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THE CORPS AND THE

Compiled and Edited by Lorna Hainesworth

Introductory Note: The following paper is the culmination of readily available resource materials. No effort toward primary source document research has been expended other than the examination of digitized, on-line versions of primary documents when available. Rather, the writer has served more in the capacity of an editor to compile information from various secondary sources. The intention was to gather together in one place various pieces of information regarding significant life experiences for members of the and for associated non-members that took place during the “period” of the War of 1812 whether or not that person served in the conflict. In the context of this paper, the period of the War of 1812 refers a time beginning in late 1807 when the first took measures to counter the effects of the in through the Embargo Act and continuing until the signing of several treaties with various Indian tribes by the end of summer in 1815.

The initial narrative is intended to set the stage and to aid the reader in gaining a basic understanding of information regarding this War. Brief biographies are provided on several Corps members and persons associated with the Corps. Each biography conforms to a similar pattern, which is name of person, date and place of birth, if known, person’s Lewis and Clark connection and person’s experiences during the War of 1812. The list of names is in three groups: Corps—Military, Corps—Non-Military and Corps— Associated. Names in each group are listed alphabetically according to last name.

The reader is encouraged to delve deeper into the names and events described herein as there is much more to learn about each person and greater details to be garnered about the events mentioned. Additionally, the reader may conclude that other people’s names should have been included and that some statements may not be valid. To this end, the reader is invited to do his or her own research, thereby adding to his or her own body of knowledge. Sharing such information with the editor would be most appreciated. See the contact information at the top of this page. Also, this and other papers by this same writer are available at www.academia.edu by putting Hainesworth in the search box.

January 16, 2016 THE CORPS AND THE WAR OF 1812

Table of Contents

The War of 1812 Corps—Military William Bratton Zebulon Montgomery Pike Prospect K. Robbins Gilbert Christian Russell Patrick Gass Sheheke-Shote Thomas Proctor Howard Amos Stoddard Nathaniel Hale Pryor George Shannon Appendix A John B. Thompson Presidents Involved Peter Weiser in the War of 1812 Joseph Whitehouse Alexander Willard Appendix B Richard Windsor Bibliography

Corps—Non-Military Appendix C Charbonneau Family Places to Visit Toussaint Jean Baptist Acknowledgements York Thanks to all the people who Corps—Associated helped make this paper possible, especially: David Bennett Russell and Jay H. Buckley Joseph C. Brown Ronald Duquette John Campbell Richard L. Elgin Pierre Ralph Eshelman Sally Freeman William Holman James J. Holmberg James L. Mallory Eugene Gass Painter Manual Lisa Richard Prestholdt John O’Fallon Louis N. Ritten James Rosenberger Sidney Stoffels

THE WAR OF 1812

We have met the enemy and he is us. At least that’s Pogo’s version of a famous quote emanating from the War of 1812. This is just one of several legendary icons that are the legacy of this War. Some 200 years ago, on , 1813 in the midst of a bloody sea battle between Chesapeake, an American and a British frigate, Shannon, one of America’s most memorable wartime slogans was born. While the mortally wounded American captain, , lay dying in his cabin, he allegedly uttered these memorable words: “Don’t give up the ship!” Lawrence’s friend, , had those words stitched to the ensign that flew over his namesake flagship, USS Lawrence, commissioned in early August 1813.

On September 10 of that year, Perry won a decisive victory over British naval forces at the Battle of . O. H., himself, was not short on coming up with words of lasting fame. At the conclusion of the , after having transferred in the midst of the battle from his own vessel to the USS Niagara and carrying the ensign with him, Perry wrote a report to General William Henry Harrison. He briefly and succinctly stated the outcome of the encounter. “We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two , one and one sloop.” This was the first time in history that an entire British naval squadron had surrendered. Lawrence’s words became a motto for the United States Naval Academy where today Perry’s flag hangs in Preble Hall at the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, .

A number of other icons have come down to us from the War of 1812. The most famous of these is the Star-Spangled Banner, both in our Nation’s anthem and in the flag that flew over Fort McHenry at the time of the British bombardment. The lyrics, penned by Frances Scott Key who witnessed the “rockets red glare and the bombs bursting in air,” was written shortly after the battle on the night of , 1814. His lyrics became an instant hit and after many years became our National Anthem in 1931. Key’s original manuscript is preserved and is on display at the Maryland Historical Society in , Maryland.

The Star-Spangled Banner flag bore fifteen stars and fifteen stripes and was the official flag of our nation from roughly 1795 to 1818. This was the flag given to various Indian nations by the Lewis and Clark Expedition as a means of informing them about the sovereignty of the United States. At the request of , Fort McHenry’s commander, Mary Pickersgill, a Baltimore flag maker, crafted a thirty foot by forty-two foot flag that is now on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in D.C. The rows of stars on this flag are slightly tilted in opposite directions, giving rise to the term “star-spangled.”

Some say the United States federal government got its nickname, , from the War of 1812. A meat packer named Sam Wilson from Troy, , who supplied barrels of beef to the during the War of 1812, stamped the barrels with “U.S.” for United States. Soldiers began referring to the grub as “Uncle Sam's.” The local newspaper picked up on the story and Uncle Sam eventually gained widespread acceptance as our nation’s sobriquet. However, according to Donald R. Hickey’s article, “A Note on the Origins of ‘Uncle Sam,’ 1810-1820,” ample evidence exists to suggest the nickname predates the War of 1812 by more than two years.

An American frigate, USS Constitution also acquired a nickname during the War of 1812. Launched in 1797, with a hull made of live oak, Constitution and her sister ships were built larger and were more heavily armed than standard of the period. Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships. During her battle with HMS Guerriere on , 1812, Captain used his heavier broadsides and his ship's sailing ability to repel the British firepower so that many of their shots rebounded harmlessly off Constitution's hull. An American sailor reportedly exclaimed, “Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!” and Constitution thus acquired the nickname "Old Ironsides.”

Among our first twelve presidents, we find eight who were in some way, politically or militarily, connected to or involved in the War of 1812. (See Appendix A) In August of 1812, we have a former president who is quoted as having said that the acquisition of was a “mere matter of marching.” Several of the nine presidents in office between 1809-1850 served in an administrative role or served militarily during the War. Among the military presidents, ’s name is a standout and icon in his own right. His biggest claim to fame, of course, is as the Hero of the Battle of , which he won decisively with an army made up of regular soldiers, , volunteers, warriors, pirates and .

Previously, Jackson had earned the nickname “Old Hickory” for his toughness and strength like that of an old hickory tree. At the President’s request in late 1812, William Blount was to send fifteen hundred troops to New Orleans. Jackson took on this responsibility, mustering troops and heading down the in January 1813. He was ordered to stop just south of Natchez and in March 1813 was ordered to dismiss his troops. Jackson refused to dismiss the men, but instead marched them back to Nashville. Without food, supplies or transport, Jackson stalwartly cheered his men along, maintaining discipline where necessary and even giving up his three prize horses to transport the sick. Walking determinedly alongside his troops, Jackson’s men thought he resembled of the toughest thing they knew. They started to call him “hickory,” which morphed into “Old Hickory” and the nickname stuck.

Other lesser know, but very appropriate nicknames given to Andrew Jackson were “Sharp Knife” and “Indian-killer.” These resulted from the multiple depredations Jackson foisted upon Indians. In his brutal military campaigns, Andrew Jackson recommended that troops systematically kill Indian women and children in order to complete the extermination. After the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend, in the Treaty of , the Creeks lost 23 million acres of land in southern and central , thus paving the way for increased production through increased slavery. In 1830, a year after he became president, Jackson signed into law the Act, which he had proposed, that legalized ethnic cleansing. Within seven years, the Jackson administration had removed 46,000 indigenous people from their homelands east of the Mississippi. Most members of the five southeastern nations, , Creek,

Choctaw, Chickasaw and , had been relocated to the West. During the removal process, many died or suffered cold, hunger and disease on their way to the western lands. All experienced bereavement at the loss of home and possessions and were cruelly treated in various inhuman ways. Their removal opened 25 million acres of land to white settlement and the expansion of slavery.

Certainly other iconic legacies of the War of 1812 may exist, but perhaps the most important and enduring legacy are the many decades of peace and friendship, which have existed between our nation and the nations of Canada and Great Britain. We were finally able to put away our differences and share an association based on a sense of respect and brotherhood. Each year thousands of students cross the Canadian-U.S. boarder to study at the neighboring country’s universities. We are great trading partners and on numerous occasions have fought together in the same conflicts to help one another maintain our ways of life. Also between the United States and Canada runs the longest, undefended border in the entire world. At well over five thousand miles, no other two countries anywhere can make such a claim.

Multiple commemorations for the bicentennial of the War of 1812 were held in the United States and Canada. These commemorations culminated with the ceremonial ratification of the Treaty of at the in Washington D. C. in February 2015. Historically speaking, this war was a consequence of the Napoleonic Wars and was sandwiched between two other wars of great significance, the war for independence better known as the Revolutionary War and the war to save the Union, better know as the Civil War. More importantly, the War of 1812 occurred between the establishment of the United States as a sovereign nation under a constitutional government and major westward expansion ushered in by an “” leading to an unshakeable belief in .

More specifically, the actual dates of the War of 1812 extend well beyond a single year. , 1812 was the date when President signed a declaration of war against Great Britain and February 17, 1815 when that same president signed the ratification for the , which ended the War. Allegedly everything was to be restored to status quo antebellum as called for in the Treaty, which was true for the most part, except for the native people. Both the War and the Treaty that ended it proved to be devastating to all eastern Indian nations, First Nation and Native inclusive. After the War of 1812, the United States negotiated over two hundred Indian treaties that involved native people ceding large tracts of lands. Many of these agreements resulted in the creation of reservations west of the Mississippi River.

Understanding the causes for the War of 1812 can be problematic. President James Madison’s war message to Congress dated June 1, 1812 is written in a style that appears wordy and somewhat convoluted by today’s standards resulting in a document that is somewhat difficult to comprehend. Over time, American historians have interpreted the causes of the War in different ways thereby arriving at varying conclusions. These do not necessarily jibe with the causes or conclusions determined by British, Canadian or Indian historians; however, any understanding of the War does require a fairly global view. Since early 1803 Great Britain had been engaged in war with and its emperor, Bonaparte. Some view the Napoleonic Wars as a continuation of the wars generated by the French Revolution, which began in 1789. The French Revolutionary Wars led to France declaring war on Great Britain and the Netherlands in early February 1793. That being the case, one can say that Great Britain and France had been at war with each other for nearly twenty years by the time the United States declared war against Great Britain in 1812.

Circumstances had played into American hands when France failed to suppress a slave rebellion in Haiti. One hundred thousand slaves, inspired by the French Revolution, had revolted, destroying 1,200 and 200 sugar . In 1800, France sent troops to crush the insurrection and re-conquer Haiti, but they met determined resistance led by a former slave named Toussaint L’Ouverture. Then, mosquitoes carrying yellow fever wiped out French forces. “Damn sugar, damn coffee, damn colonies,” the French leader exclaimed. Without Haiti, Napoleon had little interest in keeping the Territory; an area stretching from Canada to the Gulf Coast and from the Mississippi River to the .

Additionally, Napoleon needed money to fund a whole series of conflicts between his Empire and an array of other European powers, while the United States very much wanted to buy the port of New Orleans. This was prompted by the 1800 Treaty of San Ildefonzo, a secret agreement between France and Spain, which called for Spain to retrocede the Colony of Louisiana to France. Louisiana had been under Spanish possession since the 1763 that ended the Seven Years War. The 1795 Treaty of San Lorenzo, negotiated between Spain and the United States, allowed for an American “right of deposit” at the port of New Orleans. In contravention to that Treaty, since the territory now was in French hands, the port of New Orleans was closed. America’s efforts to buy New Orleans resulted in the United States owning the sovereignty for the entire .

Tensions had remained high between the United States and Great Britain after the Revolutionary War resulting from three key issues. British exports flooded U.S. markets, while American exports were blocked by British trade restrictions and tariffs. The British occupation of northern forts that the British Government had agreed to vacate in the 1783 Treaty of Paris as well as recurrent Indian attacks in these areas also frustrated Americans. Most Americans living in the River watershed believed the British were agitating Indians against Americans plus supplying them with guns and ammunition. Finally, Britain’s of American sailors and seizure of naval and military supplies bound for enemy ports on neutral ships brought the two nations to the brink of war in the late 1700s. Jay Buckley has summarized the issues underlying the war as the “Ns of War”—Native American, Navy and Navigational Acts and Napoleonic Wars.

The maritime war between Great Britain and France was a great opportunity for neutral trade and the Americans viewed themselves as neutral. Exports from the United States rose from $20 million in 1790 to $138.6 million by 1807. The outbreak of war in 1793 saw the British government gradually enforce increasingly rigorous policies towards neutral trade. These policies, known as , were a series of decrees made by the in the course of the wars with Napoleonic France, which instituted its policy of commercial warfare. To counter British naval superiority, Embargo spelled backward is Ograbme

France had opened its colonial ports, which had been closed before the war, to neutral trade. Britain pledged to put an end to neutral trade. The United States held that if a ship was neutral, the goods on board were also neutral—“free ships make free goods” stemming from the Treaty of Alliance with France in 1778. Britain on the other hand followed its , a policy the United States had accepted as part of Jay's Treaty of 1795, which held that neutrals could not in wartime engage in trade that had been prohibited during peacetime.

While the conflicts in Europe raged on, both England and France began to seize American merchant ships. To counter this, Congress enacted the , which was a general embargo that made illegal any and all exports from the United States. President Thomas Jefferson sponsored the legislation, because he believed it was a viable alternative to war given that exports had increased almost 600% in the previous two decades. The goal was to force Britain and France to respect American rights during the Napoleonic Wars. British trade did not suffer as much as the framers of the embargo had intended, but without exporting, the American economy was suffering greatly. American public opinion did not support continuation of the embargo. An unfortunate result of the embargo was the rise in the smuggling trade. Ultimately, the embargo failed to have the intended effect. Goods still reached Great Britain through illegal shipments. The Non-Intercourse Act replaced the Embargo Act in March 1809 allowing for trade with certain nations. The American economy did not recover from the embargo until 1830.

Generally speaking, American writers point to three major issues as the causes for the War:

Orders in Council— During the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain issued a series of these measures to keep neutral nations from trading between the ports of their enemies. At this time, the United States was a neutral nation whose trade was restricted due to British of French ports along with the ports of France’s allies, which meant almost the whole of Europe. Americans were seen as aiding and abetting the enemy to be trading with France. Britain also ordered neutral ships to call at British ports to pay tax and reveal their destination. Such , restrictions and requirements negatively impacted America’s wealth since most of the money earned by the United States was from customs, or taxes on imported and exported goods, through trade with other countries.

Impressments—Great Britain was a huge naval power, but in order to have sufficient personnel to man all of her ships, the forced recruitment of sailors became necessary. Although, Great Britain recognized that a man might become the naturalized citizen of another , this did not alleviate his obligation to serve his native country when necessary. To that end, British ships would stop American vessels to board them and determine whether any British born sailors were on board. “Discovering” native Englishmen, the British captain would impress these sailors onto British ships and force them to serve in the . To the United States, this was tantamount to kidnapping American citizens and could not be tolerated.

British-Indian Relations—The west of the was primarily a war between Native people and settlers. Some call the Battle of Blue Licks, which occurred in August 1782 nearly a year after Cornwallis’s surrender, the last battle of the Revolutionary War. According to the Treaty of Paris 1783 at the conclusion of the war, British occupation of the lands known as the Old was to cease; however, English troops continued to occupy forts in the area. Englishmen were intent on continuing to trade with their Indian allies and to use Indians as a buffer between expanding American settlements into British . Gifts were necessary to maintain the British-Indian relations and no gifts were more welcome than weapons such as guns, ammunition, and scalping knives, which the British supplied in abundance.

Looking at the situation from a British perspective, we see an entirely different point of view. To begin with, England saw itself in a life and death struggle against the dictatorial emperor of France. Any means necessary to save themselves and the rest of the world was not too great a hardship or imposition to foist upon another country. Safe to say, both Great Britain and France used the seizure of ships, to the tune of 1,500 American vessels between 1803 and 1812, and the blockading of ports to curtail shipping by neutral countries. The United States could also have justified going to war against France. Given that England was the greater naval power, and hence the greater threat, and that the Americans were ill prepared to go to war in the first place, declaring war on two world powers simultaneously would have amounted to international suicide. To compensate for deaths and among English sailors, Royal Navy officers were empowered to stop English merchant vessels on the high seas and press crewmen into service with the belief that all Englishmen were available for service. It was, therefore, not uncommon for British naval vessels to also stop American ships searching for English crewmen.

Since the end of the Seven Years War in America, the British had established strong trading relations with the native people on both sides of the . Thus, they were reluctant to leave their established posts in the Old Northwest Territory as dictated by the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The British hoped a neutral Indian zone, which would encompass most of today’s Ohio, and , could be established. The trade with Indians was very good and they wanted it to continue. While the British undoubtedly supplied Indians with guns and ammunition, one cannot say for sure that these were intended to assault and curtail American settlement. Perhaps these items were intended for use in hunting deer, the hides of which were traded to the English for manufactured goods. Great Britain did not wish to provoke a war with the United States and felt it had justifiable motives in all of its dealings with Americans.

British colonials, since they were not yet called , were those English subjects living in Upper and . Considering that the St. Lawrence River, unlike other major rivers of North America such as the Mississippi and Ohio, flows from the southwest to the northeast, is on the upstream end and was know as while is on the downstream end and was known as Lower Canada. These are the people whose ancestors remained loyal to Great Britain during the United States War for Independence. These are the people whose ancestors fled the lower colonies when hostilities toward Tories became too threatening or violent. To compensate for their losses, many were given land in what today we call Canada. Also living in Upper Canada were Americans who claimed to be Loyalists in order to get free land, but who, in reality, had no political preference. They merely figured taking advantage of free land in Canada was easier that buying land in America.

