Lewis is at is family’s Locust Hill plantation about ten miles west of Charlottesville, Virginia. As a young adult, he managed the family farm before entering full-time military service and is likely curious about its state.[1]Traveling with Meriwether Lewis to Washington City is a Mandan delegation from the Knife River Villages—Chief Sheheke, his wife Yellow Corn, and their son. Speaking Mandan and French was … Continue reading
In Kentucky, Clark is traveling along the Wilderness Road towards Washington City and intends to first visit his nephews in Danville.
South of Buena Vista, Colorado, Southwest explorer Zebulon Pike comes upon the Arkansas River and thinks it is the Red River.
Managing the Farm
In preparation for the first official edition of the expedition journals, publisher Paul Allen asked Thomas Jefferson for biographical information about Meriwether Lewis:
Monticello. Aug. 18. 1813.
Sir
he returned to his mother, and entered on the cares of his farm, having, as well as a younger brother, been left by his father with a competency for all the correct and comfortable purposes of temperate life. his talent for observation, which had led him to an accurate knoledge of the plants & animals of his own country, would have distinguished him as a farmer . . . .
Th: Jefferson[2]“Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen”, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0341-0002. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, … Continue reading
Old Virginia (1870)
Frank Buchser (1828–1890)
Image in the Public Domain.
Meriwether Lewis did not own slaves personally, but his responsibilities as a farmer included managing the plantation’s slaves.
Another document, endorsed by Thomas Jefferson but not written in his hand nor dated, offers a far more extreme version of Lewis’s childhood adventures:
From eighteen to twenty he remained on his farm
an affectionate son andan assiduous and active attentive farmer, observing with minute attention all plants and insects which he met with.[3]“Unidentified Author’s Short Biography of Meriwether Lewis”, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0341-0003. [Original source: The … Continue reading
Pike’s Mistake
The Arkansas River flows south in a canyon in the foothills of the more distant Sawatch Range.
[T]he doctor and myself went on to make discoveries (as was our usual custom,) and in about four miles march we struck (what we supposed to be Red river) which here was about 25 yards wide, ran with great rapidity and was full of rocks. We returned to the party with the news, which gave general pleasure. . . . Snowing.
—Zebulon M. Pike[4]Donald Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 1:359.
Pike wrote this journal entry after he had learned of his mistake. See also Related Western Explorers.
Notes
| ↑1 | Traveling with Meriwether Lewis to Washington City is a Mandan delegation from the Knife River Villages—Chief Sheheke, his wife Yellow Corn, and their son. Speaking Mandan and French was interpreter René Jusseaume who brought one of his wives and two children. Expedition private François Labiche was included to translate between French and English. Finally, records indicate expedition sergeant John Ordway was serving as Lewis’s assistant. A large bill at Staunton, Virginia (see December 11, 1806) indicates that the delegation remained there during the holidays. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | “Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen”, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0341-0002. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 6, 11 March to 27 November 1813, J. Jefferson Looney, ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), 418–426.] |
| ↑3 | “Unidentified Author’s Short Biography of Meriwether Lewis”, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0341-0003. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 6, 11 March to 27 November 1813, J. Jefferson Looney, ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), 426.] |
| ↑4 | Donald Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 1:359. |
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.
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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