It is March 3rd. Welcome to Episode 62 of History in a Year. Today, the greatest road trip in American history hits the water. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark launch the Corps of Discovery up the muddy, violent currents of the Missouri River. We explore the agonizing daily physical labor of pulling a 55-foot keelboat against the current, the tragic death of Sergeant Charles Floyd, and the terrifying, knife-edge standoff with the powerful Teton Sioux nation that nearly ended the expedition in a bloodbath before it even truly began.
STEPHEN:
Welcome to History in a Year: America’s First 250 Years.
LEAH:
Join us every single day as we journey from the Revolution of 1776 to the 250th anniversary of the United States.
STEPHEN:
You can find every episode and join the discussion at PointedWords.com. I’m Stephen.
LEAH:
And I’m Leah.
STEPHEN:
It is March 3rd. Welcome to Episode 62. Yesterday, we watched Meriwether Lewis and William Clark pack their massive 55-foot keelboat and push off from St. Louis.
LEAH:
The date was May 14, 1804. The mission from President Thomas Jefferson was clear: Map the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, make peaceful contact with the Native American tribes, and find a direct water route to the Pacific Ocean.
STEPHEN:
But to do any of that, the Corps of Discovery had to conquer their first great enemy: The Missouri River.
LEAH:
The Missouri River is not a gentle stream. They called it “The Big Muddy” for a reason. It is incredibly fast, wildly unpredictable, and filled with massive, hidden underwater trees called “snags” that could rip the bottom out of a wooden boat in a second.
STEPHEN:
And remember, they are traveling against the current. They are trying to push a boat that weighs several tons UP a river that is actively trying to push them back to St. Louis.
LEAH:
We often picture Lewis and Clark majestically standing at the bow of the boat, pointing toward the horizon. The reality was much uglier.
STEPHEN:
Most days, the wind was dead, so they couldn’t use the sail. The current was too fast to row. So, the men had to use a technique called “cordelling.”
LEAH:
This meant tying a massive, heavy rope to the mast of the boat. The men would then literally jump into the muddy riverbanks—sometimes wading in water up to their armpits, sometimes clawing through thick briar patches on the shore—and physically drag the boat up the river by walking.
STEPHEN:
It was agonizing, brutal labor. They were doing this in the sweltering Midwestern summer heat.
LEAH:
And the wildlife was eating them alive. The journals of Lewis and Clark are filled with complaints about the mosquitoes. They were so thick the men would breathe them in. They were covered in ticks. They were constantly getting dysentery from drinking the river water, and suffering from massive boils on their skin.
STEPHEN:
On a good day, dragging this boat through the mud and the mosquitoes, they might make 10 or 15 miles. They had thousands of miles to go.
LEAH:
Despite the brutal conditions, the men stayed relatively healthy. But in August of 1804, tragedy struck the expedition.
STEPHEN:
A young soldier named Sergeant Charles Floyd suddenly fell violently ill. He had severe cramps and was completely incapacitated.
LEAH:
Lewis and Clark were not doctors. They tried all of their 18th-century medical tricks—which usually meant Dr. Rush’s “Thunderclapper” laxatives or bleeding—but nothing worked.
STEPHEN:
On August 20, 1804, Sergeant Charles Floyd passed away. Modern medical historians look at the symptoms described in the journals and universally agree that Floyd died from a ruptured appendix.
LEAH:
Even if they had been sitting in the finest hospital in Philadelphia, there was nothing any doctor in 1804 could have done to save him.
STEPHEN:
They buried him on a high bluff overlooking the river in what is now Sioux City, Iowa. They named the hill Floyd’s Bluff, and they named a nearby river after him.
LEAH:
It was a somber moment for the crew. But here is the most incredible statistic about the Lewis and Clark expedition: Sergeant Floyd was the first man to die on the journey.
STEPHEN:
And he was the last. Over a journey of more than two years, covering 8,000 miles of absolute wilderness, disease, starvation, and freezing mountains… Charles Floyd was the single, solitary fatality of the entire Corps of Discovery.
LEAH:
It is a testament to how lucky they were, and how well Lewis and Clark led them.
STEPHEN:
But that luck was about to be severely tested. As the summer turned into fall, the Corps traveled deeper into the Great Plains. They were entering the territory of the most powerful military and economic empire in the region.
LEAH:
The Teton Sioux. Or, as they call themselves, the Lakota.
