified account of the Corps of Dis- tains’ manuscript journals, as well as those of two of covery that appeared first in Philadelphia in 1809 and the Corps’ sergeants, John Ordway and Patrick Gass, then in London. In 1809, Hubbard Lester published to edit Lewis and Clark’s long-awaited narrated jour- an apocryphal version of the captains’ journals. The nals. Gass’s journal, he told Clark, had been “deposited

22 We Proceeded On  May 2014 Barb Kubik is a former LCTHF executive director and officer, and regular contributor to We Proceeded On. She currently is the historian on the Meriwether Project.

Endnotes 1. Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with Related Documents, 1783-1854, 2 vols. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 1:232. 2. Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:92, 96. 3. Gary E. Moulton, ed., The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expe- dition, 13 volumes. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983- 2001), 3:502-504. “Glossary of Paper-Making Terms” and “Old English Paper Sizes,” British Association of Paper Historians, accessed February 12, 2014, http://www.baph.org.uk. According to the British Association of Paper Historians, foolscap measures 13.25" x 16.5"; post paper measures 15.25" x 19". A quire is a stack of 24 sheets of paper of the same size; today it is 25 sheets of paper, or one-twentieth of a ream (a standard package of 500 sheets of paper). 4. Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:62. On June 20, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson wrote a long letter of instructions to Meriwether Lewis, telling Lewis his “observations are to be taken with great pains & accuracy, to be entered distinctly & intelligibly for others as well as your- self.” Jefferson also recommended “Several copies of these as well as of your other notes should be made at leisure times, & put into the care of the most trust-worthy of your attendants, to guard, by multiplying Two of the woodcuts included in the reprint edition of Gass’s journal issued them, against the accidental losses to which they will be exposed.” by Mathew Carey. 5. Jackson, ed., Letters, 1: 345-46; 2:385-86. 6. Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:345-46. in our library.” Unfortunately, it is not known which 7. Moulton, ed., Journals, 2:257-58. Philadelphia library Biddle referred to in his letter, that 8. Moulton, ed., Journals, 8:212, 285-86. Frederick William Baron von Steuben, Baron von Steuben’s Revolutionary War Drill Manual of the American Philosophical Society, of which Bid- (New York: Dover Publications, 1985; reprint of 1794 edition), 126. dle was a member, or the Library Company of Phila- According to von Steuben, “the choice of non-commissioned offi- delphia. Despite several thorough searches of American cers is also an object of the greatest importance…honesty, sobriety, and a remarkable attention to every point of duty, with a neatness in Philosophical Society’s library, Gass’s original journal their dress, are indispensable requisites…nor can a serjeant or corpo- has not yet been located.30 ral be said to be qualified who does not write and read in a tolerable The Library Company of Philadelphia is an insti- manner.” tution as prestigious as the American Philosophical 9. Paul Russell Cutright, A History of the Lewis and Clark Journals (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976), 26; Jackson, ed., Society. The Library was founded in 1731 by Benja- Letters, 2:390-91; 404; Carol Lynn MacGregor, ed., The Journals of min Franklin as a subscription library, and over time Patrick Gass: Member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Missoula: it would grow to be one of the nation’s largest public Mountain Press Publishing Company, 1997), 19. libraries.31 10. Stephen Dow Beckham, et. al, The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography and Essays (Portland: Lewis & Clark The French edition, Voyage des capitaines Lewis et College, 2003), 92. www.dickinsoncollege.edu Clarke, was the first foreign-language publication of 11. Cutright, History, 26; Jackson, ed., Letters, 2:390-91; MacGregor, an authentic Corps’ journal, and it contained the first Journals of Gass, 19. map known to mention the Corps of Discovery, and 12. Audrey Abbott Iacone, “Early Printing in Pittsburgh, 1786- to include portions of their route.32 It is this journal 1856,” Pittsburgh History (Summer 1990):66. Dr. Garth Reese of the University of Idaho will show 13. “Book Sizes,” accessed February 12, 2014, http://www.ala.org. Jackson, ed., Letters, 2:390-91; MacGregor, Journals of Gass, 34. A book to Foundation members attending the 46th Annual of duodecimo size was approximately 7.5" x 5;" the size was determined Meeting in Richland, Washington, summer 2014.  by printing on sheets of paper folded to form 12 leaves or 24 pages.