A genuine hatred for Americans developed within the stationed in North American and British colonials. They saw Americans as aggressive land grabbers who were taking over more and more territory by pushing settlements farther and farther north and west. How long before these pushy Americans moved across the Great Lakes and tried to take over all of North America? Since so many of the people living there had formerly lived south to the Great Lakes, some American politicians believed that the taking the was a “mere matter of marching.” The idea being that these former Americans would welcome becoming part of the United States once again. This proved not to be the case. Americans tried on several occasions to conqueror and failed each and every time. Colonial militia and British regulars staunchly defended the lands above the Great Lakes. Had the United States been successful in conquering the Canadas, one cannot be certain whether the land would have been kept or used as bargaining chip in negotiations with Great Britain.

Privateering was another sign of American’s aggressiveness. A was issued to captains who for the most part commanded sleek ships that were fast and agile. Although not commissioned as warships, these vessels carried a lot of and upwards of 50 sailors. ships could prey on merchant ships and capture their cargo. Such prizes were then split between the privateers and the entity issuing the letter of marque. The United States government would receive duties on the prizes to help pay for the war. The battle cry was; "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights!" During the War of 1812, the U.S. Navy and Privateers together captured 30,000 prisoners, while the American army only captured 6,000 British prisoners. From British merchant ships, American privateers captured British prizes worth almost $40,000,000. Although the Orders in Council were rescinded in June 1812 after war had been declared and the United States learned of this in August 1812, the declaration was not retracted.

Waterways constituted a major theatre of war for the War of 1812, including the , the and the Great Lakes. Although the United States had thirty times fewer warships as compared to Great Britain, several factors played into the American’s favor and enabled the naval successes enjoyed by the United States in the first stages of the War of 1812. The American frigates were larger and carried more firepower than their British counterparts. They also were built of firmer oak and pine with a better construction design. The “knees” in the hull were placed closer together, which made the ships not only better able to withstand punishment but also sailed better as a result of a stiffer hull. Additionally, most of Great Britain’s warships were engaged in the Napoleonic Wars and were not available to fight American ships.

Particular attention must now be given to the groups of people who suffered most from the War of 1812. These are the indigenous peoples living in the Old Northwest and the Territories. In these areas, native people seem to have inadvertently gotten caught up in the War of 1812, although their agendas had nothing to do with “free trade and sailors rights.” In the Old Northwest, was the leader of a Pan-Indian movement designed to unite all of the tribes in today’s Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and . The purpose of this coalition was to drive the American settlers out of forever. At the same time, Tecumseh’s brother, the Prophet , was advocating a return to the old ways and putting an end to Indian dependence on white man’s manufactured goods and liquor. Winnebago tribesmen from northern had traveled over 300 miles to hear the words of the Prophet. Unfortunately they were at Prophetstown on the Tippecanoe River when fighting broke out between Indians and the Army of the Northwest under the leadership of William Henry Harrison. Many Winnebago were killed. Later other Winnebago tribesmen who had been trading at a post near today’s Galena, Illinois learned of this and took steps to avenge the deaths of their tribal members.

Meanwhile in late 1811, Tecumseh had gone south to garner support from Indians living in the Old Southwest, mainly Choctaw and Creek, in the hopes of building a larger alliance. Tecumseh learned the Choctaw, under the leadership of , would not support his movement and the Creek were involved in their own civil war. Incidentally, Pushmataha was a staunch American ally who died while on a trip to the federal city in 1824. He is buried in the . War between the United States and part of the Creek nation did not come as a result of British encouragement. The Upper Creeks in western Alabama, known later as “,” resisted white cultural influence and encroachment on their lands, and feuded with the eastern tribes, known as Lower Creeks, who were more amenable to white influence. So here are the same difficulties in the Anglo-Indian relations as were discussed in the preceding paragraph— settler encroachment and dependency on white man’s goods. After the Upper Creeks besieged Fort Mims, and later decimated its inhabitants, the federal government mobilized nearby regular army units to aid the local militia. After a series of battles covering more than six months, at a site on the called Horseshoe Bend, General Andrew Jackson inflicted a resounding defeat upon a large body of Red Sticks, completely annihilating most of the 1000 warriors. The Creeks not only lost their lives, but also their lands and families.

Failing to get the support from the southern tribes and as a means of strengthening his resources after Tippecanoe, Tecumseh aligned his forces with the British. He had been led to believe by certain British commanders, perhaps Major General Sir or Major General Henry Proctor, that a buffer zone covering the area north of the would be set aside for Indians in the Old Northwest. Violent Kentucky frontiersmen had been creating mayhem in raids on Indian villages. The result was equally violent reprisals led by the chiefs of Miami and tribes who were determined to keep American intruders south of the Ohio River. Tecumseh strongly participated in the siege and taking of Fort in the summer of 1812 and in the October 1813 . Unfortunately, here when he was killed, his coalition pretty much died with him. When the negotiations for a peace settlement began at Ghent in August 1814, the British opened with their demands, chief of which was the creation of an Indian barrier state in the area from Ohio to Wisconsin. The British would sponsor this Indian state since for decades their strategy had been to create a to block American expansion. The Americans refused to consider a buffer state and the proposal was eventually dropped. At that moment, Indians lost all hope of achieving any means for stopping westward expansion.

The War of 1812 is part of an historical heritage for many people, be they English, Canadian, Indian, African or American. Specifically with regard to the American experience certain truths became self-evident. Namely the militia, often poorly trained, poorly equipped and frequently led by inexperienced offices, generally did not distinguish themselves against a world power. It was clear the United States needed a professional Army at all times whether in peace or at war. Likewise, the newly emerging power of the United States required a larger, better-trained and better-equipped Navy to protect the nation’s trade and commerce. The United States was taking its place on the world stage and could no longer afford to hearken back to an agrarian lifestyle and provincial thinking. Our sovereignty was no longer in question and we would be ourselves— aggressive, enterprising, independent, inventive, ambitious, generous, capitalistic and proud. We emerged from the War of 1812 a country to be reckoned with and there we have remained. But to appreciate our heritage, we have to go see where it happened, read printed accounts about it, listen to lectures, watch our past on video and take courses concerning our history. And we must be very careful to not become our own worst enemy, eh Pogo?

THE CORPS—MILITARY

William Bratton—was born July 29, 1778 in Augusta County, . His family had immigrated to the Woodford County area of Kentucky by 1790. Reared on the frontier, he became a skilled hunter and gunsmith learning the blacksmith’s trade. Clark enlisted Bratton as a member of the Expedition on October 20, 1803 making him one of the “Nine Young Men from Kentucky.” Clark considered him one of “the best young woodsmen & Hunters in this part of the Countrey.” In early August 1804, Bratton was assigned to a search party for locating deserter Moses Reed. When he located Reed and threatened to shoot him, the prisoner surrendered and was brought back to the Corps. Reed was sent downriver with the keelboat in the spring of 1805.

During the winter of 1804-1805 at Fort Mandan, Bratton’s blacksmithing skills were more than likely put to good use. In order to trade with the Mandans for corn and dried vegetables, members of the Corps agreed to repair and sharpen metal objects that the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians had collected from British traders, including hoes, skinning knives, kettles and firearms. , the Corps’s blacksmith, led this effort. Bratton and Alexander Willard, who had both been trained in blacksmithing and gunsmithing, provided crucial assistance to him. A forge and bellows, little used up until then, were set up for the process. One time while recovering from a boil on his hand, perhaps inflicted by hot metal, Bratton shot a grizzly bear and had to run half a mile to escape. Arriving at the Corp’s boats, he was several minutes getting enough breath to be able to speak.

Shortly after Christmas 1805, while the Corps was camped at near the mouth of the Columbia, some men including Bratton were directed to establish a salt works at the nearest suitable coastal area. The salt was used to preserve elk and deer meat, for cooking and for table use. By late February, they completed their work, having made enough salt for present needs and for use during the return journey. It was then that Bratton’s back began to bother him. In the spring of 1806, Bratton’s debilitating back ailment was treated when John Shields suggested putting him through the sweat lodge procedure, which worked and made walking with little pain possible again.

The Battle of Blue Licks along with on-going Indian depredations had convinced many Kentuckians that settlement of that area by white people would not be possible until all Indians had been driven north of the Ohio River and their British support brought to an end. Perhaps for that reason, Kentuckians volunteered in disproportionate numbers during the War of 1812 resulting in 64% of the War’s casualties coming from that commonwealth alone. Attention must be paid to the fact that Indian attacks were usually triggered by settler encroachment on Indian lands and/or unfulfilled treaties. Settlers resorted to their own brutality, condoning their attacks and killings as protection of their settlements regardless if whether Indians were friendly or not. Punishment for killing an Indian seldom occurred.

When war was declared, Bratton was living in Franklin County, Kentucky and hauling freight on the rivers to Louisiana. Late in 1812 he enlisted in the Kentucky Volunteer Militia as a private in Captain Paschal Hickman’s company of First Regiment of Kentucky volunteers under Lt. Col. . They traveled from Georgetown, Kentucky to Frenchtown or today’s Monroe, Michigan by way of , Indiana. In January 1813 at the Battle of the , both of his commanding officers were killed and Bratton was taken prisoner. It is not known when or where he was released or paroled. He was honorably discharged “in pursuance of the General Order of the commanding General William H. Harrison.” His discharge paper was signed , 1813 by M. D. Hardin, Major with a notation that “he is a having been taken at Frenchtown on the 22 Jan 1813.” Although family lore has it that he saw Tecumseh's body and had a beaded pouch from him, there is no proof that William Bratton was at the Battle of the Thames. William Bratton is not found on any other Kentucky lists of soldiers, however his brother Adam, was at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813.

William Clark—was born August 1, 1770 in Caroline County, Virginia. He moved with his family to Kentucky in 1785 and later that decade he was in the military. On March 7, 1792 he received a 's commission in the infantry of the regular army and in September was assigned to the 4th Sub-legion of the U.S. Army under Major General . Nicknamed “Mad” Anthony, not because he was insane, but rather because he had a fiery temper. Some may have thought him a bit overbold and reckless as well. At any rate, he is the linchpin that holds the initial encounter of several Lewis and Clark associated folks together.

Over a thousand warriors from a coalition of tribes living the Ohio River drainage system led by Miami Nation Chief and Blue Jacket of the Shawnee Nation defeated the first and only United States Army on November 4, 1791 at the Battle of the Wabash or St. Clair’s Defeat or as Colin G. Calloway put it, “The Victory with No Name.” Subsequently, the military was reorganized into the Legion of the United States comprised of four sub-legions. The Legion existed from 1792 to 1796 under the command of Wayne and during this period Clark met a number of people who would become significant in his life and significant in their own right. Among these were , William Henry Harrison, James Wilkinson and Zebulon Montgomery Pike all of whom served under Wayne.

Clark served directly under Wilkinson who was second in command and who believed he had been passed over for Wayne’s job. Clark sided with his commanding officer and appears to have been quite under the influence of his charismatic leader. In the spring and summer of 1794 when Wayne launched his campaign against the Indians, Clark commanded a rifle company in the Battle at Fallen Timbers. He was present at the in 1795. By late 1795 or early 1796 he had met and became friends with Meriwether Lewis, a junior officer under his command. William Henry Harrison served as the general’s aide-de-camp while fifteen-year-old Zebulon Montgomery Pike served with his father, , Sr.

Clark resigned his commission as a of infantry on July 1, 1796 and returned home where he made every effort to help his family prosper. Finally, in July 1803 Clark received an invitation that changed his life and secured his place in history. His friend and former subordinate Meriwether Lewis, then private secretary to President Thomas Jefferson, invited Clark to join him as co-commander of an expedition to the “explore the interior of the continent of North America.” Clark accepted in July and began recruiting men in the Louisville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Indiana area. On October 14, Lewis reached Louisville and by October 26, the co-commanders along with the nucleus of the Corps of Discovery set off down the Ohio River on a journey lasting nearly three years. During that historic venture Clark played an important role in its success. He and Lewis complemented each other's talents; he was an effective negotiator with the native people they encountered; he faithfully kept a journal; and his almost invariably practical, gregarious temperament served the Expedition well.

Following return of the Expedition to St. Louis in September 1806, the captains continued east to Louisville eventually reaching the nation’s capital to see President Jefferson. Traveling with them from St. Louis were two delegations of Indians, Mandan and Osage. Sheheke, a Mandan chief, was part of contingent that continued with Lewis to Washington while Pierre Chouteau took responsibility for getting the Osage group to the capital. On February 27, 1807, Clark returned his commission as a first lieutenant in the artillery to Secretary of War, Henry Dearborn, who had denied him the promised captain’s commission in the infantry. As a reward for his services in the Expedition, he received a commission as brigadier general in the Louisiana Territorial Militia and was appointed the United States agent for Indian affairs in the territory. Clark also received double pay for the period of the Expedition and a 1,600-acre .

When Lewis died in 1809, the responsibility for getting the journals from the Expedition published fell to Clark. He wisely engaged Nicholas Biddle to do the job of editing the journals and creating a narrative from the notes. During one of Clark’s trips to Virginia, he and Biddle spent three weeks together going over the journals and answering Biddle’s questions. Clark also sent corps member George Shannon to to work with Biddle and explain the text or clarify certain points. Although ostensibly finished in July 1811, the journals were not published until 1814. The delay was caused by two publisher bankruptcies and disruptions caused by the War of 1812. Since seven years had elapsed from the end of the Expedition until the publication of the journals, interest had waned. For that reason the journals did not sell as well as Biddle had reported or as Clark had hoped. By October 1816, Clark had still not received his own copy of the printed journals and borrowed a copy that had come into the St. Louis area a month earlier.

When Clark took up his positions in St. Louis, the citizenry was already expressing great concern that Indians on the upper Mississippi River were being armed by the British and were being stirred up against the Americans. Clark was instructed by Dearborn to do whatever was necessary to keep Indians contented. On the River in 1808, was established as a trading post for the Osage Indians and Fort Madison was established near the mouth of the Des Moines River on the Mississippi for the Winnebago, Sauk and Fox Indians. News of an Indian coalition led by Tecumseh and his brother followed by news of the Battle at Tippecanoe added to Clark’s concerns. He wanted to separate the friendly Indians from those hostile to the United States by moving them south of the . At times he instituted a policy of setting one tribe against another, although this step was taken only when all other avenues of pursuit had failed and generally speaking was not a strategy supported by the federal government.

Clark’s life in St. Louis was extremely busy. He had an enormous number of Indian and non- Indian visitors. He had to deal with every issue involving all Indians other than the Osage who had Pierre Chouteau as their agent. He purchased several parcels of land. He issued licenses to traders and had to settle disputes. He received and adjudicated numerous petitions of a wide variety. He continued to work on his map of the west gaining input from travelers such as John Colter and Zebulon Pike. In the summer of 1808, Clark became a business partner in the newly formed , which planned to send militia units, hunters and boatmen up the Missouri to develop the American fur trading industry. And then, of course, there was his ever- growing family.

In June of 1813, Clark became Governor of . No regular Army troops were stationed in the territory so only militia and rangers were available to defend the citizens. In response to Missourians imploring him to do something and after two years of asking for the proper orders, Clark decided under his own authority to embark on a trip up the Mississippi River to a place called Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi River in modern day Wisconsin. As a major link in the British fur trading chain, Clark believed he could improve America’s position in the west by capturing this site. He ordered five , one of which was named General Clark, to be built. To make sure Indians in the St. Louis area were sufficiently intimidated by American strength, Clark supervised the building of one of the gunboats in plain view of everyone. Clark’s activities regarding the gunboats are reminiscent of his redesign for the Expedition’s keelboat/barge. Additionally Clark paid for the Prairie du Chien expedition out of his own pocket. He was later reimbursed, but had this not happened, he could have faced financial ruin.

In May of 1814 Clark, leading two companies of Missouri Territory volunteers, and Brevet Major , who led a regular army company detachment made up of sixty men from the Seventh Regiment of Infantry, made the trip up the Mississippi River and successfully captured Prairie du Chien. Clark returned to St. Louis where he was honored at a huge ball and was called the “shield of the territory.” Clark had left sixty-five men and Lieutenant Joseph Perkins along with General Clark and her eighty-man crew at Prairie du Chien where the men were instructed to build a fort to be named Shelby in honor of the . In July, British soldiers recaptured the fort during the Siege of Prairie du Chien and renamed it Fort McKay. Efforts by Major John Campbell to retake the fort failed. Major Zachary Taylor’s efforts also failed at the Battle of against ’s Sauk Indians who were supported by the British. The British maintained control of the fort until the war's end in 1815. The Americans constructed at the site in 1816.

Next Clark was given the monumental assignment of negotiating peace treaties with the various Upper Mississippi and Missouri tribes in accordance with the Treaty of Ghent, which had been ratified in February 1815. A council was called for wherein thirty-seven invitations were sent resulting in the attendance of over two thousand people representing more than a dozen tribes. Negotiations were extremely difficult and the protracted process took from July to September to conclude. A total of thirteen treaties were signed. The location of the treaty signing was called Portage des Sioux, a peninsula of land along the Mississippi River located north of its confluence with the Missouri River and south of the confluence with the Illinois River. Clark distributed $20,000 in gifts to the tribes during the treaty signing. Many thought this too generous and that the monies should have gone to the families who had suffered losses at the hands of Indians. The resulting belief that he was too good to Indians contributed to Clark losing the election as the first governor of the new state of Missouri in 1820.

John Colter—was born about 1775 in Augusta County, Virginia. The family moved to Limestone (now Maysville), Kentucky around 1779. He approached Captain Lewis about joining the Expedition when the barge stopped near his home in early October 1803. His enlistment in the U.S. Army's First Regiment was recorded at Louisville on October 15. He was one of the “Nine Young Men from Kentucky” and a permanent member of the Expedition. In March 1804, while both captains were in St. Louis and absent from camp attending the Three Flags Ceremony that transferred ownership of the territory to the United States, he got into trouble for threatening to shoot Sergeant Ordway. He mended his ways and became one of the Corp’s best hunters, trackers and traders. Colter was charged with bringing the letter from Lewis that contained Clark’s War Department commission of lieutenant, not captain.

