A dispatch from Fort Mandan -- Reviews

Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation: I www.lewisandclark.org May2010 Volume 36, No. 2 The Power and Myth of the

The Roots of Jefferson's Indian Policies The Struggle for French Identity on the Frontier Contents

President's Message: Foundation's progress is steady and 2 full of promise

Trail Notes: Preserving a sense of place requires open minds 3

Letters: Keepers and stewards code calls for historical facts 4

Editor's Note: WPO introduces new scholarship from 6 in March 1785, p. 15 aspiring historians Guest Editor: Dr. Jay H. Buckley. De~artment of History. Brigham Young University

"If a Passage Could be Found" 8 The power of myth (and money) in North American By Brenden Rensink

Philosophical Sympathy and "Seeds of Extinction" 18 Jefferson's French correspondence and the roots of his presidential Indian policy, 1785-1789 By Nicholas W. Gentile

The Struggle for French Identity on the Frontier 28 Lewis and Clark had frequent communication with Francophones during the Mandan winter of 1804-1805 By Clifford Strieby

Dispatches 38 Thomas Jefferson, p. 19 A Lewis and Clark dispatch from Fort Mandan made its way to Boston in 1805

Reviews 39 A Musical journey in the Footsteps of Lewis & Clark; Across the Endless River

On the cover This 1718 map by Guillaume de L'Isle titled "Louisiane, Cours du Mississipi" shows Indian Mandan village, p. 29 villages, the exploratory routes of de Soto, Moscoso, Cavelier, Tonty and Denis and more. It covers the area from Lake Champlain to New Mexico and south to Florida and Texas. This map is considered the main source of all later maps of the Mississippi. President's Message Foundation's progress is steady and full of promise May 2010 •Volume 36, Number 2 We Proceeded On is the official publication of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage ,. hope the snow and ice of 2010 Foundation, Inc. Its name derives from is a fading memory and William a phrase that appears repeatedly in the collective journals of the expedition. © 2010 L Clark's journal entries of 1804- E.G. Chuinard, M.D., Founder 1805 at Fort Mandan sustained you ISSN 02275-6706 through the most immoderate winter Editor we have experienced; it could have Wendy M. Raney been like 1805. Clarkies are resilient P.O. Box 3434 and so it has been with your board Great Falls, MT 59403 406-454-1234 of directors. We have made excellent [email protected] progress in navigating the difficulties of the financial world and the many Volunteer Proofreaders Dr. H . Carl Camp management changes that have been Jerry Garrett necessary. Individuals and chapters have recognized the Foundation's Printed by PRISM Color Corporation, Moorestown, N ew Jersey need for additional funding and have been very generous. Our annual E DITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Chairman appeal was one of the most successful James J. Holmberg on record, thanks to you. I want Louisv ille, Kentucky to publicly commend the Badger Dr. Jay Buckley Glen Lindeman Chapter for its continued support of Jim Mallory at "Fort Lexington," his home in Provo, Pullman, Washington Kentucky, with his frequently flown 15-star Dr. H. Carl Camp Dr. Robert Moore, Jr. the Third Century Fund. To date, the flag. Omaha, Nebraska St. Louis, Missou.ri Badgers, a chapter of 70 members, Dr. Robert Carriker Dr. Gary Moulton have contributed $1,600. That does chapter liaisons. Each board member Spokane, Washington Lincoln, Nebraska not include Badger Chapter members has three or four chapters they will Barb Kubik David Nicaodri Vancouver, Washington Tacoma, Washington who have stepped up with healthy visit in person or by phone to promote individual contributions. The Badger better communication. Membership Information Chapter's challenge to other chapters Our staff and board of directors Membership in the Lewis and C lark Trail remains in place, "EQUAL or BEAT are actively engaged in a total review Heritage Foundation, Inc. is open to the their total contribution." Thank of operational procedures and finan­ public. Information and app]jcations are you, Badgers. Do not forget that·our available by writing Membership Coordinator, cial management. The August issue Lewis and Clark Trail H eritage Foundation, other restricted funds can be added of WPO will include a one-page insert P.O. Box 3434, Great FalJs, MT 59403. to and they pay for great Foundation titled "LCTHF Annual Report." It We Proceeded On, the quarterly journal programs and help fund WPO. I look will include information on our fi­ of the Foundation, is mailed to current forward to recognizing other chapters nances, membership and other facts. members in February, May, August and in future messages. Some numbers are cause for concern November. Articles appearing in this journal I mentioned the need for better and others are very positive, but our are abstracted and indexed in HrsTORI CAL ABSTRACTS and AMERICA: HISTO RY AND LIFE. chapter reporting in my last letter. In members have every right to know an effort to streamline the reporting our strengths and weaknesses. Annual Membership Categories: system, we have reviewed the Annual In late February, my wife Paula Student $30 Chapter Report, Annual Treasurer's and I spent five days in Washington, Individual $49 Individual 3-Year: $133 Report and Volunteer Hours Report D .C., attending meetings with the Family/Internacional $65 looking for ways to simplify them. Partnership for the National Trails Trail Partner: $200 Much of the information required in System, discussing Foundation busi­ H eritage Club $100 the Treasurer's Report is necessary ness with our federal agency part­ Explorer Club $150 for the IRS 990 Form we are required Jefferson Club $250 ners and visiting with Congressional Club $500 to submit. I'm sure we all have equal staff members. The short report is Lifetime Membership: $995, $2,500 and $5,000 distaste for reports but we have little that we had a very productive week. The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, choice in some cases. To help each Relationships with other trails and our Inc. is a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. chapter complete their reports and partners in the National Park Service, Individual membership dues are not tax deductible. The portion 0£ premium dues over $49 is mx answer other communications, your Bureau of Land Management and deductible. board members will be serving as Forest Service are strong and thriving.

2 - We Proceeded On May 2010 Trail Notes

Completion of the Eastern Legacy sec­ tion of the Lewis and Clark National Preserving a sense of place requires open minds Historic Trail and the Meriwether Lewis Educational Center on the J tephen Ambrose wrote in opportunity for the public to use and Natchez Trace Parkway were warmly (') his foreward to Bernard enjoy this trail is diminished each time embraced in Congress despite the cold, Q/ De Voto's 1997 edition of the historic setting and sense of place wet weather. I have learned that the in­ the Lewis and Clark journals, " ... it are degraded. The staff of the Lewis frastructure work on the educational is one of the glories of the Lewis and and Clark National Historic Trail center will begin in June 2010; howev­ Clark story that we can visit their frequently receives information on er, completion will require additional campgrounds and still see what they development that likely will degrade Congressional appropriations, which saw. Their adventure is accessible the experiences future generations will we will work to secure. in a way that Columbus's voyage have along the trail. In particular, as As we make progress in realigning or Admiral Byrd's flights over the our country tries to reduce dependence our Foundation to function with Poles . . . are not." This wonderfully on fossil fuels, we see an increase in a small but efficient staff, please articulates why preserving the trail the development of renewable energy remember that progress cannot be matters, instead of just maintaining projects such as wind and solar farms made without you and your support. museums or celebrating a Lewis and along the expedition route. Individual members, chapters and Clark holiday. C lean, renewable energy is critical Foundation committees will need to The idea that we can experience to our nation's future and we support function at a high energy level. Our the trail much as Lewis and Clark the development of environmentally devotion to telling the stories of the did is possible only because we have sound alternative energy technologies. Lewis and Clark Expedition and tangible resources available to us. However, we must evaluate develop­ promoting trail stewardship should Visitors experience a sense of wonder ment and its placement in a manner include sub-themes of environmental when they encounter stretches of trail that includes ways to limit its impacts stewardship, healthy lifestyles, that are largely unchanged since the on the trail. While the trail staff can families on the trail and cultural time of the expedition. make comments and recommenda­ connections, along with other topics The ability to sit around a campfire, tions regarding ways to mitigate the that will secure good media coverage read the journals and relive the negative impacts of projects, we do and promote the Foundation. One of experiences of the expedition in the not have the ability to determine what those great opportunities is the living very places the explorers traveled is happens. history encampment at the Boy Scout unlike any other. Landscapes such as Those who have regulatory author­ National Jamboree in July. This is an these are irreplaceable. Unfortunately, ity over such projects often view nega­ event where we will showcase our such places are disappearing. tive impacts to scenery, landmarks and Foundation and our partnerships Recently, across the river from trail other historic resources as acceptable with the Bureau of Land Management headquarters in Omaha, a six-acre trade-offs. It is possible to have devel­ and National Park Service through swath of Missouri River flood plain opment that is designed so that both our traveling stewardship education forest was eliminated. I now look the needs of the development and the exhibit in front of 50,000 youth and out on downed trees, where a mile values of the trail can be met. This adult Scouts. of continuous riverbank forest cover requires bringing fresh ideas and an Please send stories and pictures previously stood. This is a relatively open mind to discussions with input of the good work you do along the small loss in a highly developed urban and encouragement from all interested trail to your local media and our area, but when added to other losses parties. Foundation office. We truly have along the trail, the cumulative impact The route of the Corps of Discovery great opportunities in our future. is significant. is the genuine artifact. We are in danger Opportunities to have fun are our This is not to suggest that of losing it if we fail to work together dividends for the good work we do. development along the trail should be to protect the places, sights and expe­ You can always reach me at 859-278- stopped, but we must all encourage it riences available along the Lewis and 7723 or [email protected] to be carried out in a manner sensitive Clark Trail. Without your help, each with your questions and comments. I to a wide variety of resources. of us will lose the chance to walk in look forward to seeing each of you at The 1968 National Trails Act states: the footsteps of those who went before the 2010 annual meeting in Lewiston. "National Historic Trails shall have as us and to experience the magic and the Have you made your reservations? their purpose the identification and glories of this magnificent journey. -Jim Mallory protection of the historic route ... -Mark Weekley President, LCTHF for public use and enjoyment." The Superintendent, LCNHT

May 2010 We Proceeded On ~ 3 Letters

The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. Keepers and stewards code calls for historical facts I've read with interest the disagreement I might overcome it. Given his medical P.O. Box 3434, Great Falls, MT 59403 over a recent article in \VPO about education and clinical experience, I also 406-454-1234 I 1-888-701-3434 historical accuracy regarding Lewis and value his opinions about Lewis and Fax: 406-771-9237 Clark. This should remind each of us as malaria. www.lewisandclark.org Keepers of the Story and Stewards of The critical issue at hand is: How the Trail to honor the following trust: reliable is the information on which "Extraordinary historical claims require we are forming our opinions? As many The mission of the LCTHF is: extraordinary historical evidence." have said: Everyone is entitled to his/ As Keepers of the Story - Stewards of the KEITH E. JONES her opinion but not to his/her version Trail, the Lewis and Clark Trail Racine, Wisc. of the facts. I lacked clinical expertise Heritage Foundation, Inc. provides in malaria when I was writing Or Perish national leadership in maintaining the in the Attempt-Wilderness Medicine in imegriry of the Trail and its story through My article, "The Death of Meriwether the Lewis and Clark Expedition, so I stewardship, scholarship, education, Lewis," (WPO, November 2009, p.16) consulted with the late Dr. Lee Rickman partnership and cultural inclusiveness. included my medical opinions about who was then the chief of infectious the various possibilities that may have diseases at the University of California been responsible for Lewis's death. Mr. at San Diego. Dr. Rickman, a leading Officers John Fisher is correct in his letter to the world expert in infectious diseases, editor (WPO, February 2010), in that I offered his opinion that it was not President Jim Mallory did not reference any period literature possible for Lewis to have suffered from Lexington, Ky. concerning my medical conclusions. cerebral malaria. I also was not an expert Given the possibilities of the disease in trauma surgery, so I consulted trauma President-Elect Margaret Gorski processes I presented, I chose instead surgeons regarding the nature of Lewis's Stevensville, Mont. to cite modern medical textbooks that reported wounds. They agreed that it document the science behind these was possible for Lewis to have survived Vice-President for two hours after he was shot. It was Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs diseases rather than period literature Helena, Mont. that reflect complete ignorance of the my desire to buttress my opinions with realities of these disease processes. If "facts," so I consulted experts in related Secretary I had more clearly emphasized Dr. fields and found they agreed with and Larry McClure Tualatin, Ore. Benjamin Rush's written philosophical supported my conclusions. arguments about the nature of disease, Dr. David J. Peck Treasurer or Dr. John Brown's opinions about the San Diego, Calif. Jerry Robertson Sellersburg, Ind. great benefits of opium and his belief that malaria results from the "over/under Immediate Past President stimulation of the nervous system," in I read with interest Ann Rogers's article, Karen Seaberg no way would I have produced a more "Hypocondriac Affections," in the Atchison, Kans. logical and scientifically accurate article. February 2010 WPO (pp. 33 and 36) Director of Operations and Member Services Our entire modern medical system regarding the true meaning of Thomas Stephen Forrest is based on people learning a great Jefferson's references to Meriwether deal about science and medicine in the Lewis's "hypocondriac affections." In Directors at large classroom over the course of years, letters to Gilbert Russell in 1810 and and then obtaining immense clinical Paul Allen in 1813, Jefferson wrote that Bryant Boswell, Star, Miss. • Jay Buckley, Orem, Utah• Lorna experience while dealing with actual Lewis was suffering from hypocondria Hainesworth, Randallstown, Md.• Jane patients. We award doctors degrees, and hypocondriac affections. Ms. Rogers Randol Jackson, The Villages, Fla. • licenses and board certifications and wrote that John C. Jackson and I in our Richard Prestholdt, Bridgewater, N.J. • then pay them a good deal of money to biography of Lewis linked "Jefferson's Clay Smith, Great Falls, Mont. •Bill render their opinions about our diseases. phrase to an etymologically-related Stevens, Pierre, S.D. •Richard Williams, Dr. Ron Loge ("Meriwether Lewis and medical term without giving attention Omaha, Neb. • PhylLls Yeager, Floyds Malaria", WPO, May 2002, p.16), also to the way" he originally meant it. Knobs, Ind. criticized by Mr. Fisher for his lack Ms. Rogers quotes from several of of reference to period literature, has Jefferson's letters spanning a thirty­ Incorporated in 1969 under Missouri General a distinguished background, is board year period to support her opinion Not-For-Profit Corporation Acr. IRS Exemption Certificate No. 501(c)3, Identification No. certified in internal medicine and has that his usage of the terms alluded to a 510187715. years of clinical experience. If I were ill, psychological model like "an outlook, I would highly value Dr. Loge's opinions a disposition, a state of mind," and about the nature of my disease and how that "he was not diagnosing any

4 - We Proceeded On May 2010 physical illness." I believe Ms. Rogers The word hypochondriasis was Now that we know that Lewis is mirroring the view held by others defined by the medical community in a suffered from incurable and untreatable who have misinterpreted those terms. physical context as these examples will malaria, it is not much of a leap of Like many historians who assumed that show. In 1749, a physician describing thought fo r modern-day historians to Jefferson was talking about the modern­ the hypochondriak said that symptoms suggest that he also might have been day hypochondria, Ms. Rogers does of this disorder came from the left depressed.3 However, if we examine the not distance herself far enough from hypochondrium. William Cullen in eighteenth and early nineteenth century the grasp of presentism. For instance, 1784 wrote that hypochondriasis was words written by Jefferson and others she uses a 1968 Webster's Dictionary to always accompanied with dyspepsia about Lewis in the context of their own define the word "affection," and does while melancholia did not have any time, we will fi nd that they point to a not define "hypochondriac" at all. accompanied disturbances. When physical rather than mental disease as If one looks at the standard English describing the effects of ingesting jalap, the overriding cause of his sometimes dictionary of the period in which the American Dispensatory in 182 1 stated, troubled life and eventual demise. While Jefferson penned his letters, that of "In hypochondriacal disorders, and hot most modern-day historians claim that Samuel Johnson, one fi nds that a bilious temperaments, it gripes violently he committed suicide, I am claiming direct link is made between the term ... " In 1834, a physician describing the that Lewis did not mean to kill himself hypochondriac and the medical term effects of aloe stated, "It is employed to during his malarial attack - rather he hypochondres. H ypochondres is obviate habitual costiveness; and from meant only to treat his absolute pain .~ defined as "the two regions lying on operating simply as an evacuant. . .. Thomas Danisi each side the cartilage ensisormis, and Hence its use in hypochondriasis." In St. Louis, Mo. those of the ribs, and the tip of the 1841 , Robert Hooper's medical dictionary breast, which have in one the liver, and held to this definition: "The seat of NOTES in the other the spleen . ... The blood the hypochondriac affections is in the 1 Samu el Johnson, A Dictionary of the moving too slowly through the celiack stomach and the bowels. ... On dissection English Language ... to which are prefixed, and mesenterick arteries, produces of the hypochondriacal persons, some a history of the language, and an English various complaints in the lower bowels of the abdominal viscera (particularly grammar (London: J.F. and C. Rivington, and h-ypochondres; from whence such the liver and spleen) are usually found 1785), pp. 113 and 987.Jefferson's personal persons are called hypochondriack. " considerably enlarged." When discussing library held two copies of Noah Webster's Although Johnson also alludes in his a bilious condition, a physician in 1849 1806 dictionary, the 1785 edition of definition of hypochondriac to a more wrote, "Upon a tactual examination of Samuel Johnson's dictionary and scores modern meaning of the term, as in his the epigastric and right hypochondraic of other dictionaries of all descriptions, fi rst definition, "melancholy; disordered regions a fullness can be observed. " most in languages other than English. in the imagination," and second, Finally, the pre-eminent physician, Webster's first real dictionary, published "producing melancholy; having the Daniel Drake in 1854, observed that the in 1828, is searchable online and the words nature of melancholy," the eighteenth­ signs of splenitis are tenderness and pain hypochondria and affection refer first to century word simply had not yet taken on pressure over the epigastric and left · a physical condition. In looking over this on the modern meaning of a person who hypochondriac regions; especially when information, we can readily see that it was latches on to real or imagined medical the fi ngers are pushed upward behind the copied almost wholesale from Johnson. In symptoms as a sort of mania. It was used cartilages of the ribs. "2 other words, even in 1828, two years after to describe what today might be called Although hypochondriasis and its Jefferson's death, the fo remost chronicler clinical depression. It is in Jefferson's companion adjectives were part of the of "American" English, N oah Webster, phrase "hypocondriac affections" that he medical lexicon for decades, no one was still employing Johnson's original gives away his intended use of the word could ever state how this disease was definitions for these words. James Gilreath "hypochondriac." For, again consulting caused. It is my belief that the ague and Douglas L. Wilson, eds., Thomas Johnson's 1785 dictionary, among his and hypochondriasis were intimately Jefferson's Library: A Catalog with the nine definitions for various meanings of linked - both diseases enlarged the liver Entries in H is Own Order (Washington, "affection," he states in number 7: "State and spleen. When Sappington's quinine D.C.: Library of Congress, 1989); Webster's of the body, as acted upon by any cause," pills became available as a remedy for Dictionary of 1828 online: http://1828. and provides the fo llowing extracted malaria in the 1840s, the physical aspect mshaffer.com/. I thank Dr. Robert Moore quote from Wiseman's Surgery: "It of hypochondriasis slowly disappeared for recommending the Samuel Johnson seemed to me a venereal gonorrhoea, and its meaning changed to the modern documentation. and others thought it arose from some usage, which indicates a phantom 2 John Allen, Synopsis Medicinae, 3rd scorbutical affection." 1 condition. It is ironic that a word that edition (London: lnnys, Meadows, Manby This is the only usage of the word was once understood to represent a and Cox, 1749), p. 198; William Cullen, "affection" in Johnson that parallels physical disease, hypochondriasis, has First Lines of the Practice of Physic, 4th Jefferson's usage, and, if the word had its meaning shifted over the course edition, 4 volumes (Edinburgh: C. Eliot, "hypochondriac" is substituted for of a century so that it now describes 1784), Vol. 4, p. 178; James Thacher, The "scorbutical" in the quote from Wiseman, a reaction to an imaginary medical A merican New Dispensatory (Boston: an exact parallel usage will be seen. condition or set of conditions. Please see "Letters" on page 7