May 2014  We Proceeded On 23 14. Jackson, ed., Letters, 2:385-86, 399-407; Donald Jackson, “The 24. Beckham, et. al. Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 96; Race to Publish Lewis & Clark,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of His- Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:227-30; 1:325-30. tory and Biography 85, no. 2 (April 1961): 166. 25. See for example, the beautiful copy of Tardieu’s 1810 map of 15. Carol Lynn MacGregor, “The Role of the Gass Journal,” We Pro- Mexico, Mexique, offered by Geographicus Fine Antique Maps [www. ceeded On (November 1990): 15-16. geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/Mexique-tardieu-1810]. 16. Cutright, History, 29; Jackson, “The Race to Publish,” 174. 26. Beckham, et. al., Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 108; 17. MacGregor, Journals of Gass, 295, 299. 122; Cutright, History, 33-36; Thwaites, ed., Original Journals, 1:lxvi. 18. MacGregor, Journals of Gass, 319-21. 27. John Logan Allen, Passage Through the Garden: Lewis and Clark and the Image of the American Northwest (Urbana: University of Illi- 19. MacGregor, Journals of Gass, 325, 329. On April 26, 1827, Gass nois Press, 1975), 55; 58; Beckham, et. al., Literature of the Lewis and purchased one-half quire of paper for 12¢; on October 6, he pur- Clark Expedition, 134-35; Thwaites, Original Journals, 1:lxvi-lxvii. chased a small notebook (“Pocket Book”) for 25¢. 28. Beckham, et. al. Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 97. 20. Charles W. Dahlinger, “Zadok Cramer,” Pittsburgh: A Sketch of Its www.shop-in-paris.com/brands/arthus-bertrand. Early Social Life, accessed January 28, 2014, http://www.clpgh.org. Iacone, “Early Printing,” 68-69; Cutright, History, 29. 29. Cutright, History, 30-32; MacGregor, Journals of Gass, 62, 77, 90, 136, 205, 208. 21. The imprint on the title page for the Gass/M’Keehan Journal clearly states: 30. Jackson, ed., Letters, 2:550-55; MacGregor, “The Role of the Gass Journal,” 13. PITTSBURGH, PRINTED BY ZADOC CRAMER, 31. “The Library Company of Philadelphia,” accessed February FOR DAVID M’KEEHAN, PUBLISHER AND 12, 2014, www.librarycompany.org. Today, the Library Company PROPRIETER ...... 1807 of Philadelphia, located at 1314 Locust Street, is an independent research library, open to the public. The Library’s collection of Amer- 22. Beckham, Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 95-96; ican history and culture, from the 1600s to the 1800s, is exceptional, Antoine J. N. Lallemant, Voyage des Capitaines . . . . (Paris: Arthus-Ber- with rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and works of art. In addi- trand, 1810), Title Page; Reuben G. Thwaites, ed., Original Journals tion to its collections, the Library offers fellowships, exhibitions, and of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806, 8 vols. (New York: public programs. Arno Press, 1969; reprint of 1904 edition), 1:lxxii. 32. Cutright, History, 29; Jackson, “The Race to Publish,” 174. 23. Beckham, et. al., Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 96-97; Thwaites, Original Journals, 1:lxxii.

24 We Proceeded On  May 2014 Discovering John Colter

New Research on His Family and His Death

Timothy Forrest Coulter

s a scout and a hunter for Meriwether Lewis A and William Clark, John Colter’s adventures were well documented. But before and after the expedition Colter seemed to have a knack for slipping into, and just as quickly out of, the limelight. Gradually some of the facets of his life are emerging from the dust of two centuries. An exhaustive and ongoing search for the parentage of John Colter has resulted in endless bottlenecks and dead ends. There may be a very good reason for that: Colter researchers quite possibly have been barking up the wrong genealogical tree. Recent yDNA testing and data results, conducted from 2009 to 2013, reveal a very strong connection on John Colter’s paternal side to the Cannon family of Virginia. Earliest known ancestors are Simcock and Jer- emiah Cannon, both born in or near Henrico County, . Virginia, circa 1725-1730.1 Subjects involved in the

testing were: 1) Timothy F. Coulter, descended from is t a rt th e John Colter’s grandson, Joseph Colter (1840–1891); 2) o f p e rm ssio n

