On behalf of botanist Gotthilf Muhlenberg, U.S. Representative Michael Leib makes a request for seeds collected by Lewis during the Western Expedition to the Pacific Ocean.
In Philadelphia, news of the Mandan and Osage delegations is published in the Aurora General Advertiser.
In the meanwhile, Clark and likely York are traveling on the Wilderness Road heading to Washington, and Lewis is visiting his home in Virginia.[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
Old News
Aurora General Advertiser
Philadelphia, 22 December 1806
Frankfort, (Kentucky) Nov. 20.
Captain Lewis arrived at this place on Thursday last, and on Saturday morning proceeded on his journey to the city of Washington, by way of the old wilderness road.—He was accompanied by the chief of the Mandane Indians, and a party of the Osages. Mr. Choteau [Pierre Chouteau] with the latter, took their route through Lexington.
A Request for Expedition Seeds
Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1810)
Source: Wiki Commons commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MuhlenbergGotthilf.jpg
Lancaster Decr. 22nd. 1806
Sir,
My friend Dr. Muhlenberg of this place, whose reputation as a botanist you are not unacquainted with, is very desirous of possessing the seed of any rare plants that Captain Lewis may have brought with him. As you will be in possession of them, I have taken the liberty of requesting a specimen of any that you may have to spare, for my friend the Doctor. As you have always evinced the strongest desire to promote science of every kind, and to give every encouragement in your power to men of science, I shall make an apology for the freedom of this request. Permit me to tender to you the homage of my sincere respect and regard
M Leib[2]Michael Leib to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4734.
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 while Lewis was at Locust Hill. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Michael Leib to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4734. |
| ↑3 | Available at archive.org/details/catalogusplanta00conggoog/. |
| ↑4 | Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783–1854, ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 354n1; “Gotthilf_Heinrich_Ernst_Muhlenberg”, Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthilf_Heinrich_Ernst_Muhlenberg accessed 5 January 2026. |
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- 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.
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