In 1803, Thomas Jefferson bought
828,000 square miles of land
from Napoleon's France.
Known as the Louisiana
Purchase, the transaction
drastically increased the
size of the United States.
The general public had mixed
emotions about the deal.
So to help win support,
Jefferson ordered an expedition
through the territory, all
the way to the Pacific Ocean.
That expedition would be led
by Meriwether Lewis and William
Clark.
Today we're going to
tell you a whole lot
of cool facts about the
Lewis and Clark expedition.
But before we get started,
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(GRUFFLY) Ugh, what the hell was
sitting around yammering for?
Let's go on an expedition.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The laws of the United States
gave certain kinds of people
certain rights, and
denied them to others.
But once the Lewis
and Clark expedition
left official US
territory, they were
free to do things
as they pleased.
As such, they decided that
every member of the corps
would have an equal vote on
every activity and decision.
This was particularly
important for the man
called York, who was the only
African-American of the group.
In the United States,
he was Clark's slave.
But once the corps was free of
US law, York was a free man,
and was treated as one.
He quickly became a highly
valued member of the team.
Sacagawea, their famous
Native American guide,
also got a vote, and was allowed
to make her own decisions.
She was their expert
on the terrain,
and she saved the
lives and property
of various corps members
on more than one occasion.
She was highly respected,
and was considered
a leader among the team.
The corps was governed
by kindness and respect,
and no one was limited by their
origin, status, or ethnicity,
something that would
not have been possible
within the jurisdiction
of the United States.
Since medieval
times, Europeans had
sought a shortcut
that would allow
for easy transportation of
people and goods from the east
to the west.
But until the creation of
the Panama Canal in 1914,
no such route existed.
Sailing around Africa
was slow and dangerous,
and the land route across
Europe and Asia was even worse.
By the 19th century,
nothing had changed,
and Thomas Jefferson
held out hope
that such a passage
might be found
on the west side of America.
Ascertaining whether the
American continent possessed
a water route that led
all the way to the east
was high among
Jefferson's priorities
when he dispatched the
Corps of Discovery.
It's known that Jefferson
was highly disappointed
when he learned no
such passage existed.
As a consolation
prize, he did enjoy
many of the exotic items
brought back from the journey.
And he actually used many of
them to decorate his home.
Other than Lewis and
Clark themselves,
the cause most famous
member is definitely
the Native American
guide Sacagawea.
In fact, there are more
statues of Sacagawea
than any other woman
from American history.
Her reputation
was well-deserved,
and her guidance was absolutely
key to the expedition's
success.
While her job was technically
to be the corps' guide,
Sacagawea did so much more.
She also helped identify edible
and medicinal plants, as well
as landmarks that made
it possible to measure
the distance the
group was covering.
But that's not all.
She was also a bit
of an action hero.
The corps traveled by
boat as often as possible.
And some of those nautical
trips were incredibly dangerous.
On one occasion, a
boat was overturned,
and important items were
thrown into the river.
With the river
raging around her,
Sacagawea leaned over the side
of the boat with a free hand
and rescued many of those
lost items from the water.
And if that's not
impressive enough,
she did all that while holding
her own baby in her other arm.
One of the items
she saved that day
is the famous journal
of the expedition that
was kept by Lewis.
Sacagawea's mere
presence was an aid
to the corps in ways they didn't
even understand at the time.
Many Native American cultures
did not include women
in war parties, so they believed
the presence of sucker Julia
indicated that the corps
were peaceful travelers.
Moreover, many tribal warriors
would not attack the group
because they traveled with
a pregnant woman, and later
a mother and child.
Though well-provisioned at
the start of their journey,
the expedition found themselves
running out of supplies
by the time they reached the
Bitterroot Range of the Rocky
Mountains.
Since it was the
dead of winter, there
was no way to supplement
their supplies
by hunting and fishing.
The team became so
desperate at one point,
they were actually reduced
to eating tallow candles.
The combination of the
weather and the lack of food
nearly killed them all.
But that was actually the
least of their worries.
The group had no
way of knowing it,
but they were being
watched by Nez Perce
tribal scouts and
warriors who were
eager to finish them off
and take any belongings that
might be valuable or useful.
Nez Perce oral tradition
holds that a woman
named Watkuweis
persuaded the tribe
to help the strangers instead.
Why?
Shortly before the
incident, she had
been kidnapped by a rival tribe,
and then rescued and returned
home by white men.
It is said she demanded
the others do them no hurt.
The Lewis and Clark
expedition set off
into unknown territories
filled with unimaginable risks
and dangers.
So it's pretty remarkable
that by the time
all was said and done, only
one single member of the team
died on the journey.
Three months into the trip,
Sergeant Charles Floyd
became ill, complaining of
nausea and severe abdominal
pains.
He had been the first
to apply for the corps,
so he was particularly
well-liked
by both Lewis and Clark.
He was also better educated
than most of the others,
and was in better shape.
This being the
case, everyone was
surprised when he was the first
to falter out on the frontier.
There was little the team could
do and no one else to turn to.
Floyd's condition grew
progressively worse.
Clark stayed by his side for a
whole night trying to help him.
And Lewis did indeed
record that, on August 15,
Floyd seemed to
recover a little bit.