STEPHEN:
The Lakota controlled the Missouri River. They were essentially the tollbooth operators of the Great Plains. Any French or Spanish traders who wanted to go up the river had to stop, pay a heavy tribute in goods and weapons, and get permission from the Lakota.
LEAH:
Lewis and Clark knew this. Jefferson had specifically warned them about the Teton Sioux. But Lewis and Clark approached the situation with a massive amount of American arrogance.
STEPHEN:
They didn’t view themselves as guests in Lakota territory. They viewed themselves as the new landlords. They were there to tell the Lakota that the land now belonged to Thomas Jefferson.
LEAH:
In late September 1804, the two groups met near present-day Pierre, South Dakota. And things went wrong almost immediately.
STEPHEN:
First, there was a massive language barrier. Their main interpreter didn’t speak the specific Lakota dialect very well, so communication was mostly just awkward hand gestures.
LEAH:
Lewis and Clark invited the Lakota chiefs—including a powerful chief named Black Buffalo and a more aggressive, hostile chief named The Partisan—onto the keelboat for a council.
STEPHEN:
Lewis went into his standard diplomatic speech. He handed them a silver peace medal with Jefferson’s face on it, an American flag, and a few minor gifts. He then paraded the men in their military uniforms and fired off the fancy air rifle to show off their power.
LEAH:
The Lakota chiefs were insulted. They were the masters of the plains! They were used to traders begging them for safe passage and giving them massive amounts of guns and ammunition. These Americans were giving them cheap medals and lecturing them.
STEPHEN:
Chief The Partisan decided to test the Americans. When they got back to the shore, he grabbed the rope of one of the smaller boats and refused to let it go. He told Clark that the Americans were not allowed to travel any further up the river unless they handed over one of their boats filled with supplies.
LEAH:
William Clark was a seasoned military man. He was not going to be bullied. He drew his sword.
STEPHEN:
The Partisan stepped back and signaled his warriors. Instantly, dozens of Lakota warriors strung their bows and pulled out their muskets, aiming them directly at the Americans on the beach.
LEAH:
Back on the massive keelboat, Meriwether Lewis saw what was happening. He ordered his men to light the matches for the swivel cannons mounted on the deck, and aim them directly at the crowd of Lakota warriors.
STEPHEN:
It is the ultimate knife-edge moment. It is a Mexican standoff. One miscommunication. One nervous soldier accidentally pulling a trigger. One arrow flying through the air.
LEAH:
If shooting broke out right there, the Corps of Discovery would have been wiped out. The Lakota had hundreds of warriors camped nearby. Lewis and Clark had about forty men. They would have been slaughtered on the beach, and the expedition would have ended in September 1804.
STEPHEN:
The tension held for several agonizing minutes. Clark was standing on the beach with his sword drawn, surrounded by drawn bows. Lewis was on the boat, ready to fire the cannons.
LEAH:
Finally, Chief Black Buffalo stepped in. He realized that a war would be bad for business, and the Americans’ cannons could do serious damage to his people.
STEPHEN:
Black Buffalo grabbed the tow rope out of The Partisan’s hands. He de-escalated the situation. He told the Americans they could proceed, but the tension was incredibly thick.
LEAH:
For the next few days, the Lakota followed the expedition along the riverbanks, watching them like hawks. The Americans slept on the boat with their weapons loaded, terrified of a night attack.
STEPHEN:
When they finally sailed out of Lakota territory, the men breathed a massive sigh of relief. They had survived their first great test.
LEAH:
But the weather was turning cold. The leaves were falling off the trees. The Missouri River was starting to freeze over with chunks of ice.
STEPHEN:
Lewis and Clark knew they couldn’t travel much further. They needed to find a safe place to survive the brutal, freezing winter of the Great Plains. And they needed to find a Native American tribe that was friendly enough to take them in.
LEAH:
Join us tomorrow for Episode 63. Sacagawea. The Corps of Discovery builds Fort Mandan in the freezing cold of North Dakota. There, they meet a French-Canadian fur trapper and his pregnant, teenage Shoshone wife. We explore the introduction of the most famous woman in the American West, and how she became the indispensable guide for the expedition.
STEPHEN:
I’m Stephen.
LEAH:
And I’m Leah.
STEPHEN:
You can find every episode at PointedWords.com. And this… is our story.