“Ocean in view! O! the Joy!”

I recently read the Stephen Ambrose book “Undaunted Courage” and was fascinated by his retelling of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and the variety of human interest stories that were part of the Corps of Discovery.

Lewis & Clark were commissioned by America’s third president Thomas Jefferson to explore the lands west of the Mississippi and to chart a navigable river course from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

They would travel through hostile territories that were then claimed by France, Spain and Britain – as well as the Native American tribes – and be the first American explorers to witness and map the bountiful wilderness of the Great plains, the stark beauty of the Desert canyons, and the unimaginable majesty of the Rocky Mountains.

The Corps of Discovery started out with 41 men and lost only one man during their three year journey (scholars believe that the lone fatality was the result of a burst appendix). Included in their number was York, a large African American slave who was owned by Captain William Clark. Along the way, they picked up a Canadian trapper and his teenage Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagewa, to help serve as guide and interpreter.

Thomas Jefferson personally selected Captain Meriwether Lewis to lead the mission and sent him to Philadelphia to study for two years with the leading botanists, astronomers, and doctors of his day prior to the start of the undertaking.

The ultimate goal of the mission was to map a route from the east to the Pacific Coast that could be used to encourage commerce, map previously uncharted terrain and allow young America to stake their claim to the western lands. Secondary goals were to document the new plants and animals they observed during the journey and to make peace with the various Indian tribes they encountered.

Lewis had the difficult task of planning a round trip of over 7000 miles for more than 40 men that would last more than 2 years across unknown territories and under sometime hostile conditions. He was a details person and he did the best he could at planning for all eventualities. One of his best decisions was to recruit his army friend William Clark to serve as co-Captain because he was a top-notch woodsman, had experience fighting Indians and was well-respected by the soldiers

The immense challenge the Corps had was to navigate a large boat filled with tons of supplies up the Missouri River, fighting against the current for more than 2000 miles, often encountering fast river flows, low water levels, and dangerous waterfalls that forced them to abandon ship, portage the boat or pull it upstream using elk hide rope. Some days they never progressed more than 4-5 miles.

Captain Lewis was a vivid writer and the lands he was passing through came to life through the prose in the Journal he kept of his experiences. Here are some examples of information he shared in his journals:

• The Great Plains were described as a veritable  Garden of Eden. He was amazed at the herds of Buffalo and Elk that roamed the grasslands in the tens of thousands. These animals had never seen humans before and they would walk right up to the men unafraid.
• The description of a fearsome new bear-like animal which tormented them when they camped. These Grizzly Bears were so strong it took six bullets to finally kill them and to stop them from attacking.
• The crew trying to win over Native American tribes gave them coins engraved with Thomas Jefferson’s picture, explaining to them that he was their new “Great White Father”. They would try to convince the Chiefs of the tribes to visit Washington DC to meet their new father – but not many of the Chiefs who traveled made it back to their tribes.
• The Native Americans had never seen a black man before, so William Clark used his slave York as a way to impress them. The tribes were fascinated by him and the strange dancing and singing that he would be made to do.
• The friendly Native American tribes would encourage their squaws to sleep with the white men because they felt that the magic and power of the white men would somehow be transferred to their women.
• Sacagewa was kidnapped from her Shoshone tribe by the Sioux when she was a young girl and taken east, where she was sold to a Canadian trapper who made her his wife. When the Corps encountered the Shoshone tribe years later during their travels West, Sacagewa was brought in to translate with a Shoshone Chief. She soon came to realize that the Chief was actually her long lost brother. Lewis was amazed to see the young woman break down and cry as he had not seen her display any emotion for more than a year during their travels.
• The Corps almost perished trying to make its way across the Rocky Mountains, which they were worried to see had snow on them even during the Summer months. Without the horses they bought from the Native Americans and their guidance through the treacherous mountain passes, the expedition would have failed.
• William Clark was a man of few words but he wrote a single sentence in his journal that captured the relief and exhilaration felt by the entire Corps the day they finally saw the Pacific Ocean in the distance: “Ocean in view! O! the Joy!”

 

When the Expedition finally made it back to St Louis, they were celebrated by the entire country and their return was front page news in all the papers. Everybody who was part of the expedition was richly rewarded with money and land – except York and Sacagewa; who were given nothing. William Clark was fond of Sacagewa’s baby son and offered to take the baby from her and raise him as his own in affluent white society. Sacagewa declined the offer.

The story ended sadly for Meriwether Lewis, whose family had a history of mental illness, and who was suffering from a combination of the effects of alcoholism, malaria and syphilis that was being treated with opium and mercury. He shot himself in 1809 at the age of 35, only 3 years after the triumphant return of the expedition. Once the great mission of his life was accomplished – he could find nothing else to match it that would make his life worthwhile.