Transcript The Corps of Discovery

Corps of Discovery
New Orleans
Thomas Jefferson
Napoleon Bonaparte
Satellite Image of New Orleans
• By the early 1800s the United
States stretched from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Mississippi River.
With overland transportation still
unreliable, the Mississippi River
was a vital transportation route for
farmers to get their products to
markets in the East. President
Thomas Jefferson knew whoever
controlled New Orleans, controlled
the Mississippi River.
• In 1802 Jefferson sent James
Monroe to France to negotiate the
purchase of New Orleans for $10
million. Monroe also was sent to
Spain to negotiate the purchase of
the territory of Florida.
• While the French initially refused
America’s offer, the French now
knew the United States was
interested in paying for the territory.
France’s Plans Are Foiled
•
Toussaint
L’Ouverture
•
•
•
•
Haiti
France planned to use its island colony
of Haiti as a base for future French
settlers to move into the Louisiana
Territory west of the Mississippi.
These plans were disrupted when a
slave, Toussaint L’Ouverture, led a
revolt against the French. The slaves
took control of the island, and France’s
plans for a French base were
abandoned.
At the same time, France was fighting a
war with other European countries and
badly needed money.
These events caused Napoleon to
approach the Americans with the
greatest land bargain of all time! He
agreed to sell New Orleans and the
entire Louisiana territory for $15 million.
This land purchase would double the
size of the United States!
However, the French could not define
the borders of the land.
The Corps of Discovery
Captain William Clark
1770-1838
Meriwether Lewis
1774-1809
A Newfoundland
named Seaman
accompanied the
Corps of Discovery.
• Jefferson chose his secretary,
Captain Meriwether Lewis. He
and his old friend organized an
expedition of thirty-one men,
mostly soldiers. This Corps of
Discovery headed for the
unknown lands west of the
Mississippi River.
• The Corps’ mission was to
travel up the Missouri River in
search of a northwest passage,
an all-water route to the Pacific
Ocean. The men were to make
contact with American Indian
tribes in the region.
Training in Philadelphia
The shop of Israel Whelan, Purveyor
of Public Supplies. Lewis bought
many of his supplies here.
The Peale museum was located on the
second floor of Independence Hall.
• In the spring of 1803, Meriwether
Lewis made his way to Philadelphia,
the scientific capital of the United
States, to train for the mission. In
Philadelphia he was educated in
mapmaking and the sciences. Lewis
spent much of his time at the museum
of Charles Willson Peale located on
the second floor of Independence Hall.
• Lewis also purchased scientific
instruments and other supplies with
the $2,500 Congress had given him to
finance the expedition.
• After stopping in Pittsburgh to oversee
the building of the keelboat, Lewis
joined Clark at the Corps’ winter camp
in Illinois.
One Big Shopping List!
Camping Equipment
150 Yards (140 meters) of cloth to be
oiled and sewn into tents and
sheets
6 large needles
pliers
chisels
handsaws
oilskin bags
25 hatchets
whetstones
30 steels for striking or making fire
iron corn mill
2 dozen tablespoons
mosquito curtains
10.5 pounds (5 kilograms) of fishing
hooks and fishing lines
12 pounds (5.4 kilograms) of soap
193 pounds (87.5 kilograms) of “portable
soup” (a thick paste concocted by
boiling down beef, eggs, and
vegetables, to be used if no other
food was available on the trail)
3 bushels (106 liters) of salt
writing paper, ink, and crayons
Weapons
15 prototype Model 1803 muzzle-loading .54caliber rifles "Kentucky Rifles"
15 gun slings
24 large knives
powder horns
500 rifle flints
420 pounds (191 kilograms) of sheet lead
for bullets
176 pounds (80 kilograms) of gunpowder
packed in 52 lead canisters
1 long-barreled rifle that fired its bullet with
compressed air, rather than by flint,
spark, and powder
More Supplies ...