At the conclusion of the Expedition, Colter was granted permission to leave the Expedition before its completion and before his enlistment expired on October 10, 1806 provided no other

member left. In mid-August 1806 a formal discharged was given to Colter so that he could go back up the Missouri River in the company of two trappers. In 1807 he joined corps members Drouillard, LePage, Potts, Weiser and Windsor on a venture led by . As Lisa’s expedition traveled up the Missouri River, the Arikara stopped them and Lisa had to give up half of his weapons and provisions for permission to continue. Lisa sent Colter on a 500-mile mission to find the Crow in their winter camps. During this epic journey he discovered the thermal wonders of what is now Yellowstone National Park and passed through Jackson Hole. While describing the geysers, steam vents, boiling mud pots and the other geothermal phenomena he saw, listeners thought him delusional and called their imaginings of what he described “Colter’s Hell.”

In 1809, he and another former Expedition member John Potts accompanied the Andrew Henry outfit and were assigned to trap in Blackfeet country. It was during this period that he barely escaped being killed by “outrunning the Blackfeet, who had stripped him stark naked, in a race that became an American legend.” With only the blanket he had gotten from an Indian he killed and subsisting on a root much esteemed by Indians as a substitute for bread, after seven days, Colter arrived back at Lisa’s Fort on the Bighorn Branch of the . His partner, John Potts, however, did not survive the encounter.

Colter returned to St. Louis in 1810. He is known to have visited Clark and given him information about his own travels that Clark incorporated into the map to be published with Biddle's edition of the captains’ journals. Before Lewis departed for his trip east in October 1809, he had ensured that Colter’s payment for the Expedition would be waiting for him. Since he returned after Lewis had passed away that posed difficulties for Colter in getting his money. He found he was unable to collect the $559 due him for his service with the Corps of Discovery so Colter was obliged to sue Lewis's estate. After a year of court proceedings on May 28, 1811 he finally received a judgment of $377.60–a little more than two-thirds of what was due him.

On March 3, 1812, Colter signed on with Nathan Boone’s Rangers. Their task was to protect settlers by patrolling an area northwest of St. Louis from Salt River to Loutre. Indians in this area were fighting to stop settler encroachment and were frequently instigated or supported by the British. Boone, the son of , and his troops did well in quelling the Indian threat. To celebrate their achievements, the Mounted Rangers held a banquet in July 1812. Colter was not there, as he had died unexpectedly at the age of thirty-eight on May 7, 1812. As a side note, in August and September of 1808, Nathan Boone and his had guided Brigadier General William Clark overland from St. Charles, Missouri on an expedition to build a fortified Indian trading post called Fort Osage and to negotiate a treaty with the Osage.

Patrick Gass— was born at Falling Spring near today’s Chambersburg, Pennsylvania on June 12, 1771. He joined the Army in 1789 and by 1803 was serving under Captain Russell Bissell’s command at Fort Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River in today’s southern Illinois. Despite Secretary of War Henry Dearborn’s instructions, Bissell was reluctant to let Gass join the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as he did not want to lose Gass’s carpentry skills. To circumvent Bissell’s objections, Gass went directly to Lewis to make known his wish to join. Lewis interceded and enlisted Gass on January 3, 1804. Gass was not among the original three sergeants appointed at . At Elk Point in today’s South Dakota, he was elected to fill the rank of sergeant by a vote of the men upon the death of Sergeant Charles Floyd on August 20, 1804—perhaps this was the first instance of Euro-American Democracy west of the Mississippi River.

Sergeant Gass was a very competent carpenter, a skill with which he served the Expedition invaluably in the construction of its three winter quarters: Camp Dubois—1803-1804, Fort Mandan—1804-1805 and Fort Clatsop—1805-1806. He also applied his talents toward the hewing of dugout canoes at the Mandan villages, near White Bear Island and at Canoe Camp on the Clearwater River together with the fashioning of wagons to portage the canoes eighteen miles overland around a series of falls on the Missouri. Lewis chose Gass and two others to assemble the “experiment,” Lewis’s iron frame boat that failed due to lack of proper materials to seal the seams of its elk and bison hide hull coverings.

After the Expedition, Gass traveled with Lewis to the Washington City and then to Wellsburg, Virginia where he probably met David M’Keehan. They formed a partnership since M’Keehan was a book and stationery store proprietor who could edit and publish Gass’s journal. Zadock Cramer did the printing and in 1807 this journal was the first from the Expedition to be published. The book is a paraphrased version of Gass’s original field notes, which apparently were destroyed upon publication of the narrative. Acknowledging that he “never learned to read, write, and cipher till he had come of age,” Gary Moulton says, “McKeehan’s [sic] elegant style was probably very different from that of a rough-and-ready frontier sergeant . . . but there is no reason to think that the bookseller substantially altered the facts as Gass presented them . . . The work agrees well with the captains’ journals.” The term “Corps of Discovery” for the Corps of Volunteers on an Expedition of North Western Discovery appears to stem from Gass’s book.

On , 1812 Jacob Kingsbury of the 1st Regiment of Infantry recruited Gass who was at that time engaged in the lead trade at Nashville, Tennessee. Gass had been drafted by Andrew Jackson to fight Creek Indians, but since he did not like that type of warfare, he opted to enlist in the Regular Army, receiving a $100 cash advance and a $24 bonus for a five-year enlistment. In March 1813 he was forwarded with nineteen other recruits to Fort Massac on the Ohio River and then to Fort Bellefontaine on the Missouri River. At one point during the War of 1812 he worked under Daniel Boone’s son Nathan in the construction of a small temporary fort on the Mississippi River known as “Cap-au-Gris” or Fort Independence about forty miles above the confluence of the Illinois River. At this location, Gass met with the accident that deprived him of the use of his left eye when a splinter of wood from a falling tree struck him.

Gass was with the 1st Regiment of U. S. Infantry in the company of Captain John C. Symmes, going by boats (that Gass probably helped build) to Pittsburgh arriving on July 3, 1814, the same day American troops were capturing the British Fort Erie across the from Buffalo. Upon arrival at Fort Erie on July 21, 1814, his company crossed over to Fort Schlosser on the New York side and then was ordered to re-cross the river on , 1814 to engage in the fighting at Lundy’s Lane. Subsequently, he was sent to Fort Erie on July 26 and from there was sent to Black Rock, New York on August 3. Later the 1st Regiment of Infantry crossed back over to Fort Erie from Black Rock. He may or may not have been at Fort Erie during the siege from August 3 to September 17, but he is not listed in the men who participated in the sortie on September 21, 1814.

His discharge papers from Sackets Harbor Military District No. 9 of June 5, 1815 state that Gass lost his left eye in service at Fort Independence on the Mississippi, Territory of Missouri in September of 1813, depriving him entirely of the use of it. The Army granted Gass a pension for total disability upon his discharge in 1815, because of his useless left eye. The pension paid him $96 a year. The government also awarded him three land grants: 320 acres in 1807 for service on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 160 acres in 1816 for service in the War of 1812, and 320 acres in 1854 in response to an appeal for additional compensation because of his disability. Gass cashed in the 1807 and 1854 grants and appears to have forfeited the 1816 grant through failure to pay the property taxes due on it. Curiously, Gass's pension application of December 23, 1851 stated he lost his eye while fighting at the Battle of Lundy's Lane in 1814.

Gass, born June 12, 1771 was the last known survivor of the Lewis and Clark Expedition when he died on April 2, 1870 a little over a year shy of his 100th Birthday. His great grandson, Eugene Gass Painter of Washington, Pennsylvania, who was born on the same date as Patrick, celebrated his 100th birthday in 2015.

Thomas Proctor Howard—was born in 1779 at Brimfield, Massachusetts. He began a five-year enlistment in the U.S. Army at age 22. By 1803 he had been posted to Fort Southwest Point in Tennessee and was one of a group of eight men assigned to the Expedition by Captain John Campbell, of the Second Infantry Regiment. After scaling the wall at Fort Mandan, which was located near today’s Washburn, North Dakota, on February 10, 1805, he became the last member of the Corps to be court-martialed for setting a “pernicious example” for the Indians.

Howard signed a petition for additional land grants of 320 acres sometime after March 3, 1807 in St. Louis along with the Field Brothers, Goodrich, Hall, Gass, Willard and Gibson. These were not granted. In 1808 he married an illiterate French woman, Genevieve Roy, who bore them two sons. Clark’s list accounting for the men on the Expedition, made sometime between 1825 and 1828, shows a blank behind Howard’s name. Clark apparently missed hearing the news that Howard had died in St. Louis during the course of the War of 1812, probably early in 1814. If so, this stands to reason since Clark’s attention was totally absorbed by his territorial militia responsibilities during the War of 1812. Court documents showed that Howard’s small estate continued unsettled until 1826 with all its papers signed with Mrs. Howard's “X.”

John Ordway—was born 1775 in Hebron, . He was recruited from Captain Russell Bissell’s 1st Infantry Regiment at Fort Kaskaskia. The Secretary of War had instructed Bissell to furnish Lewis and Clark “with one Sergeant & Eight good men.” Ordway was well educated and became the senior sergeant of the Expedition. He took care of the daily administration and was left in charge of the Corps during the absence of both captains. Out of all the journal keepers, Ordway was the only member to make an entry for each of the 863 days of the Expedition. At the conclusion of the trip, Lewis and Clark bought his journal for $300.00 and agreed to incorporate his writings into their book.

Ordway did not enlist formally in the Corps of Discovery until January 1, 1804 and he was probably the only sergeant until March 31. During the Three Flags Ceremony in March 1804 when ownership of St. Louis was passed from Spanish to French to American control, Ordway was left in charge of the men and Camp Dubois. All did not go well as there was a near mutiny with soldiers refusing to obey orders and much rebelliousness including Colter threatening to shoot Ordway. Lewis took the men to task and made very clear that when he and Clark were absent, Ordway was in charge and must be obeyed. As the Corps was about to begin the journey, Ordway wrote a letter to his parents about the destination and purpose of the Expedition that included the now famous quote, “…if nothing prevents…”

Even as the Expedition was ending, Ordway was called upon to help Lewis escort Sheheke, a Mandan chief, and his entourage to the City of Washington. They came by way of Louisville, Frankfort, Cumberland Gap and Charlottesville to the nation’s capital. Once there, Ordway left the party to go back to New Hampshire to tell of his adventures and to visit his family. While there he married, then returned to Missouri in 1807 to take up farming in the New Madrid area on a large bend of the Mississippi River at the north end of Missouri’s Boot Heel. He witnessed the sale of John Collins’s and Joseph Whitehouse’s land grants to and then bought William Weiner’s and Jean Baptiste Lepage’s grants for himself. Coupled with his own land grant, Ordway soon acquired 1000 acres and became quite prosperous with many subsequent land transactions. Unfortunately disaster was on its way.

The series of New Madrid Earthquakes hit starting in December 1811 with the worst on Feb 7, 1812. Everywhere there was complete devastation to the land and to all the buildings. People who had lived where the land was so level, rich and beautiful now lived in ruin, misery and despair. Much of Ordway’s land was rendered useless by the earthquakes. His land dealings came to a halt in 1811 although buying and selling had been very common for him in the three years previous. The economic impact of both the earthquakes and War of 1812, which were followed by 1816, “the year with no summer,” resulted in poverty for many. Snow and frost occurred in May through August of 1816 and several families starved along with their domestic animals. All these catastrophes left Ordway in poverty, as was his status when he died in 1817.

Nathaniel Hale Pryor—was born 1772 in Amherst County, Virginia. His family had moved to Jefferson County Kentucky by 1783. Pryor was married before to his enrollment in the Expedition, but presumably his wife had died prior to the Expedition. He was also first cousin to Charles Floyd, a sergeant of the Corps, who was the only Expedition member to die. Pryor was recruited as one of the “Nine Young Men from Kentucky.” He was made sergeant in 1804 and led the First Squad of six privates. Lewis and Clark considered Pryor “a man of character and ability.” Assuming all sergeants were instructed by Lewis to keep a journal, Pryor probably kept one, but if so, its whereabouts is unknown.

On the return trip in 1806, Pryor split off from Clark’ group on the Yellowstone River to take the horses, which had been kept for them by the Nez Perce to the Mandan villages, after which he was to locate Hugh Heney and give him a letter requesting a delegation of Sioux travel to the nation’s capital. Pryor was to use the horses as trade goods to entice the Sioux to travel east. Because Crow Indians may have taken the horses, Pryor’s group, consisting of Shannon, Hall and Windsor now without horses, had to build bullboats, which are bison hides stretched over a bent willow frame, so they could rejoin Clark on the Missouri River.

In 1807 Pryor was assigned the task of returning Sheheke, a Mandan chief, and his family back to their village. They traveled in a military contingent that included George Shannon. Secretary of War Henry Dearborn had authorized exclusive Indian trading rights for two-years to any private traders who would accompany Pryor. Clark’s letter to the Secretary of War on June 1, 1807 delineates the group traveling up the Missouri that included Mandan, Sioux, Pierre Dorian Jr. and his group, and his company plus Pryor’s party of some forty- eight men. Clark stated, this “…will be sufficient to pass any hostile band…” The journey progressed well until the travelers arrived at the Arikara villages on September 9. The Arikara, outraged by the belated news of their chief's death in the United States Capital the previous year, were ill disposed towards the Americans. Also, the Arikara were at war with Mandan and so would not let the chief of their enemy pass. Pryor’s expedition was stopped and eventually turned back to St. Louis.

Pryor was placed in charge of a detachment to escort Clark and his new bride Julia from Fort Massac, located along the Ohio River at the extreme southern end of today’s Illinois, as they traveled down the Ohio River to St. Louis in June 1808. By that time Pryor had been promoted to Ensign, which is the equivalent of a Second Lieutenant. In August 1808 Pryor was sent to help establish Fort Madison along the Mississippi River at the extreme southwestern corner of today’s as trading factory among Sauk, Fox and Winnebago. Constantly surrounded by hostile Indians, the fort was subsequently abandoned and burned by fleeing soldiers in 1813. Pryor resigned from the military with an effective date of April 1, 1810. He was issued a license by Clark to trade with the Winnebago Indians and took up a post at the lead mines near present- day Galena, Illinois. There he built a trading post, living quarters and a lead smelting furnace.

Just prior to the on November 7, 1811 several Winnebago had been returning from a visit to the British in Canada and just happened to stop at Prophetstown the very night before the battle. Technically they were not part of Tecumseh’s coalition. Perhaps they had wished to hear the words of The Prophet, Tenskwatawa, but they were inadvertently caught up in the melee where twenty-five Winnebago were killed. Allegedly, Pryor had been peacefully trading with the Winnebago tribe into late December when they learned that other Winnebago had been killed at Tippecanoe. On New Year’s Day 1812, eight Winnebago took revenge on Pryor by barging into his post and taking him hostage. Pryor was about to be killed, but a temporary reprieve was granted when some Sauk and Fox women said he was an Englishmen. Next Pryor was put in a house that was set afire, but he managed to escape. Willard, who had been sent by Clark to warn Pryor about the avenging Winnebagos, found the house burned and reported to Clark that Pryor was dead.

Pryor eventually returned to St. Louis in the spring of 1812. On August 30, 1813 he reenlisted in the Army and was commissioned First Lieutenant in the 44th Infantry Regiment. On October 1, 1814 he was promoted to Captain. He saw action at Mobile and Pensacola before going to New Orleans where the 44th Regiment was the center of the American line during the on , 1815. On June 15, 1815 Pryor was honorably discharged from the Army and returned to the Indian trade, opening a post on the lower , among the Osages.

Like his previous commercial ventures, this one had limited success. In 1821 Pryor established another trading post on the Canadian River, married an Osage woman and served for several years as an unofficial, unpaid interpreter and mediator for her people. Highly respected by Indians, military authorities, government officials and others, in 1830 Governor Clark appointed him temporary subagent for a band of Osage at $500 per year. On December 15, 1830 very positively summarized Pryor’s career in two letters to President Andrew Jackson requesting he be given a permanent post. Pryor died in June 1831 never having achieved a permanent Government appointment.

George Shannon—was born about 1785 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Belmont County, Ohio around 1800. Possibly Shannon was attending school in Pittsburgh or he may have been recruited from Lieutenant Moses Hooke’s command at Pittsburgh during 1803 while Lewis was there. Although he is listed as one of the “Nine Young Men from Kentucky,” he may have joined the Expedition in August 1803 as one of the three men recruited by Lewis who was then waiting for the completion of his vessel. As the Corp’s youngest member and the least experienced frontiersman, Shannon tended to draw menial assignments, but was able to twice survive being lost for several days.

In 1807, Clark hired Shannon to help Nathaniel Pryor return Sheheke, a Mandan chief, to his home after he’d been taken on a trip to the City of Washington. During the journey, Arikara Indians attacked and Shannon sustained a wound that resulted in the amputation of his leg for which he would eventually receive a government pension. Clark continued to pay his salary, which enabled him to enroll at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky in 1808. At Clark’s request in 1810, he assisted Nicholas Biddle for nearly a year in preparing the journals for publication. Later, Clark asked him to join a fur trading enterprise, but Shannon chose to study law instead.

In view of his disability, Shannon had the right to petition Congress for a pension. With Clark’s help he won his case in 1814, seven years after the battle with the Arikara, receiving only eight dollars per month. Three years later Clark wrote a letter to , the speaker of the House of Representatives, in support of Shannon's petition for an increase, calling him “one of the most active and useful men” under his command on the Expedition to the Pacific. Clay had became Shannon’s friend and bought his land grant in 1814. Finally in 1817, following almost ten years of struggle for fair treatment, his pension was increased to twelve dollars per month.