May 2010 We Proceeded On ~ 5 Editor's Note

WPO introduces new scholarship from aspiring young historians

ver the past forty years, valedictorian and as an Edwin S. and new knowledge. To obtain it, several eminent scholars H inckley scholar. H e earned a master's they willingly believed, distorted and 9 have represented the degreefromBrandeis University, where perpetuated the idea of a mythical "Four Gospels" of Lewis and Clark Dr. David Hackett Fischer advised his passage to the Orient. scholarship: Donald Jackson's Letters thesis work on social pressure and Clifford Strieby received his of the Lewis and Clark Expedition; moral suasion in the creation of anti­ bachelor's degree in history from Gary Moulton's The Journals of the colonial identity in Revolutionary Brigham Young University in 2009. Lewis & Clark Expedition; John America. Nicholas taught at Fenn H e was one of my research assistants Logan Allen's Passage Through the School in Concord, , and his areas of emphasis included Garden and James Ronda's Lewis and currently teaches at American the North American fur trade, Native and Clark among the Indians. As H eritage School in American Fork, American and Franco-American the definitive edition of the journals Utah. studies. While at BYU, he capitalized became available, more Lewis and H is article lays a foundation on an opportunity to travel to Aix en Clark scholarship became possible. for understanding the shaping Provence, France, where he gained During the bicentennial, a host of Jefferson's presidential Indian valuable experience conducting of authors produced a wealth of policies through the lens of his primary research in French archives. material about the expedition. N ow, correspondence as minister to France His fu ture intentions are to attend as the bicentennial has passed, our (1785-1789). Jefferson's letters from graduate school and focus on French organization looks toward the future, France chronicle his interest in and America and the important role anticipating continued enthusiasm passion for understanding Indian Francophones played in shaping the and scholarship from past and current origins, languages, land use and his history of the American West. friends and colleagues as well as acknowledgment of Indians' natural "The Struggle for French Identity encouraging new authors to make rights. The article paints Jefferson as a on the Frontier" (p. 28) examines the their mark. more human bundle of contradictions, interaction between members of the As a board member of the Lewis rather than simply the sower of "seeds Lewis and Clark Expedition, French and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, of extinction" in Native America. fur traders and Indians on the Big Bend chairman of the Education Committee Brenden Rensink originally wrote of the Missouri. These interactions and an editorial advisor for We a version of his article, "If a Passage help illustrate that Francophones, Proceeded On, I am always looking Could be Found" (p. 8), for my after fi nding themselves without a for opportunities to share a Lewis Historical Research and Writing country after France sold Louisiana, and Clark story, solicit an article or Seminar. Brenden graduated from turned to the fur trade to create a new form a friendship. One day while BYU and then received his master's cultural identity. Clifford examines visiting with Editor Wendy Raney, I degree at the University of Nebraska­ how the Lewis and Clark journals, approached her about the possibility Lincoln, my alma mater. Brenden is a Fran\:ois-Antoine Larocque's journal, of having some of my former and Ph.D. candidate studying the North and traditions of the Mandan and current students from Brigham Young American West with emphases on H idatsa Indians illustrate the state University submit their research for comparative borderlands studies and of the Francophone people of North possible publication in WPO. After the Native American experience. His America during a critical time in their some discussion, we decided that if current dissertation project focuses on cultural history. we received enough solid entries, we transnational comparisons between the We hope you enjoy this special issue. should co-edit a special issue featuring experience of indigenous immigrants It has been inspiring and enjoyable the students' excellent research. This and refugees along the Mexican­ working with these young historians publication is the first fruits of our American and Canadian-American who may well be the future of this endeavor. borderlands. publication and our organization. If Nicholas Gentile wrote a version of His article here explores the motives you have your own idea for a special his article, "Philosophical Sympathy behind scores of expeditions sent forth issue or know of someone researching and 'Seeds of Extinction'" (p. 18), in to search for the mythical Northwest a story or subject related to WPO's my Native America history class at Passage through North America. mission, we encourage you to contact Brigham Young University. N icholas Brenden unravels the motives of these Editor Raney. graduated Summa Cum Laude from enterprises as participants searched -Jay H. Buckley, Guest Editor, BYU as the History Department's for economic gain, political patronage and Wendy Raney

6 - We Proceeded On May 2010 "Letters" from page 5 Thomas B. Wait, 1821), p. 225; John Murray, System of Materia Medica and 2010 Pharmacy, 6th edition (New York: Collins and Hannay, 1834), pp. 198-99; Robert Hooper, Medical Dictionary (New York: H arper & Bros., 1841), p. 443; A. Fur Trade J. Murphy, "A Report on Biliousness," Western Lancet, Vol. 9 Qanuary 1849), p. 24; Daniel Drake, The Principal Diseases of Symposium the Interior Valley of North America, 2nd edition (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1854), p. 66. Septe~ber 9-11 3 Thomas C. Danisi and John C. Jackson, Commemorating the 200th Meriwether Lewis (Amherst, Massachusetts: Anniversary of the Fort at the Prometheus Books, 2009), pp. 90-92. Three Forks 4 On March 30, 1807, Jefferson described of the Missouri River absolute (constant) pain in reference to one of his own malarial attacks. "(A)bout 9. oclock every morning I have a very Professional papers, guided tours, vendors, and demonstrators quickened pulse ... a disturbed head and tender eyes, not amounting to absolute FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION AND UPDATES: pain." Edwin Morris Betts and James www.tfhistory.org Adam Bear Jr., eds., The Family Letters of or write or call Thomas Jefferson (Columbia: University PO Box 116, Three Forks, MT 59752 of Missouri Press), p. 305. [email protected] 5 I thank Dr. John J. Danisi, philosophy (406) 285-3644 or (406) 285-3389 professor at Wagner College in New York, for succinctly summarizing my position Sponsored the Three Forks Area Historical Society on Lewis's death. by

'51.n excellent study of a misunderstood hero." David Lee Poremba, The Past in Review online Meriwether Lewis by Thomas C. Danisi & John C. Jackson 424 pp (Illustrations) I HC I $28.98 / ISBN 978-1-591 02-702-7

ndependent scholars Danis i "Da.nisi and Jackson present a I and Jackson have written well-written, superbly documented this defi nitive biography based narrative ... and cite eighteen on twelve years of meti culous manuscript collections, twelve research, re-exam ining the micrefzlm collections, the Early ori ginal Lewis and Clark American Imprints micrefzche series, documents and searching twenty-four new~papers, ten Web site through obscure and overlooked collections, and 342 primary and sources to reveal a wealth of fa scinating new information on secondary printed works." the enigmatic cha racter and lifo Sheldon Avenius of Meriwether Lewis. History: Review of New Books

Q Prometheus Books ~ 800-421 -0351 /www.prometheusbooks.com

May 2010 We Proceeded On - 7 "IF A PASSAGE COULD BE FOUND"

The power of myth (and money) in North American exploration

BY BRENDEN RENSINK

he popular lore of North American exploration slowly mapped the New World's coastlines and interior and westward expansion has oft been woven with waterways, the long-term impact of cartographic myth Tthemes of heroic bravery, divine providence and cannot be overstated. Likewise, the lure of money, or Manifest Destiny. These tales indeed relate portions of actual promise thereof, lent fuel to the imaginative exploits that history, but also offer insight into the self-perception and the myths of the Northwest Passage and Strait of Anian culture of the societies perpetuating them. As larger-than­ proffered. Dissemination of expedition exploits through life figures braved the "unknown" in the name of nation or popular writing, the willingness of explorers to adapt myths creed, the motives behind their ventures often were not so to align with new geographical discovery and the potential singular. The ever-driving force of economic gain stood as a for wealth consistently underwrote these myths' influence foundation for most expeditions. Simultaneously justifying in a geopolitical contest that lasted for generations.' the current expedition and providing support for future Around 1500, European powers vied for politcal and endeavors, explorers interested in self-preservation placed economic advantages over rival nations. The far off lands of a premium on results-on discovery. The naive or overly China (Cathay or Cataia), India and the Spice Islands, yet eager optimism of many investors and patrons regularly led inaccessible to Europe since the Ottoman Empire blocked to the hasty acceptance of misinformation. In some cases, overland routes, were tempting theatres for economic the intensity of these motives and forces was so strong that competition via maritime routes. European powers yearned different expeditions promising new knowledge or wealth for access to the riches that lay just beyond their grasp. These received funding through the centuries in spite of constant dreams and aspirations proved to be fertile ground in which disappointment and financial loss. Particularly alluring the myth of an easy passage to the Far East could take root were the interrelated myths of the Strait of Anian and the and flourish. Unable to ignore potential profit and power, Northwest Passage. The promise they offered was more a pattern of accepting promising geographic speculation as than enough to fuel both imaginative thought and risky fact emerged. Idyllic hopes, desires and conjecture soon endeavors that forever affected North American exploration became definite realities in reports, discourses, maps, and and its subsequent history. royal funding and approbation of expeditions. The writings In and of themselves, the origins and dissemination of these of Sir , , Anthony Linton, myths provide a strong historical narrative concerning the , Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado and countless subsequent impact of "discovery" upon world history. This others illustrate the metamorphosis from optimistic hopes grand myth of a Northwest Passage generated and sustained to purported fact, and the willingness of European rulers to numerous as explorers and governments placed invest in such ideas. This article explores a small contingent surprising trust and faith in unsubstantiated geographical of those who were involved in the creation, perpetuation concepts. Clearly driving many of the expeditions that and adaptation of the Northwest Passage myth.2

8 ~ We Proceeded On May 2010 MONt>O N O VO

Figure 1. Columbus sketched this map in the margin of a letter dated July 7, 1503. Eleven years after his first landfall, and following four voyages to the new world, his understanding of American geography remained distorted.

CREATION AND EVOLUTION OF THEORIES remained a tract of uncharted wilderness, the possibility of a passageway persisted. The theory of the Strait of Anian exemplifies this In 1524, Italian explorer Giovanni Da Verrazano made metamorphic process. Described by Marco Polo in the late a landmark voyage that detailed the coasts of future New thirteenth century as a body of water southwest of Tibet, England in unprecedented detail, which convinced him that it eventually was transformed into the western extremity Columbus was mistaken. According to Verrazano's new of the Northwest Passage around the North American cartography, America and Asia were separate continents. Sir continent.3 Misconceptions of world geography as a whole Humphrey Gilbert's 1576 A Discourse of a Discoverie for a allowed such a concept to take root. Ideas set forth by the New Passage to Cataia concurred, citing clearly divergent Greek philosopher Ptolemy still held great influence in fauna, wildlife and cultures of Asia and America as evidence.7 the minds of European navigators, but they were proven He proclaimed, "Al [sic] which learned men and painful to be incorrect. By miscalculating the length of the earth's travellers have affirmed, with one consent and voice, that latitudinal degrees, the circumference of Ptolemy's globe America was an Iland [Island)."8 Despite the inconvenient measured only 270 degrees across from the Prime Meridian. imposition of an entire continent between Europe and the This mistaken idea extended Asia too far east and sheds Far East, men such as Gilbert were undeterred. Given the light on Columbus's much-mocked mistake of believing new obstacle, focus shifted toward the myth of a Northwest that he had landed in Asia. The Ptolemy-based globe Passage. The supposed existence of an oceanic passageway placed America right where Asia should have been and as or a large interior river through the Americas made the late as his fourth voyage in 1503, Columbus still believed continental obstacle surmountable. Discovering and himself to be on the Asiatic coasts. (See Figure 1.)4 Since controlling the invaluable passage and accessing the Asian his sketches connected the northern coast of South America markets beyond remained paramount. with the southern coast of Southeast Asia, it is arguable that The mythical waterway made an early cartographic ap­ Columbus never realized that he had not reached Asia. 5 pearance when Italian mapmaker Bolognino Zaltieri drew Expeditions by Columbus (1492), (1497), America and Asia as two separate continents in 1566 and Jacques Cartier (1534) and others turned European eyes labeled the dividing waterway as the Strait of Anian.9 to the Northwest for a passage and Marco Polo's earlier Zaltieri's separation of the continents was correct, but his cartographical reports soon became documents of great labeling of the Strait of Anian was pure speculation. Though interest. Soon, the southwest Asian Strait of Anian in Polo's New World geographic discovery slowly lifted the shroud account moved northeast and merged with the Northwest of previous ignorance, cartographic speculation persisted. Passage myth, lending the historical (though apocryphal) Dependent upon the patronage of governments and wealthy name,Anian, to a myth without foundation. 6 As long as there investors, explorers and cartographers carefully highlighted

May 2010 We Proceeded On - 9 the need for further exploration, emphasized the certainty and relating other's failed endeavors, he carefully deempha­ of imminent discoveries and downplayed the grave risks in­ sized the failure of his own expedition by contextualizing herent in Terra Incognita's great unknown. These men per­ himself in the common plight of other explorers. True to petuated the myth to secure future funding and European pragmatic form, Foxe concluded, "to show the probability nations fostered it to further their imperial ambitions. The of a Passage," and make certain solicitations thereby. 14 Foxe's conditions allowed the myth to engulf the imaginations and maneuvering was indeed deft: shrugging blame for failure, pocketbooks of the European powers. emphasizing the knowledge gained amidst failure, and prov­ ing through additional evidence that he would produce divi­ METHODS FOR SECURING FUNDS dends on future investment.15 Foxe, like Gilbert, perpetuated Those who proclaimed the existence of the Northwest myth in hopes of later proving it as fact. Passage did so in various forms. Sir Humphrey Gilbert's A PURPORTED DISCOVERY OF MARITIME ROUTES TO Discourse ofa Discoverie for a New Passage to Cataia, fund­ THE FAR EAST ed by Frobisher's Company of Cathay, is a prime example.10 Searching to prove the existence of his Northwest Passage After securing funding, the task of mapping courses through by "authoritie [sic] ... by reason ... by experience of sundrie the passage stood as the obvious goal. Despite its nonex­ [sic] men's travels ... [and] by circumstance," Gilbert made istence, the passage was charted by many. Accounts arose a strikingly convincing argument. (See Figures 2 and 3.)11 of men who claimed to have discovered the Northwest He first sought to establish the passage's existence through Passage or Strait of Anian. In 1596, London-based Michael rhetoric in order to secure funding for an expedition where­ Lok circulated the account of one Apostolos Valerianos by he could actually prove (also known as Juan de its physical existence. His Fuca), who purportedly pleas to Queen Elizabeth had sailed north from the for extraordinary privileg­ Pacific Coast of Mexico es and favors in connection in 1592 and claimed to with the supposed passage >< have discovered the strait revealed clear monetary in its entirety. 16 De Fuca motives.12 Many others reported that he entered a mimicked Gilbert's pattern strait to the east between of presenting promising ev­ the latitudes of 47 de­ idence to acquire a patron. grees and 48 degrees. He Whether the adventure of followed this strait for discovery truly captured 20 days until exiting into them, or baser monetary the . 17 Lok motives drove them, the heard this story from de dissemination of the myth Fuca while in Venice and proved effective. Figure 2. Part of a map showing North America, drawn by Sir Humphrey carried it to England. It Gilbert in 1566. Even though no expedi­ cannot be ascertained tion found the elusive Northwest Passage, the explorers and whether de Fuca lied completely, or simply embellished their sponsors remained resolute in their continuation of the having discovered the entrance to a large strait. 18 Lok appar­ . After his failed 1631 expedition, Luke Foxe gave an ently found de Fuca's tale convincing, for he made plans to unflappably optimistic report in 1635. To contextualize his lead an expedition in search of the passage with de Fuca as failure, he shared stories of similar failed ventures of King his guide.19 De Fuca's claim that the lands on the sides of the Arthur, Octher, Frobisher, Davis, Weymouth, Hall, Knight strait were "very fruitful! [sic], and rich of gold, Silver, Pearle and Hudson. As if their shared belief could will the passage [sic] and other things, like Nova Spania," certainly make his into existence, Foxe emphasized that their common faith services as a guide more enticing.20 De Fuca and Lok spread in the passage outweighed their failure to find or locate it. the apocryphal tale since it suited their needs. Though Lok's Using Gilbert's Discourse and other documents as support, publicity may have influenced two voyages in 1602 and Foxe explained that he would not relate the discovery of the 1607, de Fuca's account did not find widespread popularity passage, but rather, "the way to find one."13 By recounting until reprinted by Samuel Purchas in 1625.21 Belatedly, de

