Lewis is at his home near present Ivy, Virginia while Clark—and likely York—is in Kentucky on his way to Washington City. In Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, the Franklin Repository prints news of the Osage delegation that traveled with Lewis and Clark from St. Louis to Frankfort and Louisville, respectively.
Near Buena Vista, Colorado, Zebulon Pike decides to head southwest—deeper into Spanish Territory.
News of the Osage Delegation
Franklin Repository
Tuesday, Decembr 16th, 1806
Chambersburg, December 16
Chambersburg, December 16.
DOMESTIC
A party of Indians belonging to a tribe of the Osage nation, who live at the head of the Arkansas river, arrived in this place under the direction of Mr. P. Chonteau [Pierre Chouteau], general agent for the Indian department, on Sunday evening last [October 14]. Among these Indians are two sons of the principal chief of the Osage nation. They will leave town this day for Washington, where they are going, by request of the President to form an alliance with our government. The friendship of this tribe, is considered to be of utmost importance, as it is expected that the boundary line between the United States and Spain will run through their lands,—[1]Franklin Repository (Chambersburg, PA), 16 December 1806.
About 21 October 1806, Pierre Chouteau and the Osage delegation left St. Louis with Clark, Lewis, and the Mandan delegation. They traveled to the Falls of the Ohio where Clark remained until recently. Lewis and the Mandan delegation parted ways at Frankfort, Kentucky on 15 November 1806. The Osage would arrive in Washington City on 20 December and Lewis and the Mandans on 28 December.
Rumors of Burr’s Conspiracy
It is rumored from the westward, that about 300 young gentlemen from Pittsburg and the neighboring counties, descended the Ohio about the first inft. to join col. Burr. Many of these young men are said to be of the first respectability.—[2]Ibid.
Pike Heads Southwest
With suspicious entanglements to Aaron Burr and James Wilkinson, explorer Zebulon Pike decides to continue southwest into Spanish territory.
From a high ridge we reconnoitered the adjacent country, and conclude putting the Spanish trace out of the question, and to bear our course south west, for the head of the Red river.
—Zebulon M. Pike[3]Donald Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 1:358.
Notes
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Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
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