Presents for American Indians
12 dozen pocket mirrors
4,600 sewing needles
144 small scissors
10 pounds of sewing thread
silk ribbons
ivory combs
handkerchiefs
yards of bright-colored cloth
130 rolls of tobacco
tomahawks that doubled as pipes
288 knives
8 brass kettles
vermilion face paint
20 pounds of assorted beads, mostly
blue
5 pounds of small, white, glass beads
288 brass thimbles
armbands
ear trinkets
Medicine
50 dozen Dr. Rush's patented "Rush's
Thunderclapper" pills
lancets
forceps
syringes
tourniquets
1,300 doses of physic
1,100 doses of emetic
3,500 doses of diaphoretic (sweat inducer)
additional drugs
Clothing
45 flannel shirts
20 coats
15 frocks
shoes
woolen pants
15 blankets
knapsacks
30 stockings
15 pairs of wool overalls
Transportation
The keelboat was fifty-five feet
long.
Securing horses as they traveled
was vital to completing the Corps’
mission.
• The primary means of
transportation west was
a large keel boat and
two smaller open boats
(pirogues). Lewis also
brought a collapsible
boat he had designed.
• The Corps hoped at
some point they would
be able to trade with
native people for horses.
Starting Out
Camp Wood
(Illinois)
Mississippi
River
Missouri River
St. Louis
(Missouri)
Satellite image of the Mississippi and Missouri
Rivers
• On May 20, 1804, the
Corps of Discovery left St.
Louis on their journey up
the Missouri River.
• On August 2, the Corps
had their first encounter
with Indians when they met
members of the Oto and
Missouri tribes. The tribes
warned the Corps of the
powerful Teton-Sioux that
lived farther up the
Missouri. The group would
soon learn why the Sioux
earned the nickname,
“Pirates of the Missouri”.
The Pirates of the Missouri
September 1804
TetonSioux
Warrior
“Capt. Lewis ordered all under arms
in the boat, those with me also
Showed a Disposition to Defend
themselves and me, the grand
Chief then took hold of the rope &
ordered the young Warriors away,
I felt My Self warm & Spoke in
very positive terms. Most of the
Warriors appeared to have their
Bows strung and took out their
arrows from the quiver.”
Captain William Clark
September 25, 1804
• In September 1804, the Corps of
Discovery entered Sioux territory
and began to have contact with the
natives.
• The Corps presented the Sioux with
gifts of glass beads, sewing
needles and thread, mirrors, and
other items.
• As the group prepared to leave,
several Sioux braves demanded
more goods. Clark drew his sword
as the Sioux braves notched their
arrows.
• An old chief eased the tension
when he requested that his people
be allowed to meet the strangers.
A Whole New World
When members of
the Corps first saw a
grizzly bear, they
decided to shoot it.
This angered the
bear, and the bear
charged the men.
The men used soapy
water to flush the
black–tailed prairie
dog out of its burrow.
It was the only animal
that survived the
return journey to
Washington, D.C.
• One of the missions
assigned to the Corps
was to record the
discovery of new plants
and animals. They also
hoped to bring some
animals back for further
study.
• Throughout their 8,000mile journey, the group
would discover one
hundred seventy-eight
plants and one hundred
twenty-two species and
sub-species of animals.
William Clark drew many of the
plants and animals he saw on
the journey. Scientists would
take years to review the
mountains of new information
that Lewis and Clark brought
back with them.
Sketches from
Clark’s Journal
Fort Mandan
Winter Quarters 1804-1805
View from the Front Gates of a Replica
of Fort Mandan.
In 1804 millions of buffalo still roamed the
plains of the Midwest. Today only small herds
exist in national parks such as Yellowstone.
• The Corps reached what is today
Bismarck, North Dakota, in October
1804 and began constructing their
winter quarters.
• This was the traditional homeland
of the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians
who lived off the plains buffalo.