10 - We Pmceeded On May 2010 cording to Maldonado's account, he left from Lisbon and, sailing north­ west, reached the Island of Friesland off the Labrador Coast and other familiar landmarks of the northeast­ ern coasts of North America. After passing through the Strait of Labra­ dor, an easily navigable passage ex­ tended for 790 leagues until it ended at the Strait of Anian. Maldonado stated that if they had continued farther, they surely would have run into Quivira, Japan, China and In­ s. dia. His account provided detailed '}",[.,Mm'"" sovTH directions for the discovery of the Figure 3. This world map is attributed to James Beare, principal surveyor of the Frobisher expedi- passage, a declaration that appeared tions. The Northwest Passage (Frobisher Straits) and Strait of Anian are labeled on the map. too good to be true. 24 Seeing through 4 ~--- 7;- -- ,.-~--~· .1 . ""f Figure · This drawing his fabrication, the majority of those who read Maldonado's ~·': :• .'; . d (1r.•:,·1;; C! cWi

-~~ ... :e-· tive. a secret for 20 years did. Stressing that he did not want to lose . .;. :'; Explorer Lorenzo the passage to a rival nation, his list of provisions needed for Ferrer Maldonado his subsequent voyage was both lengthy and costly.26 His presented his own request was dismissed and his career never recovered. account of discovery Lastly, Anthony Linton asserted a near discovery in 1609. to the King of Spain His discussion of perfecting navigation techniques in Newes in 1609.22 Perhaps ofthe Complement ofthe Art of Navigation emphasized the having heard de Fu- potential commerce with Cathay and he claimed to have ca's story, and in an located (though not sailed through) a passage to the Near attempt to antedate East. Linton wrote, "I might with the safety of my credit, de Fuca's voyage, have affirmed that I had fully discovered that passage." Maldonado claimed Acknowledging the uncharted remainder of the passage, he

Maldonado's View of the Strait to have discovered continued with optimism, "The residue of that passage yet in 1588 a Northwest undiscovered, is lesse [sic] by much then it hath been thought A. North entrance G. Lookouts 27 B. South entrance H. Bastions, one on Passage through to be." Drawing on Gilbert's example, he then concluded C.Port small island which "a ship may by making mention of the great riches that trade with Cathay D. River of pure water I. Low ground (not proceed directly promised. The fictitious accounts of de Puca, Maldonado and with good bottom shown) E. Place to Erect Fort L. Part of Asia from Spain to the Linton reveal an anxious mindset among European nations, F. Canebrake M. Part of America Philippines."23 Ac- private investors and explorers. One has to question what

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Figure 5. From Lahontan's New Voyages to North America showing the "Long River" extending west to the Rockies from the Mississippi River. these men would have done if they had received funding and a "Long River," which extended from the Mississippi to the then failed to rediscover the passage they already claimed Pacific and raised immediate interest.28 (See Figure 5.) While to have found . They must have planned to face an angry not published until 1703, the news of Lahontan's findings monarch, disappear or succeed in finding the passage, thus must have spread quickly for, in that same year, cartographer obviating the crisis of previous dishonesty. Guillaume de L'Isle included Lahontan's Long River on his map of .29 (See Figure 6.) As the seventeenth century RIVER ROUTES TO THE FAR EAST drew to a close, the hoped-for Northwest Passage, once As the fruitless maritime race to find a Northwest or thought to have lain beyond the northern coasts of the to the Far East extended across nearly continent, was shifted southward to a river system running two full centuries, public interest waned. After countless through the continent. Often, explorers and mapmakes failed expeditions, the myth of the Northwest Passage visualized this river running northeast to southwest, thereby would have to undergo adaptation to warrant further. use. connecting the with the Sea of the West or Lac The common logic was that if deity had placed a continent de Fonte.30 between Europe and Asia, nature surely would provide a The Sea of the West, or Mer de l'Ouest, concept led way around or through it. Even though maritime routes many to believe that the Pacific could be reached easily by had failed to produce the desired easy passage, nations and extending the Pacific eastward almost halfway across the their explorers were not willing to relinquish their hopes for continent. As early as 1695, Guillaume de L'Isle proffered an eventual breakthrough. Hence, the ever-adaptable myth the concept of this large inland sea. 31 In 1582, Michael Lok evolved. Giving up the idea of a way around the continent, had illustrated this same concept as the Sea of Verazana. (See explorers began favoring the idea of finding a river system Figure 7.) Similarly, Pierre Mortier's 1700 map engulfed all that led through the heart of North America. Unfortunately, of present-day Washington, British Columbia and Montana they failed to comprehend the immensity of the continent as an expansive inland sea. (See Figure 8.) Adopting or, more importantly, the height and breadth of an even nomenclature from earlier incarnations of Northwest greater obstacle in their quest to reach Pacific shores -the Passage mythology, Mortier labeled a "Destroit de Anian" Rocky Mountains. running northeast out of the Mer de l' Ouest straight and wide One of the first to propose the idea of a river running until eventually connecting with the Hudson Bay system. west to the Pacific was Louis Armand de Lorn cl' Arce, Baron De L'Isle and Mortier's notions served as a transitional de Lahontan. During his explorations of the Great Lakes point as the passage myth moved from an maritime and Mississippi River in 1688, Native Americans hinted of route around the continent to a river passage through the

12 ~ We Proceeded On May 2010 Figure 6. This is an excerpt from a 1703 map by Guillaume de L:lsle that shows Lahontan's "Long River Extending to the Rockies." It shows the Sea of the West as well as the River of the West extending east out of the sea. On later maps, de L:lsle did not include the Long River. See H.R. Wagner, "Apocryphal Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, New Series, XU (1931 ). continent. The passage myth and Anian name were adapted understanding of the American interior is painfully evident. to fit new discoveries, realities and hopes. They wrote in matter-of-fact tones, suggesting a widespread A severe underestimation of North America's size willingness to accept or believe these ideas. compounded the cartographic imaginings of an Atlantic- Many, such as Alexander Mackenzie, set out to find this Pacific river passage. In 1622, Henry Briggs, the eminent river passage. As reports circulated of a great river flowing mathematician and Savilian Professor of Astronomy at northwest out of Slave Lake in central Canada, Mackenzie Oxford, wrote the following: set out on June 3, 1789, in hopes of following this river to its outlet to the Western Sea. Much to his dismay, the The Indian Ocean, ... lyeth on the West and North west side of Virginia, on the other side of the emptied into the Arctic, not the Pacific Mountains beyond our Fals, and openeth a free Ocean.33 Undaunted, Mackenzie continued his quest for a and faire passage, not onely to China, Iapan, and river passage to the Pacific and set out again on October 10, the Moluccaes ... [and] may easily from Virginia be discouered ouer Land ...3 2 1792, planning to follow the Peace River southwest out of Lake Chipewyan. At the forks of the Peace River on May As support for his contention that the Pacific easily could 31, 1793, Mackenzie followed Indians' advice and took the be reached overland, he cited Native American testimonies northerly branch, which, after a portage, brought him to the to that effect. Briggs's and his contemporaries' utter lack of Pacific shore on July 22, 1793.34 Though the portage proved wholly impractical for large-scale commercial traffic, Mackenzie remained optimistic that profitable exploitation of his route "require[d] only the countenance and support of the British Government. "35 His call for additional funding was by now an all too familiar refrain. The publication of Mackenzie's account in 1801, with its explanation of commercial opportunities in the , quickly caught the attention of President Thomas Jefferson. Having previously helped organize John Ledyard's trip to the Pacific Northwest via in 1786, Jefferson already was preoccupied with the region. On June 20, 1803, Jefferson wrote to his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, detailing instructions for a new overland expedition to the Pacific. Among other instructions, Jefferson wrote: "The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it's Figure 7. Michael Lok's involvement with Juan de Fuca came some 15 course and communication with the waters of the Pacific years after Lok drew this map in 1582, but it is evident that he had long been interested in the Northwest Passage. ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregan, Colorado or any

May 2010 We Proceeded On - 13 other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce."36 The concept of the Northwest Passage had once again seized the imagination and pocketbook of a nation, only this time one in the western hemisphere. Jefferson's view of the West drew upon the Enlightenment mentality that there was balance in nature, and assumed that the West would be somewhat symmetrical to the East. If the Rockies were a low-lying range similar to the Appalachians of the East, they would not be an insurmountable obstacle for an overland route.37 Jefferson imagined a water route that connected the two coasts of an enormous empire, which would make possible the transportation of trade goods and furs in both directions. (See Figure 9.) Although Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery reached the Pacific Ocean, the Rocky Mountains frustrated Jefferson's hopes fo r a navigable Northwest Passage through the continent. The great River of the West, the Columbia, Figure 8. A section of Pierre Mortier's 1700 map shows the Strait of simply did not extend as deeply eastward as had been hoped. Anian extending from Hudson Bay southwest to the Sea of the West. Jefferson's Corps of Discovery succeeded in many of its The map is stored at the British Columbia Archives in Victoria, B.C. objectives and collected invaluable information about the did not engage in such outright deceit. They were as eager American interior, but the Northwest Passage remained an as their potential financiers to prove that the Northwest elusive myth.38 Passage existed. With such a hopeful attitude, they eagerly accepted and disseminated any promising evidence that they CONCLUSIONS heard. As for those who financed the trips, one explorer's or This brief survey of explorers, cartographers, writers and cartographer's guess was as good as another; nobody had a magistrates finds the Northwest Passage myth rooted in clear understanding of New World geography. Hence, they economic interests. Lucrative trade and possible world tended to support reports that confirmed the existence of dominance stood as the reward for whomever could what they hoped was true-an easily navigable passage to discover, fortify and control this passage. Some explorers the Far East. may have knowingly deceived financiers to fund expensive The myth of the Northwest Passage and those who ventures into the unknown, fully knowing that there was perpetuated its existence shared a marked tenacity and virtually no proof of a passage. Evidence also exists that the flexibility. Every bay, inlet or river that proved not to be myth of the passage was created less out of malicious intent the passage caused supporters of the myth to change their than out of naive optimism and high hopes. While many focus to remaining possibilities not yet ruled out. Likewise, people were involved in the creation of the Northwest every unexplored bay, inlet or river held the possibility Passage myth, it seems that its genesis lies in a synthesis of of the greatest cartographic discovery of the age.39 The these two approaches. Some were consciously deceiving geographic possibilities of an empty Terra Incognita map others in hopes of getting rich, while others were simply so were endless. Then, the discovered coastlines and river optimistic that they claimed more than their geographical systems slowly fi lled in empty spaces on maps and reality knowledge could rightfully support. decisively erased those po.ssibilities. On August 12, 1805, After the myth was firmly entrenched in the minds of Meriwether Lewis reached Lemhi Pass, hoping to look European power wielders, similar processes took place in down upon the headwaters of the mighty Columbia just a its propagation and evolution. Men such as Maldonado, de short distance away.40 Of his westward view he wrote, " ... Fuca, Lok, Linton and others deliberately exaggerated or we proceeded on to the top of the dividing ridge from which fabricated stories to earn their wages. If they could receive I discovered immence ranges of high mountains still to the funding and were able to find the passage, the potential gain West of us with their tops partially covered with snow."41 outweighed the danger of their initial deception. Though also The Rocky Mountains were a greater obstacle than anyone driven by economic motives, men such as Gilbert and Foxe had imagined, and whether Lewis realized it or not, the

14 - We Proceeded On May 2010 I ' American imaginations throughout those many years. It was the inspiration that drove the Age of Exploration and proved adaptable, flexible and tenacious enough to hold the interest of nations despite countless failed expeditions. One British dignitary wrote in 1737, "If a Passage could be found into the South Sea, it would open ... a very profitable Commerce. "42 Such belief provided ample fuel to spur ' [ imaginations, override logic and foster naive optimism for centuries. The attentions and treasuries of nations were spent on an enigma that proved to be eternally elusive. Ironically, the melting associated with global climate change has spurred a new feverish dash to secure Arctic sea routes. Modern icebreaking vessels have traversed the northern route in recent years, but some observers suspect Figure 9. Peter Pond presented this map to Congress in March 1785. that rising temperatures may open the passage permanently Pond had been influential in inspiring Alexander Mackenzie's expedi­ tions and likely had a similar impact on Thomas Jefferson. This map to a full range of commercial traffic. Though centuries shows the Missouri River extending to the Rocky Mountains and a delayed, the promise of an easy passage to the Far East may river just on the other side of the mountain range extending to the Pacific. It was hoped that a short portage between the two would lend at last become a reality. to quick transportation and trade routes. Notice the underestimated immensity of the Rocky Mountains. dream of a Northwest Passage died that day. The myth of Brenden Rensink is a Ph.D. candidate from the University the Northwest Passage had beckoned, shifted and evolved of Nebraska-Lincoln studying Native American immigrants for centuries, but with the awesome swath of the Rocky and refugees along the U.S. -Mexican and U.S.-Canadian borders. He has published on comparative Native American Mountains in full view, it was finally relegated to what it borderlands, comparative genocide studies and U.S. had been from the beginning-a myth. territorial legal history. It is impossible to quantify the influence that the Northwest Passage myth has exerted upon world history. NOTES The sheer number of expeditions it inspired, however, 1 Two prime examples include Englishmen Samuel Purchas (1577-1626) and his predecessor Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616). suggests a broad and deep impact. (See the sidebar on p. Their writings were widely read and consulted. For discussion 16). Its effect upon the course of North American history of this concept, see W. Michael Mathes, "Apocryphal Tales is less in doubt. Certainly, the exploration of the continent's of the Islands of California and Straits of Anian," California interior would have been severely impeded without the History Vol. 62, Issue 1 (1983), pp. 52-59; George E. Nunn, Geographical Conceptions of Columbus (New York: American myth's driving force. Likewise, the subsequent intrusion of Geographical Society, 1924); George E. Nunn, Origin of the Euro-American settlers into Native American domains may Strait ofAnian Concept (Philadelphia: Printed Privately, 1929); have taken a slower or different course. Without venturing and H.R. Wagner, "Apocryphal Voyages to the Northwest into counterfactual speculation, it suffices to observe that Coast of America," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, New Series, Vol. 41 (1931), pp. 179-234. North American history likely would have followed a very 2 For a more complete listing of individuals, see the sidebar on different course, perhaps not in trajectory, but certainly in p. 16. This is a listing of explorers, cartographers and writers pace, scope and ultimate impact. Global history shares in whose influence, by expedition, maps and publications, this generally stated observation. Had Europe's attention not perpetuated the myth of an easy passage to the Far East. While the list is not comprehensive, the small sampling illustrates the been drawn for three centuries to China and the waterway enormous pull of this myth. Also, the list shows how enduring that might lead them there, the exploration of countless the myth was as it succeeded in generating expeditions for regions would have evolved under different historical more than 300 years. impulses. The myth of the Northwest Passage shaped their 3 The spelling of the name varies from Amien to Anin to Ania. world and, in turn, its influence certainly shaped ours. See George E. Nunn, Origin of the Strait of Anian Concept (Philadelphia: Printed Privately, 1929), p. 2; Thomas Arthur Whether in the form of a northerly Arctic route and Richard, "The Strait of Anian," The British Columbia Historical Strait of Anian, or as a river system running through the Quarterly, Vol. 5 (1941), p. 164. heart of the continent, the myth of the Northwest Passage 4 George E. Nunn, Geographical Conceptions of Columbus persisted for three centuries and gripped European and (New York: American Geographical Society, 1924 ), pp. 1-30.

May 2010 We Proceeded On ~ 15 ABrief Chronology of the Search for aPassage to the Far East Explorers, cartographers and writers who made expeditions in search of a passage produced maps that had lasting influence or otherwise per­ petuated the myths of the Northwest or Northeast Passages.