John B. Thompson—enlisted in the Army in 1799 for a five-year term. He listed his occupation as laborer and he may have worked with surveyors at Vincennes before joining the Expedition. Thompson came from an unidentified military unit. His date and place of birth are unknown. Clark praised him as “a valuable member of our party.” Speculation is that he may have been with the Chouteau party in 1807 when the Arikara turned Pryor back.

A John Thompson received a land bounty for serving in the Missouri Militia in the War of 1812. No other facts are known or if this is actually the John B. Thompson of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The name Thompson coupled with John was extremely common in the area at that time. He was probably dead by July 29, 1815, based on a newspaper advertisement notifying anyone owing to or making demands on John B. Thompson’s estate to contact Peggy Thompson.

Peter Weiser—was born 1781 in Pennsylvania and he grew up there. He was recruited from Captain Russell Bissell's command of the 1st Infantry Regiment at Kaskaskia in November 1803. Weiser was part of Ordway’s canoe party that traveled the Missouri from its headwaters to the Great Falls. Ordway and Gass both reported that on July 23, 1806 Weiser cut his leg with a knife, which was so bad he was unable to walk, but the injury apparently healed without infection.

Weiser went to work for Manuel Lisa after the Expedition ended, returning to in 1807 to help build Fort Raymond on the Yellowstone River at the Bighorn's mouth. He traveled alone over the winter 1807-1808 as far as western , trading and inviting Indians to the new post. He stayed in Montana until 1810, when he returned to St. Louis. Weiser’s last known record shows that he served in the Mounted Missouri Militia under Capt. Charles Lucas. His pay was $7.81 per day for thirty days in the spring of 1813 during the War of 1812. Clark recorded Peter Weiser as “killed” on his 1825-1828 list of Corps member dispositions.

Joseph Whitehouse—was born in Fairfax County, Virginia about 1775. At age nine, he moved with his family to Kentucky. He enlisted in the regular Army in 1798 and was serving a second “hitch” in Captain Russell Bissell’s company of the First Infantry at Kaskaskia when Captain Lewis recruited him in November 1803. Whitehouse’s primary contribution to the

Expedition was as a “hide curer” and tailor who made and repaired clothing. For Christmas in 1805, he gave Clark a pair of “mockersons.”

Upon his discharge from the Expedition, he got a land grant, which was almost immediately sold to George Drouillard and was witnessed by John Ordway. He also received Army pay at $5.00/mo or $166.66 2/3. Later he re-enlisted in the Army and was stationed at Fort Independence. He was in Sergeants John Dutcher's platoon on command August 30, 1813 “On expedition against Indians,” which was the Peoria Indian War. Army records of February 1, 1817 show that Whitehouse had deserted. Whitehouse kept a journal while on the Expedition, the original of which is in the Newberry Library in and is also printed in Volume 11 of Gary Moulton’s edition of the journals

Alexander Hamilton Willard—was born August 24, 1778, in Charlestown, New Hampshire. Blacksmithing was a trade he apparently had learned prior to his enlistment. He joined the Army on June 9, 1800 as an “artificer” or craftsman at Fort Fayette in Captain Amos Stoddard's company, Corps of Artillerists, which was stationed at Fort Kaskaskia when Lewis and Clark arrived to recruit troops for the Expedition. Willard officially joined the Expedition on January 1, 1804. During the Expedition, he was called on as a blacksmith, gunsmith, and hunter. En route up the Missouri, on July 12, 1804 he was tried and convicted of sleeping on sentry duty. In the Corps, that offense was punishable by death, but instead he was given the lesser penalty of 100 lashes. He was discharged from the Corps on October 10, 1806 at St. Louis. His private's pay amounted to $166.66 2/3 plus 320 acres, which he sold to George Drouillard for $280.

Lewis hired him in March 1808 as a blacksmith for Sauk and Fox. On July 1, 1809 Clark appointed Willard to the Indian Office as a blacksmith for the Shawnee and Delaware. Secretary of War, took away that appointment on August 7, 1809 as a means of cutting back on Indian Agency expenses. Serving as an agent for William Clark, in late 1811Willard was sent to advise Nathaniel Pryor that the Winnebago Indians would attack his lead smelting post near Galena, Illinois. In the late winter of 1812 while returning from the Upper Mississippi River lead mines, Prairie du Chien and Fort Madison with a message for Clark; Winnebago Indians fired upon Willard as he traveled by sleigh down the frozen river. Shortly thereafter he found nine bodies from the O’Neal family who had just been killed in Indian attack, probably Winnebago. Some consider the Battle of Tippecanoe and the Winnebago attacks as early War of 1812 encounters. After his service during the War of 1812 and in the , Willard eventually moved to Wisconsin and subsequently moved to California where he died in 1865.

Richard Windsor—lived in Kentucky at the time of his enlistment in the regular Army although the place and date of his birth are unknown. He went on Lewis and Clark’s payroll on January 1, 1804, suggesting that he was recruited from a western military post such as Fort Massac or from the 1st Infantry Regiment at Fort Kaskaskia. During the Expedition, he served the Corps as an experienced woodsman and productive hunter. His superiors described him as a “useful man.” “god god Capt. what shall I do…” On June 7, 1805 Lewis saved Windsor from a fall down a ninety-foot precipice. Settling for a time in Missouri after the Expedition, he reenlisted in the Army and served until 1819. A Richard Windsor served with the Rangers, U. S. Volunteers under Capt. James B. Moore in the War of 1812. This just may be the same man that served the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

THE CORPS—CIVILIAN

Charbonneau Family—during the course of the Expedition consisted of three members, Touissant, his wife Sacagawea and their son Jean Baptiste. Possibly Touissant was born in Boucherville, Quebec and perhaps was of mixed European and native descents. He worked for a time as a fur trapper with the . While living among the Hidatsa people, Touissant either purchased or won a Shoshone woman named Sacagawea from the Hidatsa. The Hidatsa had captured Sacagawea on one of their annual raiding and hunting parties to the west. By the summer of 1804, Sacagawea was pregnant with their first child. That child was born in February 1805 and was given the name Jean Baptist.

Considering that Touissant knew a few languages and his wife knew a couple more, he was hired as an interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition while they were at Fort Mandan in the winter of 1804-1805. All three Charboneau family members went on the Expedition to the Pacific Ocean and eventually returned to their home at the Mandan villages. On August 18, 1806 Clark paid Touissant $500.33 for his services. At Clark's invitation, in April 1807 the Charbonneau family moved to St. Louis. Toussaint and Sacagawea returned to the Mandan villages in April 1809 and leaving their son behind for Clark to raise and educate. Jean Baptist was baptized in the Catholic Church at St. Louis in December 1809. His parents had returned to St. Louis in November 1809 and in October of 1810, Clark granted Touissant a tract of land upon which he tried his hand at farming. Touissant was no farmer so within six months he had sold the land back to Clark. In the spring of 1811, Charbonneau and his wife traveled back up the Missouri River to the Mandan villages.

The following entry is from the “Journal of a Voyage up the Missouri River in 1811,” by Henry Marie Brackenridge published by Cramer, Spear and Eichbaum, Pittsburgh 1814: We had on board a Frenchman named Charbonet, with his wife, an Indian woman of the Snake Nation, both of whom had accompanied Lewis and Clark to the Pacific, and were of great service. The woman, a good creature, of a mild and gentle disposition greatly attached to the whites, whose manners and dress she tries to imitate, but she had become sickly, and longed to revisit her native country; her husband, also who had spent many years amongst the Indians, was become weary of a civilized life. So true, it is, that the attachment to the savage state of nature, (with which appellation is has commonly been dignified,) is much stronger than to that of civilization, with all its comforts, its refinements and its security.

The following entry is from “The Journal of a Fur-Trading Expedition on the Upper Missouri 1812-1813,” by John C. Luttig, Clerk of the Missouri Fur Company, December 20, 1812: Sunday the 20th, clear and moderate, our hunters say Rees went out and Killed 20 Cows head and foot was received them Evening, purchased a fine Dog of the Chajennes, this Evening the Wife of Charbonneau a Snake Squaw, died of a putrid fever she was a good and best Woman in the fort, aged about 25 years she left a fine infant girl.

Sacagawea died in at Fort Manuel in December of 1812. There is a story that during the War of 1812, Toussaint was made prisoner by the British and taken in irons to Canada. This information, however, has not been corroborated.

During the period of 1811-1838, Touissant may have worked as a translator for a federal agency, the Upper Missouri Agency's Indian Bureau, earning from $300 to $400 per year from the government. He may have gained this position by the patronage of William Clark. Upon Clark’s death, his employment with the government came to an abrupt halt. Surviving records show that he was widely disliked by others in the Missouri Territory. Part of the reason may have been his casual attitude toward employment: he was variously hired by bitter rivals Manuel Lisa’s Missouri Fur Company and by John Jacob Astor’s . He is also said to have abandoned another employer, James Kipp, while on a fur expedition in 1834.

The following entry is from “The Journal of a Fur-Trading Expedition on the Upper Missouri 1812-1813,” by John C. Luttig, Clerk of the Missouri Fur Company, February 21, 1813: Charbonneau was informed by the Chief Chrveux De Loup… that 4 or 5 Days after his Arrival … in December last, 2 [men] from the N.W. [North West] Company had been with them, they came under pretext to trade dressed Buffaloe Skins, and made some Presents to the Chiefs, and began to harangue against the American traders, told them we would give them nothing, but a little powder, and that they the N.W. Company would furnish them with every thing without Pay if they would go to war, and rob and Kill the Americans

The British were able to gain support from so many Indian tribes partly because they gave better and more abundant gifts. Additionally, the British basically just wanted to trade for furs, but the Americans wanted the furs and the land. Indians saw the English as a possibility for stopping the Americans’ perpetual land grab. If the Americans were defeated, then the long hoped for Indian Territory north of the Ohio River just might become a reality

York— was a slave who had been left to William Clark in his father's will. Performing as Clark’s body servant from boyhood, they had grown up together and in all likelihood were about the same age. York went everywhere with Clark and so was with him in Kentucky when Clark left in 1803 to go on the Expedition. The journals record assignments to given him and attest to his skill in scouting, hunting and field medicine as well as manual labor in extreme weather conditions. York used a firearm to hunt game such as bison, as well as for “protection.” The native nations treated York with respect and he “played a key role in diplomatic relations” because of his appearance. When the Expedition reached the Pacific Ocean, York voted along with the rest as to where to build winter quarters.

York demonstrated heroic bravery in saving Lewis from a grizzly bear. York also saved Clark's life by risking his own to save him from a flash flood. York showed concern for the safety of everyone on the Expedition, especially that of Clark. He risked his life by going out in a storm to search for Clark, Sacagewea, her husband and her child. York found Clark who noted how concerned he was for Clark’s life knowing that he could have been in danger. York had a playful side as well. In a record from Clark’s journal, he described a scene in which York entertained the Arikaras Indians. On October 4, 1804 according to Clark:

Those Indians wer much astonished at my Servent, They never Saw a black man before, all flocked around him & examind. him from top to toe, he Carried on the joke and made himself more turibal than we wished him to doe.

York was married at the time of the Expedition. Clark sent a letter to his from Fort Mandan in April 1805. In it he listed the contents of the shipment coming back on the keelboat/barge including two bison robes sent by York to his wife and Ben, another slave. After the Expedition returned to the United States, every other member, except York and Sacagawea, received money and land for their services. York’s biographer, Betts says that the freedom York had enjoyed during the Lewis and Clark Expedition made resuming enslavement unbearable. He must have known when Clark moved permanently to St. Louis to take up his territorial duties there, that Louisville would no longer be his home. He would be separated from his wife and many of the people who had known him all his life.

Sometime after the move to St. Louis in June 1808, York began requesting that he be allowed to return to the Louisville area. Finally in November of that year, Clark agreed to send him and permit him to stay a few weeks with his wife. York did not return to St. Louis until the spring of 1809 at which time Clark described him as “of verry little Service to me, insolent and Sulky.” In May Clark wrote to Jonathan that he had to give York a severe trouncing in an effort to get him to mend his ways. The riff between the two men continued to widen and deepen. After a trip to Wheeling, in what was then Virginia in the fall of 1809, York was back in Louisville and by mid-1810 was working as a wagoner making deliveries around the Louisville area.

York had difficulty making a go of the drayage business for a variety of reasons. Additionally in 1811, the person who owned York’s wife was thought to be moving to Natchez, taking her with him. This meant that York and his wife would, in all likelihood, never see each other again. York was in a sad state of affairs; allegedly he was repentant and wanted to return to Clark’s good graces. The last known evidence about York is from November 1815 regarding his drayage business. In an interview with in 1832, Clark indicated he had freed York, which may have been around 1816. He says he set him up in the freight-hauling business between Nashville, Tennessee and Richmond, Kentucky and that while returning to Clark in St. Louis, he died of cholera in Tennessee.

THE CORPS—ASSOCIATED

John Jacob Astor—was born July 17, 1763 in Waldorf, Germany. In 1779, at the age of 16, he moved to London to work in his uncle's piano and flute factory. While there, he learned English and anglicized his name from Johann Jakob Astor to John Jacob Astor. Four or five years later he immigrated to the United States. Astor took advantage of the between England and the United States in 1794, credited with resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783 and facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the United States and Britain in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars. The Jay Treaty opened new markets in Canada and the Great Lakes region.

Early on while living in London, Astor made a contract with the North West Company, whose operation out of rivaled the trade interests of the Hudson’s Bay Company, then based in London. Before 1790, Astor had learned the and opened a shop in . Astor imported furs from the Great Lakes Region through Montreal to New York and shipped them to Europe. By 1800, he had amassed almost a of a million dollars and had become one of the leading figures in the fur trade. His agents worked throughout the western areas and were ruthless in competition.

Astor’s dream was to build a global network of trade locations in the Atlantic and Pacific. The reports coming back from the Lewis and Clark Expedition had gotten his attention. He envisioned a colony on the Pacific Coast much like the Jamestown and Plymouth Colonies had been on the East Coast. He saw the West Coast colony as the epicenter of a global commercial enterprise that would leverage all the wealth of western North America into one vast trade network. Astor conveyed his dream to Thomas Jefferson who saw the establishment of a western colony as a means of creating a sister democracy, one where the inhabitants looked westward as well as eastward and where all of North America would embrace the same political philosophy and same system of government.

The Embargo Act in 1807 had been disrupting his import/export business, however with the permission of the President, Astor established the American Fur Company on April 6, 1808 with the as its subsidiary. In 1810, this company launched a two-pronged thrust to establish a trading post at the mouth of the . One group sailed from New York on Tonquin captained by and a second group trekked from St. Louis by land led by . Since the Lewis and Clark Expedition had brought back information about the abundance of fur-bearing animals along the Upper Missouri River, almost everyone was going into the fur trapping/trading business. Hunt experienced some difficulty finding enough men to outfit his expedition. The Missouri River had become much busier and hiring men had become much harder. When was established in April 1811, it became the first United States community on the Pacific coast. Astor financed the Astor Expedition to reach the outpost and create competition for the North West Company.

The American Fur Company was wholly owned by Astor who became quite miffed when the Missouri Fur Company association members rejected the wealthy fur merchant’s offer to invest in five more shares of their stock at $3000 each. Astor’s competitor, Manuel Lisa, had all the qualities to come out on top. Starting in 1807, he personally led three of his own expeditions up the Missouri River to establish trading posts and trade relationships with Indians in the fur-rich lands along the Upper Missouri. Several former members of the Corps of Discovery were on his payroll and some died in his service. Astute and intrepid, Lisa was willing to risk everything, including his own life and the lives of his men, to bring home the choicest furs. His rivalry with John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company was the stuff of legend.

In January 1813, the Astorians learned the United States and Great Britain were at war placing them in a vulnerable position since the British Royal Navy controlled the seas. They could be captured and their property seized, or supplies could be cut off, or the route home around Cape Horn could be closed. The British blockade of the United States Atlantic coast coupled with British privateering activity during the War of 1812 caused the collapse of the Pacific Fur Company. When a delegation from the North West Company showed up and offered to buy out the holdings of the Pacific Fur Company, most of the Astorians agreed. The majority were Canadians anyway and still loyal to England. After the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent, Astor attempted to regain his property under the provision of Status Quo Antebellum—all captured property was to be returned to its owner. Unfortunately for Astor, his property had been sold, not captured, so the clause did not apply. To compensate for this, in 1816 his American Fur Company began dealing in tons of Turkish opium. Eventually Astor became the richest man in the world.

John Jacob Astor had lobbied for and was instrumental in ending the factory system intended to protect Indians from greedy private traders. His Anglo-American trappers were not Indians, but his employees, whose furs and hides went straight to markets pre-determined by Astor. Based on input from Astor’s trappers, the topography of the Fort Astoria area was featured on Clark’s 1814 map. Although the emporium envisioned by Astor failed for a number of reasons, including the decline of the sea otter fur trade due to the animal’s population collapse, the overland expedition pioneered a route now known as the Trail, which was critical for the later American colonization of Oregon and Washington State. Members of the expedition discovered through which hundreds of thousands of settlers on the Oregon, Mormon and California Trails passed through the Rocky Mountains.

Nicholas Biddle—was born January 8, 1786 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bright and well educated, he was enrolled in one of the prestigious academies of Pennsylvania at a very early age. Due to his rapid educational progress, he entered the University of Pennsylvania at the age of ten. When the university refused to award a degree to such a young person, he transferred to Princeton and graduated at age fifteen in 1801 as the class valedictorian. He went abroad in 1804 as secretary to the future Secretary of War, John Armstrong, who served under James Madison during the War of 1812. In 1807 Biddle returned home to Philadelphia and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1809. He practiced law and wrote papers for different publications on various subjects. Biddle served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1810 and then in the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1814.