• It was here that the Corps would
hire Toussaint Charbonneau and
his young wife, Sacagawea, to
guide them west.
• On February 11, 1805, Sacagawea
gave birth to a son with the help of
Meriwether Lewis. She named her
son Jean-Baptiste. The members of
the Corps nicknamed him Pompy,
or “little dancer.” Pompy became
the youngest member of the Corps.
Sacagawea
c. 1788-1812
•
•
•
•
Sacagawea was a young Shoshone
women who had been kidnapped from
her tribe when she was young.
She later married a French fur trapper,
Toussaint Charbonneau .
When the Corps arrived at Fort Mandan,
they hired Charbonneau to be their
guide. It was agreed his wife
Sacagawea and their young son, JeanBaptiste, would accompany the
expedition.
Sacagawea proved to be an unexpected
asset to the Corps. Throughout the
expedition, she would play the crucial
roles of guide, translator, and even more
importantly, a peace symbol. Indians
who saw the Corps approaching
assumed the group came in peace
because the group of men included a
woman and young child.
York
Many former slaves went west in search
of freedom in the territories. The Indians
treated them as equals.
Indians who met York thought he was
covered in paint and attempted to wipe it off.
• One of the men in the Corps
of Discovery was York, the
slave of William Clark.
• As the Corps met Indians in
their journey west, York’s
appearance amazed the
Indians. Many Indians had
never seen an AfricanAmerican man and believed
him to be part bear.
John Colter
William Clark
York
Toussaint Charbonneau
Meriwether Lewis
Sacagawea
The Source of the Missouri
August 12, 1805
Source of the
Missouri River
The expedition had been told that they only
had to cross a small range of mountains.
They were astounded to discover the true
size of the Rockies.
• As the group traveled up the
Missouri, they were unable to
continue in their boats. They
could also see the snowcapped mountains ahead.
• At this point the Corps
realized a northwest passage
did not exist.
• At this point the group had to
find Indian tribes to trade for
horses or they would run the
risk of being caught in the
Rockies during the winter.
Sacagawea Saves the Day
Sacagawea began to weep when she
recognized her brother. The translation at
this meeting was very complicated. It
involved Sacagawea translating the
Shoshone language into Mandan and
Charbonneau translating the Mandan into
French. Another member of the Corps
would translate the French into English.
• On August 17, 1805, the Corps
reached a Shoshone village at
the foot of the Rocky Mountains,
and they began to trade for
horses.
• During this initial meeting,
Sacagawea realized the
Shoshone chief, Cameahwait,
was her long-lost brother. This
was the same tribe from which
Sacagawea had been kidnapped
many years before!
• Needless to say, the Shoshone
provided the Corps with the
horses they needed and even
sent guides to help the
expedition through the Bitterroot
Range of the Rocky Mountains.
The Fastest People on Earth!!
The name Nez Perce was mistakenly
given to the group even though they
did not pierce their noses.
Rapids on the Columbia River
• On September 23, 1805, the Corps
reached the other side of the Rockies.
• When the Corps reached the
Columbia River, on the present-day
Washington-Oregon border, they built
canoes and began to float down the
river with the current.
• As they made their way down the
swiftly moving river, they were
traveling faster than any other people
on Earth.
• The Columbia did have many
treacherous rapids that threatened
the group several times. At some
points the Corps was forced to carry
its canoes and supplies around steep
rapids and falls.
“Ocian in View! O! The Joy!”
William Clark, November 7, 1805
The Nez Perce taught the Corps how to
make dugout canoes.
View of the Pacific Ocean
• The expedition reached the Pacific
Ocean in November 1805. They
immediately began to look for a
ship to carry copies of the records
of the Corps’ discoveries back to
Washington, D.C.
• At the mouth of the Columbia
River, the group began to build its
winter quarters.
• When Clark wrote the words,
“Ocian in view! O! The Joy!” he
believed he had seen the Pacific
Ocean. However, he was just
seeing the widening of the
Columbia River. It would take
another two weeks to reach the
ocean.