Ptolemy 1450, 1482':· 1585-1587 William Moor & Francis Smith 1746 Marco Polo 1271-1292 Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado 1588, 1609 Stephen Whatley 1747 Bartolomeo Dias 1487 Juan de Fuca 1592 William Coats 1747':· Christopher Columbus 1492-1502 Willem Barents 1594-1596 Henry Ellis 1748':· Martin Behaim 1492'' Cornelius Nay 1594, 1595 James Walker 1750, 1751 John Cabot 1497 Brent Tetgailes 1594 Phillipe Buache 1752* Juan de la Cosa 1500 Jan H. Van Linschoten 1594 R. J. Julien 175Y Gaspar Corte Real 1500 1596 Jean Janvier 1754'' Americus Vespucius 1501 Jan C. Rup 1596 Charles Swaine 1753, 1754 Miguel Corte Real 1502 Edward Wright 1599::- Joseph Nicholas Bellin 1755 Binot Paulmier de Gonneville 1503 George Weymouth 1602 John Bean 1755, 1756 Martin Waldseemuller 1507, 1516'-· Sebastian Vizcaino 1602 1759 - 1778 Thomas Aubert 1508 James Lancaster 1603 William Christopher 1761, 1763 Sebastian Cabot 1509 Martin de Aguilar 1603 Moses Norton 1761, 1763 Henricus Glareanus 1510'' 1605, 1606, 1612 John Byron 1764 John Rastell 1516 John Knight 1606 1769, 1770 Ferdinand Magellan 1519 1609-1611 Constantine Phipps 1773 Petn1s Apianus 1520':· Anthony Linton 1609 Juan Perez 1774 Sebastian Mi.inster 1522 1612-1613 Richard Pickerskill 1776 Giovanni Da Verrazano 1524 William Gibbons 1614 Walter Young 1777 Esteban Gomez 1524 1612-1615 Peter Pond 1785'~ Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon 1524 1615, 1616 James Strange 1785 John Rut 1527 1619 William Barkley 1787 Diego Bezerra de Mendoza 1533 Henry Briggs 1625'' Charles Duncan 1787 Jacques Cartier 1534 William H awkridge 1625 John Meares 1788 GemmaFrisius 1535'-· Luke Foxe 1631-1632 Alexander Mackenzie 1789, 1792 Olaus Magnus 1539'' Thomas James 1631-1632 Alexander Dalrymple 1789':· Jean Alfonse 1542 Bartholomew de Fonte 1640 Alexandro Malaspina 1791 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo 1542 Sernyon Dezhnyov 1648 George Vancouver 1791 Giacomo Gastaldi 1548 Thomas Peche 1673 William Clark 1804 1553 Lahontan 1684 Meriwether Lewis 1804 1553, 1556 Fransisco de Seyxas y Lovera 1688':· 1817 Stephen Burroughs 1556 Vincenzo Coronelli 1688'' John Ross 1818, 1829, 1850 Abraham Ortelius 1564'' Guillaume De L'Isle 1700, 1752:(· William E. Parry 1819-1824 1564, 1584 Pierre Mortier 1700'' Sir 1819, 1825, 1845 Bolognini Zaltieri 1566':· Jean Baptiste Nolin 1700':· 1833, 1836 Gerhard Mercator 1569* 1719 Sir Robert McClure 1850 Sir Francis Drake 1572, 1577 1728, 1733-1743 Isaac Hayes 1860 Juan Fernandez Ladrillero 1574"' Arthur Dobbs 173P 1850 1576-1578 Joseph la France 1739, 174Z::- 1875 Arthur Pet and William Jackman 1580 Christopher Middleton 1741-1742 Nils A.E. Nordenskjold 1878 Michael Lok 1576, 1582"· Frarn;:ois and Louis Joseph 1743 1903 Sir Humphrey Gilbert 1583 *Indicates cartographers and writers, rather than exploring expeditions.

5 Among those who, at one time, also believed that America 6 The voyages of John Cabot in 1497 and Jacques Cartier in was simply a peninsula off the greater Asian continent were 1534 were particularly influential in raising hopes that a passage Magellan, Las Casas, Behaim, Martellus and Balboa. During to the Far East existed in the northwest of the American Coronado's 1540 expedition in search of Cibola, the group's continent. Of Cartier's voyage, Sir Humphrey Gilbert cited a chronicler Casteneda expressed similar views. He stated, "And mariner having heard of a great sea to which there was no end. this land of is part of the mainland with Peru, and They presumed this to be a passage to Cathay. See Richard, with Greater India or China as well." In talking of natives, "The Strait of Anian," pp. 164-165. By Rasrnusio's popular Casteneda referred to them quite literally as Indians because 1559 edition of Polo's voyages, European cartographers had he believed they "must [have] come from that part of Greater inexplicably moved the Anian waters northeast of India. The India." See Pedro Casteneda, The Journey of Coronado (New misinterpretation included the confounding of the Quian and York: Readex Micro print, 1966 ), pp. 83, 108 and 134. Oman rivers and other geographical features that remained

16 ~ We Proceeded On May 2010 somewhat ambiguous in Polo's account. Relying solely upon the Purpose of Discovering a North-East, North-West or Marco Polo's account, Giacomo Gastaldi fully merged Anian Polar Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific (London: John with the Northwest Passage myth. See Nunn, Origin of the Murray, 1818), pp. 24-48. Strait ofAn ian, pp. 22-25. 22 Mathes, "Apocryphal Tales," p. 55. 7 See Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Voyages and Colonising Enterprises 23 Sir John Barrows, A Chronological History of Voyages into of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 2 volumes (London: The Haykluyt the Arctic Region, pp. 24, 27 and 30. Society, 1940), Vol. 1, pp. 30, 141, 147and157. 24 Sent to verify the veracity of Maldonado's account, Malaspina 8 Ibid., Vol 1, pp. 137-140. Luke Foxe made it evident that this sailed north in 1789. Although he did not find the Strait of Anian, view was shared by many. See Miller Christy, ed., The Voyages he asserted that the Northwest Passage must exist elsewhere. of Captain Luke Foxe and Captain Thomas James in Search See Alessandro Malaspina, The Malaspina Expedition, 1789- of a Northwest Passage in 1631-32, 2 volumes (London: The 1794: Journal of the Voyage by Alejandro Malaspina (London: Hakluyt Society, 1894), Vol. 2, p. 439. The Hakluyt Society, 2001). 9 Richard, "The Strait of Anian," p. 165; and H .R. Wagner, 25 Wagner, "Apocryphal Voyages to the Northwest Coast of "Apocryphal Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America," America," p. 183. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, Vol. 41 26 Anthony Linton, Newes of the Complement of the Art of (193 1), p. 182. Navigation: And of the Mightie Empire of Cataia. Together 10 Martin Frobisher conducted numerous expeditions in with the Straits ofAnian- London 1609 (Amsterdam: De Capo search of the Northwest Passage between 1576 and 1578. Press, 1969), p. 30. See ed., The Three Voyages of Martin 27 Ibid., p. 22. Frobisher: In Search of a Passage to Cathay and India by the 28 Baron de Lahontan, New Voyages to North-America, Reuben Northwest, A.D. 1576-8. From the Original 1578 text ofGeorge Gold Thwaites ed., 2 volumes (New York, Burt Franklin, 1970), Best (New York: De Capo Press, 1971). Vol. 1, pp. 167, 176-179, 193, 197, 203, 206, 284, 300 and 363. 11 Gilbert, Voyages and Colonising Enterprises, Vol. 1, pp. 135-136. 29 Wagner, "Apocryphal Voyages to the Northwest Coast of 12 Ibid, Vol. 1, pp. 105-106 and 160. Some of the favors he America," p. 208. requested were to receive 1/5th of all customs paid on goods 30 John Norris, "The Strait of Anian and British Northwest brought through the passage for the next 99 years, to pay no America: Cook's Third Voyage in Perspective," BC Studies, customs himself, to receive 1/10th of all lands discovered by Vol. 36 (1977-1978), p. 9. means of his passage and to be named governor of said lands. 31 Guillaume de L'Isle, L'Amerique Septentrionale (Chicago: 13Christy, Voyages, Vol 1, p. 7. Rand McNally, 1966). 14 Ibid., Vol 1, p. 6. 32 Edward Waterhouse, A Declaration of the State of the 15 Ibid., Vol 2, p. 443. Some apparently thought that the voyages' Colony and Affaires in Virginia (London: G. Eld. for Robert results were not worth the time and money spent on them. Mylbourne, 1622), p. 51. 16 For a more detailed discussion of de Fuca, see Elwood Evans, 33 Alexander Mackenzie, Voyages from Montreal on the River History of the Pacific Northwest : Oregon and Washington; St. Laurence (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1966), p. 32. Embracing an Account of the Original Discoveries on the 34 Ibid., p. 186. Pacific Coast of North America (Portland, Oregon: North 35 Ibid., p. 408. Pacific History Company, 1889). 36 Donald Jackson, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 17 W. Michael Mathes, "Apocryphal Tales of the Islands of with Related Documents, 1783-1854, 2 volumes (Urbana: California and Straits of Anian" California History Vol. 62, University of Illinois Press, 1978), Vol. 2, p. 61. No. 1 (1983), p. 54. 37 James P. Ronda, ed., Voyages of Discovery (Helena: Montana 18 Later explorers named the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which leads Historical Society Press, 1998), p. 6. from the Pacific Ocean into the Puget Sound, between the 38 If the Salmon or Snake rivers were navigable, a water route Olympic Penninsula of present-day Washington and Vancouver might have been possible with only one short portage. Island, after Juan de Fuca. Perhaps de Fuca had passed or briefly 39 Norris, "The Strait of Anian," p. 11. entered this large strait, thought it was a likely candidate for 40 The idea that these two great river systems would have their the fabled Strait of Anian, and fabricated the account of having headwaters near one other was a popular belief. If the Missouri followed it through to the Atlantic Ocean. could be navigated, only a short portage to the Columbia would 19 Wagner, "Apocryphal Voyages to the Northwest Coast of be required to then finish the journey to the Pacific. See John L. America," p. 185. Allen, "Geographical Images of the American Northwest, 1673- 20 Taken from "A Note made by me Michael Lok ... " as cited 1806" (Doctoral Dissertation, Clark University, 1969), p. 401. in Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his 41 Gary E. Moulton ed., The journals of the Lewis & Clark Pilgrimes: Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages Expedition, 13 volumes (Lincoln: University of Nebraska and Lande Travells by Englishmen and Others, 20 volumes, Press, 1983-2001), Vol. 5, p. 74. (Glasgow: J. MacLehose and Sons, 1905), Vol. 3, p. 849. 42 William Barr and Glyndwr Williams eds., Voyages to Hudson 21 Wagner, "Apocryphal Voyages to the Northwest Coast of Bay in Search of a Northwest Passage 1741-1747, 2 volumes America," p. 190. The full text by Maldonado can be found (London: The Hakluyt Society, 1994), Vol. 1, p. 49. This comes as an appendix in Sir John Barrows, A Chronological History from a letter written by the First Lord of Admirality, Sir of Voyages into the Arctic Regions: Undertaken Chiefly for Charles Wager to Arthur Dobbs, March 4, 1737.

May 2010 We Proceeded On - 17 PHILOSOPHICAL SYMPATHY AND "SEEDS OF EXTINCTION"

Jefferson's French correspondence and the roots of his presidential Indian policy, 1785-1789

BY NICHOLAS w. GENTILE

n his controversial His to ire nature Ile (1749-1789), the into oblivion or civilized invisibility, gave moral justification Comte de Buffon hypothesized that the New World to the seizure of lands he said they no longer needed. "3 I represented a biological backwater, a harbor for Wallace argued that Jefferson's vision of America had "no degenerate genes from the Old World. American Indians place for Indians as Indians."4 Historian John Lauritz were but one example. Buffon found them to be one step Larson also has criticized Jefferson's dealings with Indians above animals and incapable of mastering their environment.1 during his presidency, emphasizing the negative effects of In a letter to the Marquis de Chastellux, Jefferson, America's Jefferson's 1803 purchase of Louisiana from France. Larson minister to France, strongly refuted Buffon's claims with argued that this decision reeked of an ethnocentric greed the following words: that discounted the lives of Indians living in the expanse I am safe in affirming that the proofs of genius given of Louisiana and "belonged to a comprehensive system by the Indians of North America place them on a of government action that undermined Indian autonomy, level with Whites in the same uncultivated state . ... broke down Indian resistance, and prepared the way for I have seen thousands of them myself ... I have had American settlers who would inevitably possess Indian much information from men who have lived among them.... They have all agreed in bearing witness in lands and bring them into the empire of liberty. "5 favor of the genius of this people .... I believe the From Jefferson's vantage point as the president of Indian then to be in body and mind equal to the a rapiclly increasing population of Americans eagerly whiteman. "2 expanding westward, a logical decision lay before the This quote may seem surprising coming from a future American Indian. As Jefferson expressed to William Henry president who, in the words of historian Anthony F. C. Harrison, the territorial governor of Ohio in 1803, Indians Wallace, made Indian removal a policy" central to the federal could "either incorporate with us as citizens of the United system" and who, "by mourning the passing of the Indians States or remove beyond the Mississippi." If Indians resisted

18 - We Proceeded On May 2010 American encroachment or federal policies, Jefferson ity, strength, grace, dignity, love of freedom, and whatever arrogantly opined that "we have only to shut our hand to other virtues humanity was capable of." Parties of Indians crush them."6 Thus, Jefferson's presidency sowed "seeds passing his father's farm on their way to Virginia's colonial of extinction" in the physical and cultural lives of Native capital, Williamsburg, sparked the young Jefferson's ad­ Americans.7 miration for them. The spark of curiosity burned brightly Prior to Jefferson's tenure as president (1801-1809), through the years, as the intellectually insatiable Virginian however, his writings to close friends and associates por­ studied "what was available on Indian history, tribal organi­ trayed a man who held zations, customs, geo­ deep sympathy, admi­ graphical distribution, ration and fascination and languages. "9 for American Indians. Even while fulfill­ During his time in Par­ ing his diplomatic re­ is as America's minister sponsibilities at the to France, this affinity court of Versailles, for America's aborigi­ Jefferson kept his boy­ nes effused from his hood fascination with pen. N ineteen letters, the origin of American in particular, from Jef­ Indians simmering on ferson to men such as his brain's backburner. Chastellux, William For example, in 1786, Carmichael, Benjamin Jefferson took time out Hawkins, Edward Car­ of his busy schedule rington and Edward to write to the theo­ Rutledge illustrate his logian and educator intellectual infatuation Ezra Stiles, then presi­ with Indians.8 Though dent of Yale, about his remembered for his views regarding the destructive presidential derivation of America's policies of assimilation Indians. On September and removal, these let­ 1, he wrote, "I suppose ters from France re­ the settlement of our veal Jefferson's philo­ continent is of the most sophical sympathy for remote antiquity. The Indians because they similitude between its expose his interest in inhabitants and those understanding their The earliest known portrait of Jefferson, this likeness is one of two versions de­ of the Eastern parts of rived from sittings with artist Mather Brown in London in 1786, during Jefferson's origin and evolution, tenure as American minister to France. This version went to John Adams and was Asia renders it prob­ his views on the ethical part of a portrait exchange between him and Jefferson that betokened their warm able that ours descend- friendship. purchase of their lands ed from them, or they and his feelings regarding the acknowledgment of their nat­ from ours." Jefferson thought that Asians were a derivative ural rights. of America's Indians because, as he told Stiles, "Among the red inhabitants of Asia there are but a few languages J EFFERSON'S I NTEREST IN I NDIAN ORIGINS, radically different. But among our Indians the number of L ANGUAGE AND SOCIETAL EVOLUTION languages is infinite which are so radically different as to ex­ Aboriginal Americans had fascinated Jefferson since his boy­ hibit at present no appearance of having been derived from hood at Shadwell, his father's plantation near Charlottesville, a comn1on source." 10 Virginia. As Jefferson biographer E. M. Halliday wrote, Jefferson's interest in tracing the ancestral origins of Indians seemed to the young Jefferson "to be nature's noble­ America's Indians had not waned in the year following his men, endowed with intelligence, courage, honesty, ingenu- letter to Stiles. Three days after the delegates in Philadelphia's