Dennis Coulter, descended from John Colter’s grand- b y

son, Nathan Colter (1842–1926). Testing the yDNA U se d (male line only) was performed by Family Tree DNA. John Colter in his mountain man days, as painted by John Bruce, Mariposa, California. Subjects were tested on the Haplogroup Paternal tree, 67 STR markers. So what does this mean? To begin with, DNA testing is always more meaningful when descendants are still DNA–blood descended from him, combined with genealogical paperwork. Both subjects since the said tributary occurred upstream from him. are tested at the yDNA 67 marker levels and both are Ongoing testing continues, with the goal of determin- grouped in the haplogroup E1b1b1. The test for both ing when the Colter-Cannon DNA connection began. subjects resulted in high percentages at the 7th and 8th For a number of reasons JC could have been a generational level,2 suggesting a high probability that grandson of, or associated with, the John and Isabella either John Colter (referred to as “JC” in the follow- Coalter family of Stuarts Draft, Augusta County, Vir- ing paragraph) or his father was fathered by a Cannon, ginia. His parents are frequently said to be Joseph (son but raised as a Colter. If this is the case, Colter’s direct of John and Isabella) and Ellen Shields Coalter. Most

May 2014  We Proceeded On 25 Colter researchers, including Shirley Winkelhoch, The maiden name of John Colter’s wife in Mis- the late Ruth Colter Frick, and the author, agree that souri has long been a source of much speculation. His this is not true, since their son John lived until 1842, wife’s first name has been written as Lucy, found on an whereas JC was born about 1774 and died on May estate paper, and as Sally, on a voucher form. Sally, of 7, 1812. However, two of John and Isabella’s sons, a course, is often a nickname for Sarah. The author has James or a John and their wives, may have raised JC. found substantial evidence to believe that the name of There is reason to believe that the first son, John, and John Colter’s wife in Missouri was Sarah Lucy Davis. his wife may have migrated to Fayette County, Ken- In the Franklin County section of a recent book by tucky, and could have raised JC. James, the other son Marsha Hoffman Rising is found the following, dated of John and Isabella, migrated to Madison County, March 7, 1833: “All heirs at law of John Davis, late Kentucky, in 1795. Since it is believed that JC had of Franklin County, deceased intestate, sold to John already been living in Kentucky when he signed up Miller all their undivided eleventh parts to described with Lewis and Clark on October 15, 1803, it is plau- land in Franklin County.” It goes on to list all the heirs sible to surmise that he moved with one of these cou- and their spouses. Significant, is the listing of, “Hiram ples to Kentucky. Madison County is where JC’s future Colter by his intermarriage to Margaret Davis.”5 daughter-in-law, Margaret Davis, was born in 1808, a Margaret Davis’s mother, Rachael West Davis, did not daughter of John and Rachael West Davis. Margaret have any sisters, only brothers. So in order for this to would later marry JC’s son Hiram in Franklin County, have been an intermarriage, John Colter would have Missouri, in 1826. had to marry Margaret Davis’s aunt or first cousin (or It is interesting to note the large contingent of in other words, John Davis’s sister or niece). More Madison County, Kentucky, families that moved to likely, Colter married a sister of John Davis, which Franklin County, Missouri, and literally next door to would have made Hiram and Margaret first cousins, where Colter settled after he returned from his days of and would be considered an intermarriage as recorded exploring and trapping on the upper Missouri water- in John Davis’s deed. Therefore, John Colter’s wife’s shed and Rocky Mountains. Based on information maiden name would have been Davis. It is also very from tax records, land grants, deeds, and New Haven, possible that Colter fathered Hiram through a first wife Missouri, historian, educator, and community leader in Kentucky. A Mary Ann Brown has been identifed as David M. Menke, some of these families were the a first wife of Colter in 1797, an assertion currently John Davis family, the Maupins, the Philip Miller fam- in the process of verification. The late Ruth Colter ily, the Heatherlys, the Greenstreets, and the Richard- Frick noted that Hiram and Margaret’s older children sons.3 Living just down the river was Daniel Boone and told the census record keeper that both of their parents his family, and as Dr. Lowell M. Schake points out, were born in Kentucky.6 It is not likely that Hiram the Hancock family, including Forrest Hancock who was married at age fifteen, so the probability that Ken- joined Colter in 1806 for a return trip to the west, who tucky was his place of birth is rather high. Margaret may have known each other years before4 while living Davis Colter was born in Madison County, Kentucky, in close proximity in Madison County, Kentucky, and in 1808. John Colter and Sarah Lucy Davis Colter possibly at Fort Boonesboro, the Grand Central Sta- also had a daughter, named Evelina, born between late tion of its day. In a related historical coincidence, it was 1809 and 1812. recently discovered that William Hancock (brother to Most historical accounts record John Colter’s place Forrest Hancock, who along with Joseph Dixon, were of death as Dundee, Missouri, just a few miles east of the first to return with Colter to the West) is actually where he lived. Colter mustered with Nathan Boone’s buried in the same small Presbyterian Cemetery in Rangers for a three month stint, March 1812 to June Franklin County, Washington, Missouri, where the 1812. But his service was cut short. Shirley Winkelhoch, author’s father, Forrest Coulter, is also buried along a Colter direct descendant and a long–time researcher, with his parents, and several other immediate Coulter uncovered documentation that proved he was dis- family members. charged from Nathan Boone’s rangers on May 6, 1812,

