After eight months of preparation and a summer of waiting for the completion of the barge, Lewis finally leaves Pittsburgh and heads down the Ohio with a crew of eleven hands. During a stop, he shows off his air gun, and notable citizen Blaze Cenas accidentally shoots a female spectator. They camp near McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.
In New York, the Secretary of the Treasury worries about issuing the stock that will pay for Louisiana—key to the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Finally, We Are on Our Way!
Watercolor by Steve Ludeman
© 2023 by Steve Ludeman, www.steveludemanfineart.com. Used by permission.
After many delays, Captain Lewis and his crew are finally leaving the boatyard and heading toward the Ohio River. Well-wishers are waving goodbye and good luck.—Steve Ludeman
Leaving Pittsburgh
Cincinnati Sept. 28th 1803.
Dear Clark,
[I]t was not untill the 31st of August that I was enabled to take my departure from that place owing to the unpardonable negligence and inattention of the boat-builders who, unfortunately for me, were a set of most incorrigible drunkards, and with whom, neither threats, intreaties nor any other mode of treatment which I could devise had any effect; as an instance of their tardyness it may serfice to mention that they were twleve days in preparing my poles and oars . . . .MERIWETHER LEWIS.[1]Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 124–25.
Air Gun Accident
a Mr. Blaze Cenas being unacquainted with the management of the gun suffered her to discharge herself accedentaly the ball passed through the hat of a woman about 40 yards distanc cuting her temple about the fourth of the diameter of the ball; shee fell instantly and the blood gusing from her temple we were all in the greatest consternation supposed she was dead by [but] in a minute she revived to our enespressable satisfaction, and by examination we found the wound by no means mortal or even dangerous.
—Meriwether Lewis[2]Lewis’s first Eastern Journal entry is dated August 30, 1803. There is no entry in the Eastern Journal for August 31 and Lewis states in letters to Jefferson, September 8, and Clark, September … Continue reading
Paying for Louisiana
New York 31st Aug. 1803
Dear Sir
A bill shall be prepared for the purpose of carrying the treaty &a. into effect: but neither can you expect that the house will take up the subject before ratification or decide without much debate & opposition; nor is it possible to have the certificates of stock prepared until Baring shall arrive & the form mutually agreed on.
I write to Philada. in order to have the proper paper, copper plate engraving & other devices necessary to prevent counterfeits immediately prepared . . . .
P.S. . . . I see that . . . the French Govt. agrees that provided that the Stock shall be created within the three months it will be a fair execution of the Treaty. . . . it seems to me that we ought to insist on not delivering the Stock until the place is in our possession.[3]“To Thomas Jefferson from Albert Gallatin, 31 August 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-41-02-0231. [Original source: The … Continue reading
Notes
| ↑1 | Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 124–25. |
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| ↑2 | Lewis’s first Eastern Journal entry is dated August 30, 1803. There is no entry in the Eastern Journal for August 31 and Lewis states in letters to Jefferson, September 8, and Clark, September 28, that he left on August 31. |
| ↑3 | “To Thomas Jefferson from Albert Gallatin, 31 August 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-41-02-0231. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 41, 11 July–15 November 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), 296–301.] |
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.
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- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
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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).