Day-by-Day / October 23, 1803

October 23, 1803

Young men from Kentucky

At the Falls of the Ohio, the captains add to, and/or replace, Lewis’s original Ohio River crew with the “young men from Kentucky“. York, Clark’s slave, is also added to the roster.

Biddle’s Nine Young Men

Nicholas Biddle in his paraphrase of the expedition journals, coined a phrase still applied to Clark’s Kentucky recruits:

The party consisted of nine young men from Kentucky, fourteen soldiers of the United States army who volunteered their services, two French watermen—an interpreter and hunter—and a black servant belonging to captain Clarke—All these, except the last were enlisted to serve as privates during the expedition, and three sergeants appointed from amongst them by the captains. In addition to these were engaged a corporal and six soldiers, and nine watermen to accompany the expedition as far as the Mandan nation, in order to assist in carrying the stores, or repel1ing an attack which was most to be apprehended between Wood river and that tribe.
Nicholas Biddle[1]Nicholas Biddle, ed., History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark to the sources of the Missouri and thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the … Continue reading

 

Notes

Notes
1 Nicholas Biddle, ed., History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark to the sources of the Missouri and thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed during the years 1804–5–6. By order of the Government of the United States (New york: Bradford and Inskeep, 1814), 1:2.

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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.
  • 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.