Fort Clatsop
Winter 1805-1806
Replica of Fort Clatsop
Salmon Drying on Racks
• Shortly after their arrival at the Pacific
Ocean, Lewis and Clark held a vote
among the Corps to decide where to
build their camp.
• Both Sacagawea and York were
allowed to vote. This demonstration of
America’s democratic values would
not be repeated for more than a
hundred years.
• The Corps decided to build its winter
quarters near the Clatsop people who
lived by fishing the abundant salmon
that migrated up the Columbia every
year. The Corps named their fort in
honor of the Clatsop.
Conflict with the Blackfoot
•
Blackfoot Indian
•
•
•
Peace medal
placed on dead
Blackfoot
Indians
On their return to St. Louis, the
Corps decided to split up in order
to map more territory. One group
met a pair of Blackfoot Indians
who attempted to steal their
horses early the next morning.
In the altercation that followed,
one Indian was shot; and the other
stabbed to death.
The members of the Corps laid
the peace medals they brought
with them on the dead Blackfoot
Indians to send a warning to the
Indians.
The Blackfoot people were not
frightened. They attacked future
settlers and soldiers that entered
their territory. They pointed to the
killing of their warriors as the
reason for their attacks.
Hell on Earth!
Mountain man Jim Bridger also traveled through
the Yellowstone Valley. When he told people of
this place, few believed the stories of his
experiences.
• One of the members of the Corps,
John Colter, split from the group
and stumbled into the Yellowstone
Valley. Colter was the first
European to see the Yellowstone
geysers.
• Lewis did not believe the stories
Colter told him about what he had
seen in the Yellowstone Valley. In
fact, other members of the
expedition and people in St. Louis
made fun of him when he returned
to St. Louis with what seemed to be
outlandish tales of what he had
seen. Until the claims were proven
correct, the area was known
sarcastically as Colter’s Hell.
• Yellowstone became America’s first
national park in 1872 when
Congress passed the legislation,
and President Ulysses Grant
signed it into law.
Back in St. Louis
September 23, 1806
Re-enactors play the roles of Lewis,
Clark, Colter, and even Seaman
during the bicentennial celebration of
Lewis and Clark’s journey.
• When the Corps of Discovery
returned to St. Louis more
than two years after it had
left, the Corps was greeted
with cannon fire and hailed as
heroes.
• Many Americans, including
Thomas Jefferson, had given
up hope of the Corps
returning alive.
• When Jefferson finally
received the maps the
expedition had prepared, he
is reported to have spread
them on the floor and studied
the maps for days.
Captain William Clark took
nearly two years to piece
together his maps (right)
and create a complete map
of the expedition (above).
The Legacy
•
•
St. Louis Arch “Gateway
to the West”
•
•
•
•
•
Sacagawea Dollar – 2001
The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United
States. The United States paid France $15 million for
the Louisiana Territory. When the final calculations
were done, this vast tract of land cost about four cents
and acre!
The final cost of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was
$39,000, which was substantially more than the $2,500
Congress had authorized.
Only one man died on the journey, and he appeared to
have succumbed to an appendicitis.
What happened to Jean-Baptiste, Sacagawea’s son?
He grew up, traveled to Europe, and returned to
America. He made his fortune as a forty-niner during
the California Gold Rush.
Sacagawea became only the second American woman
to be honored on American currency. In 2000 she and
her son’s likenesses were engraved on a new $1 coin.
Sadly, Sacagawea died of an unknown illness in 1812.
William Clark took responsibility for raising JeanBaptiste and Lisette.
When York returned home, he asked Captain Clark for
his freedom. Clark refused and noted in his diary that
he had to whip York because Clark stated that York
became “uppity.” Clark told Washington Irving in 1835
that he had freed York. However, there is no official
record that Clark freed York.