Thinking About History Thursdays

Interesting Facts About The Great Adventure

So what do I mean about the Great Adventure? Well, I am referring to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Most people know it was commissioned by President Jefferson to explore the vast Louisiana Purchase. Many know that a variety of new plants and animals were discovered and that contact with new Native American tribes made. Folks also tend to know the story about the resolute Sacajawea acting as guide for the expedition even after giving birth. But there are many other fascinating elements to this story.

Captain William Clark was a gifted surveyor and had real combat experience. He produced the detailed maps that came from the expedition, and they were so accurate that modern satellite/GPS mapping programs have shown he was only about 15 miles off in his estimates. Considering he determined distance by simple line of sight estimates, this was a truly amazing accomplishment.

A number of new inventions were taken by the Corps of Discovery on their journey. One of the more interesting was a collapsable boat.

 

Designed by Meriwether Lewis, the boat had an iron frame and was covered with animal skins coated in tar to make it waterproof. It proved to be cumbersome to carry and when in the water could only be used where horses could pull it against a river's current. When pine trees began to become scarce the boat had to be abandoned as there was no way to waterproof it.

Another interesting piece of equipment was a Girandoni air rifle purchased by Lewis. The weapon looked like a standard musket but was an air rifle that fired a .46 caliber round and could kill a deer at 150 yards. One big drawback was that it took 1500 pumps to completely fill the air reservoir (which was good for 30 shots). It was never used for hunting but proved to be effective as a way to impress Native tribes, who were amazed that a rifle could be so quiet.

 

Jefferson had hand picked Lewis for the expedition. Meriwether Lewis was intelligent and had a background in biology. He was also a competent writer, so we have a fairly accurate record of the expedition from his journals. Clark also kept a journal but it was simplistic and not exactly publishable material. Strangely, the are serious lapses in Lewis' journal. There are weeks missing at various times during the two year journey. The best explanation is that Lewis suffered from anxiety issues and may have been a manic-depressive.

This depression afflicted him often after his return home. He served as governor of the western territories and never got around to publishing his journal, which was in high demand and would have been very profitable. Ten years after the expedition Lewis had finally finished transcribing the journal into a publishable form and was headed to Boston to meet with his publisher. While on the trail in Tennessee he stayed the night at an inn and was found dead the next morning from gunshot wounds. Most historians believe he committed suicide after one particularly bad anxiety attack. Some, though, believe he was murdered by someone who knew he had the finished journal on him. In fact, descendants of Lewis are now requesting the body be exhumed to try and but an end to the mystery.

The Lewis and Clark expedition will forever go down in US History as an amazing adventure story in which a small group exhibited great bravery and fortitude.

 

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