At Fort Mandan, New Year’s Day starts with rain and cannon fire. Several enlisted men are allowed to visit Mitutanka—a nearby Mandan village, and Clark orders York to dance for them. He also learns of a conflict between the two Hidatsa villages, and the day ends snowy and cold.
Fiddles and Friendship, Drums and Dancing
Painting created by Split Rock Studios, Sioux City, Iowa. Original in the collection of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and photographed by Kristopher K. Townsend.
Celebrating the New Year
The Day was ushered in by the Discharge of two Cannon
—William Clark15 of the party went up to the 1st village of Mandans to dance as it had been their request. carried with us a fiddle & a Tambereen & a Sounden horn.
—John Ordway
York Dances
I found them much pleased at the Danceing of our men, I ordered my black Servent [York] to Dance which amused the Croud verry much, and Some what astonished them, that So large a man Should be active &c. &.
—William Clark
Clark’s Diplomacy
about 11 oClock I with an inturpeter & two men walked up to the Village (my views were to alay Some little miss understanding which had taken place thro jelloucy and mortificatiion as to our treatment towards them . . . . Those Cheifs observed what they Sayed was in just [jest] & lafture.—
—William Clark
Internal Hidatsa Conflict
the 2d Chief [Little Raven] and the Black man, also a Chief returnd from a mission on which they had been Sent to meet a large party 150 of Gross Ventres who were on their way down from their Camps 10 Miles above to revenge on the Shoe tribe an injurey which they had received by a Shoe man Steeling a Gross Venters Girl, those Chiefs gave the pipe turned the party back, after Delivering up the girl, which the Shoe Chief had taken and given to them for that purpose.
—William Clark
Weather Diary
Ther. at rise
Weather Wind at Thert. at 4 P.M. Weather Wind at 4 P.M. River 18 above [0] snow S E 34 above fair N W raise 1 ft. —Meriwether Lewis[2]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Plan a trip related to January 1, 1805:
Fort Mandan is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation manages a modern reconstruction and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center located at US Hwy 83 and ND Hwy 200A.
Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. A unit of the National Park System, the site is located at 564 County Road 37, one-half mile north of Stanton, North Dakota. It has exhibits, trails, and a visitor center.
Notes
| ↑1 | William Bright, A Glossary of Native American Toponyms and Ethnonyms from the Lewis and Clark Journals, University of Colorado, accessed on 28 April 2020, https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.sup.bright.01. |
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| ↑2 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations. |