After originally turning him down, Biddle finally agreed to honor William Clark’s request in 1810 that he assume responsibility for converting the raw journal entries of Lewis and Clark into a narrative. Initially, he spent three weeks with Clark in Virginia, while Clark was on one of his trips back, east getting points clarified and questions answered. From May 1810 to July, 1811 Biddle had the assistance of George Shannon whom Clark had sent east to help him with the journals. Biddle told Clark that Shannon was, “very intelligent and sensible and whom it was worth your while to send here.”

The plan was to have Biddle prepare the narrative with Shannon’s help and Benjamin Smith Barton was to do the scientific portion. Added to this would be Clark’s map of the west, which he was continuing to refine. Clark finished his map, but Barton’s health did not permit him to complete his task so the journals would be published without the scientific material. In a June 28, 1811 letter from Biddle to Clark, he said the journals are essentially ready for printing. It is also in this letter that Biddle point-blank asked Clark about his rank during the Expedition (see Dearborn below). Right about this time, C. and A. Conrad and Company, Publisher whom Lewis had engaged, went bankrupt. War with Great Britain had been declared earlier that month and that could have complicated matters. Even worse, the task of finding a new printer may have been made more difficult by the War.

Finally on February 23, 1813 Biddle told Clark he had found new publisher—Bradford and Inskeep. Editing the journals had taken up an inordinate amount of Biddle’s time despite the fact that every day for a year, he rose at 5:00AM to work on them. He just could not afford to spend more time away from his legislative responsibilities and so with his own money asked a literary colleague, Paul Allen, to see the journals through to printing. In 1806 President Thomas Jefferson presented a report about the Expedition to Congress. Now at the behest of Allen, Jefferson wrote what amounted to a biographical sketch of Meriwether Lewis to be included in the publication. Biddle desired to receive no compensation for his work and his name does not appear anywhere in the final product. On March 23, 1814 he wrote to Clark “the Travels are published.” Unfortunately over seven years had elapsed since the return of the Expedition. Interest in the published journals had diminished severely because of the time lapse. All Clark got out of the whole publication endeavor was the copyright to his map.

Russell and Daniel Bissell—were born in , January 8, 1756 and 1768, respectively. The roster of officers shows both brothers were in the Legion of the United States serving under Anthony Wayne. Daniel was commissioned an ensign on March 2, 1792 in the first sub-legion serving under Lieutenant Colonel John F. Hamtramck. Russell was commissioned a captain on February 19, 1793 in the second sub-legion serving under Lieutenant Colonel David Strong. The roster shows they served with Wilkinson, Harrison, Pike and Clark. Both brothers saw action during the , August 20, 1794 in which Russell was wounded. On April 1, 1802 Russell transferred to the 1st United States Infantry. His regiment was stationed at Fort Kaskaskia when the Lewis and Clark Expedition visited.

Early in July of 1803, a scant month before Lewis would finally leave Pittsburgh and head down the Ohio on his new boat, Secretary of War Henry Dearborn issued an order to Captains Russell Bissell and Amos Stoddard at Fort Kaskaskia located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers due south of today’s Evansville, Illinois:

You will be pleased to furnish one Sergeant & Eight good Men who understanding rowing a boat to go with Capt. Lewis as far up the River as they can go & return with certainty before the Ice will obstruct the passage of the river. They should be furnished with the best boat at the Post & take in provisions for Capt. Lewis's party & themselves. If an officer should be inclined to go with the boat, he should be prefered. It would be desirable that the party should go voluntarily, if a sufficient number of suitable men should offer.

Some of the men recruited for the Lewis and Clark Expedition from Fort Kaskaskia were Sergeant John Ordway and Privates Patrick Gass, Peter Weiser and Joseph Whitehouse.

Russell Bissell was promoted to Major when he returned to the 2nd Infantry on December 9, 1807. Russell’s final assignment was as Commandant of Fort Bellefontaine where he died on December 18, 1807.

In the meantime, his brother Daniel was at Fort Massac on the Ohio River some forty river-miles east of its confluence with the Mississippi River. In this vicinity, Lewis hired interpreter George Drouillard who may have been working for Daniel Bissell at the time Lewis hired him. The Corps also got a member named John Newman from Fort Massac’s 1st Infantry Regiment, however, due to disciplinary problems, he was returned from Fort Mandan in the spring of 1805. After Russell died, Daniel was ordered to the post to succeed his brother. With the expansion of the Army in 1808 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 1st Infantry Regiment on August 18, 1808.

On May 20, 1809, he took command of Fort Bellefontaine. The original Cantonment Belle Fontaine was built on the low south bank of the Missouri River some six miles west of its confluence with the Mississippi. It included an “Indian Factory” or government operated trading post but that function had been transferred to Fort Osage and Fort Madison by 1808. As the first military post in the new Louisiana Territory, Fort Bellefontaine served as a jumping off point for two of Zebulon Pike’s expeditions. General James Wilkinson had ordered Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Kingsbury to construct the fort for the purposes of troop deployment and trade with Indians. Shortly after his arrival, Daniel was told to move the fort to higher ground. The project was completed by 1811 with the fort greatly fortified and expanded, however, the trading post was eliminated. On August 15, 1812 he was appointed a full colonel to command the 5th Infantry Regiment. He served with distinction during the War of 1812 and was promoted to brigadier general on March 9, 1814. He commanded United States forces at the Battle of Cook's Mill on October 19, 1814. The objective was to deprive the British of their chief source of flour. After the British retreated, the mill was destroyed. This minor battle was one of the few American land victories of the war. It is significant as the last battle between British regulars, some of whom were formerly in Wellington’s army, and American troops on Canadian soil.

Daniel Bissell served as chairman of the welcoming committee for the Marquis de Lafayette during his extended national tour from July 1824 to September 1825. Lafayette accepted the invitation to visit St. Louis and arrived May 29, 1825 on a vessel called Natchez. Lafayette’s young son de La Fayette accompanied him to a grand reception that was held at the mansion of Pierre Chouteau.

Joseph Cromwell Brown—was born January 29, 1784 in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Congressional legislation had been passed on May 6, 1812 to begin the survey of the 1803 . That legislation stated that the President should “cause to be surveyed a quantity of public lands in the United States, fit for cultivation, not otherwise appropriated, and to which the Indian title is extinguished…two millions [acres] in the territory of Louisiana, between the river St. Francis and the river Arkansas.” Brown’s connection to Lewis and Clark is that he was chosen as one of the surveyors who would establish the Initial Point for the 5th Principal Meridian or Point of Beginning for all surveys in the same land acquisition that they were sent to explore. He arrived in St. Louis sometime during the War of 1812.

The United States Public Land Survey System dates back to the Land Ordinance of 1785. Under the system, each large segment of land requires a North-South Principal Meridian and an East-

West Base Line, the intersection of these lines being the Initial Point. During the course of the War of 1812, attentions were drawn away from the legislation and no survey had commenced, but at the conclusion of the War, soldiers were clamoring to get their land grants as promised in payment for their service. On July 26, 1815 the Surveyor General issued a directive to the Principle Deputy Surveyor in St. Louis to begin the survey of two million acres of land between the St. Francis and Arkansas Rivers:

...let a standard line be accurately run from the confluence of the Arkansas with the Mississippi due north according to the true meridian so far, that a base line run due west from the mouth of the River St. Francis to the Mississippi will intersect it.…

On October 9, 1815, Principal Deputy Surveyor William Rector contracted with Prospect K. Robbins, as a deputy surveyor, to survey the 5th Principal Meridian and with Joseph C. Brown, as a deputy surveyor, to survey the base line. This was Brown’s first notable survey as deputy surveyor. On October 27, Brown commenced surveying the base line west from the mouth of the St. Francis River. On the same day, Robbins commenced surveying the 5th Principal Meridian north from the mouth of the Arkansas River. Not knowing where the Initial Point was to be located, but assuming that the base line distance to this intersection would be less than the principal meridian distance, Brown reached the yet to be located point on November 2 and continued some thirteen miles to the west.

Robbins intersected Brown’s base line survey on November 10 at a distance of 57 miles 60.5 chains north from the mouth of the Arkansas River and 26 miles 30 chains west from the mouth of the St. Francis River. This marked the Point of Beginning for surveys in the Louisiana Purchase. It is located in a swamp of tupelo cypress in the eastern portion and about mid-way between the north-south borders of Arkansas. Today the Initial Point is in the Louisiana Purchase State Park and the closest town is Brinkley, Arkansas. Along a boardwalk in the park, one comes to a stone monument placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution on October 27, 1926. A few days after the Initial Point was established, Brown returned to Robbins’s camp. Both men continued surveying, Robbins going north until he reached the Missouri River on December 28 and Brown continuing west until he reached the Arkansas River on December 5. November 10, 2015 marks the bicentennial for the initial survey of the Louisiana Purchase.

In late 1816 Brown surveyed the west line of the Treaty of Fort Clark. Initially Fort Osage was named Fort Clark. Clark negotiated this treaty with the Osages after the construction of the fort in 1808. In the 1820s Brown was in St. Louis surveying tracts and in 1823 he surveyed the west and south lines of the new State of Missouri. In 1825-1826 he surveyed the Santa Fe Trail, as he was “preferred to all his competitors, the best qualified in all respects.” When the Missouri/Iowa boundary became disputed in 1837 Brown was called upon to resurvey the line. In 1849 the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Brown’s line and decreed “Sullivan’s Line” of 1816 to be the state boundary. Brown then was appointed one of the surveyors to resurvey Sullivan’s Line. On February 21, 1849 Joseph C. Brown died before the resurvey could begin. He may be buried in St. Louis at . He had enjoyed a full and notable career as a surveyor.

John B. Campbell—was born March 13, 1777 in Virginia, however his family moved to Kentucky in 1807. He is the son of Revolutionary War veteran Colonel Arthur Campbell. Captain John B. Campbell’s company of the Second Infantry Regiment was stationed at South West Point, Tennessee. In his April 20, 1803 letter to Jefferson, Lewis stated that he had written

to the Commandant at Fort Southwest Point, Major MacRea [sic] to look out for volunteers that would satisfy his requirements. When he arrived a Fort Massac, no volunteers from Fort Southwest Point were there. Lewis sent George Drouillard to get the men. Eight soldiers came back with Drouillard from Campbell’s unit. Four of theses went on the Expedition: Richard Warfington and Privates Thomas Proctor Howard, John Potts and Hugh Hall. The other four, whose names are unknown, were rejected. Clark’s journal entry for December 22, 1803 indicates he was not well pleased with these recruits.

After the Expedition returned in 1806 Lewis traveled east via Cumberland Gap. Upon arrival at that place Arthur Campbell, John’s father approached him. The elder Campbell had been campaigning for some time to get a ruling on the accuracy of the dividing line between Tennessee and Kentucky, the majority of which had been surveyed in 1749-1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker. Campbell believed the line was not in the correct location and asked Lewis to examine it. Lewis reported his findings, the original of which was sent to Kentucky Governor Christopher Greenup with a copy to Virginia Governor William H. Cabell. This is Lewis’s report: This day in compliance with the request of certain gentlemen, I undertook to settle the latitude of a line usually denominated Walker’s line, formerly dividing the states of Virginia and . The position selected for this observation was near the habitation of a Mr. E. Walling, two hundred yards south of said line, and about two miles distant from Cumberland Gap. The instruments used in this observation were a Sextant on the most approved plan, with a reversing Telescope for an eye piece [sic], and a good micrometer, and artificial horizon, in which water was used as the reflecting surface. With these instruments, I took the meridian altitude of the sun’s lower limb, and calculated the latitude; from which it appeared that the place of observation was in North latitude 36° 38’ 12 1-10; if, therefore, the charters of the states of North Carolina and Virginia call for a parallel of latitude at 36° 30’ N. as a boundary between them, the line of Walker is nine miles and 1,077 yards North of its proper position. This statement, I have given to Colonel Arthur Campbell, at his request, to be presented to the public view, in any manner he may think proper.

Campbell’s War of 1812 experience was in several locations. On March 12, 1812, he was appointed from Kentucky as lieutenant colonel of the 19th infantry. He was brevetted colonel on December 18, 1812 for gallant conduct while commanding a detachment in the campaign against the Mississineway Indians. On April 9, 1814, he was promoted to colonel and transferred to the 11th infantry, probably at Presque Isle, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1814, the Americans were preparing to make an attack across the Niagara River. As they held undisputed control of Lake Erie thanks to Oliver Hazard Perry, the troops at Presque Isle were no longer needed to protect the improvised there, and were ordered to join the main American army at Buffalo, New York.

Campbell, who was commanding the troops at Presque Isle, conceived the idea of raiding Canadian settlements and destroying the mills on the north shore of Lake Erie while en route to Buffalo. American troops crossed Lake Erie via Long Point, a spit of sand extending from the north shore, to capture or destroy stocks of grain and to destroy mills, which were used to provide flour for British troops stationed on the . Colonel Campbell led the raid on during May 14-16, 1814. Americans also destroyed private houses and other property, prompting British commanders to demand reprisals in other theatres of the war. To some degree, the actions at Port Dover along the north shore of Lake Erie by the Americans influenced the British later that summer contrary to the assumption of many that the , back in April 1813, prompted this action.

After the raid on Port Dover, British Major General addressed a letter to the American commanding officer of the United States troops asking explicitly if the landing and the “acts of outrage on private property” at Port Dover were authorized by the United States military. The answer came under General ’s seal, but without any communication from Brown. Instead, it was a letter from “Colonel John B. Campbell, of the 11th Regiment United States troops,” an unprecedented letter to the enemy explaining himself and possibly the only instance of such correspondence between officers of opposing armies in time of war.

Niagara Frontier, 16 June 1814. Sir,—I have the honour to receive your communication of the 9th current. I commanded the detachment of the United States army which lately made a landing at Dover on lake Erie. What was done at that place and its vicinity proceeded from my orders. The whole business was planned by myself and executed upon my own responsibility.

Captain who had commanded the armed vessels of the on Lake Erie was enraged by Campbell’s actions having ordered his troops to set fire to every building in the settlement: twenty houses, three flour mills, three sawmills, three distilleries, twelve barns and some other buildings. All livestock were shot and their bodies left to rot. Colonel Campbell also commanded the 11th Infantry Regiment in the capture of Fort Erie on July 3, 1814. At the Battle of Chippewa, Ontario on , 1814 he commanded the right wing of Brigadier General ’s army. He was mortally wounded and died on August 28, 1814. His brother, James H. Campbell, also died in the War of 1812 at the Battle of , September 14-16, 1814 near Mobile, Alabama.

Additionally, a Major John Campbell is referenced with regard to the Siege of Prairie du Chien from July 17-20, 1814. At the end of the siege, Lieutenant Joseph Perkins negotiated with British Lieutenant Colonel William McKay that the American troops would be allowed to leave the fort unmolested. Perkins had been able to send messages to St. Louis asking for help. In response, Major John Campbell had hastily led 120 assorted regulars and rangers up the river in six boats, but was ambushed by several hundred Sauk, Fox and Kickapoo at the Rock Island Rapids on July 22, 1814. He was able to fight his way clear when Governor Clark coming downriver arrived unexpectedly. Campbell's force had suffered 35 casualties.

Note: Another John Campbell appears in Clark’s journal on April 3, 1804, but he is not the same man. This was a Scots-Irish trader who had been dealing with the Indians at Prairie du Chien since about 1790. He was appointed United States in 1807 and killed in a duel the following year.

(Jean) Pierre Chouteau—was born October 10, 1758 in New Orleans, then under the authority of New France. His half-brother (René) is credited with the founding of St. Louis in 1763. The Chouteau family became very wealthy through the fur trade and members were prominent citizens as merchants and politicians. The family was known for its hospitality and frequent social events. As early as September 1797, William Clark attended a

party hosted by Auguste Chouteau where, according to an entry in his journal, he enjoyed the “fine girls and buckish Gentlemen.”

The were extremely helpful with the preparations for the Expedition. They contributed an additional $3,000 worth of goods and procured the services of seven engages to accompany the Expedition. Pierre provided information on the geography of the Upper Missouri and the Indians who lived in the area. As merchants, the Chouteaus were able to supply many of the items needed for the Expedition. Over the course of the winter and spring of 1804, visits to Pierre’s residence were so frequent as to prompt Clark to say, “…we have made the house of this gentleman our home.”

In 1801, shortly after his inauguration as president, Thomas Jefferson directed that plans be set in motion to establish the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. In the early part of 1804, Meriwether Lewis, along with Amos Stoddard, reasoned that the French and Spanish citizens of St. Louis would find American control more acceptable if they had a stake in the new government. They strategized that nominating the sons of prominent French and Spanish residents of St. Louis, as candidates to the United States Military Academy at West Point, would aid in achieving this objective. To that end, on , 1804 Lewis wrote recommendations for three young men, one of which was Pierre Chouteau’s son, Auguste Pierre. He entered in the class of 1804 and graduated in 1806, fourth in his class of fifteen. He then served less than six moths as an aide James Wilkinson in Natchitoches before resigning his commission and becoming active in the fur trade.

On July 14, 1804, President Thomas Jefferson named Pierre Chouteau the government agent for Indian affairs west of the Mississippi River. This gave Chouteau access to officials in the American government. He had brought a delegation of Osage to meet with the President in the federal city. They were “certainly the most gigantic men we have ever seen,” Jefferson wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin on July 12, 1804. A dozen Osage men and two boys, the first of several Indian delegations to visit Mr. Jefferson during his two administrations, had arrived in Washington City the previous day. While there, Chouteau met with Albert Gallatin, Treasury Secretary, to request he be granted a monopoly on all trade with Indians west of the Mississippi. Gallatin refused to make any firm commitment. In late 1806, when Lewis and Clark headed east after returning from the Expedition, Chouteau accompanied them escorting his second delegation of Osage. He parted from Lewis’s group at Frankfort, Kentucky and went on with his party, which included the Osage Indians and interpreters, traveling east through Lexington, Kentucky, perhaps connecting with the Great Wagon Road and then onto the Ohio River in the vicinity of Maysville, Kentucky.