However, shortly after that,
he became even more ill,
and finally passed
away on that same day.
According to Lewis, Floyd
met his end with composure.
Though no one knows
for sure, it's
believed Floyd likely
died of a burst appendix.
Floyd was buried on a bluff
overlooking the Missouri River.
A red cedar marker bearing his
name, title, and life dates
was placed at his grave.
The location was
marked on one map
drawn by Lewis as Floyd Bluff.
Despite being only
about 16 years old,
Sacagawea was married
to a French fur trader,
and was already pregnant
with her first child.
She was doted on
by the whole corps,
who thought of her
as family, and had
nicknamed her Janie, a name she
is known to have approved of.
Her labor, which occurred
at a stop in North Dakota,
was long and difficult,
and the entire corps
waited on her like
nervous fathers.
Luckily the young woman made
it through, and gave birth
to a healthy baby boy who she
named Jean Baptiste, or John
the Baptist.
The child quickly
acquired the name Pompey
in honor of the Roman
general, and was soon
known just as Pomp.
The men of the
expedition took turns
babysitting Pomp and fashioning
toys to entertain him.
Jean Baptiste took
the whole trip
with the rest of the corps.
And when the expedition ended,
Sacagawea and her husband
left him with Clark
while they traveled
to visit various native
villages in North Dakota.
They were also close.
Clark himself raised the child
and paid for his education.
In August of 1806, a
wagon filled with findings
from the first leg
of the expedition
arrived in Washington, DC.
It was the first
and only thing that
had ever been heard
from the corps
since they departed,
leading many to assume
they had perished.
Some newspapers even printed
articles suggesting the team
had been killed by wild
animals, Native American tribes,
or the elements.
The Lewis and Clark
expedition left its mark
on American history,
but it didn't
leave much of a physical
mark on America itself.
While the members
of the expedition
did enjoy carving their names
into trees along the way,
all of those trees are now gone.
This includes a famous
grove near the Pacific Ocean
where every member of
the Corps of Discovery
was known to have
left their mark.
In fact, the only remaining
trace of the journey
is an inscription carved
by Clark into what
is known as Pompeys Pillar.
The pillar is a
large rock formation
located in Montana,
which was named after--
you guessed it--
Sacagawea's son.
While preparing
for the expedition,
Lewis purchased a
Newfoundland puppy
whose name was unclear to
scholars for over a century.
How'd that happen?
Well, the name only appears a
single time in Lewis's journal.
And at some point,
it got smudged.
Historians eventually decided
the name read Scannon.
But it was an unusual
name, and no one
could figure out its meaning.
Today it's known that Lewis's
dog was actually called
Seaman, likely because
his breed is known
for being great swimmers, and
were often trained to rescue
people who were drowning.
Lewis records several
occasions on which
Seaman saved corps members
from a watery grave,
and at least one occasion where
Lewis himself saved Seaman.
Seaman was beloved by the corps,
and he was very protective
of them, often
acting as a watchdog.
In fact, when the expedition
encountered its first grizzly
bear, Seaman tried to attack it.
On another occasion, he
chased a Buffalo away
from their campsite.
Many of the natives
encountered along the trail
found the large shaggy dog
very impressive, and at least
one tried to buy him.
On a different occasion, a
group of tribal teenagers
Stole the dog under
cover of darkness.
Lewis was so enraged he
tracked the thieves back
to their village and
threatened to burn
the whole thing to the ground
if he didn't get his dog back.
Very little is known
about what happened
to Seaman after the expedition.
However, a book published
claims that a well-known teacher
had visited a museum
where he saw a large dog
collar bearing the
inscription "the greatest
traveler of my species.
My name is Seaman, the dog of
Captain Meriwether Lewis, whom
I accompanied to
the Pacific Ocean
through the interior of the
continent of North America."
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Lewis wasn't just a keeper
of detailed journals,
he was also a gifted artist.
His sketches of the plants,
flowers, and animals
discovered by the corps were
rendered in stunning detail
and described meticulously.
The journals, which, thanks
to Sacagawea and a long line
of preservationists,
still exist today,
are incredibly precise
and extremely neat.
The caretaking is obvious,
and indicates Lewis never
sketched while exhausted, or
being swarmed by mosquitoes,
or bounced along in
the back of a wagon.
Today these journals have
been bound in leather,
and are kept at the American
Philosophical Society
in Philadelphia, where they
can be viewed by appointment.
A journey that
lasts for two years
is bound to make even the most
seasoned frontiersman miss
his family.
And though most of the men
were young and unmarried,
many had sweethearts back home.
One of the many ways the
expedition members cope
with being away from
their loved ones
was to name geographic
sites along the trails
after the very
people they missed.
Lewis carefully recorded all
of these names in the Maps
he drew in his journals.
The tradition began with
the bluff and river named
for aforementioned Sergeant
Charles Floyd after his death,
and continued
throughout the journey.
In one particularly romantic
instance, William Clark
is believed to have
named the Judith
River after his own sweetheart,
a woman named Julia Hancock.
After the expedition he
proposed, and she accepted.
They were married
January 5, 1808.
So what do you think?
Do you think you would've
made a good frontiersperson?
Let us know in the
comments below.
And while you're
at it, check out
some of these other videos
from our "Weird History."
