A trader from the North West Company comes to Fort Mandann to hire Charbonneau as a translator. Clark learns that a Hidatsa attempt to retrieve horses stolen by Assiniboine visitors was somewhat successful. The day is pleasant, and Lewis plays backgammon.
Backgammon and Other Games
Taken with cooperation from the Fort Mandan Visitors’ Center. Photo © 2013 Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
A Pleasant Day
a temperate day no Indians to day or yesterday.
—William Clarkpleasant Seven of our men went up to the Mandan Villages
—John Ordway
Seeking Charbonneau’s Services
Hearing that there was a band of Indians hunting 2 days march off, sent Morrison to the American Fort to fetch Charbonneau, in order to go to them, as I hardly get a skin when the HB trader is with me, for he understands & talks their Language Well, & is known by the Indians.
—François-Antoine Larocque [1]W. Raymond Wood and Thomas D. Thiessen, Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738–1818 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985), … Continue reading
Pursuing Horse Thieves
This man [William Morrison] informed that the Party of Gross Ventres [Hidatsas] who persued the Ossinboins [Assiniboines] that Stold their horses, has all returned in their usial way by Small parties, the last of the party bringing 8 horses which they Stole from a Camp of Asniboins which they found on Mouse river—
—William Clark
Weather Diary
Ther. at rise
Weather Wind at Thert. at 4 P.M. Weather Wind at 4 P.M. River 18 cloudy N W 21 fair N. W. played at the good old game of backgammon
—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.
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.
Notes
| ↑1 | W. Raymond Wood and Thomas D. Thiessen, Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738–1818 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985), 144–45 |
|---|---|
| ↑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.
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.
This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).