26 We Proceeded On  May 2014 Lyman Draper interviews with Nathan Boone, Boone states, “Shortly after I raised a company, we marched up the Mississippi accompanied by General Benjamin Howard and established Fort Mason, located about 15 miles above the mouth of the Salt River on the west bank of the Mississippi.”10 Fort Mason was completed sometime in mid- to late-May 1812. So we knew that John Colter died on May 7, and now we know where and what he had been doing—patrolling and protect- ing the frontier in that district and constructing Fort e au th o r . th e

b y Mason, one of the many skills at which he undoubt-

ph o t edly became quite accomplished in his life. Ron Leake A view of the Missouri River near present-day New Haven, Missouri. This is of the Ralls County Historical Society and a historian the land where Colter settled and where his son, Hiram, and possibly John himself are buried. The view is one that Colter would have seen in 1809- specializing in the construction of Forts and the War 1812, minus a number of trees. The view is to the east (down river) toward of 1812, related emphatically to the author that John where La Charette would have been. Colter was at Fort Mason in April/May of 1812. John Colter probably succumbed from a very acute bile/liver duct blockage, or yellow fever/malaria, caus- ing the reported jaundice color of his skin at the time of his death. Jaundice is just one of the visible symptoms of such a blockage, of yellow fever, or malaria. Know- ing now where John Colter was when he died creates a cloud of doubt regarding where was he buried. Factor- ing in the distance from his home, and the condition of his jaundiced body, in the author's opinion, slightly tips the scale for a burial on site near Fort Mason, or somewhere en route down the Mississippi. If true, this e au th o r . th e might account for the never adequately explained eigh- b y teen-month gap between the time Colter died, and the ph o t A view of the Missouri looking west (up river) from the land on which Colter time his personal estate was opened. There may have settled. been Territory of Missouri by-laws governing a waiting period before opening up an estate, if a physical body and died the very next day—May 7th, 1812.7 This was was not produced. That being said, if ever there was significant, because previously all historical accounts a man who would have done his very best to return recorded his death as occuring in November 1813. home the body of his trusted and respected friend, that After personally researching the construction of man would have been Nathan Boone. And as a final Missouri forts and blockhouses used for protection tribute to his comrade-in-arms, Nathan named one of against Indian raids and the defenses against the Brit- his sons John Colter Boone. Thus, this story ends for ish, the author discovered that Nathan Boone’s group now, and the research continues, with new discoveries of rangers were in the business of constructing and yet to be uncovered.  overseeing Fort Mason in April/June8 near present day, Saverton, Missouri, in Ralls County—about 125 miles Tim Coulter’s interest in John Colter, his fourth great grandfa- north of Colter’s home, near the Salt and Mississippi ther, began with many conversations he had with his aunt, Ruth Rivers north of St. Louis and south of present day Han- Coulter Frick, and his father, Forrest Coulter. Soon after both nibal, Missouri.9 It is a very long way from John Col- his aunt and father passed away in 1999, Tim was inspired to ter’s home; a very long way from Dundee, indeed.In the pick up the baton and begin his own research into the genealogy