May 2010 We Proceeded On ~ 19 Pennsylvania State House finished drafting the Constitution, Jefferson addressed a letter to Charles Thomson, secretary of the U.S. Congress.11 Jefferson had been researching the AChronology of Jefferson's Significant Letters religious mounds of the prehistoric Adena, Hopewell and from France Regarding Indians, 1785-1789 Mississippian cultures.12 To Thomson, he wrote, "I wish our philosophical society would collect exact descriptions June 7, 1785: Jefferson to the Marquis de Chastellux of the several monuments as yet known. . . . Patience and August 18, 1785: Jefferson to William Carmichael observation may enable us in time to solve the problem September 5, 1785: Jefferson to David Hartley whether those who formed the scattering monuments in September 11, 1785: Jefferson to the Marquis de Poncins our Western country, were colonies sent off from Mexico, June 22, 1786: Jefferson's observations on a manuscript or the founders of Mexico itself." 13 from Jean Nicolas Demeunier Jefferson's desire to uncover the roots of North America's August 13, 1786: Jefferson to Benjamin Hawkins Indian population, whether they extended to Asia or August 22, 1786: Jefferson to William Carmichael Central America, reflected his intellectual love affair with August 25, 1786: Jefferson to G. K. van Hogendorp Indians. Even while an ocean separated him from the native August 31, 1786: Jefferson to Thomas Barclay inhabitants of his homeland, Jefferson continued to unravel September 1, 1786: Jefferson to Ezra Stiles the mystery of aboriginal origins. December 20, 1786: Jefferson to William Stephens Smith Jefferson relied heavily upon studying Indian languages December 26, 1786: Jefferson to William Carmichael to find clues about their ancestry. Sheehan wrote that January 16, 1787: Jefferson to Edward Carrington "ITefferson] not only knew the extensive literature on the January 30, 1787: Jefferson to James Madison subject but also owned most of the important writings. September 20, 1787: Jefferson to Charles Thomson Whatever conclusion might be drawn ... he believed that December 15, 1787: Jefferson to William Carmichael the truth would come from the study of Indian languages." 14 July 18, 1788:Jefferson to Edward Rutledge To prove his theory regarding the multiplicity of Indian January 12, 1789: Jefferson to James Madison tongues as being proof that they were not derived from a September 18, 1789: Jefferson to Edward Rutledge common source, such as Asians, Jefferson amassed copious notes regarding Indian vocabularies. He brought together "a list of approximately 250 words in as many as fifty Indian side of the Atlantic, I offer him my services chearfully, my languages ... in order to compare the various Indian words wish being, like his, to ascertain the history of the American of one particular object to illustrate the wide diversity in the aborigines."18 Almost a year later, on September 18, 1789, Indian tongues." 15 Six months prior to the storming of the while the French Revolution raged around him, Jefferson Bastille in Paris, Jefferson wrote to James Madison about received Trumbull's research and considered the similarities his ambitious aspirations for his vocabulary collections. 16 between the "red men of the Eastern and Western sides of He thanked Madison for sending him a "pamphlet on the the Atlantic." The comparison intrigued him and, in a let­ Mohiccon language" and then stated, "I endeavor to collect ter of response to Rutledge, he explained that "the conjec­ all the vocabularies I can of the American Indians, as of ture that inhabitants may have been carried from the coast those of Asia, persuaded that if they ever had a common of Africa to that of America by the trade winds is possible parentage it will appear in their language."17 enough; and its probability would be greatly strengthened One linguistic evaluation Jefferson made from Indian by ascertaining a similarity of language, which I consider as vocabularies while in France stemmed from a July 18, the strongest of all proofs of consanguinity among nations." 1788, letter to South Carolina statesman Edward Rutledge. In theorizing about which race of men came first, Jefferson Rutledge had written Jefferson on October 23, 1787, regard­ again cited the "great number of radical languages" of the ing the conjectures of a Dr. Trumbull, who hypothesized American Indians as "proof of superior antiquity which I that the Creek Indians descended from the Carthaginians can conceive no arguments strong enough to over-rule." 19 after members of Hanno's fleet were lost. Rutledge, know­ Along with studying the origin and languages of ing of Jefferson's affinity for Indian languages, offered to Indians, Jefferson also researched their physical and societal send him a copy of Trumbull's findings. Jefferson replied evolution. In his 1785 letter to Chastellux, he had located with exuberance, "I shall be very glad to receive them.... If the Indians of North America above blacks and on an equal he [Dr. Trumbull] wishes any enquiries to be made on this plane evolutionarily with whites in "the same uncultivated

20 - We Proceeded On May 2010 state." From years of observation and reflection, he deduced governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the that the bodily strength of Indians boasted certain muscles place of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as laws that "are much stronger than with us ... " He said that Euro­ ever did any where. "24 Jefferson's esteem for the societal Americans had a more powerful physique for the European organization of North American Indians was indicative concept of "labour," which entailed farming and animal of the philosophical sympathy that he expressed for his husbandry, but the muscles of the Indians "which are exerted country's first peoples during his time in Paris. in the chase and those faculties which are employed in the JEFFERSON'S Vrnws ON THE ETHICAL PURCHASE tracing an enemy or wild beast" were superior "because OF INDIAN LANDS they are more exercised."20 In Jefferson's observation, strong Indian males who traditionally did the hunting Along with portraying his interest in Native American and fighting comprised three out of every 13 Indians. He origins, languages and societal evolution, Jefferson's letters cited this demographical interpretation in a June 22, 1786, from France reveal his philosophical sympathy for Indians observation on a manuscript from Jean Nicolas Demeunier, because they expose his views on the ethical purchase of who had asked for Jefferson's aid in writing an article about their lands. the United States for the Dictionnaire d'Economie politique Between 1785 and 1789, while the duties of diplomacy et diplomatique, l'Encyclopedie methodique. Jefferson demanded most of Jefferson's time in France, the westward wrote, "I am of the opinion that the proportion of persons movement of the burgeoning population in America's to warriors among the Indians may be generally estimated nascent republic fueled the fire of Indian land purchases at about 10 to 3. Consequently we must not reckon that made by the United States. Settlers and land speculators nations of Indians containing 25,000 warriors have more wanted to expand into the Ohio River country and since the than about 80,000 persons. "21 Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation In Jefferson's view, these warriors lived with other lacked the ability to tax, selling former Indian land members of the tribal community in a society that functioned purchased by the government satisfied the public's demands satisfactorily without the restraints of government. In a and created much-needed revenue. letter written from Paris to James Madison on January 30, As Jefferson explained to the young Dutch economist 178 7, Jefferson explained that societies exist under three and aristocrat Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp in an August distinguishable forms: "1. Without government, as among 25, 1786, letter, "The sale of lands will commence, and I have our Indians. 2. Under governments wherein the will of a firm faith they will in a short time absorb the whole of the every one has a just influence, as is the case in England in certificates of the domestic debt."25 Once the revenue from a slight degree, and in our states in a great one. 3. Under land sales offset the domestic debt, Jefferson hoped that governments of force: as is the case in all other monarchies American citizens' desire for western lands would create and in most of the other republics. "22 further sales that could "go on for money, at a cheaper rate Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., explained Jefferson's no doubt, for the paiment of our foreign debt."26 Jefferson's philosophical commitment to a democratic government desire for his country to become solvent did not supersede where "the will of every one has a just influence." He his belief that the purchases that could release America stated that this form of government fulfilled the tenets of from its burden of debt should be done ethically. This view Jefferson's basic political creed, which included "his belief in paralleled the late eighteenth-century policies of the U.S. reason, natural law, and the rights of man; his commitment government. to majority rule; and his faith in the wisdom of the majority, On September 22, 1783, Congress had forbidden even when it erred, for it would always return to the right the settlement or purchase of Indian lands by U.S. way."23 citizens without the direction and approval of the federal In Jefferson's mind, Indian soc1et1es "without government. This stance laid the framework for the Indian government" functioned in accordance with many of these land cession treaties that marked the early efforts of the tenets. He admired the way public opinion facilitated the government's interactions with Indians. However, most happiness enjoyed by most aboriginal societies in America. Americans ignored this decree. They defiantly settled on On January 16, 1787, he told fellow Virginian and member tribal lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the of the Continental Congress Edward Carrington that Indian Mississippi River that had been ceded by Great Britain under societies "enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Thus, in 1787, when Congress degree of happiness than those who live under European issued the Northwest Ordinance, it reemphasized the

May 2010 We Proceeded On ~ 21 federal government's commitment to ethical land purchases. "They have passed an ordinance establishing a land office, The ordinance outlined the policies of American territorial considerably improved I think on the plan of which I had the expansion in the "Old Northwest" region that abutted the honour of giving you a copy."33 Jefferson's 1784 ordinance Great Lakes and reasserted the government's position that had established the principle that new states admitted to "the utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the the Union would be considered equal to existing states and Indians, their lands and property shall never be taken from divided the territory to the west of the original 13 colonies them without their consent; and in their property, rights, gained from Great Britain into potential states.34 and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless As Jefferson wrote on September 11 to the French in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress."27 agriculturalist Jean Hector de Montagne, the Marquis While in France, Jefferson applauded the government's de Poncins, the 1785 ordinance was more practical than commitment to ethical financial intercourse with Indians his 1784 plan because it "laid down rules for disposing through letters written from his study on the upper floor of [the purchased lands]," rather than simply setting up of the Hotel de Langeac.28 In June of 1786, he summarized guidelines for becoming a state, which brought more order his feelings regarding the just purchase of tribal territories to the interactions of Indians and U.S. citizens in the new with these words given as a reaction to Demeunier's territories.35 manuscript, "It may be taken for a certainty that not a foot Even though he supported the land purchases and of land will ever be taken from the Indians without their legislation that brought order to the Old Northwest, own consent. The sacredness of their right is felt by all Jefferson realized that not all Indians wanted to sell their thinking persons in America as much as in Europe. "29 A year lands. For example, he wrote to Carmichael in 1787 about earlier, the Continental Congress had sought the Indians' the "petite guerre always waged by the Indians" who "own consent" in purchasing what Jefferson described to opposed ceding tribal territory to the United States.36 William Carmichael, then America's principal diplomat In 1786, Jefferson had written his counterpart in Spain in Spain, as "the Indian right of soil to about fifty million about the "straggling Indians who molest our settlements" acres of land, between the Ohio and lakes."30 Jefferson fully following the purchase of their lands by the government.37 supported this transfer of land because, not only did the Among these Indian molesters, Jefferson specifically cited U. S. government uphold Indian rights by paying them for the Creeks, who had "commenced war in a more serious their lands, Congress provided a legislative means by which form" over disputed treaties with Georgia in 1786.38 to control the rush of settlement into the new territory: the Despite acknowledging that some Indians did not comply Land Ordinance of 1785. with treaties, Jefferson's letters during 1786 reveal that he The Land Ordinance of 1785 established a system for believed most Indians were not inclined toward violence. In surveying land that facilitated orderly westward expansion, an August 22, 1786, letter to Carmichael, he cited a minority which Jefferson had praised in correspondence to friends oflndians who had" molested our settlements" but explained that year. The ordinance directed surveyors to divide future that "it is neither in the general disposition, nor in the power townships on land purchased from Indians into six-mile­ of those tribes to do us any serious ill."39 Jefferson did not square tracts, which would then be subdivided into 36 believe that violent savagery marked the lifestyle of most one-mile-square sections.31 On August 18, Jefferson wrote American natives, and his words from August 31, 1786, of the new ordinance to Carmichael in Madrid by saying to the Consul General of the United States in Morocco, that Congress had "in consequence, passed an ordinance Thomas Barclay, further enunciated this view. He wrote, for disposing of their lands, and I think a very judicious "The purchases of Indian lands are completed, and treaties one."32 This "judicious" ordinance forced settlers looking to made with them. Some lawless individuals among them have expand into the Ohio River country to purchase sections of committed hostilities at Kentucky; but they are disavowed government land, rather than illegally squatting on Indian by their nations."40 Though he could have focused on the domain. In the newly surveyed townships, they would live oppositional minority, Jefferson chose to point out the among other Euro-Americans, separated from lands retained rejection of violent factions by the mainstream members of by tribes, thus lessening the risk of territorial disputes with Indian nations. He regarded Indians as having a generally Indians. peaceful disposition, which reflected an admiration for the In his September 5 letter to British House of Commons native peoples of America that correlated with his desire for member David Hartley, Jefferson admitted this ordinance's their rights to be protected through ethical treaties and just superiority to the Ordinance of 1784 that he had written: treatment.

22 ~ We Proceeded On May 2010 The painting that Trumbull completed for the Capitol Rotunda shows the presentation of the Declaration of Independence in what is now called Independence Hall, Philadelphia. The painting features the committee that drafted the document-John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Liv­ ingston, Thomas Jefferson (presenting the document), and Benjamin Franklin- standing before John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress. The painting includes portraits of 42 of the 56 signers and 5 other patriots. The artist sketched the individuals and the room from life.

JEFFERSON'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF INDIAN he determinedly turned three into two by transforming the RIGHTS Indian into a degraded yet basically noble brand of white Jefferson's letters from France bear witness to his man. . . . In appropriately altered circumstances Indians philosophical sympathy for Indians and reveal his feelings would become white men, ... which Jefferson thought the regarding the acknowledgment of their rights. As he affirmed negro could never accomplish. "43 to Chastellux in 1785, "The proofs of genius given by the Since Jefferson advocated that Indians, as evolutionary Indians of North America place them on a level with Whites equals with Euro-Americans, could acculturate and in the same uncultivated state ... in body and mind equal. "41 assimilate into the white American world, he supported Jefferson's belief in the inherent evolutionary equality of upholding the "sacredness of their right" to property.44 In Indians and Euro-Americans formed the foundation of his contrast to black Americans, who were considered property views regarding the treatment of America's first people. in the 1780s, most Indian tribes conducted contractual For Jefferson, America's aboriginal inhabitants deserved relationships on an equal plane with Euro-Americans. just treatment because, as Jefferson biographer Joseph Ellis Indians exchanged land for money with the United States explained, "In terms of their mental and physical aptitude like the foreign powers of Great Britain, France and Spain and their capacity for assimilation into white American did, and the U.S. government passed legislation such as the society," "red" Indians joined "white" Americans in being Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to promote fair commercial superior to America's third color class of "black" African practices between white Americans and Indians.45 In 1789, slaves and their progeny.42 Historian Winthrop Jordan Secretary of War Henry Knox summarized the federal wrote about Jefferson's comparison of these three races in government's position relative to the Indians' right of the following words, "Confronted by three races in America occupancy. "The Indians being the prior occupants, possess

May 2010 We Proceeded On ~ 23 Benjamin Hawkins (August 15, 1754 - June 6, 1816) was a farmer, statesman and Indian agent from North Carolina. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a U.S. Senator, as well as a long-term diplomat and agent to the Creek Indians. the right of the soil. It cannot be taken from them unless by 1786, letter about his desire to protect their rights during their free consent, or by the right of conquest in a case of a the treaty negotiations. He had stated, "You will see by the just war. To dispossess them on any other principle would Treaties which I enclose how attentive I have been to the be a gross violation of the fundamental laws of nature."46 rights of these people; and I can assure you there is nothing Always an ardent advocate for the "laws of nature," I have more at heart than the preservation of them. "49 Jefferson wrote a stirring letter to Benjamin Hawkins in Jefferson commended Hawkins's attention to Indian 1786 that elucidated his philosophy that justice must be rights because, not only did he believe that they should be meted out to Indians. Ten years earlier, in the middle of a defended, he felt that "the want of that is a principle source humid Philadelphia summer, Jefferson fulfilled the role of of dishonour to the American character. "50 D uring 1785 and primary draftsman for the Declaration of Independence 1786, Georgia and North Carolina had ignored Congress's and wrote "all men are created equal; that they are endowed injunctions to purchase Indian lands through legal means. by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights. "47 Jefferson deplored this stain on the morality of his nation. Though he did not feel comfortable including African slaves Hawkins had told Jefferson that "the interposition of in his definition of men whose innate equality demanded Congress without the co-operation of the southern States the protection of their rights, Jefferson's August 13, 1786, is ineffectual, and Georgia and North Carolina have refused letter to Hawkins, then a congressional appointee to be a by protesting against their authority." He explained that commissioner in treaties with southern tribes, expressed Georgia "will not allow that the Indians can be viewed in his sentiments that Indians' rights should be upheld. He any other light than as members thereof," thus negating explained, "The attention which you pay to [Indian] rights their status as equals in exchanges of land for money. North . . . does you great honor. "48 Hawkins had orchestrated Carolina, he decried, "claim all the Land westward according treaties with the Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choctaws in to their bill of rights and that the Indians are only tenants at 1785 and 1786 and had written to Jefferson in a June 14, will."51 This denigration of Indian rights angered Jefferson.

24 ~ We Proceeded On May 2010 N ot only did they "dishonour ... the American character," Nicholas W Gentile wrote a version of this article for Dr. but in Jefferson's view expressed in his August 13 letter Jay H. Buckley's "Native America to 1900" class at Brigham to H awkins, "After the injuries we have done them, they Young University. H e graduated from B YU with a bachelor's degree in history and earned a master's degree in American cannot love us, which leaves no alternative but that of fear history from Brandeis University, where D r. David H ackett 52 to keep them from attacking us." Fischer advised his thesis work on identity in Revolutionary Rather than promoting the Machiavellian tactic of America. Gentile has taught at the Fenn School in Concord, making Indians fear the United States, Jefferson advocated Massachusetts, and at American Heritage School in American that justice be the paramount objective of Indian-white Fork, Utah. H e lives in Eagle Mountain, Utah. relations.53 In the same letter in which he regretted the blemish on American character due to the inequitable NOTES treatment of southeastern tribes by Georgia and North 1 Bernard W. Sheehan, Seeds of Extinction: Jeffersonian Carolina, Jefferson counseled H awkins that, despite these Philanthropy and the A merican Indian (Kingsport, Tennessee: flaws of judgment, "Justice is what we should never loose Kingsport Press, 1973), pp. 66-69. On pages 68-69, especially, Sheehan explains that Buffon's 36-volume work, which had 54 [sicJ sight of. " its first volume published in 1749, compared animal sizes D umas Malone explained why the lanky minister to in the New World with quadrupeds from the Old World, France felt that Indians deserved fa ir treatment, "It was specifically Africa, to prove the defi ciency of the American species. Buffon said that some "combination of elements not merely in the name of scientific accuracy and simple and other physical causes" in the New World presented a justice that he spoke. H e also defended the honor of human flaw that made American animals smaller than the elephants, nature and challenged the doctrine of human inequality . ... hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses of the Old World. H e saw H e believed that the Indians were equal to white men in the Indian as an extension of America's inferior animal species 55 because his observations showed them to have smaller "organs native powers of mind and body." This belief in Indian of generation," a feeble sex-drive, dull physical senses and a equality with Euro-Americans formed the philosophical lack of love within their fa milies. underpinnings for Jefferson's commitment to fairness in 2 Julian P. Boyd, et al. , eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson America's dealings with natives. From his vantage point (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950-present), Vol. across the Atlantic in 1786, a policy of justice in interactions 8, pp. 185-186. A letter from the Marquis de Chastellux had arrived at Jefferson's Paris residence on June 2, 1785, and with Indians provided Am erica with its only chance to by June 7, Jefferson's schedule had finally afforded him an "recover their esteem."56 opportunity to respond. Chastellux, a French philosopher Jefferson's letters from France written between 1785 and and general who had fought with Rochambeau at Yorktown, 1789 show his philosophical sympathy for the American had written Jefferson in response to the Comte de Buffon's (George Louis Leclerc's) controversial work Histoire nature/le. Indian. The 19 letters discussed in this work illustrate Chastellux had queried Jefferson about the veracity of Leclerc's his intellectual infatuation with his country's aboriginal claims regarding the native population of the New World. For inhabitants. They reveal Jefferson's zeal for studying Indian a transcript of Chastellux's letter to Jefferson, see Boyd , et al., origins, languages and societal evolution; his desire for eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 8, pp. 174-175. ethical economic interaction with natives in the purchase of 3 Anthony F.C. Wallace, Jefferson and the Indians: The Tragic Fate of the First Americans (Cambridge, Massachusetts.: their lands; and his belief in their equality with whites, the Press, Belknap Press, 1999), p. 337. sacredness of their rights and the importance of justice in Jefferson's Second Inaugural Address, on March 5, 1805, set Indian-white relations. Though condemned by historians forth the tenets of his policy of Indian assimilation into white such as Wallace, Larson and Sheehan for his presidential society, which, after it fa iled, led to removal. He stated, "The aboriginal inhabitants of these countries I have regarded with policies of assimilation and removal that led to the Trail of the commiseration their history inspires. . . . The stream of Tears and the reservation system, a disgraceful genocidal overflowing population from other regions directed itself on period in American history, Jefferson's letters from France these shores .... They have been overwhelmed by the current. .. . Humanity enjoins us to teach them agriculture and the reveal another side of the paradoxical president that was, domestic arts; to encourage them to that industry which alone perhaps, lost in th e pressures of America's most weighty can enable them to maintain their place in existence, and to office. While the negative effects of his Indian policies prepare them in time for that state of society, which to bodily should not be excused, Jefferson's words from France, such comforts adds the improvement of mind and morals." This quote is contained in Paul L. Ford, ed., The Works of Thomas as his letter to Chastellux that championed Indians who Jefferson in Twelve Volumes, Federal Edition (New York: G. were "in mind and body equal to the whiteman," also merit P. Putnam's Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1905), Vol. 10, pp. inclusion in historians' dialogues about the complex puzzle 131-132. of the p ast. 57 ' Ibid., p. 11.

