On behalf of Meriwether Lewis, U.S. Army purchasing agent Israel Whelan buys sixty-three pounds of pig tail tobacco from Philadelphia tobacconist Thomas Leiper, Jr. Tobacco will be an essential ration for the expedition soldiers and a critical part of diplomatic entreaties with the Native Nations they encounter.
Pig Tail Tobacco
Historical interpretation by John W. Fisher. Photo © 2010 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
A “pig tail” or “hog tail” weighed between a few ounces to a pound.[1]James A. Hanson, “Welcome to My Indian Weed! Tobacco and the Fur Trade,” The Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal, 2021, 15:29.
Mr. Israel Whelan Philada. June 3d 1803 Bot of Thomas Leiper 130 Rolls pigtail Tobacco viz. 63 lbs. @ 1/8 5 5 0 Keg 1 10 ½ 5 6 10 ½ Exd. B. M. $14 25/100[2]“Supplies from Private Vendors,” in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), … Continue reading
Thomas Leiper, Jr. had a tobacconist shop on 274 Market Street in Philadelphia.
Notes
| ↑1 | James A. Hanson, “Welcome to My Indian Weed! Tobacco and the Fur Trade,” The Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal, 2021, 15:29. |
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| ↑2 | “Supplies from Private Vendors,” in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 85. |
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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.
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