May 2014  We Proceeded On 27 of John Colter. Tim and his wife of thirty years, Julia, live in 5. Marsha Hoffman Rising, CG, FASG, Genealogical Gems From Evansville, Indiana. They have two sons, Samuel and Alexan- Early Missouri Deeds 1815-1850 (Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books, 2004), 118. der. Tim is a retired occupational therapist. 6. Ruth Colter-Frick, Courageous Colter and Companions (Washing- Notes: ton, Missouri: self-published, 1997), 196. 1. Cannon family genealogy contribution by Cecilie Gaziano, a Can- 7. Ibid, 135. non descendant. 8. Neal O. Hammon, ed., My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper 2. “Cannon Surname DNA Project Website –Y-DNA Classic Interviews with Nathan Boone (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press Chart,” Family Tree DNA – Gene by Gene, Ltd., accessed October of Kentucky, 1999), 129. 15, 2009. http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Cannon/default. aspx?section=yresults, Kit #165163 and #309094. 9. Michael D. Harris, History of Missouri and Illinois Territory 1808- 1815, http://usregular0.tripod.com/warof1812/id3.html, accessed 3. David M. Menke, New Haven Its Past and People (New Haven, 2008. Missouri: Leader Publishing, 2002), 25-32. 10. Hammon, My Father, Daniel Boone, 129. 4. Lowell M. Schake, PhD, La Charrette (Lincoln, Nebraska: iUni- verse, 2005), 132.

46th Annual Meeting Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation “The Great Columbia River” August 3-6, 2014, Richland, Washington “the natives showed me the enterance of a large Westerly fork which they Call Tâpetêtt…”

Don't miss these highlights: • Pre-and post-meeting tours • Golf tournament • Pacific Northwest Living Historian's Encampment • Dutch-Oven Cooking Class • Young Explorers Program • Entertaining Speakers

in this image by Northwest artist Roger Cooke, two Sahaptian-speaking men show Captain William Clark and his two-man party the confluence of the Columbia and yakima rivers. Clark called the yakima River both the Tâpetêtt and the Tapteal; the name [tâptat] comes from a yakama village further up the river. Painting on board in watercolor, ink, and pencil by Roger Cooke, 2003. Courtesy, Washington State Historical Society. The 46th annual meeting will be in Richland, at the mouth of Clark’s Tâpetêtt River.

Don’t miss these highlights: • Pre- and post-meeting tours • Dutch-Oven Cooking Class • Golf Tournament • Young Explorers Program • Pacific Northwest Living Historian’s Encampment • Entertaining Speakers 28 We Proceeded On  May 2014 For more information, see the FAQ sheet on page 18.

