In the early morning hours at Fort Mandan, celestial observations are made during a lunar eclipse. The captains receive their first Hidatsa visitors since November, and Pvt. Whitehouse is brought back from a hunting trip to recover from frozen feet.
Lunar Eclipse
5 February 2012
By Juan Jacruz. Permission granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Lunar Eclipse
Observed an Eclips of the Moon. I had no other glass to assist me in this observation but a small refracting telescope belonging to my sextant, which however was of considerable service, as it enabled me to define the edge of the moon’s immage with much more precision that I could have done with the natural eye.
—Meriwether Lewis[1]This journal entry is dated 14 January 1805. The eclipse likely occurred on the 15th.
In addition to Bergantino’s comprehensive analysis, see Richard S. Preston, “The Accuracy of the Astronomical Observations of Lewis and Clark,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 144, No. 2 (Jun., 2000), pp. 168-191 (24 pages) available at JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1515630.
Hidatsa Visitors
four Considerate men of the Minetarre Came to See us we Smoked in the pipe, maney mands [Mandans]. present also, we Showed [Nicholas Biddle: attentions] to those men who had been impressed with an unfavourable oppinion of us.
—William Clark
Rescuing Private Whitehouse
the man (Shannon] who went to the fort yesterday, Came down with 2 horses after me & Some meat, the day kept warm & pleasant.—
—Joseph Whitehouse
Weather Diary
Ther. at rise
Weather Wind at Thert. at 4 P.M. Weather Wind at 4 P.M. River 10 [below 0] fair E 3 [above 0] cloudy S W raise 1 in. an eclips of the moon total last night, visible here but partially obscured by the clouds.
—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 15, 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.