May 2010 We Proceeded On ~ 25 5 John Lauritz Larson, "Jefferson's Union and Internal 18 Ibid., Vol. 13, pp. 377-378. Improvements," in Peter S. Onuf, ed., Jeffersonian Legacies 19 Ibid., Vol. 15, p. 451. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993), p. 357. 20 Ibid., Vol. 8, pp. 185-186. 6 Joseph J. Ellis, American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), p. 201. 21 Ibid., Vol. 10, p. 59. 7 Sheehan, Seeds of Extinction, p. 12. Sheehan, Wallace and 22 Ibid., Vol. 11, pp. 92-93. Larson's works represent the majority of the historiography 23 Cunningham, In Pursuit of Reason, p. 134. of the early republic that blames Jefferson for willfully writing Indians out of America's pluralistic society. For example, on 24 Boyd, et al., Vol. 11, p. 49. page 276 of Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., In Pursuit of R eason: 25 Ibid., Vol. 10, pp. 288-289. The Life of Thomas Jefferson (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State 26 University Press, 1987), Cunningham writes of Jefferson's Ibid., Vol. 12, p. 426. This quote is from Jefferson's letter to belief that Indian culture must be destroyed to save Indians William Carmichael on December 15, 1787. from extinction. In Eilis's American Sphinx on page 201, he 27 S. Lyman Tyler, A History of Indian Policy (Washington, states that Jefferson's presidency fomented the "basic decisions D.C.: United States Department of the Interior, 1973), p. 34 . . .. that required the deportation of massive segments of the 28 Indian population to land west of the Mississippi." Steven William Howard Adams, The Paris Years of Thomas Jefferson Conn claims that Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana led to the (New Haven, Connecticut.: Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 52 Indian Removal Act of 1830 and that his "desultory policy and 267. Jefferson lived in this house, located in the Faubourg of civilization and assimilation culminated . . . in Andrew du Roule quarter of Paris, from August of 1785 until he Jackson's Trail of Tears" on page 4 of Steven Conn, History's returned to the United States in 1789. His study on the second Shadow: Native Americans and Historical Consciousness in floor served as his letter writing room. On page 267, Adams the Nineteenth Century (Chicago: University of Chicago said that Jefferson wrote "countless letters" there, whenever he Press, 2004). This essay does not seek to overturn the existing could "break away from the routine of diplomatic business." historiographical arguments regarding the ramifications of 29 Boyd, et al., Vol. 10, pp. 10 and 44.

Jefferson's Indian policy. It does, however, seek to illuminate 30 another dimension in the complicated Virginian's life that Ibid., Vol. 8, pp. 401-402. will contribute one more piece to the paradoxical puzzle of 31 Frederick Merk, History of the Western Movement (New Jefferson's life, thus making the picture clearer and allowing a York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), pp. 102-104. fuller telling of a complex historical tale. 32 Boyd, et al., Vol. 8, pp. 401 -402. 8 For a chronological list of all 19 letters discussed in this paper, 33 Ibid., Vol. 8, p. 482. see the sidebar on page 20. 34 Dumas Malone, Jefferson and His Time, 6 volumes (Boston: 9 E.M. Halliday, Understanding Thomas Jefferson (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1948-1982), Vol. 1, Jefferson the HarperCollins Publishers, 2001 ), p. 184. Virginian, pp. 412-413. 10 Boyd, et al., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 10, p. 316. 35 Boyd, et al., Vol. 8, p. 514. 11 The Constitution was completed on September 17, 1787, and 36 Ibid., Vol. 12, p. 426. Jefferson wrote to Thomson from France on September 20 of that year. 37 Ibid., Vol. 10, p. 287. 38 12 The Adena, Hopewell and Mississippian cultures of North Ibid., Vol. 10, p. 314. This quote is from Jefferson's letter to America represent some of the most advanced Eastern Thomas Barclay about the Creeks on August 31, 1786. During civilizations of the golden age of prehistory. The Adena 1786 and 1787, the Creeks, led by Alexander McGillivray, culture flourished between 1000 B.C. and 200 A.D., the waged war to drive out Georgians who had settled on land that Hopewell culture lasted from 200 B.C. to 700 A.D. and the had been ceded to them in treaties that the majority of Creeks Mississippian culture thrived from 700 A.D. to 1500 A.D. did not endorse. For more information on this period, see For more information on these prehistoric civilizations, see John Walton Caughey, McGillivray of the Creeks (Norman: Charles H. McNutt, Prehistory ofthe Central Mississippi Valley University of Oklahoma Press, 1938), pp. 29-33 . (Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1996) and Ron 39 Boyd, et al., Vol. 10, p. 287. W Dragoo, "Mounds for the Dead: An Analysis of the Adena 40 Culture," Annals of Carnegie Museum (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Ibid., Vol. 10, p. 314. Museum, 1963). 41 Ibid., Vol. 8, pp. 185-186. 13 Boyd, et al., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 12, p. 159. 42 Ellis, American Sphinx, p. 201. 14 Sheehan, Seeds of Extinction, p. 46. 43 Winthrop D. Jordan, White over Black: American Attitudes 15 Ibid., p. 55. toward the Negro, 15 50-1812 (Kingsport: Kingsport Tennessee Press, 1968), pp. 477-478. 16 A mob of angry Parisians stormed the Bastille in protest of King Louis XVI's oppressive policies onJuly 14, 1789. Jefferson 44 Boyd, et al., Vol. 10, p. 44. This phrase is from Jefferson's wrote his letter to Madison on January 12, 1789. June 22, 1786, observation on Demeunier's manuscript. 17 Boyd, et al., Vol. 14, p. 436. 45 The ordinance stated, "The utmost good faith shall always

26 - We Proceeded On May 2010 This 1872 painting by John Gast was described by George Crofutt, who widely distributed his own engraving of it, in the following way: "A di­ aphanously and precariously clad American floats westwards through the air with the "star of empire" on her forehead. She has left the cities of the East behind, and the wide Mississippi, and still her course is westward. In her right hand she carries a school book-testomonial of the enlightenment, while with her left she trails the slender wires of the telegraph that will bind the nation. Fleeing her approach are Indians, buf­ falo, wild horses, bears and other game, disappearing into the storm and waves of the Pacific Coast. They flee the wonderous vision-'the star is too much for them."' be observed towards the Indians, their lands and property 52 Ibid. Vol. 10, p. 240. shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in 53 In letters to William Stephens Smith, secretary of legation their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded for John Adams in England, and Carmichael (quoted in Boyd, or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by et al., Vol. 10, pp. 620 and 633-634, respectively), Jefferson Congress." For more information on the Northwest Ordinance, emphasized his disgust for making Indians fear the United see Tyler, A H istory of Indian Policy, p. 34. States through acts of violence. He told Smith, "I hope ... that 46 Tyler, A History of Indian Policy, p. 36. troops will not be necessary, and that the good sense of the 47 Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of people will be found the best army." Carmichael read similar Independence (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), p. 236. This advice from his counterpart in France. "I am satisfied the good quotation is from Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration sense of the people is the strongest army our governments can of Independence, prior to Congress's changes (i.e. striking out ever have, and that it will not fail them." "inherent and" and inserting "certain" before "inalienable"). 54 Boyd, et al., Vol. 10, p. 240. 48 Boyd, et al., Vol. 10, p. 240. 55 Malone, Jefferson and His Time, Vol. 2, Jefferson and the 49 Ibid., Vol. 9, p. 641. Rights of Man, p. 101. 50 Ibid., Vol. 10, p. 240. 56 Boyd, et al., Vol. 10, p. 240. 51 Ibid., Vol. 9, p. 641. 57 Ibid., Vol. 8, p. 186.

May 2010 We Proceeded On - 27 THE STRUGGLE FOR FRENCH IDENTITY ON THE FRONTIER

Lewis and Clark learned the importance of the Francophones to the fur trade during the Mandan winter of 1804-1805

BY CLIFFORD STRIEBY

reat Britain's victory over France in the Seven rule in Canada. That year, Chaboillez had a surplus of Years' War, the colonial defeat of Britain in men and goods on the Assiniboine River and sent them G the American Revolution and the United to the upper Missouri under the leadership of Larocque States' purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France to try to turn a profit.1 On November 24th the group diminished the historical role of the French after their arrived at the Hidatsa2 villages where they encamped. political exclusion from North America. People of French Here they found four rival traders from the Hudson's ancestry, however, played a vital role in the events ofNorth Bay Company (HBC) and perhaps representatives from American history. As their mother country lost all her various smaller companies also were present. Among the North American possessions, American Francophones HBC traders was a man named Budge, whose extensive became citizens without a nation. A careful analysis of knowledge of Indian languages posed a formidable chal­ the accounts left by the Northwest Company and Lewis lenge to Larocque's winter trade plans. To overcome this, and Clark reveals that French people living in the United Larocque sought out Toussaint Charbonneau, an inter­ States and British Canada used the fur trade to establish preter who previously had been employed by the North­ a unique identity for themselves, which enabled them to west Company. Upon inquiring about Charbonneau's move easily between the two nations. whereabouts, Larocque learned that he had been engaged Fran~ois-Antoine Larocque left Fort Assiniboine on by an American party and was at the Mandan villages November 11, 1804, with his clerk, Charles McKenzie, nearby. The American group was the Corps of Discov­ and five other men to trade among the Mandan and Hi­ ery, led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William datsa Indians on the northern Missouri River. Their em­ Clark. This was the moment that Larocque first learned ployer, Charles Chaboillez, was a partner in the North­ of an American party at the villages and it is not known if west Company, a fur trade enterprise run under British he immediately understood the significance of their pres- 28 - We Proceeded On May 2010 The Mandan I ived in well-organized villages of earth lodges clustered along the banks of the Missouri River. Each lodge housed up to three dozen people, usually groups of adult sisters with their families. Women owned the contents of the lodges, just as they controlled the produce of their gardens. Men held sway over public spaces and dominated political leadership and were responsible for hunting and for protecting the village from intruders. Although this view of a Mandan village was executed in 1833, a generation after Lewis and Clark visited the upper Missouri River, it captures a scene that closely matches the explorers' descriptions. ence. Since he needed the services of an interpreter, he set the numerical preponderance of the French in the out to find the Americans and obtain permission to use West, myths and romantic stereotypes of trappers have Charbonneau in his trade with the Indians.3 persuaded well-known historians that mountain men Larocque and McKenzie left very detailed records were American frontiersmen. "6 of their interactions with Native Americans including The process whereby people of French ancestry account books, notes and observations related to Indian came to live under the flags of other nations warrants cultures on the upper Missouri. Similarly, Lewis and Clark mention. As the Seven Years' War drew to a close, France and several of their men, namely Joseph Whitehouse, ceded Louisiana to Spain through a secret treaty in 1762 John Ordway and Patrick Gass, recorded observations because officials were beginning to see that defeat was of their interactions with the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, imminent and they wanted to protect French interests Sioux and Assiniboine Indians. in North America. The following year, Britain gained The important role Frenchmen played in U.S. control of Canada in the Treaty of Paris. It was not until borderlands and the fur trade largely has been ignored in 1800, in the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso that Spain historical studies.4 According to LeRoy R. Hafen, "A fur returned Louisiana to France. Having lost his footing in trade conducted almost exclusively by Anglo-Americans Saint-Domingue (Haiti) and in need of money to fight is assumed in the works of ... Frederick Merk, History the British, Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory to the of the Westward Movement; William H. Goetzmann, United States for $15 million in 1803.7 Exploration and Empire; and Bernard De Voto, Across The British also expelled the Acadians from Canada. the Wide Missouri. "5 Several of the great writers of the Hafen wrote, "Following the French and Indian War American West have omitted French contributions. One there came to ... [St. Louis] ... from Canada and the of the few exceptions was Hafen, who wrote, "Despite Illinois region, other such Frenchmen as the Robidoux,

May 2010 We Proceeded On ~ 29 Pap ins, Sarpys, Cerres, and Gratiots. "8 They fled from Yet, common misconceptions of the French in America Canada to the Mississippi River valley, a territory often contributed to their struggle for identity. In 1800 controlled by Spain, a French ally. They may have fled in North America, French people often were disliked there with the belief that these lands would one day return due to stereotyping that characterized them as lazy, in- to French possession or dolent and cowardly. That to congregate with other 1 these views held little truth Frenchmen who were did not matter; they shaped already there. the American perception of After Jefferson pur­ French citizens for years to chased Louisiana, ceremo­ come. Sergeant Patrick Gass's nies, including those in journal included several N ewOrleans and St. Louis, disparaging remarks about facilitated the transfer of people of French ancestry. the territory from Spanish, "It may be observed gener­ to French, to American ally that chastity is not very possession. France des­ highly esteemed by these ignated Captain Amos people, and that the severe Stoddard of the United and loathsome effects of cer­ States Army to act as its tain French principles are not proxy in the proceedings. uncommon among them."12 Shirley Christian wrote, Gabriel Franchere also wrote "Although the French of the prejudice with which of St. Louis had received the American public viewed the Americans with great Frenchmen. He corrected cordiality, they quietly misconceptions by arguing regretted the missed op­ that "St. Louis even contained portunity to reclaim their its noble, industrious, and ... own nationality." 9 Word princely merchants ... [such that France had reclaimed as] its Chouteaus, Soulards, the territory came just be­ Cere, Cheniers, Vallees, and fore news that the United La Croix ... the leading busi- States had purchased it, al­ ness men ... " 13 Such ideas This painting shows the ceremony in which the United States took lowing a glimmer of hope to possession of the upper part of the Louisiana Purchase. In the back­ reinforced the claim that the be kindled and immediately ground the flag of Spain, to which Louisiana belonged from 1763 to French were without a coun­ 1801, had been lowered to allow the French to salute their tri-color, put out. The transfer cere­ which had not been formally flown in St. Louis because Napoleon try. In many instances they mony was an emotional one had not organized that part of Louisiana during the two years he nom­ remained nameless and were inally had possession of it. The flag of France, in turn, was lowered for French-born residents to make way for the Stars and Stripes. Captain Amos Stoddard, U.S. referred to in records only who knew they would be commandant, and Meriwether Lewis stand at attention as the flag is as "Frenchmen." Sergeant seeing their flag wave over raised amid the beating of drums. Charles Floyd employed the their land for the last time. Stoddard received the terri- derogatory term "half breed" to refer to those of mixed tory from the Spanish Lieutenant Governor and then French and Indian ancestry. "deferring to French sentiment ... allowed the Tricolor However, not all French stereotypes were negative to fly over St. Louis for twenty-four hours before raising and the French used those that cast them in a more the flag of the United States."10 positive light to their advantage. In a letter to Clark dated After the transfer of power, French Americans re­ September 28, 1803, Lewis wrote that "4 or five french tained much of their culture. Many people collected water-men" would "be esscential [sic]."14 Frenchmen paintings or other memorabilia of Napoleon to display were admired and hired for their abilities as river men. in their homes. When Lafayette toured America in 1824- Lewis and Clark hired seven Frenchmen to assist them 1825, he was mobbed in St. Louis by cheering citizens.11 in reaching the Mandan villages. Much of the fur trade