February 2014  We Proceeded On 11 Reviews

Crooks and the married couple, Pierre wisdom, and ability to find her way Dorion, Jr. and his wife, Marie. Four and save her children under extreme are lesser-known: Robert McClel- duress. Born among the Iowas, Dorion lan (1770-1815), John Hoback (? – ventured west with the first of three 1814), Jacob Reznor (1768-1814), and husbands, Pierre Dorion, Jr., who Edward Robinson (ca. 1745-1814). abused her while fathering three chil- Crooks (1787-1859) is introduced dren with her before his death in 1814 coming upriver in September, 1806, at the hands of Indians. Marie accom- meeting the Corps on their descent panied the west-bound Astorians in back to St. Louis. His life story, best 1811 with two children in tow, giv- told by David Lavender in The Fist in ing birth to a third by year’s end, only the Wilderness (1964,) and by James to lose the baby ten days later. After Ronda in Astoria & Empire (1990), a year on the coast, Madame Dorion connects many of the West’s traders (as she was known) accompanied her and entrepreneurs. Those relationships husband with sons Jean Baptiste and begin with Robert Dickson, for whom Paul, as part of a trapping expedition Larry E. Morris, The Perilous West: Crooks clerked in 1805 after immigrat- led by John Reed. Two threesomes of Seven Amazing Explorers and the ing from Scotland to Canada in 1803 trappers joined Reed as he sought bea- Founding of the Oregon Trail (Lan- and then to the United States; to Rob- ver along the Snake and Boise rivers ham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, ert McClellan, with whom he formed in present-day Idaho. Canadian voya- 2013) 239 pp. end notes, 14 b & w a partnership in 1807; to Astor him- geurs André La Chapelle, François plates, bibliography, index, appen- self, who signed on Crooks as a found- Landry, and Jean Baptiste Turcotte dices. $39.95 cloth. ing member of the Pacific Fur Com- had survived a harrowing year in the pany in 1810, laying the foundation Idaho wilderness; so had Hoback, While serving as chairman of the for a lifetime relationship with Astor’s Reznor and Robinson, who had been Genealogy Committee for the Lewis continent-wide businesses based in recently robbed of every possession by and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, New York with “departments” in the Indians. Larry E. Morris collected enough Great Lakes, St. Louis, and briefly Here the plot thickens as Morris biographical data on members of the on the west coast. Morris’s purpose is weaves in individual life-histories of Corps and related expeditions to pro- not to provide a complete biography the three Kentuckians in this group duce at least two major books. The of Crooks, or the others, but to give who had been with Manuel Lisa’s first should be familiar to all readers context for their role in “opening” the original 1807 Missouri River expe- of this journal: The Fate of the Corps West during this critical interregnum, dition and subsequently the Pierre (New Haven: Yale University Press, post-Lewis and Clark, up through the Menard-Andrew Henry Three Forks 2004), which was named a Top Aca- War of 1812. A man plagued by health party of 1810. Their travails in Black- demic Title by Choice, and was cho- issues, Crooks made the best of bad sit- feet country and their chance meeting sen as a History Book Club selection. uations, barely making it back to St. with Wilson Price Hunt in May 1811, During the Bicentennial, Morris’s dis- Louis with the returning Astorians near the Nebraska-South Dakota bor- cussion of “what became of the Corps” under Robert Stuart in 1813, thereaf- der, as well as finding Reed more than was incorporated into museum dis- ter leading a much quieter, if success- two years later in Idaho, seem near-im- plays, academic studies, and popular ful financial life for his remaining days possible given the geography of the journal articles. with stories to tell of near-starvation, inter-mountain West. Unfortunately This second book is just as impres- deprivation, and danger as an Astorian for Hoback, Reznor, and Robinson, as sive as the first. InThe Perilous West, for those two long years. well as all other adult males in the Reed Morris connects the Lewis and Clark In the process of telling Crooks’s party, combined numbers proved too Expedition with lesser-known events role in this well-written narrative, small against enemy Dog-rib Shosho- and players from 1806 through 1814. Morris skillfully introduces his other nes, who presumably killed them all in Among his chosen seven, three are key players. Marie Dorion (ca. 1791- January 1814. Through wit, patience, familiar faces from the Astorian enter- 1850) is presented as a parallel to bet- and stealth, Madame Dorion saved prise of John Jacob Astor: Ramsay ter-known Sacagawea for her stamina, herself and her two sons, wintering by

