Winter at St. Louis

The Corps of Discovery, as it would be called, or the “corps of volunteers for North Western Discovery,” as Lewis put it, epitomized the rising glory of the United States—its sense of limitless possibilities and unparalleled opportunities.

The original shopping list contained more than 180 items, including various “Mathematical Instruments”, arms and accouterments, ammunition, clothing, camp equipage, provisions, Indian presents, medicine, and packing materials.

In 1804 and in the presence of the Lewis and Clark expedition the little village, built and designed to be an outpost of the fur trade, shed its ambiguous Spanish-French parentage and took on full American citizenship.

The Missouri River still contributes its tint a few miles north of St. Louis. It is difficult to determine exactly how much, and how often, the confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers changed during the nine decades after the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Clark recorded: “Capts. Lewis & Clark wintered at the enterance of a Small river opposite the Mouth of Missouri Called wood River, where they formed their party, Composed of robust Young Backwoodsmen of Character.”

Winter Camp at Wood River, IL Clark sends Sgt. Floyd to Cahokia with letters for Lewis. Samuel Griffith, a local farmer, visits camp. In the evening, Drouillard arrives at Cahokia with eight new recruits brought from a fort in Tennessee.

Winter Camp, Wood River, Illinois
Wagons with food and other provisions arrive at winter camp on the Wood River. In Cahokia, Lewis writes a letter to Thomas Jefferson.

Winter Camp at Wood River, IL The men celebrate Christmas by drinking, hunting, and frolicking. The visiting Indians heard a rumour that they cannot trade because the Americans now have possession of Louisiana, and Drouillard agrees to join the expedition.

Winter Camp at Wood River, IL Clark addresses problems with excessive drinking. Lewis travels between Cahokia and St. Louis gathering intelligence on the upper Louisiana Territory.

Winter Camp at Wood River, IL Clark stages a shooting contest with the locals and notes that two men (perhaps Reed and Windsor) were drunk. He meets with a new washer woman, and a visitor tells him about the Mandan Indians and their country. The captains begin their weather diaries.

Winter Camp at Wood River, IL Clark visits ancient Indian mounds. On the way back, his wet feet freeze to his shoes. Lewis is working in either Cahokia or St. Louis.

Surrounded by maple trees at Camp Dubois, tapping and boiling the sweet, watery sap until it crystallized into sugar could begin as soon as the days warmed enough to get the sap rising in the trees.

Wood River Camp, IL Lewis is in Cahokia with Captain Amos Stoddard and his honor guard who are traveling to St. Louis to formally receive the Upper Louisiana Territory. Clark is likely already there.

Wood River Camp, IL Lewis serves as a witness to the delivery and receipt of the Upper Louisiana from Spain to France. With speeches and ceremony, the Spanish flag is lowered, and the French flag is raised.

Winter Camp at Wood River, IL U.S. Army Captain Amos Stoddard, acting as the representative of France, declares Upper Louisiana as belonging to the United States. The French flag, flying for only one day, is lowered and the American flag raised.

Wood River Camp, IL According to the Weather Diary, Clark and Lewis are on a trip to St. Charles in an attempt to prevent a large war party of Kickapoos from attacking the Osages.

With both captains now at winter camp at the Wood River across from the mouth of the Missouri, Privates Shields, Colter, and Frazer are tried in the expedition’s first military court.

At camp across from the mouth of the Missouri, Clark has corn, salted pork, flour, and other provisions packed. He also writes a speech for the Iowa Nation to be delivered by trader Lewis Crawford.

At winter camp on the River Dubois, Clark pays Mrs. Cane for her services as washerwoman and seamstress. A boat heading up the Mississippi River passes by, and several men hunt or practice shooting.

Lewis had assured Clark that their situations would be identical in every respect, beginning with rank. The fact that Clark was actually a lieutenant was a secret kept throughout the expedition.

The barge and a pirogue are taken for a shakedown cruise a few miles up the Mississippi. In New Orleans, the former governor of Spanish Louisiana urges his Commandant General to arrest Meriwether Lewis.

At winter camp on the Wood River, Clark spends the day writing. Drouillard brings seven French men, likely St. Charles boatmen who take the red pirogue up the Missouri River.