30 - We Proceeded On May 2010 occurred along river systems and skilled boatmen were The relations between Lewis and Clark, Larocque and highly valued within the fur trade. McKenzie during the winter of 1804-1805 provide a basis The Lewis and Clark Expedition consisted of enlisted for analyzing the manner in which the French overcame men, French boatmen, civilians, interpreters, hunters, their loss of national identity. They created a new identity York, and Captains Lewis and Clark. The expedition for themselves as businessmen, interpreters and boatmen officially left Camp River Dubois on May 14, 1804, and in the fur trade. arrived at the Mandan villages on October 27, 1804. Larocque's first meeting with Lewis and Clark occurred Lewis and Clark obtained a passport from Great Britain when he was en route to the Mandan villages (probably indicating that the expedition's purpose was a scientific to secure the services of Charbonneau). During this inquiry and that British subjects they met should not meeting the Americans questioned Larocque about the hinder them in any way and should render all services actions of Jean Baptiste Lafrance, a Northwest Company they needed to further the voyage.15 This statement was trader. Prior to this meeting, the Americans had been clearly calculated to suppress fears the British may have forced to quell rumors spread among the Hidatsas by held of American interference in the upper Missouri fur the Mandans that the Americans intended to join forces trade. Interestingly, this passport also was translated into with the Sioux and cut off trade with the Hidatsa for the French because, according to historian Donald Jackson, winter. Immediately afterward the Americans learned "the British subjects he was most likely to meet would that Lafrance was circulating similar rumors. Lewis and have been French-speaking traders from Canada."16 Clark took pains to inform Larocque and McKenzie of Of greater interest is the French passport Jefferson Lafrance's actions and the consequences if he continued.20 sought from Louis Andre Pichon. Pichon agreed to issue It may have worked since no other incident was ever one and used the British passport as a template.17 The mentioned. areas that the expedition would pass through were filled Lafrance used a tactic often utilized by Indians with people of French ancestry. That they had a French caught between the United States and Great Britain. passport reveals the influence of French traders and their Indians played European powers against one another in importance to the upper Missouri fur trade. Perhaps more order to survive. During the winter of 1804-1805, the important was Jefferson's desire to respect the ongoing Hidatsas kept the Americans out of their villages while negotiations for the purchase of the Louisiana Territory the Mandans secured a monopoly on American trade. from France. Larocque's journal recounts his fear that the Assiniboines The British and French passports emphasized that the tried to prevent him from leaving the Assiniboine River. purpose of the expedition was primarily scientific, but A November 20, 1804, journal entry describes the tribe's that was a ruse. The U.S. government never intended "fixd determination, to prevent as much as they Can, any this expedition to be solely scientific. President Thomas Communication, between their traders & the Missouri Jefferson's instructions to Lewis informed him that he was Indians; as they wish to engross that trade themselves."21 to gather information concerning "commerce which may On another occasion in 1805, when Larocque was traveling be carried on with the people inhabiting the line you will to the Yellowstone area, some Indians tried to discourage pursue ... " Scientific observations about flora and fauna him from proceeding on to the Yellowstone by saying that are referred to later in the letter and are designated as the Arikara and the Cheyenne were on the warpath and "Other objects worthy of notice." He further instructed also made disparaging remarks about the Indians of the Lewis to show the Indians the" commercial dispositions of Rocky Mountains, which Larocque found to be false.22 the U. S."18 Lewis and Clark's main purpose was to gather Larocque did not preserve a record of his first meeting information for future trading opportunities. Jefferson's with Meriwether Lewis but noted thathe spoke with Lewis designation of those Lewis may need to show the for fifteen minutes and was invited to the American fort. passports informed him that the French passport would He must have located Toussaint Charbonneau because on protect him with subjects of France and that the British November 27, 1804, Larocque approached Charbonneau one would assist in his acquiring aid from "any traders about assisting him. Charbonneau declined, saying that of that allegiance." 19 Jefferson referred to these men as the Americans had already engaged his services and he traders under British rule. Jefferson recognized that these could not go without leave from his employers. He then traders did not consider themselves British or American asked Larocque to speak with Lewis on the matter. Lewis subjects; they considered themselves Frenchmen. agreed on certain conditions and gave Charbonneau

May 2010 We Proceeded On - 31 leave.23 Larocque was a pragmatist; he was ever ready to not point north. Meriwether Lewis spent an entire day adapt his approach to the situation at hand. repairing and cleaning the device.29 On November 28-29, an exchange occurred between During their first meeting together, Larocque learned the captains and Larocque that revealed the latter's the details of the Americans' plans and, his interest in the opportunistic nature. Mandan Chief Black Cat informed West grew. Larocque's initial interest specifically was to Lewis and Clark that Larocque was distributing British gain the services of a much-needed interpreter. After this flags and medals to the Indians. One of the purposes of meeting, however, it appears Larocque took an interest Lewis and Clark's expedition was to communicate the in the American enterprise because he requested to United States' sovereignty over the Indian tribes in the accompany them to the Pacific. In December he received newly acquired land. The American captains distributed his answer. They refused to allow a British subject to gain tokens of sovereignty such as flags, military uniforms and first-hand experience in the newly acquired territory. It medals bearing the image of Thomas Jefferson to Indians. is unlikely that Larocque wished to go in order to help Lewis and Clark could not allow a representative of a secure Britain's footing and more probable that he wanted rival nation to engage in this same practice on American to seek trade opportunities. Larocque was undeterred and soil. Lewis and Clark told the Indian leaders that "those left on his own expedition to the Yellowstone country in Simbells were not to be recved by any from them [the the summer of 1805, having been ordered to do so by NWC traders]" and that doing so would bring the Charles Chaboillez. "displieasure of their Great American Father."24 Larocque's account of the Americans' plans betrays The Americans confronted Larocque the following day. his interest in the West, its potential for trade and "[W]e informed him that we had herd of his intentions reveals information regarding his self-conceived identity. of makeing Chiefs &c. and forbid him to give meadals Larocque wrote that the main purpose of the American or flags to the Indians ... "25 They also informed him of expedition was to explore "the N . W. Countries ... so their reasoning, according to Larocque, telling him that as to settle the Boundary Line between the British & the United States government "look'd upon those things, American territories. "30 His reference to them as British as Sacred Emblem of the attachment of the Indians to and American territories made him sound more like an their Country." Larocque responded that he "had neither outsider than a loyal British subject. He further indicated Flags, nor medals" and further assured them that he had that the expedition was to inform the Indians of the new no intentions of distributing such.26 It is unclear whether American government. Interestingly, he never mentions Larocque was distributing medals among the Indians. 27 scientific exploration as a motive. This is odd since they Lewis and Clark still considered Larocque a threat. showed Larocque the passports they had been issued After warning Larocque about giving flags and medals to that listed scientific observation as a main purpose of the the Indians, the Americans gave Charbonneau leave to go expedition. Either Larocque saw through this ruse and with him, but first ordered Charbonneau "not to utter a understood the actual purpose or the Americans were word, which might ... be to the prejudice of the United very candid when they spoke to him. Whatever the case, States or of its Citizens to the Indians ... "even if Larocque he saw the expedition for what it was-a commercial ordered him to do so. Their concern was predictable. venture. They also assured Larocque that it was not Their purpose was to establish peaceful relations with the the United States' intention "to Restrain Commerce & Indians on behalf of the United States and to that point, fetter it, as was the Case when Louisiana belonged to Larocque and his men had given the Americans reason to the Spanish."3 1 Foreigners would be allowed to trade on believe they intended to disrupt their efforts. Throughout American soil and would not have to pay for this right. the course of the winter, however, amiable relations This may have strengthened his aspirations to take his prevailed. Both sides treated each other with respect and career west. Lewis and Clark also informed Larocque performed several acts of service toward one another. of American intentions to establish trading houses Upon hearing that Larocque feared his horses would be or factories in the areas they explored. Larocque was stolen, Lewis and Clark offered to care for them with their skeptical, writing that "a very Grand Plan was schemed, own horses. On January 26th, Charbonneau, who had but its taking place is more than I can tell. "32 been with Larocque, brought three NWC-owned horses Larocque may have been skeptical, but he was to the American fort.28 On another occasion, Larocque also an opportunist. Certainly this talk of trade in the went to the American camp with a compass that would interior must have appealed to his senses as a fur trader.

32 - We Proceeded On May 2010 Charbonneau moved easily and independently throughout the fur trade and between the British and American worlds, carving out an identity for himself and ensuring employment at every turn. The information he obtained in this meeting may well did not intend to interfere with trade in the area. Lewis have inspired Chaboillez to send Larocque on his own related his expectation that the British subjects in the area expedition to the Yellowstone River in 1805. After this would treat the Americans with hospitality and promised meeting, Larocque and his clerk, Charles McKenzie, that Lewis's men would offer the same in return. Most made regular trips to the American fort. Patrick Gass importantly, he informed Chaboillez of U.S. policy to indicated that the "object of the visits we received from allow foreign companies to trade on American soil. 34 the N. W. Company, was to ascertain our motives for Hugh Heney's arrival from the NWC establishment visiting that country, and to gain information with respect on the Assiniboine brought a change in plans. He to the change in government. "33 brought a response to Lewis along with instructions from Another event occurred in mid-December that Chaboillez to Fran\:ois Larocque. Larocque's original illustrates French adaptation in the fur trade. Lewis plan was to remain in the area trading with the Indians had written Chaboillez a letter in late October making and returning to Fort Assiniboine. Heney brought new known the American presence on the upper Missouri orders from Chaboillez that Larocque should remain for and assuring Chaboillez that the Corps of Discovery the duration of the winter.35

May 2010 We Proceeded On - 33 Heney's visit to Fort Mandan was significant. He Chuses to Carrye." These terms were unacceptable to the delivered the letter from Chaboillez in which the NWC Americans and Charbonneau withdrew.38 Charbonneau leader expressed his desire to assist Lewis and Clark in intended to visit the Gros Ventres camp, which was also any way. Heney was able to provide the Americans with the location of the NWC men across the river and farther helpful information regarding the headwaters of the upstream. Charbonneau did cross the river indicating Mississippi. So impressed were the Americans that during that he may have intended to seek employment with their return from the Pacific they sent a letter to Heney Larocque and his men. Whatever the case, no harm was offering him work. Due to Heney's good relations with done to the expedition; through negotiation he was the Sioux, they requested that he bring any Sioux chiefs retained according to the agreement.39 willing to travel to Washington City to the Missouri River Although Charbonneau eventually honored his so that the corps could pick them up on their return. engagement with the Americans, his decision to leave Clark told Heney of potential sites for American trading reveals his ability to move from American to British houses and offered Heney a position in one.36 Heney had employment and back again at his discretion. Since he been employed by the NWC, and Clark's offer shows held no loyalty to the United States or Great Britain, he the relative ease with which one could move from one felt free to move from the employ of one to the other. employer to another. Although the letter never reached Charbonneau's loyalty, like that of many in similar Heney, it revealed that Heney and others could move positions, was to whichever company provided the most easily between the British and American worlds and the agreeable terms. fur trade made it possible. The Americans and NWC men departed in April of Charbonneau's mobility within the fur trade is illus­ 1805. The Lewis and Clark Expedition proceeded toward trated by his simultaneous employment by two competing the Rockies and Larocque and McKenzie left for Fort entities. Lewis stated that he had little use for him during Assiniboine to report to Chaboillez. The last significant the winter and was willing to offer Charbonneau's services interaction between the two came on April 3rd when to the Frenchman. Larocque's narrative detailed his ex­ Larocque and McKenzie came to the Americans to receive ploits in trying to compete with Budge, the Hudson's Bay compensation for one of McKenzie's horses that had Company trader. Charbonneau was key to these efforts been stolen by the Teton Sioux while in the Americans' and used his position to his advantage. He was able to play possession.40 several roles, interpreting for Lewis and Clark throughout Records detailing the Mandan winter describe activities the winter while interpreting for Larocque and trading his of French traders and interpreters in the fur trade. When own furs to the NWC. this information is considered with other records of the Like many French interpreters, boatmen and traders, fur trade, the importance of the French to the trade is Charbonneau acted independently. He previously had revealed. been employed by the NWC and now was a civilian St. Louis was home to several merchants who gained employee of the U.S. Army. On March 12th, shortly before favor in the United States by exploiting the fur trade. Lewis and Clark's departure, Charbonneau decided not Most famous among these was the Chouteau family. The to accompany the Americans to the Pacific. The American Chouteau family reacted pragmatically to Americans in captains suspected that the NWC traders with whom he order to further their economic stature in the country. had been associating that winter had convinced him not So influential was this family that when the government to go. The previous day Clark had written, "We have changed from Spanish to American, the previous every reason to believe that our Menetarre interpeter ... Spanish authorities recommended the family to U.S. has been Corupted by the [NWC] Companeys &c. Some representatives as the town's leaders. The influence that explenation has taken place which Clearly proves to us the Chouteaus had gained through the fur trade allowed this fact. "37 It remains unclear whether or not Larocque them to maintain that influence even when national influenced Charbonneau in this matter. Records indicate sovereigns changed. They exerted significant control that it was the terms of his contract with the Americans over the fur trade into the 1840s. In a letter from Lewis that discouraged him from continuing. Clark wrote that to William Preston, Lewis described Peter Chouteau Charbonneau did not want to work or stand guard and as "a Gentleman deservedly Considered, among the "if miffed with any man he wishes to return when he most respectable and influential Citizens of Upper pleases, also have the disposial of as much provisions as he Louisiana. "41

34 - We Proceeded On May 2010 Gabriel Franchere, the son of a Montreal merchant, fear of attack by aggressive neighboring tribes. The became the agent at Sault Sainte Marie for John Jacob Mandans endured harassment from the Assiniboine and Astor's American Fur Company. Franchere is an excellent Sioux because retaliation would have caused those tribes example of those who were able to play both sides for their to prevent traders from "bringing you Guns Powder & personal benefit. He had a certain loyalty to the United Ball." Trade with Americans, however, would allow them States, "his adopted country"42 and even disparaged the to fight back and "not Suffer any nation to insult you."46 NWC (which had tried to obtain his services) for sending Talk such as this appealed to the Indians and was not lost British war ships to the Pacific Northwest during the War on the French traders who became increasingly involved of 1812.43 There is evidence to suggest that Franchere in the American fur trade. became a senior leader in the American Fur Company. Despite the American policy of allowing foreign His loyalty to his company and the United States traders, competition would be difficult to overcome. "On remained limited. He still held attachments to his former the heels of American possession of the river, the trickle country and founded the Society of St. John the Baptiste of traders up the Missouri became a flood, so that by 1818 to preserve the French language among the thousands of the trade from Canada was overwhelmed by establishing emigres in the United States. Franchere's the international boundary and the participation in the fur trade allowed influx of American traders."47 As the fur him to become a prominent U.S. citizen. I trade shifted to the Rocky Mountains

He created an identity for himself as a 111 during the 1820s, the French were ready successful trader and leader among the ~ and willing to adapt. LeRoy Hafen 0 French in North America.44 Men like ! wrote of the French participation during Larocque, Charbonneau, Chouteau and i this period, "The ratio of 'Frenchmen' Franchere represent a small sample of ii to Americans in the fur trade of the French-speaking Americans and British ·1 United States was not one to four but subjects who used the fur trade to carve i four to one."48 Participation during the out an identity for themselves. ~ Rocky Mountain era furthered French Competition for the Indian trade ~< fortunes such as that of the Chouteaus drew these men to the Missouri I in St. Louis and brought several French River in the first place. International " trappers to settle areas in New Mexico49 French Canadian Gabriel Franchere competition allowed Frenchmen such (1786-1863) explored the Pacific North­ and the "French Prairie in the Willamette as Charbonneau and Larocque to move west and authored Narrative of a Voy­ Valley."50 easily from one side to another. Lewis age to the Northwest Coast of America. The Mandan winter narrative presents and Clark's participation in the Indian trade was limited a small portion of the story of French participation in and in most instances the exchange was not for furs, but North American history after the early 1800s. Countless for food. The American blacksmiths were well liked by sources exist that reveal their place in discussions of U.S. the Indians on the upper Missouri and they exchanged and British history. Further analysis of the encounters their services for corn and other necessities. In addition, between Lewis and Clark and the NWC shows that Lewis and Clark presented Indian leaders with tokens while the French may have been subjected to either U.S. such as medals to represent U.S. sovereignty, but they or British authority, they did not allow this to become had a greater interest in the potential for trade than in their defining characteristic. After the loss of their parent extensively participating in it at that time. country, the French in North America used the fur trade Lewis and Clark were perceived by the Canadians to create a new identity, not as Americans or British, but traders as a threat to their interests. The Indians were as traders and businessmen who dominated the fur trade enthusiastic about trade prospects with the Americans. of North America. On one occasion while stopping to trade with Indians along the Missouri, Joseph Whitehouse commented that Clifford Strieby received his bachelor's degree in history when the articles for trade were opened, the Indians "Said from Brigham Young University in 2009. H is future plans as long as the french had traded with [them] the[y] Never are to attend graduate school and to focus on French America Gave them as much as a Knife for Nothing." 45 At the and the important role people of French ancestry played in Mandan camps, the Americans appealed to the Indians' shaping the history of the American West.