Finally, in 1808 a long promised fort was to be built on the Upper Missouri River. William Clark established this through an expedition guided by Nathan Boone and his rangers also called dragoons. Clark’s journal on this adventure to establish Fort Osage, originally called Fort Clark, is maintained at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. In September of that year, Clark negotiated a treaty with the Osage wherein they would have trade with the Americans and a new factory in exchanged for huge concessions of land. Soon Pierre Chouteau learned that many Osage were dissatisfied with the Treaty. Lewis revised the Treaty and sent Chouteau as his emissary to renegotiate the Treaty of Fort Clark, also known as the Osage Treaty of 1808. The revised treaty reconfirmed the land concessions and promised a permanent trading factory, a blacksmith and mill, an annual stipend of $1,500 and a return to the protection of the United States government.

1809 arrived and the Mandan chief, Sheheke and his family still remained in St. Louis. Lewis was near desperate to get them home again so, out of his own pocket, he paid $7,000 to the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company to guarantee the safe return, half at departure and the other half when the task was completed. Pierre Chouteau agreed to command the detachment until they reached the Mandan Nation or villages of which Sheheke’s was called Mitutank. Collectively the huge expeditionary group may have been in the neighborhood of 350 people. They left in late spring of 1809 and by late September had arrived at the Mandan villages. Sheheke was finally home thanks in large part to Pierre and his son, Auguste Pierre Chouteau. The real rub, however, was that the voucher for reimbursement, which Lewis had submitted to the War Department, was rejected. This expenditure had not been pre-authorized and the circumstances gave the appearance that the government would be subsidizing a private enterprise. This was one of the reasons Lewis felt compelled to go to Washington to explain why the cost was necessary and proper. Unfortunately, the question of the voucher’s propriety still remains, as Lewis died en-route to see Secretary of War, William Eustis.

Although Clark’s taking over as Principal Indian Agent in 1808 had diminished his role as Indian Agent, leading up to the War of 1812, Pierre Chouteau spent an inordinate amount of time trying to keep the Osages aligned with the Americans. After war was declared, Chouteau became the point man for securing the loyalty of Indians up and down the Mississippi and being sent by Louisiana Territory Governor Benjamin Howard to check into the situation at Prairie du Chien. To assist him in his pacification efforts, Pierre Chouteau sent his son Auguste Pierre Chouteau and some men to build the long-planned mill at Fort Osage. He asked that his son be appointed sub-agent to the Arkansas River Osages. The request took a year to be approved, but meanwhile, Auguste Pierre continued to help his father and his new government. Finally, the dreaded governmental policy shift occurred. Indians would be used as a tool against enemies of the United States.

In March 1813, the Osage were told to provide warriors, some 200-300, to fight other Indians, to kill the British and to protect the American soldiers. Amazingly, their trust in the American government was so solid that they did so willingly. Auguste Pierre Chouteau, trained at United States Military Academy and a captain in the territorial militia, led them. Then another policy change occurred. Governor Howard told Pierre Chouteau to stop the Indians near present-day Jefferson City, to turn them back to their villages and secure their agreement for the evacuation and closing of Fort Osage. The troops stationed there could then be deployed against the British on the northern frontiers. Indians were reluctant to turn back. Their blood was up. Chouteau had to use the rest of the goods intended to persuade them to go to war to un-persuade them.

George Croghan—was born November 15, 1791 at Locust Grove near Louisville, Kentucky. His mother was Lucy Clark making George Rogers, Jonathan and William Clark his uncles. Given that he was just eleven years old when Uncle Billy left to go on the Expedition and he was only fourteen when the Expedition returned, there is every possibility he met Meriwether Lewis and some of the other Corps members.

Croghan studied at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and graduated in 1810. He then pursued a military career initially as an aide to William Henry Harrison where he fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 and then through Harrison’s patronage received a captain’s rank in the regular army at the beginning of the War of 1812, although he was only 21 years of age. He served at and became a major before turning 22. In the summer of

1813, Harrison gave him command of on the Lower Sandusky River in what is today Fremont, Ohio.

Harrison figured General Henry Proctor would attempt to capture the American supply base guarded by Fort Stephenson when they were unable to break Fort Meigs via a siege. He ordered Croghan to evacuate the fort if Proctor came with artillery and then ordered him to abandon it altogether. Croghan defied Harrison’s orders because his scouts told him Tecumseh’s warriors were closing in on the fort and feared his men would be caught in an ambush. He sent word to Harrison that he was holding the fort, which elicited an explosive response from Harrison who then relieved Croghan of his command. On August 2, 1813 Proctor arrived with a combined force of 1400 Indians and British regulars against Fort Stephenson’s force of 160 men. Out manned and out gunned with only one piece of artillery, Croghan was able to repel two major attacks from Proctor’s army. Fort Stephenson’s one cannon, “Old Betsy,” killed or wounded more than 100 British soldiers while the Americas had lost only one man. For his defense during the Battle of Fort Stephenson, Croghan was brevetted a lieutenant colonel.

Being called the “Hero of Fort Stephenson” did not guarantee future success. He had done a brilliant job on defense, but on offense, not so much. He was given a command to retake Fort Michilimackinac on in Lake Huron. First, he had trouble getting his ships anchored with the resulting kerfuffle giving his enemy time to prepare. Then while his right flank was getting ambushed, his left flank got lost in the woods. Due to a false report, the center of enemy’s line departed, but came back before Croghan even knew they were gone. As chaos ensued and hopelessness became apparent, Croghan called it quits and returned to his boats.

Henry Dearborn—was born February 23, 1751 at North Hampton, New Hampshire. He served as Secretary of War to Thomas Jefferson during both of Jefferson’s terms. Several of his directives were very helpful to the Corps of Discovery. For example, he instructed Joseph Perkin, the conductor for the arsenal at Harpers Ferry to give Lewis whatever he wanted and make the accoutrements in the shortest possible time. Similar letters were sent to Philadelphia from the War Department to Isaac Whelan, Purveyor of Public Supplies and to General , Superintendent of the Schuylkill Arsenal. He instructed the commanders of Fort Southwest Point, Fort Kaskaskia and Fort Massac to give Lewis whichever men he wanted. Through department channels, the recruiting officer at Carlisle was told to send eight men to await Lewis’s arrival in Pittsburgh and help him get down the Ohio River. Lieutenant Moses Hooke at Fort Fayette was instructed by Dearborn to give Lewis “every aid in your power.”

What Dearborn could not do or would not do was give the rank of captain to Clark. He explained thusly: “The peculiar situation, circumstances and organisation of the Corps of Engineers is such as would render the apointment of Mr. Clark a Captain in that Corps improper—and consequently no appointment above that of a Lieutenant in the Corps of Artillerists could with propriety be given him which appointment he has recd. and his Commission is herewith enclosed. His Military Grade will have no effect on his compensation for the service in which he is engaged.”

Since first getting Lewis’s letter asking him to go on the Expedition, Clark had believed he would be given the rank of captain, perhaps in the Corps of Engineers. When asked about this by Nicholas Biddle, Clark stated, “I did not think myself very well treated as I did not get the

appointment which was promised me.” This news was conveyed to Clark when John Colter brought a letter from Lewis to Clark dated May 6, 1804 containing Dearborn’s decision plus Lewis’s statement that it was not as he wished or expected and giving assurances that Clark’s compensation would equal Lewis’s. Clark returned his commission to Dearborn on October 10, 1806 with a cryptic observation that, “having served the purpose for which it was intended, I take the liberty of returning it to you.” However, the official date of his resignation was February 28, 1807, just after he would have had to resign anyway to take his new government job.

The irony in this whole business is not to be missed. Lewis had been working with Jefferson to reduce the number of officers in the Army while in the position of the President’s secretary. That meant fewer officer positions were to be had at the time Lewis promised Clark a captaincy. Clark accepted Lewis’s offer on July 18, 1803. In his June 19, 1803 letter to Clark, Lewis stated that he made the request for Clark to go on the Expedition “…with the privity of the President, who expresses an anxious wish that you would consent to join me in the enterprise; he has authorized me to say…he will give you a Captain’s commission...”

The two officers acted as co-captains from the time of Clark’s acceptance until the return of Clark’s commission in October 1806. Some ten months had elapsed before Clark learned he was not appointed a captain. On March 24, 1804 Dearborn sent his list of recent nominations to the President. Immediately, Jefferson forwarded the list to the Senate for confirmation without commenting on the line that requested the rank of lieutenant in the Corps of Artillerists for William Clark. The Senate approved Jefferson's nominations, including Clark's, on March 26,1804 and four days later the Secretary of War notified the Adjutant and Inspector that Clark was to assume his rank on March 26. So the irony is—Lewis had helped reduce the number of officers; Dearborn could not properly give Clark a captain’s rank; Jefferson made no effort to intercede and after acting as a captain for so long, Clark’s honor would hardly let him back out when he got the news about his rank.

During the War of 1812, Dearborn prepared plans for simultaneous assaults on Montreal, Kingston, and , but none succeeded because the execution was imperfect. Some believe that he did not move quickly enough to provide sufficient troops to defend Detroit. Consequently, surrendered the fort to British General Isaac Brock, without firing a shot. Dearborn had a minor success at the capture of York on , 1813, but Brigadier General Zebulon Pike was killed and the American forces subsequently carried out several acts of arson and looting in the town before withdrawing. Though the Americans had won a clear victory, it did not have any decisive strategic results since York was a less important objective in military terms than was Kingston, where the British armed vessels on were based. A month later on , 1813 Dearborn captured Fort George, but his command was, for the most part, ineffective. He was recalled from the frontier on July 6, 1813, and reassigned to an administrative command in New York City. Dearborn was honorably discharged from the Army on June 15, 1815.

Albert Gallatin—was born January 29, 1761 in Geneva, Switzerland. He immigrated to America in the , ultimately settling in western Pennsylvania on an estate he called Friendship Hill. Gallatin served as Secretary of the Treasury during both Jefferson administrations and the first Madison administration. In office from 1801 to 1814, he held that position longer than anyone, before or since. During this period, through careful financial

management and frugal spending, he was able to cut the national debt in half until the War of 1812 made his policies impossible.

Gallatin advised Jefferson that Congress should be apprised of any expedition going outside the United States. The President sent a secret message to Congress on , 1803 via Meriwether Lewis requesting $2500.00 to fund an exploration of the Missouri River. Bear in mind that the Louisiana Purchase did not become a sovereignty of the United States until the official announcement on July 4, 1803. Gallatin was instrumental in convincing Jefferson that the purchase of Louisiana was constitutionally sound. To aid in the success of the Expedition, he ensured that funds were appropriated and that maps were made available.

In the spring of 1803, at the direction of Albert Gallatin, cartographer Nicholas King prepared a new map of the Northwest combining features selected from maps by Aaron Arrowsmith, Andrew Ellicott, James Cook, George Vancouver, Alexander Mackenzie, David Thompson and others, each containing a more or less educated guess as to the location and general topography of the Northern Rocky Mountains and the rivers in their vicinity, which no white man had yet seen. The Corps of Discovery named one of the three rivers forming the Missouri in Gallatin’s honor. The other two were named for Jefferson and Madison. Three Forks, Montana is located in Gallatin County.

The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general ban on trade that made any and all exports from the United States illegal. It was sponsored by President Thomas Jefferson and signed into law December 22, 1807. The goal was to force Britain and France to respect American rights during the Napoleonic Wars. Jefferson could see that economic relations between the United States and Great Britain were deteriorating and that our country was heading in the direction of war. Due to the Napoleonic Decrees, our commercial relation with France was almost equally distressing. As a means of getting these two major world powers to change their maritime policies toward U.S. merchant shipping, Jefferson believed imposing an embargo would work to avert war. Gallatin strongly advised Jefferson against the embargo, but lent his support once it was effectuated. Given his mastery of public finance, Gallatin probably figured the act would backfire, which it did. By the time the embargo was lifted, the United States economy was pretty much in ruins.

According to Lawrence R. Reno who has written a biography of Nathaniel Hale Pryor, Gallatin may have contributed to the financial backing of Pryor’s lead mine in Galena. In the Nathaniel Pryor probate proceedings filed in St. Louis after Pryor’s death, Abraham Gallatin filed a claim in the amount of $5,750.50. The claim referenced a debt incurred by Pryor in 1811 for merchandise valued at $5,750.50. The presence of this claim shows that Gallatin may have provided financial backing for Pryor’s trading post. On February 7, 1761 Gallatin had been christened Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin. So far as is known, he used Albert exclusively after coming to America, but the surname is unusual enough to lend credence to the story.

In August 1813, Albert Gallatin traveled as part of a commission to negotiate a peace treaty that would end the War of 1812. Initially, he went to St. Petersburg only to eventually be told that the English saw the war as a family affair and did not wish to have the Russians mediate a settlement. In a second peace commission, Gallatin, Henry Clay, , and James A. Bayard went to Ghent to meet with the British. Finally on Christmas Eve, 1814 an agreement was reached and a treaty was signed. Cessation of hostilities would occur after the treaty had been ratified by the United States and been exchanged by both sides, which took place on February 18, 1815 after Madison signed.

William Henry Harrison—was born February 9, 1773 in Charles City County, Virginia. In the 1790s he served as aide-de-camp to Major General Anthony Wayne in the Old Northwest Territory. There he met Meriwether Lewis and William Clark who were also serving under Wayne. Clark and Harrison became life-long friends. He was among the select few who received one of the letters Clark sent from Fort Mandan in the spring of 1805. This gave a substantial account of his travels and a view of the Missouri River with its tributaries. Clark also included details on the various Indian nations, their numbers, lifestyles and trading partners. Upon his return from the Expedition, Clark again wrote to Harrison on September 24, 1806.

Eventually both men became territorial governors, Harrison had Indiana and Clark had Missouri; however, Harrison took up his post in 1801, but Clark not until 1813. As governor, Harrison worked to implement all of the Indian policies of the Jefferson administration. These included trading with Indians to the point that they got into debt and were willing to give up their lands to satisfy the debt, encouraging them to move west of the Mississippi, getting them to give up their culture and assimilate into white culture or by paying an Indian nation that was friendly to the Americans to make war on another Indian nation opposed Americans or being supported by the British. On February 27, 1803 Jefferson wrote to Harrison, “…our strength and their weakness are now so visible, that they must see we have only to shut our hand to crush them…”

Tecumseh, a war chief among the Shawnee, met with Indiana Governor William Henry Harrison in August 1810 to demand the rescission of land purchase treaties the United States had forced on Shawnee and other tribes. Tecumseh led four hundred armed warriors from Prophetstown to confront Harrison at his Vincennes home called . Their appearance startled the townspeople and the situation quickly became dangerous when Harrison rejected Tecumseh’s demand. Harrison argued that individual tribes could have relations with the United States and that Tecumseh’s interference was unwelcome by the tribes of the area. Incidentally, Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison’s paths may have crossed at an earlier point during the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

The Battle of Tippecanoe occurred on November 7, 1811 at a location along the near today’s West Lafayette, Indiana, the home of Purdue University. Considered by many as the first battle of the War of 1812, it was fought between American troops and native warriors. Tecumseh was in the process of building a huge Indian alliance that would, at the very least, include all tribes west of the Appalachian Mountains. His overarching goals were to stop encroachment on Indian land and bring an end to the sale of tribal territory. He was not yet ready to oppose the United States by force and had gone on a recruiting mission to gain allies among the Choctaw and Creeks.

As tensions and violence increased, Governor Harrison marched with an army of about a thousand men to disperse the confederation headquarters at Prophetstown, near the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers. When Harrison’s army arrived, Tenskwatawa the brother of Tecumseh who was a spiritual leader, but not a military man, was in charge. Harrison camped near Prophetstown on November 6 and arranged to meet with Tenskwatawa the following day. Early the next morning, warriors from Prophetstown attacked Harrison’s army. Although the outnumbered attackers took Harrison’s army by surprise, the men stood their ground for more than two hours. Indians were ultimately repulsed when their ammunition ran low. After the battle, Prophetstown was abandoned. Harrison’s men burned it to the ground, destroyed the food supplies stored up for the winter and then they returned home.

Secretary of War William Eustis, who had authorized Harrison’s army as a means of showing force, criticized him for not having adequately fortified his camp against attacks. Despite a developing riff between Harrison and the War Department, in late 1812 General Harrison became the commander of the Army of the Northwest. Believing Clark with his militia and rangers could effectively defend the Missouri Territory, he sent General Benjamin Howard and the 1st Infantry east to fight on the northern and eastern fronts. In response to Howard’s negative comments about Clark’s military abilities, Harrison said he’d rather have Clark with him than any other man in the United States. More than likely this was because of Clark’s extensive experience with Indians.

Construction of Fort Meigs in present-day Perrysburg, Ohio started in February 1813 by soldiers under the command of General William Henry Harrison. The purpose was to provide a supply depot and staging point for operations in Canada that would also give command of the rapids on the . Building the fort in the winter was extremely difficult as the climate was harsh and the landscape unforgiving. On May 1, 1813 British allied forces under Tecumseh and British General Henry Proctor opened a bombardment of the fort. Inside were 1,200 regulars and militia. Reinforcements reached the fort on May 4 increasing its garrison to 2,800. Proctor abandoned the siege on May 9, 1813 and retreated to Detroit.

Having mobilized the garrison into an army, Harrison left General in command of the fort. In July 1813, the British attempted to appease their allies by again besieging Fort Meigs. Indians staged a mock battle to lure the garrison out, however, the Americans saw through the ploy. After the failed siege attempt, the British moved on to Fort Stephenson, where Fremont, Ohio stands today. That attack also failed, causing heavy British losses and forcing their retreat to Canada. Once the British had retreated from the area for good, General Harrison ordered Fort Meigs dismantled.

