Day-by-Day / June 28, 1803

June 28, 1803

Wagon load refused

Unknown to Meriwether Lewis who is in Washington City, the teamster hired to ship the expedition’s goods from Harpers Ferry to Pittsburgh refuses to take the load as it is too heavy for his wagon and team.

Shenandoah Ferry c. 1890

A wagon crosses the Shenandoah River on a small ferry

Harpers Ferry NHP Historic Photo Collection (HF-232).

12. O,Clock.
Harper’s Ferry July 8th. 1803.

Dear Sir:

The waggon which was employed by Mr. Linnard the Military Agent at Philadelphia, to transport the articles forming my outfit, passed this place on the 28th. Ulto.—the waggoner determined that his team was not sufficiently strong to take the whole of the articles that had been prepared for me at this place and therefore took none of them;

. . . . .

Your friend & Obt. Servt.

Meriwether Lewis[1]Meriwether Lewis to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0521 accessed 10 June 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas … Continue reading

After another delay on July 5, 1803, Meriwether Lewis would finally have his Harpers Ferry armory goods shipped on 8 July.

 

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Notes

Notes
↑1 Meriwether Lewis to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0521 accessed 10 June 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 40, 4 March–10 July 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013, pp. 680–681.]

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.

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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).