May 2010 We Proceeded On - 35 26 NOTES Larocque, "Missouri Journal," pp. 138-1 40. 1 Charles McKenzie, "Charles McKenzie's N arratives," W 27 The significance of this event is explained in Larocque's Raymond Wood and Thomas D. Theissen, eds., Early Fur "Yellowstone Journal" from the summer of 1805. During his Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders Among the expedition to the Yellowstone country, he met with several Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738-1818 (Norman: University Indians in the area. While giving a speech to one of the tribes, of O klahoma Press, 1985), p. 229. he referred to the NWC Governor Charles Chaboillez as the 2 They also are referred to as Gros Ventres, Big Bellies and owner of che peace pipe presented to their nation. In effect, Minitaris. he formed an alliance between the Indians and the NWC. He related further that he "clothed the Chief of the Ererokas ... 3 Frarn;ois-Antoine Larocque, "Missouri Journal," in Wood [with officer's clothing] ... and gave him a flag and a wampoon and Thiessen, eds., Early Fur 11·ade on the Northern Plains, pp. belt .. . " Finally he told them that the chief of the whites 136-137 and 144. wanted to make them all his children. Laroque, "Yellowstone 4 The term "French" here refers to those of French-Canadian, Journal," pp. 171-172. Larocque's intentions were to facilitate Metfs or Creole ancestry. trade between the Indians and the NWC and to present himself 5 LeRoy R. Hafen, ed., French Fur Traders and Voyageurs in the as their liaison. In this same speech, Larocque informed the American West: Twenty-five Biographical Sketches (Spokane: Indians that they likely would see whites other than his group Arthur H. Clarke Company, 1995), p. 12 . and from a different area, and they were not to harm them. His 6 Ibid. effort to protect Lewis and Clark discredits any notion that he was acting as a nationalist in support of British claims, but his 7 Robert V H ine and John Mack Faracher, The American West: A New Interpretive History (New Haven: Yale University reference to Chaboillez as chief of the whites and his gift of a Press, 2000), p. 136. flag does reveal that he was willing to break his word to Lewis and Clark to further his commercial interests. 8 LeRoy R. H afen, ed., Mountain Men and the Fur Trade ofthe 28 Larocque, "Missouri Journal," pp. 149-1S O. Far West, 10 volumes (Glendale: Arthur H. Clarke Company, 29 1965), Vol. 1, p. 35. Ibid., p. 151 30 Ibid., pp. 138-140. 9 Shirley Christian, Before Lewis and Clark: The Story of the 31 Chouteaus, the French Dynasty That Ruled America's Frontier Ibid. Under Spanish rule foreigners were forbidden to trade (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004 ), p. 15. on the upper Missouri. Several Spanish expeditions were sent out to enforce this policy and tried to intercept Lewis and 10 Ibid., p. 16. Clark. H Stan Hoig, The Chouteaus: First Family of the Fur Trade 32 Ibid. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2008), p. 33 163. Gass, Gass'sJournal, p. 61. 34 Jackson, Letters, Vol. 1, p. 213, Meriwether Lewis and William 12 Patrick Gass, Gass's Journal ofthe Lewis and Clark Expedition Clark to Charles Chaboillez. (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1904), p. 72. 35 Larocque, "Missouri Journal," p. 142. 13 Gabriel Franchere, A Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America (New York: The Citadel Press, 1968), pp. 286-287. 36 Jackson, Letters, Vol. 1, p. 309, Clark to Hugh Heney. 37 14 Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Moulton, Journals, Vol. 3, p. 312, Clark's entry for March Expedition with Related Documents, 1783-1854, 2 volumes 11 , 1805. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), Vol. 1, p. 125, 38 Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 313, Clark's entry for March 12, 1805. Meriwether Lewis to William Clark, September 28, 1803. 39 Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 316, Clark's entry for March 17, 1805. 15 Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 19, Edward Thornton, "Lewis's British 40 Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 329, Clark's entry for April 3, 1805. Passport." 41 Jackson, Letters, Vol. 1, p. 179, Lewis to William Preston. 16 Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 20, note. 42 Franchere, Voyage, p. xx. 17 Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 22, Louis Andre Pichon to French Minister 43 Ibid., p. 144. of Foreign Affairs. 44 Ibid., p. xx. 18 Ibid., Vol. 1, pp. 61-65,Jefferson's Instructions to Lewis. 45 Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804- 1806, microform, printed from the original manuscripts 19 Ibid, Vol. 1, p. 61. together with manuscript material of Lewis and Clark from 20 Gary E. Moulton, ed., The j ournals of the Lewis & Clark other sources, including notebooks, letters, maps and the Expedition, 13 volumes (Lincoln: University of Nebraska journals of Charles Floyd and Joseph Whitehouse, H arold Press, 1983-2001), Vol. 3, p. 241, Clark's entry for November B. Lee Library (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1904- 27, 1804. 1905), text-fiche, pp. 47-48. 21 Larocque, "Missouri Journal," p. 135. 46 Moulton,]ournals, Vol. 3, p. 247, Clark's entry for November 22 Fran~ois-Antoine Larocque, "Yellowstone Journal," in Wood 30, 1804. and Thiessen, eds., Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains, p. 47 Raymond W Wood, Prologue to Lewis and Clark: The 165. Mackay and Evans Expedition (Norman: University of 23 Ibid., p. 137. Oklahoma Press, 1998), pp. 20-21. 24 Moulton, Vol. 3, p. 242, Clark's entry for November 28, 48 Hafen, French Fur Traders, p. 11. 1804. 49 Ibid., p. 16. 25 Ibid.,Vol. 3, p. 242, Clark's entry for November 29, 1804. so Ibid., p. 10.

36 ~ We Proceeded On May 2010 Lewis a11tf Cfar~ ~ Trail Heritage Foundation l_flJ Two great ways to explore the Trail! MISSOURI RIVER EXPEDITIONS: RIVER.. DA.NCE LOD(;E Grab a paddle and IDAHO'S OUTD OO R ADVE N TUR E RESOR T board one of ROW's 34' Canoes to travel the The ideal location for exploring the Historic Lola waters that Lewis & Clark and Nez Perce Trail. Located along US Hwy. 12 on the paddled nearly 200 years ago, Clearwater River 2 112 hours west of Missoula, Montana. hiking and exploring along the wayV-. The resort offers 8 hand-crafted log cabins with private ------l hot tubs and spectacular views. Enjoy fine dining and ROW provides all equipment, professional guides, a superb wine list at the Syringa Cafe. Bring your family gourmet dining and a luxury camping experience. or friends to explore the Trail or go on one of our whitewater rafting or gentle float trips. There's also Over 1200 people, ages 5 to 87 have enjoyed this trip! hiking, fishing, biking and more! "71ie expal Jrdp ofROW~ strong, young ca11oeists w110 prepared our camps and doubled as cooks extraordi11aire made the Irie as enjoyable as ii w11s easy. -Gary Moulton, Editor, Lewis & Clark Journals, University of Nebraska Press. a::-"""""" www.RiverDancelodge.com www.ROWadventures.com Its hard to know what to do \ • For a free brochure about River Dance Lodge, Missouri River trips, ROW's whitewater rafting trips, as well as international adventures with your money these days. .,. ., including history-oriented yacht cruises in Croatia, Turkey or A v E N r u R E s Greece, barging in France and more, cal/ 800•451 •6034. Why not take control 0 PO Box 579-WP, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816 • E-mail: info@ROWadventu res.com ofyour costs and put your money to your advantage by investing in afuture with a lifetime membership? Advertise your product in WPO

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May 2010 We Proceeded On - 37 Dispatches ALewis and Clark dispatch from Fort Mandan made its way to Boston in 1805

The following newspaper article was transcribed and submitted by Foundation member Michael Carrick of Turne r, Oregon.

BOSTON COURIER July 18, 1805

rom Lexington, KY, June 18, 1805 FThe party of discovery, under the command of Captain Lewis and Clark, left the mouth of the Missouri, on the 19th [sic] day of May 1804. An express with dispatches from their winter quarters, which left them the l 4'h April, has returned to St. Louis. By the express, letters were received from Captain Clark to cedar, which, with the cotton and a West Company, and the Hudson bay his correspondents in Kentucky. A few small black ash trees, is the only company; which supplies come to gentleman from Jefferson county, has timber described to be in that country. them by the way of Lake Winnepeck. obligingly favored the Editor of the - From the height, there is not a tree The Mandanes cultivate corn, which is Kentucky Gazette with the following or twig to be seen, as far as the height of a small kind, from whom the party account, which he obtained from one can extend, or as they have explored. was supplied during the winter, and of the men who returned with the Out from the river the land goes off their hunters kept them in abundance express, and from letters from some of perfectly level, with but few exceptions of meat. the party. - They fortified themselves - and their plains covered with grass. Buffaloes are said to be in great in November last, on the bank of the They passed the mouths of a number numbers, and of large size - Two Missouri, 1609 miles from the mouth, of streams, the most of which had description of deer are described; by actual measurement, in latitude 47, names given by the French - One those resembling the common kind 21, North; called then Fort Mandane, they have named Floyd's river, to of this country being larger, and the after a nation of Indians who reside in perpetuate the name of a young man, tails 18 inches long, and the hair much the neighborhood, and who have been of their party, named Charles Floyd, longer on the bodies; the other kind very friendly to them. - On their who died much regretted on the 20'h having a black tail. Elks and goats are passage up, they were delighted with August. They represent the Indians numerous. The grouse, or praire hen the beautiful appearance of the country to have been friendly, with but a few are in plenty; and before the closing for about 200 leagues, or to the mouth exceptions. The Soux are the most of the river in the fall, water fowls of the river La Plate, which comes in numerous, are organized in bands in abundance. Fish scarce, and those from the South; after which, to their bearing different names, move about principally of the cat kind. Some of the winter quarters, it is described not to from place to place, from the banks of white bear-skins, had been brought be so fertile. The person who brought the river out to the plains, in pursuit to the fort by visiting Indians from the dispatches, speaks of the opening of game and plunder having no fixed higher up; but the party had seen none made by the river, being about one place of residence, and in a continual of those animals. The Indians keep mile wide with high cliffs on each side. state of warfare. - These were the horses, which are used entirely for the The bed of the river occupies about a most troublesome Indians to the chase, and in war. fourth part of it, the remainder of the party of discovery, as they expressed From such information as they bottom entirely composed of coarse a jealousy, least they would supply have received of the country above sand, covered with cotton wood. This their enemies higher up with arms, there, it is about 600 miles to the great bottom is continually giving way &c. -- The higher up they went, the falls, which are made by a ledge of either on one side or the other, and more friendly they found the savages, mountains, called Rocky Mountain, gaining on the opposite side. The cliffs and the better armed. -- They have in which it is presumed the Missouri in some places are covered with red a more regular trade with the North terminates. At their winter quarters

38 - We Proceeded On May 2010 Reviews the river is nearly a quarter of a mile wide: is equally as muddy as at its CD offers variety of music and teachable moments mouth, and has continued its rapidity with very little alteration, as high as Most of the Chapter Notes in the they have gone, though it has become A Musical Journey in the Footsteps accompanying teacher's guide refer to considerably more shallow, so that of Lewis & Clark secondary sources, where teachers will they will not be able to take their find more details of the expedition's large barge any higher. From what Anne Enslow and Ridley Enslow history. However, the reasoning information they have obtained of the Enslow Publishers lnc. behind the reliance on manuscript course of the upper part of the river, 72-minute compact disc and 128-page book I $31.93 sources for nearly half of the pieces the most same at the N orthwardly is obscure, and when it comes to the part. - From where they wintered to ith Anne Enslow's spirited singing naming of tunes, some of the research the falls, is nearly a South course. The Wof "Jefferson and Liberty, " the is deficient. A number of teachable description given by M'Kenzie, of the listener of A Musical Journey in the moments have been overlooked head waters of the river, is accurate. Footsteps of Lewis & Clark enters the that might have found a place in the They have sent off to the President parlor of an upper-class home in a city otherwise well-conceived teacher's of the United States, an accurate on the eastern seaboard, or a plantation guide: What's a bodran, for example, journal, with a map of the country on the Piedmont between New Jersey and did the Corps of Discovery ever through which they passed. and the Carolinas. The lively jig use anything like it? Which track Six of the party were sent back - the that follows, employing hammered contains the sound of a pipe and tabor? party now consists of 2 8 men, exclusive dulcimer, violin, cello and flute, gives What's a triple harp? What and where of the two officers. They have enjoyed way to the Irish poet Robert Burns's was Alloa H ouse? What could "Bung perfect health - not one having been farewell to his fellow Freemasons, a your eye" mean? sick, except the unfortunate young song that Meriwether Lewis, himself The well-designed booklet is a man before mentioned, and he was a Master Mason, might have known visual delight; the varied and balanced taken off in a few hours with a cramp well. After an excerpt from Sergeant illustrations are especially interesting. in his stomach. The greatest friendship Ordway's parting letter to his parents -Joe Mussulman has existed with the party; and the over the tune "St. Patrick's Day in the Emeritus professor of music at men who have returned, speak in the Morning," we are transported to the the University of Montana highest terms of the humanity, and Missouri River by one of the most and founding producer of uncommon pains and attention of popular of voyageurs' songs, "V'la Discovering Lewis & Clark® both the Captains, Lewis, and Clark, !'Bon Vent" - "That's a good wind!" towards the whole of them; and that In "The Flowers of Edinburgh" they left them in good spirits, fully a solo violin evokes the rollicking convinced that they would winter on fun of the men's dancing. "Fisher's the Pacific Ocean. Hornpipe" is performed in a similarly They were told of six nations of authentic manner, progressing from a Indians they would have to pass, before slow teaser of an opening through a bit they would arrive at the falls, from of up-tempo duetting or "twinning," only one of which, they apprehend to the final chorus that lopes to a any difficulty - they are called the conclusion with alternating shuffles Snake tribe, and reside higher up. and pedals from both the "seconder" Curiosities of different kinds: live fiddle player, and the spooner. In this beasts, birds, several boxes of minerals, and most of the other dance tunes, the a pair of uncommon ram's horns, from listener can easily imagine the slapping the rocky mountain, scions of a new of moccasin-covered feet on the dirt, discovered berry, called the buffaloe the rhythmical clapping of hands and berry, &c, have been brought on by an occasional yelp of encouragement the returned party, and deposited with to highlight the dancers' enthusiasm. the commanding officer at St. Louis, The songs interspersed among the 30 to be sent by him to the President. tracks range from parody to nostalgia We expect in a few days, further to patnot1sm. Native American particulars relative to this interesting cultures are respectfully presented in voyage. music, graphics and text.

May 2010 We Proceeded On ~ 39 Reviews (cont) Historical fiction offers insight on Jean Baptiste, hut includes errors

Wiirttemberg, and explored Sweden, light he examines, labels and displays Across the Endless River Stuttgart, St. Petersburg, Venice and the American Indian artifacts in his Vienna. Baptiste used his time well, collection. Helping the Duke catalog Thad Carhart observing the people-nobles, ser­ and display his collection, Baptiste vants and merchants - learning the has learned to proudly walk that entre Doubleday 320 pages I $26. 95 languages, and sampling the culture deux between scientific examination and customs of many different coun­ and cultural understanding and he tries. asks Paul to do the same. Always, there are sharp contrasts, Baptiste's letters to his friend and cross the Endless River is Thad contrasts that eventually help Baptiste mentor "Captain Clark" are filled ACarhart's second book. His first, choose his entre .....,,,,...... ------..,,..----. with the warmth The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, one would ex­ deux. Baptiste I·' received much critical, international arranged for the pect between the acclaim as a thoughtful look at French Duke to partici- two men and it culture, friendship and the music of pate in a Pawnee ~ is a pleasure to the piano. buffalo hunt, a ~ TH E read them. One Across the Endless River is a hunt that would wonders if such far different book. In this work of provide the tribe letters really do historical fiction, Carhart spins a with food, cloth- exist! Baptiste creative and compelling story of Jean ing and tools. learned well Baptiste Charbonneau and five years In turn, the from Clark-to "Baptiste" spent in Europe (1824- Duke arranged think, to observe 1829) as the guest of Paul, Duke of for Baptiste to and to explore­ Wiirttemberg. participate in a just as members For "Baptiste," as Carhart calls carefully orches­ of the Corps of young Charbonneau, the five years in trated deer hunt Discovery did. Europe were a journey of exploration, in the manicured When the time as much as his parents' journey of ex­ woods of France. came in February ploration with the Corps of Discovery On their jour­ of 1829 to leave was. Through Carhart's words, we ney down the Europe, it is to watch as Baptiste matures into an Missouri and Clark he wrote educated, thoughtful and adventurous Mississippi rivers first, "I am com­ young man. It is in Europe that Baptiste to New Orleans, ing home." finds his path, the path readers of We Baptiste saw numerous African­ Across the Endless River is historical Proceeded On know took him from American slaves, and their plight fiction. There are many small errors St. Louis to Wiirttemberg and back to troubled him deeply. In France and that readers of this publication quickly St. Louis, then west to Bent's Fort, the Germany, friends of the Duke made it will notice. Carhart has chosen to Mission at San Luis Rey and, eventu­ clear their servants are not the slaves brush aside the scholarship of many ally, to Danner, Oregon. The French of the New World ... but at the same fine historians to tell this story and, call it entre deux, "the in-between time, he is told adamantly, one did not sadly, he insists on using the word path," and it was a path Jean Baptiste say "please" to the servants in noble "squaw" when he refers to American Charbonneau walked well. households. Indian women. Still, Carhart's book Carhart offers us a look at what it Perhaps the most poignant mo­ should give us pause to think about might have been like for a young man, ment in this fi ve-year journey is a what young Charbonneau's life might a Metis, to travel from his homes in the disagreement that comes when Paul have been like during those five years, Mandan villages and St. Louis, "across finds Baptiste has laid out the Duke's his adventures, his understanding and the endless river" to Le Havre, France, leather boots and saber, a silk purse his loves, and most importantly, his and to the teeming, bustling, crowd­ and a comb, dolls and various kitch­ ability to choose his own entre deux, ed cities of France and Germany. As en utensils. Baptiste challenges Paul in Europe and in the West. Paul's traveling companion and prote­ to examine his own belongings and -Barb Kubik ge, Charbonneau lived in Paris and in household goods in the same scientific Historian

40 - We Proceeded On May 2010