Army Life in 1803

A multitude duties awaited the hapless private, and idle hands and feet were never knowingly allowed in a military camp. Most fatigue duties rewarded the men with an extra gill (1/4 of a pint) of whiskey each day.

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Each enlisted man, as well as the Captains, brought with them their dress uniforms which was worn for formal, official occasions such as dress reviews and parades, courts-martial, and funerals.

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Retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and former chief historian of the National Guard Bureau discusses frontier army life in 1803 and the exemplary military leadership of the co-captains and non-commissioned officers.

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Early Roman soldiers received an allowance of salt, which was called a salarium—a “salary.” A good soldier had to be “worth his salt.” What sort of salaries did the men of the Corps of Discovery earn?

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No military commander of the 18th-century would have thought of leading his troops on any mission without planning for liquor. In legislation and military orders of the day, the ration was typically expressed in “gills.”

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The members of the expedition began their journey as a wild bunch of hard drinking, brawling, and insubordinate rowdies. By 7 April 1805, the day the Corps of Northwestern Discovery pulled out of Fort Mandan, Lewis described his men as enjoying “a most perfect harmony.”

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The captains would have to ration their dwindling supplies, and the smokers would have to extend their tobacco with leaves and inner bark from local plants and trees. The captains would also learn the endless variety of ceremonies practiced when sharing a pipe the People they met.

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Officers were to see that their men’s hands and faces were daily “washed clean” and their hair combed. Soap was relatively expensive, and if individuals or families couldn’t manage to make their own, they just went without.

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