May 2014  We Proceeded On 29 Reviews themselves in Oregon’s Blue Moun- a difficult trek along Hell’s Canyon of ers/entrepreneurs/trappers opened the tains before rescue by the Walla Walla the Snake River. paths that became the Oregon Trail along the Columbia in late March, and Resigning his shares in the Pacific is firmly established with Robert Stu- reunion with Montreal-bound Astori- Fur Company, McClellan joined John art’s party crossing the Divide at South ans a month later. Reed in March 1812, but met resis- Pass, the wagon road of the future. As a Robert McClellan is the final player. tance at The Dalles along the Colum- bonus to Lewis and Clark enthusiasts, A native Pennsylvanian, McClellan bia River and saved Reed’s life, taking Morris includes select veterans of the joined the military in 1790 and was him back to Astoria after being tom- Corps who surfaced in the trans-Mis- present with Meriwether Lewis and ahawked. In June, McClellan and souri West up through 1815. William Clark at the Treaty of Green- Crooks were among the seven return- If there is a flaw, it is lack of maps ville in Ohio in 1795. Leaving the ing Astorians under Stuart, who met beyond one reproduced showing the Army at the rank of lieutenant in 1801, up with Hoback, Reznor, Robinson route of the Astorians that is too small McClellan relocated to St. Louis and and a fourth named Joseph Miller near to be studied adequately. This aside, entered the fur trade by 1802, making present-day Grandview, Idaho. Only the book is its predecessor’s equal in him, in the words of biographer Har- Miller elected to go with Stuart; the both scope and detail. For those seek- vey L. Carter, “the earliest of the long others remained behind, joining (as ing additional new information on the line of American fur traders to engage has been noted) John Reed’s trapping Astorians, Jim Hardee has edited Pro- in the Missouri River traffic.” (Carter party over a year later along the Snake, ceedings of the 2012 Fur Trade Sympo- in LeRoy Hafen, ed., Mountain Men and perishing in January, 1814. Mean- sium held at Pinedale, Wyoming, which and the Fur Trade, 8:221-28, at 223). while, McClellan had issues with Stuart focused on the 200th anniversary of Borrowing money from Manuel Lisa and departed on his own near the Ida- the Astorians. It is available through in 1805, McClellan was unsuccessful ho-Wyoming border, only to reunite Museum of the Mountain Man. in opening trade among the Omaha, with the returning Astorians prior to W. R. Swagerty defaulting on his debt to Lisa, leading their crossing the Continental Divide University of the Pacific to a “long-lasting enmity between the at South Pass on October 21, 1812. two traders” (Carter, 223). Back in St. Louis by late April, This did not stop McClellan, who 1813, McClellan faced bankruptcy was one of the first traders met by and imprisonment, but managed to Lewis and Clark in September 1806 land back on his feet before illness as they came down the Missouri. The overtook him. Symbolically, he was threesome shared a bottle of wine at buried on William Clark’s farm in The Indianization of Lewis and their reunion. A year later, McClel- 1815, where a tombstone found in Clark. By William R. Swagerty. lan partnered with Ramsay Crooks, 1875 read “erected by a friend who Norman, OK: Arthur H. Clark backed by St. Louis’s other scion of knew him to be brave, honest, and sin- company, 2012. 2-vols. 836 pp. finance, Auguste Chouteau. The bad cere; an intrepid warrior, whose ser- $90 Hardcover. blood between Lisa and McClellan, as vices deserve perpetual remembrance. well as competitive rivalry between the A.D. 1816” (Carter, 228). “we have been visited by no indi- Chouteaus and Lisa, surfaced as each The Perilous West is both a tribute to ans today, and occurrence which has company attempted to move higher these seven (and many others), as well not taken place before since we left upriver, thwarted by the Arikara and as a useful reference work bridging the the Narrows of the Columbia.” Meri- the Teton Sioux. In late 1810, McClel- Lewis and Clark Expedition and the wether Lewis, May 17, 1806, at Camp lan gave up his Missouri River trade heyday of the Rocky Mountain fur Chopunnish, Idaho. Indeed, it was and joined the Overland Astorians trade. As in Fate of the Corps, Morris commonplace for members of the under Hunt as a partner. His former has done his homework and his gene- Corps of Discovery to interact almost partner, Crooks, was among them. alogical research goes far in providing daily with Native Americans during Although never named a “leader,” new information on many obscure or their extended journey of 1803-1806. McClellan effectively led ten others poorly-documented individuals. By On days when the expedition mem- to the coast, following what remains book’s end, the claim that these explor- bers encountered none it became jour-