The Battle of the Thames took place on October 5, 1813 near present-day Chatham-Kent, Ontario in Upper Canada. British troops under Major General Henry Procter had occupied Detroit until Oliver Hazard Perry’s stunning victory in the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10. Now that the United States Navy had gained control of Lake Erie, the British and Indians in the Old Northwest Territory were being deprived of their supplies. Procter was forced to retreat north up the to Moraviantown. Here his allies, the tribal confederacy under Tecumseh, had no choice but to follow. American infantry and cavalry under William Henry Harrison drove off the outnumbered British, who either fled or surrendered. Indian allies continued fighting and unfortunately Tecumseh was killed in the action. At the conclusion of the battle, Americans had re-established control over the Old Northwest frontier and the tribal confederacy that Tecumseh had formed collapsed. Procter would later be court-martialed for his poor leadership.

William Henry Harrison has the distinction of being the last United States president born as a British subject, the first president to die in office and the president who served the shortest term—one month. He was proslavery and anti-Indian. One biographer refers to him as “Jefferson’s hammer” meaning Harrison would forcefully carry out and hammer home any and all of Jefferson’s devastatingly detrimental Indian policies.

Thomas Jefferson—was born April 13, 1743 at Shadwell, Virginia not far from Charlottesville. As a boy, Meriwether Lewis was born and grew up near Jefferson’s home at

Monticello. Jefferson served as President of the United States from 1801 to 1809 with Albert Gallatin as his Secretary of the Treasury and Henry Dearborn as his Secretary of War. During that time Lewis served as secretary to the president from early 1802 until the time he left the federal city for Harpers Ferry in March 1803 to begin the Expedition. Jefferson was clearly the brains behind the Lewis and Clark Expedition as is readily evident in the system of mentoring he set up for Lewis and the instructions contained in his June 20, 1803 letter to Lewis.

When the keelboat/barge returned from Fort Mandan in 1805, many of the items on board were intended for the President including a live prairie dog and a magpie. Jefferson placed several of the Indian articles he received in the entry hall at Monticello. Upon return of the Expedition in September 1806, Lewis immediately wrote to Jefferson informing him of their return. Lewis then brought the Mandan contingent to visit the president. Their civil chief, Sheheke believed Jefferson treated him like a brother. Jefferson was a proponent of Indian acculturation and/or Indian removal, whichever worked. More details on Jefferson’s actual Indian policy are available in the sections regarding William Henry Harrison and Sheheke.

Subsequently, Jefferson appointed Lewis as Governor of Louisiana Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs to replace James Wilkinson. he made Clark Brigadier General of the Louisiana Territorial Militia and the United States Agent for all Indians Affairs in the territory except the Osage, who had Pierre Chouteau as their agent. Of course, Jefferson was anxious to have the journals and all the finding of the Expedition published, but for a time Lewis went incommunicado, then was overwhelmed by his governorship and then died without having prepared one word for publication. When the journals were finally published in 1814 they included a narrative, which Jefferson had written August 18, 1813 at the request of editor Paul Allen. Titled “The Life of Captain Lewis,” this may be considered the first biography of Lewis and includes the famous phrase, “Of courage undaunted.”

Jefferson strongly believed the Embargo of 1807 would avoid war; however, it may in fact have had just the opposite effect. The War of 1812 could be considered the logical extension of the embargo to end interference with maritime commerce, but that by de facto entering the Napoleonic Wars on the anti-British side, the United States may have given up the advantages of neutrality. War was declared on Great Britain June 18, 1812, after which on August 4, 1812 Jefferson communicated to newspaper publisher William Duane, “The acquisition of Canada…will be a mere matter of marching.” He was totally wrong. Several attempts were made during the War of 1812 to invade and capture various parts of Canada, but all failed.

Manuel Lisa—was born September 8, 1772 in New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana and probably moved to St. Louis to enter the fur trade. By 1802, he had obtained a trade monopoly from Spanish officials with the , stunning the Chouteau family in which Auguste had formerly held the monopoly. After the Louisiana Purchase and of the territory by the United States, Lisa’s relationship with the new government officials was not as strong. Lisa believed the Americans treated him less favorably because of his Spanish heritage. He was in competition with Pierre Chouteau whom he saw as having a monopoly on outfitting the Expedition. He complained that the Chouteau brothers were getting all the American government’s business. To rectify the situation, Lisa and his partner Francois Benoit drafted a complaint and sent it to government authorities. This engendered a major rage in Lewis who wrote to Clark in May 1804, “Damn Manuel and triply damn Mr. B!”

Upon return of the Expedition, word spread about how abundant the fur-bearing animals were west of the Mandan villages, particularly the beaver. Almost immediately, Manual Lisa organized an expedition to capitalize on this information. In the spring of 1807, Lisa led a large party including Corps of Discovery veterans George Drouillard, John Potts and Peter Wiser upriver in two keelboats. On their way, they met John Colter who joined them. When traveling in the vicinity of Fort Mandan’s location, the Arikara stopped Lisa’s group demanding half their weapons and provisions before allowing them to pass. These are the same circumstances Nathaniel Pryor and Auguste Pierre Chouteau would run into when attempting to return Sheheke the first time. When Manuel Lisa returned to St. Louis from his first expedition to the Upper Missouri River in August 1808 laden with furs and hides, he reported to area merchants about the potential of the region for fur trading.

On February 24, 1809, Lisa and other prominent fur traders from the St. Louis area formed the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company with assets of $40,000. An association company whose members included Benjamin Wilkinson (nephew of former Louisiana Territorial Governor James Wilkinson), Jean Pierre Chouteau (half-brother of St. Louis co-founder René Auguste Chouteau), Auguste Pierre Chouteau (son of Jean Pierre Chouteau), Reuben Lewis (brother of Meriwether Lewis), Pierre Menard (Indiana Territorial Legislator) and others, including William Clark. The articles of association defined the roles of the company’s partners: Lisa and Wilkinson were named as field traders, Clark was listed as the company agent in St. Louis and no members were permitted to trade outside their role as members of the company. The company acquired the equipment and trading posts. Among the equipment and supplies to be traded with Indians for furs were guns, ammunition, and whiskey.

Although the terms of the association were set to expire in March 1812, the officers dissolved and reorganized the company in January 1812 with fewer of its original members and assets of $30,000. The new company operated as a joint-stock company with ten total shares. Share ownership was restricted to St. Louis owners. The association members rejected wealthy fur merchant John Jacob Astor’s offer to invest in five more shares of $3000 each. In early 1812, the newly reorganized company sent an expedition with $11,000 of trade merchandise on two boats up the Missouri River. This expedition, led by Manuel Lisa, returned on September 27, 1812 with few furs and little profit. The next year's expedition was unprofitable as well, and in the fall of 1813, the association was again dissolved and reorganized.

Manuel Lisa was the primary owner of the new company, with few original members and less capitalization. At this time the company began to be called the Manuel Lisa Trading Company. Because of the outbreak of the War of 1812, the news of which reached the Louisiana Territory in 1813, he undertook few operations. The War interrupted trade with the Upper Missouri River tribes until 1816. Prior to the War, Lisa built several forts to support his fur trading business. The one in South Dakota near Kenel is especially significant. Established in 1812, Fort Manuel was among the first in the chain of fortified posts that ushered in the fur-trading era of the Upper Missouri. Although it existed for only a brief period, Fort Manuel claims historical importance, first because that is the place where Sacagawea died on 20 December 1812 and second of its involvement in international warfare. On March 5, 1813 the fort was attacked by Indians and eventually destroyed, apparently from British instigations arising out of hostilities in the War of 1812. Reportedly, fifteen of Manuel Lisa's engagés were killed at the time of the attack.

John O’Fallon—was born 1791 probably in the Louisville, Kentucky area. His mother was Frances “Fanny” Clark making George Rogers, Jonathan and William Clark his uncles. Given that he was no more than twelve years old when Uncle Billy left to go on the Expedition and he was not yet sixteen when the Expedition returned, there is every possibility he met Meriwether Lewis and some of the other Corps members. John’s father James, who had served Washington as a surgeon in the Revolutionary War, died in 1794. William Clark did not have any children of his own until 1809, but served as something of surrogate father to John and other nephews so much so that he referenced them as his “sons.” William paid for John’s schooling. He attended an institution established by Joshua Fry in Danville, Kentucky, which was one of the finest and best-known schools in Kentucky; the founder himself having been educated at Oxford and having chaired the math department at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Ensign O’Fallon served with distinction at the Battle of Tippecanoe in November 1811, where he was wounded and also became life-long friends with William Henry Harrison. He received a captain’s commission in the War of 1812. He was a captain in the Second organized under an act of Congress approved February 10, 1814. About two-thirds of the men were recruited from Kentucky and the remainder in Ohio. Serving with John was his first cousin Lieutenant Colonel George Croghan. Born in the same year, they were sons of the Clark sisters Fanny and Lucy.

After the war ended, O'Fallon settled in St. Louis to become perhaps the wealthiest man in the city. Initially, he was an assistant Indian Agent to William Clark. Frustrated with a lack of advancement, he resigned from the Army in 1818. He established a contracting business, buying and selling supplies to the Army, from which he accumulated considerable wealth. He invested his newly acquired wealth in a number of very lucrative enterprises including railroads. All in all, he was a military officer, a businessman and a philanthropist.

In the summer of 1820, John O’Fallon did what he could to garner votes for his uncle. William Clark wanted to be governor of the new state of Missouri, but in those days, candidates did not campaign. O’Fallon wrote a lengthy biography on his uncle reminding everyone of all the great things he had done, especially the Expedition. All this was to no avail as the political climate had shifted and men like Clark were no longer esteemed. O'Fallon died , 1865 in St. Louis and is buried in same cemetery as his Uncle William—Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Zebulon Montgomery Pike—was born January 5, 1779 in what is now Lamington, New Jersey. In 1793, his father Zebulon Pike joined Mayor General Anthony Wayne’s Legion of the United States. As a teenager, Zebulon, Jr. accompanied his father and later, he also served under Wayne. Consequently, he would have met James Wilkinson, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and William Henry Harrison. Pike was engaged in shipping supplies from today’s Cincinnati at Fort Washington to forts along the Miami River in Ohio and as far north as . By 1799, he’d earned the position of lieutenant. Two years later he married and eventually William Henry Harrison became his daughter’s father-in-law when she married Harrison.

While stationed at Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis, General James Wilkinson, who was headquartered there, as Governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory, became his mentor. In 1805 Pike received $2,000.00 to buy supplies and was ordered Wilkinson to undertake an expedition up the Mississippi River. He was given several objectives among which were to find the

headwaters of the Mississippi River; convince the native people that the United States, not Great Britain, was the ruler of their land; tell British fur traders not to turn Indians against Americans and they also owed taxes for trading on United States land; and find sites for U. S. military forts.

After Pike returned from his first expedition, Governor Wilkinson almost immediately ordered him to mount a second expedition, this time to explore, map and find the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red Rivers. Much has been said about the real purpose of Pike’s second expedition being a ruse for gathering intelligence about the Spanish—information Wilkinson and Burr might use to launch a or create a new republic. If this was the sub-text of his mission, Pike appears not to have been aware. However, it tainted the triumph of his return and he was sorely disappointed not to receive the same accolades that were heaped on Lewis and Clark when they returned from their Expedition.

Beginning July 15, 1806, Pike led what became known as the “Pike Expedition” with General Wilkinson’s son James serving as one of his lieutenants. This exploratory expedition into the southwestern part of the Louisiana Territory was also to evaluate natural resources and establish friendly relations with native people. In early November 1806, Pike with his team sighted and tried to climb to the summit of the peak later named after him. They then continued south searching for the Red River’s headwaters and built a fort for shelter during the winter. When Spanish authorities captured Pike and some of his party in northern New Mexico on February 26, 1807 the explorer claimed he was lost and had not intended to encroach on foreign territory. Basically he was treated well and invited to formal social dinners, while his men were kept prisoner. The Spanish marched Pike and most of his men south into Mexico, perhaps as far as Monterrey, before escorting them north and releasing them at Natchitoches on June 30, 1807.

Pike was promoted to captain during the southwestern expedition. In 1811, Lieutenant Colonel Zebulon M. Pike was with the 4th Infantry Regiment when he fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe under the direction of William Henry Harrison. He was promoted to colonel in 1812 and brigadier general in 1813. Under the overall command of Major General Henry Dearborn, Pike departed from the newly fortified military outpost of Sackets Harbor, on the New York shore of Lake Ontario, for what would become his last military campaign. On this expedition, Pike commanded combat troops in the successful attack on York, today’s , on April 27, 1813. Flying rocks and other debris killed Pike when the withdrawing British garrison blew up its ammunition magazine. His body was brought by ship back to Sackets Harbor, where his remains were buried at the military cemetery.

Robbins, Prospect K. —was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1788 and immigrated to Monroe, Lincoln County, Missouri in 1810. He lived in the Lincoln County and St. Charles area for the next two decades. An educated man, he assumed roles in commerce and government. During the War of 1812 he served as an officer under Captain Nathan Boone, Daniel Boone’s son, and Captain James Callaway. During the War, the future Surveyor General for the Missouri Territory, William Rector, was a Brigadier General serving in Illinois. No doubt Robbins and Rector knew each other through their military service. In late 1815 Robbins was contracted by Rector to survey the 5th Principal Meridian. More details on the actual survey are available in the section regarding Joseph C. Brown.

As a Deputy Surveyor, Robbins surveyed portions of Missouri and had contracts to subdivide townships. He taught school, served in various public roles, was a county surveyor and served as

Brigadier General in the state militia, in particular the St. Charles district during the War. About the mid-1830s, he moved to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. According to the burial records of the Memorial Cemetery in Ste. Genevieve, Prospect K. Robbins was buried in the cemetery in June 1847. In an inventory of his estate, no surveying equipment was listed. Although members of the Missouri Association of County Surveyors have made a search of Memorial Cemetery, no headstone for Robbins has been located.

Gilbert Christian Russell—was born May 27, 1782 in , Virginia. As a young man, he moved to Alabama after perhaps spending some time in Tennessee. He was commissioned an ensign in the Second Infantry of the United States Army in 1803. After rising to the rank of first lieutenant, he resigned from the service in 1807, but rejoined the army as a captain in 1808. As a major he was given command of the Fifth Infantry at , at Chickasaw Bluffs, now the site of Memphis, Tennessee. Lewis reached this location on , 1809 while on his way to Washington City. Evidently, Lewis was not in very good health so Russell confined him to the care of the surgeon’s mate and in a few days he seemed to be fully recovered. At this location on September 22, Lewis wrote his last known letter to Amos Stoddard regarding a $200 debt. He concluded the letter by stating that after December, he would be returning to St. Louis.

With reference to Lewis’s death, Russell wrote two letters to President Jefferson, one dated January 4, and the other January 31 of 1810. According to a letter William Clark wrote to Colonel Hancocks on November 26, 1809 Russell had written to him giving more details about Lewis’s time at Fort Pickering. By , 1811 Russell had been promoted to lieutenant colonel. Subsequently, he wrote a public statement about Lewis’s death that was received on November 26, 1811 by a J. Williams in Frederick, Maryland. The reason for this statement is not known, but since Frederick had been the location of an Army installation since the mid- where an Inspector General could be stationed, this may have been for record keeping purposes. Also, around that time Russell had made known his desire to be the Chickasaw agent should that position become available. He attained the rank of colonel on March 9, 1814 before being honorably discharged in 1815 the end of the War of 1812.

During the , Russell was commander of the Third Regiment of the United States Army. His soldiers reinforced Fort Claiborne and in December 1813 launched an invasion into the core of the Creek Nation culminating in his victory around the village known to the American soldiers as Holy Ground, but known to the Creeks as Econochaca, which translates to sacred or beloved ground. The battle was fought on December 23 between the United States militia and the Red Stick Creek Indians. Perhaps as recompense for his involvement in the Creek Wars, he was able to get his wife’s Creek Indian uncle, Major David Moniac, into the United States Military Academy at West Point. Moniac was the first cadet from the new state of Alabama and in 1822 was the first Indian to graduate from the Academy.

Sheheke-shote—was probably born in 1766 near today’s Bismarck, North Dakota. His name translates to Coyote or White Coyote, but the French traders called him Big White because of his size and coloring. Patrick Gass said he was the best-looking Indian he ever saw. When Lewis and Clark arrived at the principal Mandan village called Mitutanka in the fall of 1804, they met its civil chief, Sheheke. He was extremely hospitable and very helpful. He not only gave food to the Corps, “if we eat, you eat, but if we starve, you must starve also,” but also described the area from the Rocky Mountains to the south side of the Yellowstone River through which the

expedition must travel, although the Indian concept of landscape was based on time and the things that might occur there rather than distance and topography as was the white man’s understanding. Clark incorporated this information into two maps, “Big White’s Map” and his 1805 map of the West. Clark evidently began compiling this map after meeting with Hugh Heney at Fort Mandan on December 18, 1804 and continued adding information acquired from other traders, as well as from Indians. He sent the map back east on the keelboat/barge in April of 1805. Nicholas King made two copies of it, but neither was ever engraved, so the members of Congress never saw it.

Jefferson had instructed Lewis to send back or bring back Indian chiefs who would meet with their new, great, powerful, white, American father. Lewis was nothing if not a man who would slavishly comply with his boss’s orders. After the Corps left the area headed west in the spring of 1805, an Arikara chief traveled to Washington that summer. Unfortunately he had died there and when the Corps returned to the Mandan villages in the summer of 1806, the news had not yet reached the Nation. Lewis and Clark had wished to bring back to Washington City Arikara, Mandan and Hidatsa chiefs; however, the fragile peace they had brokered between the Arikara and Mandan-Hidatsa had collapsed by the time they returned. The Arikara said they would go to see the Great White Father when their chief had returned. Finally after much persuasion and promises of presents, Lewis and Clark were able to convince Sheheke to go with them. His conditions were that his wife and son go with him, along with interpreter Rene Jessaume, his wife and their two children.