30 We Proceeded On  May 2014 frequently with Michael Haynes draw- 104.) Really? Some persons may also ings and often with descriptions pro- question the depth of the bibliogra- vided by Robert J. Moore Jr. Swagerty phy. In thirty-seven pages of sources is highly organized and he includes a that Swagerty consulted for this tome dozen tables he composed or adapted there are only eight of them published from other scholars, that helped him since 2010. Yes, the author is entitled make sense of where his research was to present a selective bibliography, but leading him. maybe a hint to the selectivity can be The Indianization of Lewis and found in the footnote that cites James Clark reshuffles many of the mental Alexander Thom’s novel Sign-Talker, 3x5 note cards that are traditionally published in the year 2000, as hav- held sacred in the brains of avid reading been recently published. In the ers of the Lewis and Clark adventure. end, Swagerty has made his choices Sometimes Swagerty challenges tradi- on sources and on topics and we, as nal-worthy. So intertwined are the tional concepts. I was surprised, for readers, will trust him because he has experiences of the Western tribes of example, to find that the laundress at done his due diligence, so-to-speak, in Native Americans with the journey of Camp Dubois, “Mrs. Cane”—if that a field he knows well. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark is her true name—“deserves to be Robert Carriker that organizing and making sense of counted as one of the Corps.” (p. I, Gonzaga University the multiple encounters could eas- ily consume a scholar with research, a reading list of monumental propor- tions, and years of reflection. William R. Swagerty, Professor of History at the University of the Pacific, fulfills Advertise your L&C products and services in WPO! all of those requirements for the book RESERVATION DEADLINES ADDITIONAL DISCOUNTS under review. The result is a 2-volume Reservation Foundation members receive a 15% discount study that, while not formatted like an Issue ___Date___ Ad Due Repeat advertisers receive a 10% discount encyclopedia, nevertheless is encyclo- February (Winter) November 10 January 1 If you pay in advance, we can offer additional May (Spring) February 15 april 1 discounts as long as the following conditions pedic in its information on “the cul- are met: tural baggage and material preferences August (Summer) May 15 June 25 November (Fall) august 15 october 1 Advertiser must place a minimum of at least carried west within the personnel of 2 ads within 12 months in the same calendar the Lewis and Clark expedition.” (p. AD RATES year or at least 2 consecutive ads if the ads fall in different calendar years. Payment must be FULL PAGE (7¼" x 9½"): $400 b&w/$500 color I, 47) received 30 days in advance of the ad deadline The Introduction and the first 2/3 page vetical (4¼" x 9½"): $300 b&w/$400 color for the first scheduled ad. Multiple ads must chapter are, arguably, overly academic, 1/2 horizontal (7¼" x 4"): $250 b&w/$300 color be paid for 30 days in advance of the deadline focusing as they do on the perception 1/3 vertical (2¼” x 9½"): $150 color/$300 color for first advertisement. Payment must be in 1/3 square (4¾" x 45/8"): $150 color/$300 color cash, check, or money order. of Native Americans in nineteenth 1/6 vertical (2¼" x 45/8"): $75 b&w/$100 color NO CREDIT CARDS accepted. century literature, the variances of Inside back cover (7½" x 9½"): $500 Discounts frontier vocabulary, and basic racism Inside front cover (7½” x 9½”): $500 2 ads earn an additional 2% discount in Thomas Jefferson’s America. The Double spread, inside: $800 3 ads earn an additional 3% discount 4 ads earn an additional 4% discount subsequent eleven chapters, the Con- To reserve ad space, contact [email protected] 5 ads earn an additional 5% discount clusion, and the Epilogue are equally thoughtful, but more fun to read. Food Email your 300-dpi jpeg or high-resolution pdf with For example, a Foundation member who runs is a topic for four chapters. Clothing is embedded images and fonts by the due date for ads in the May, August, and November issues that issue to WPO editor Robert Clark, of WPO would receive an 18% discount on the similarly examined in multiple chap- [email protected]. total bill if paid by cash, check, or money order. ters. All chapters are nicely illustrated,

May 2014  We Proceeded On 31 Along the Trail

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park Visiting the End of the Trail at the Mouth of the Columbia

Just south of the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon, travelers will find the replicated Fort Clatsop, winter encampment of the Corps of Discovery from December 7, 1805 to March 23, 1806. This much-visited spot at the western terminus of the Lewis and Clark Trail is but a part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. The highlight of any visit is the full-scale (50’ x 50’) replica of Fort Clatsop reconstructed in 2006 on or nearly on the site of the original fort. The visitor center includes a theater with two movies and the best Lewis and Clark themed bookstore operated by the Lewis & Clark National Park Association. shore of the Columbia River in Junior Ranger days, birding walks, Other units of the park include Washington), and Middle Vil- teachers’ workshops, youth camps, The Saltworks (in Seaside, Ore- lage/Station Camp (on the north canoe programs, and living history gon), Fort to Sea Trail, Netul Land- shore of the Columbia River in programs both at the fort and the ing, Dismal Nitch (on the north Washington). salt works. The visitor center exhibits focus For those seeking more infor- on the Corps of Discovery and the mation about Fort Clatsop, the American Indian cultures near the park recommends Fort Clatsop: mouth of the Columbia River. Sev- Rebuilding an Icon (2007). It is eral wayside exhibits are also found available for $14.95 in the Fort along trails and at specific sites. Clatsop Bookstore, 503-861-4452 The park sponsors a number or www.fortclatsopbookstore.com of programs throughout the year. Researchers are welcome by Examples in 2014 include lectures appointment. by Kelli Walker (Condors of the Columbia), Jane Fitzpatrick (Fill- Located about three miles east of Highway ing Her Shoes: Amazing Women 101 south of Astoria, Oregon. Contact information: 92343 Fort Clatsop Road, of the Northwest and Beyond), Astoria, Oregon 97103. 503-861-2471 and Mike Carrick (Tools of Sur- www.nps.gov/lewi. The website includes a vival: Firearms and Edged Weap- number of valuable links for teachers, stu- ons of the Corps of Discovery), dents, and general interests.

32 We Proceeded On  May 2014

Lewis and Clark Trail NONPROFIT U.S. POSTAGE Heritage Foundation, Inc. PAID PO Box 3434 PULLMAN, WA Great Falls, MT 59403 PERMIT NO. 1