Sheheke and his entourage got tired of traveling, but finally on September 23, 1806 the whole Expedition and guests arrived at St. Louis. From there, Sheheke and the others traveled with Lewis as he made his way to see the President, traveling by way of Louisville and Frankfort, through the Cumberland Gap, then northeast up the Great Waggon Road to eventually reach the federal city. Sheheke and his family were quite the curiosities as they were taken to many receptions and public events. Sheheke thought he was on par with the President whom he believed treated him like a brother. In reality this was probably Jefferson acting out his enlightenment philosophy of Indian civilization that would eventually lead to assimilation. Lewis took the Mandan family with him when he left Washington for Philadelphia at the end of March 1807. Here C.B.J. Fevret de Saint Memin rendered a crayon portrait of Sheheke. Soon the excitement of visiting the east was wearing off and Sheheke was ready to return to his home on the Upper Missouri.

In the summer of 1807 Lewis and Clark assigned Nathaniel Pryor to lead an expedition that would take the Mandan family home. The journey progressed well until they arrived at the Arikara villages on September 9. The Arikara were outraged by the belated news of their chief's death in Washington the previous year. Lewis and Clark had known of this when the Corps returned to the Mandan villages in the summer of 1806, but they had kept it to themselves. The Arikara had always been pro-British and had again aligned themselves with the Sioux against the Mandan. Pryor told Sheheke to barricade himself in the hull of the boat. Pryor and his men retreated down river, returning fire with blunderbusses, swivel guns and small arms. The running battle continued until sunset, when the death of a Sioux leader prompted Indians to pull back. Nine members of Pryor's party lay wounded, including fellow Corps member George Shannon, who took a ball in the lower leg. Three traders were killed outright; another was mortally wounded. Disheartened, the small band returned to St. Louis.

For two years, no further attempts were made to return the Mandan family. They spent most of that time in the St. Louis area. Finally, in 1809 Lewis contracted the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company to do the job for $7,000. This was money out of his own pocket and represents one of the vouchers Lewis was traveling to Washington to explain to Secretary of War William Eustis in the fall of 1809. Manuel Lisa had started the fur company whose partners included Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, Lewis’s brother Reuben and William Clark. In May the company sent a sizable expedition of at least 160 well-equipped mercenaries and traders on thirteen keelboats and barges. Except for a minor exchange of threats with a large encampment of Sioux, the flotilla made an uneventful journey and on September 22, Sheheke and family returned to their village.

Sheheke’s status with his tribal members took a downturn after he returned from seeing the President. He had gifts to distribute, but either wanted to keep them for himself or was slow in their distribution. He had become very fat and talkative, characteristics both of which were despised by village members. He told of his adventures ad nauseam to the alienation of his people. Manuel Lisa led a group that included the naturalist John Bradbury to visit Sheheke on , 1811. Then in 1812, Sheheke died in a tribal fight between the Hidatsa and the Mandan. Very simply the Mandan/Hidatsa centuries-old alliance had broken down. The Hidatsa had traditionally been friends with the British and the Mandan were friendly with the French and the Americans. The battle between them was a consequence of the deteriorating British and American relationships, which had led to war and this battle wherein Sheheke was killed.

Amos Stoddard—was born in Woodbury, Connecticut on October 26, 1762. At seventeen, he enlisted in the and served to the end of the Revolutionary War. He was a lawyer and political figure in Massachusetts until June 1798, when he rejoined the army as captain of artillery. Amos Stoddard had been in command at Fort Fayette until July 1803, when Lieutenant Moses Hooke succeeded him. Stoddard was then ordered west with his company to erect a military post at Cahokia on the east bank of the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis, but the Secretary of War later cancelled these instructions and ordered him to combine his company with Captain Russell Bissell’s at Fort Kaskaskia.

After the Louisiana Purchase, Stoddard was both civil and military commandant of Upper Louisiana until civil government could be established. On March 9 and 10, 1804 in St. Louis, he carried out the official transfer of Upper Louisiana from Spain to France and then from France to the United States during the Three Flags Ceremony. Some of the citizens requested that the French Tricolor be allowed to stay up overnight. Stoddard graciously obliged. That flag flew until it was replaced by the Stars and Stripes—hence a two day event.

Stoddard assisted the preparations for the Lewis and Clark Expedition in various ways and several men from his company were detailed to accompany the captains. Lewis and Stoddard worked out a strategy to make the French people in St. Louis more accepting of American control by nominating their sons to be educated at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Auguste Pierre Chouteau, son of important businessman Pierre Chouteau, was one of these who after graduating in 1806, resigned the Army in 1807. He then entered the family fur trading business, but later served as captain of the territorial militia during the War of 1812.

On April 7, 1804 Stoddard gave a dinner and a ball attended by both captains that lasted from Saturday evening until 9:00 Sunday morning. York and one other man probably helped with the canoe, which was boarded at 7:00 PM so they could arrive at 10:30 PM. When he got back to

camp, after a night of partying, Clark said in his journal, “no business today.” There is a real possibility Clark lent Stoddard the money for this ball. In 1813, Clark wrote to his nephew, “Majr Amos Stoddard I am informed is dead. He owes me $200. cash which I lent him at St. Louis in the year 1804 to pay for a public dinner…” On June 3, 1804, Stoddard wrote to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn to tell him Lewis and his party had started to ascend the Missouri River from St. Charles on May 21.

During the period October 1805 to January 1806, Amos Stoddard escorted twenty-six Indians from eleven tribes to see the President. James Wilkinson, who was now governor of Louisiana Territory, complained to Stoddard that too many Indians were coming down the Missouri River looking for their free trip to the capital. Wilkinson arranged the trip and gave Stoddard $1450 to be charged to the War Department telling him to limit expenses. Stoddard was promoted to major in 1807. On September 22, 1809 Lewis’s last known letter was written to Major Amos Stoddard. Lewis had thought that Stoddard was still commander of , but was informed by Captain Gilbert C. Russell at Fort Pickering, Chickasaw Bluffs, that Stoddard was on the west side of the Mississippi River. Lewis wrote to Stoddard regarding a $200.00 debt. Stoddard had left Fort Adams and is known to have been in Nashville on September 27, 1809. Later, Stoddard wrote Sketches, Historical and Descriptive, of Louisiana, which was published in 1812 and is still a useful source for the history of the area.

In February 1813, Major Amos Stoddard accompanied General William Henry Harrison to the Maumee Rapids where Fort Meigs was built. He commanded the fort’s artillery and during the first siege was wounded in the leg by shrapnel. He survived long enough to see the British retreat, but died on May 11 from tetanus. According to a diary entry by Captain Cushing, Major Stoddard was buried in front of the Grand Battery. It is up to some debate if this meant in front of the fort, outside the walls or inside the fort between and the traverse. Nevertheless, there is a small stone monument inside the fort between the battery and the traverse with his name, dates of birth and death and a summary of his life.

James Wilkinson—was born March 27, 1757 at Hunting Creek near Benedict, Maryland. Just as an aside, Benedict is the site on the where the British landed preliminary to the and the March on Washington in August 1814.

Wilkinson served in the American Revolutionary War. When Gates sent him to Congress with official dispatches about the victory at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, Wilkinson kept Congress waiting while he attended to personal affairs. When he finally showed up, he embellished his own role in the victory and was brevetted as a brigadier general (despite being only 20 years old at the time) on November 6, 1777 and appointed to the newly created Board of War. The promotion over more senior colonels caused an uproar among Continental officers, especially because Wilkinson's gossiping seemed to indicate he was a participant in the Conway Cabal, a conspiracy to replace George Washington with Horatio Gates as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. Gates soon had enough of Wilkinson and the young officer was compelled to resign in March 1778. On July 29, 1779 Congress appointed him clothier-general of the Army, but he resigned on March 27, 1781 due to his “lack of aptitude for the job.”

In 1786, James Wilkinson purchased the 260-acre tract of land on the north side of the Kentucky River, which developed as downtown Frankfort. He was an early promoter of Frankfort as the state capital. In April 1787, Wilkinson made a highly controversial trip to New Orleans, which

was the capital of Spanish colonial Louisiana. At that time, Americans were allowed to trade on the Mississippi River, but they had to pay a hefty . Wilkinson met with Spanish Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró and managed to convince him to allow Kentucky to have a trading monopoly on the river; in return he promised to promote Spanish interests in the west. On August 22, 1787 Wilkinson signed an expatriation declaration and swore to the King of Spain to satisfy his own commercial needs.

In the , Colonel Wilkinson led a force of Kentucky volunteers against American Indians at Ouiatenon in May 1791. He commanded a follow-up raid that autumn, highlighted by the Battle of Kenapacomaqua. Wilkinson was post commander at Fort Washington and William Clark was serving under him during the summer of 1791 when they made punitive raids on Indian villages. In August of 1791 while Wilkinson and Clark were plundering and destroying, they became quite good friends. In October Wilkinson received a commission to the United States Army as lieutenant colonel and was made commandant of the Second United States Infantry. After the defeat of General Arthur St. Clair by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket in November 1791, Wilkinson’s men were sent as a detachment to bury the bodies.

Subsequently, Clark and Wilkinson became part of Major General Anthony Wayne’s Legion of the United States. They were both present at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Treaty of Greenville, 1794 and 1795, respectively. Wilkinson firmly believed he should have been given the top post and Clark sided with him. Although outwardly showing respect toward Wayne, Wilkinson did what he could to criticize the general, refused his Christmas party invitation and filed complaints with President Washington against Wayne and his decisions. Upon finding out about the complaints against him, Wayne decided to fight back, launching an investigation into Wilkinson's history with the Spanish. During this time, Wilkinson had renewed his secret alliance with the Spanish government. When Spanish couriers were intercepted carrying payments for Wilkinson, Wayne’s suspicions were confirmed and he attempted to court martial Wilkinson for his treachery. However, Wayne developed a stomach ulcer and died on December 15, 1796. In spite of Wilkinson's nearly confirmed treason, upon Wayne's death, he began his first tenure as Senior Officer of the Army, which lasted for about a year and a half.

Wilkinson was transferred to the southern frontier in 1798. During the Quasi-War crisis of the late 1790s between France and the United States, he was given the third-place rank in the United States Army behind George Washington and . Among other duties, which Hamilton assigned Wilkinson, was establishing a “Reserve Corps” of American troops in the lower Ohio River Valley, who would seize the lower Mississippi River Valley and New Orleans in the event of war with France and her ally Spain. Despite the end of the crisis in mid-1800 and Hamilton being discharged from the Army, Wilkinson, for unknown reasons, continued the plan for the establishment of the base, which he named “Cantonment Wilkinson” after himself. Located in the , the base operated from January 1801 to late 1802 before finally being abandoned.

Wilkinson served his second, longer term as Senior Officer of the Army from June 15, 1800, until January 27, 1812, when former Secretary of War Henry Dearborn was promoted to major general over him. On February 23, 1801, Jefferson wrote to Wilkinson requesting that he locate and send Meriwether Lewis to him. That letter got forwarded, but Lewis’s friend Tarleton Bates delivered another Jefferson letter of the same date directly to Lewis. Lewis was soon on his way from Pittsburgh to Washington City to take up his new post as secretary to the President. Wilkinson made a treaty in 1801 with the Chickasaw Nation to carry the mail on the Natchez

Trace. Not only that, but the United States was allowed to widen the road to accommodate wagons. Along with Governor William C. C. Claiborne, on December 20, 1803 in New Orleans Wilkinson shared the honor of taking possession of the lower portion of the Louisiana Purchase on behalf of the United States.

General James Wilkinson was one of Aaron Burr’s key partners. Although commanding General of the United States Army at the time, Wilkinson was known for his attempt to separate Kentucky and Tennessee from the Union during the 1780s. Burr persuaded President Thomas Jefferson to appoint Wilkinson to the position of Governor of the Louisiana Territory in 1805. Wilkinson would later send a letter to Jefferson that he claimed was evidence of Burr’s treason. Also in 1805 he constructed Fort Bellefontaine located on the Missouri River just north of its confluence with the Mississippi River. There he established his headquarters and from here he sent Zebulon Montgomery Pike on his first expedition. Due to complaints from Americans in St. Louis that Wilkinson favored the old inhabitants such as the French and Spanish since they seemed to get the best land deals, Meriwether Lewis replaced Wilkinson as governor in 1807.

As part of his alliance with the Spaniards, Wilkinson gave out information on where they could seek to find the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He encouraged the government of New Spain to try to capture and stop these American expeditions in the West. He actually told the Spaniards that they ought to try to send a body of troops to capture Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and he told the Spaniards in no uncertain terms that if Jefferson sent an exploring expedition into the Southwest there was no way the Spaniards should allow that expedition to penetrate all the way to Santa Fe. Technically that is not where Pike was supposed to go, but he landed up there anyway. Specifically, Wilkinson was in reference to what became the Custis-Freeman Expedition or the Grand Excursion. Wilkinson was away with his troops in and not in St. Louis when the Corps of Discovery returned.

During his tenure as Governor of Louisiana Territory, Wilkinson freely granted licenses to traders. These may have gone to persons of questionable credentials or persons who had no scruples since his only interest was in making the French/Spanish citizens happy. Meriwether Lewis succeeded Wilkinson as Governor of Louisiana Territory and had the difficult, if not impossible, job of sorting out licenses and Spanish/French land grants. On March 2, 1813, Wilkinson was commissioned a major general during the War of 1812. That same month, he led the American force that captured Mobile in Spanish . No causalities occurred during this campaign. Wilkinson sent the Spanish commander, Cayetano Perez, a diplomatic message explaining he was in an American port that was part of the original Louisiana Purchase. Thus West Florida became the only territorial gain for the United States during the War of 1812

Wilkinson was assigned to the St. Lawrence River theater of war, following Henry Dearborn's reassignment. He was in charge of a large army designated to attack and capture Montreal or Kingston. The whole northern campaign from the late summer of 1813 to early the next year was a disaster. Contributing to the failures was the inability of Wilkinson and Secretary of War, John Armstrong, to see eye-to-eye on campaign strategy and a lack of cooperation between Brigadier General Wade Hampton who was supposed to coordinate with and support Wilkinson. Wilkinson’s troops engaged in two failed campaigns, the Battle of Crysler's Farm and the second Battle of La Colle Mill. He was then relieved from active duty and subsequently cleared in a military inquiry. He was discharged from the Army on June 15, 1815. In 1816, Wilkinson published Memoirs of My Own Times, in a final attempt to clear his name.

Appendix A Presidents Involved in the War of 1812

President Years in Office Involvement Thomas Jefferson 1810-1809 Signed the Embargo Act of 1807 that made all exports from the United States illegal. Purpose was to get France and Britain to respect American rights during the Napoleonic Wars. Stated that the acquisition of Canada was a “mere matter of marching.” James Madison 1809-1817 Sent war message to Congress June 1 and signed declaration of war on June 18, 1812. War of 1812 became known as “Madison’s War.” Present at the Battle of Bladensburg and fled from Washington to Brookeville. 1817-1825 Served as Secretary of State to Madison and was temporarily appointed Secretary of War. Observed the at Benedict and was present at the Battle of Bladensburg. John Quincy Adams 1825-1829 Served a one of the peace negotiators for the Treaty of Ghent. Clashed with another negotiator, Henry Clay, who was a strong supporter of the war in a group known as the “War Hawks.” Andrew Jackson 1829-1837 Defeated the “Red Sticks” faction of the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in March of 1814. Went on to win a major victory over the British in the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815. William Henry Harrison March 1841- In November 1811, attacked Prophetstown in the April 1841 Battle of Tippecanoe that resulted in a deplorable defeat of the Shawnee. He defeated the British in the Battle of the Thames during which Tecumseh was killed, effectively ending the Indian confederacy. John Tyer 1841-1845 Early in the war, urged military action by the Virginia House of Delegates and in the summer of 1813, organized a small militia company of county residents to defend Richmond, but saw no action. Zachary Taylor 1849-1850 Commanded Fort Harrison near today’s Terre Haute, Indiana, which was under siege from Indians in September 1812. The successful defense of the fort is considered the first land victory for the Americans during the War of 1812. Accompanied William Clark to capture Prairie du Chien in May 1814 and in September 1814 established on the Mississippi River across from the mouth of the Des Moines River.

Appendix B Bibliography

In addition to researching the above listed books, which are from the writer’s private library, numerous articles and multiple Internet sites have been referenced.

Appendix C Places to Visit

United States Battle of Tippecanoe—West Lafayette, IN Fort Niagara—Youngstown, NY Tuscarora Heroes—Lewiston, NY Siege of Fort Meigs—Perrysburg, OH Siege of Fort Mims—Tensaw, AL Battle of Horseshoe Bend—Daviston, AL Battle of Fort Stephenson—Fremont, OH /Fort Jackson—Wetumpka, AL Baltimore, MD Fort McHenry Flag House Maryland Historical Society Washington D. C. Suggested here are but a National Museum of few War of 1812 related American History sites. There are many Octagon House others. Going where Belmont-Sewell House history happened is one of National Museum of the best ways to the American Indian experience our National Battle of Lake Erie—Put in Bay-Port Clinton, OH Heritage. Every reader of U.S. Brig Niagara—Port of Erie, PA this paper is strongly USS Constitution—, MA encouraged to make travel Battle of New Orleans—New Orleans, LA and Heritage Tourism an Fort Crawford—Prairie du Chien, WI integral and frequent part Battle of Plattsburg—, NY of your activities, your Battle of River Raisin—Monroe, MI time and your life. Your Friend, Canada The Road Spirit Lundy’s Lane—, Ontario Crysler’s Farm—Morrisburg, Ontario Battle of Chippewa—Niagara Falls, Ontario Fort Erie—Fort Erie, Ontario Niagara-on-the-Lake—Ontario Battle of the Thames—Chatham Kent, Ontario Fort George—Niagara on the Lake, Ontario Battle of Heights—Queenston, Ontario —Amherstburg, Ontario