Native Wars with the US Army - Utes Pine Ridge 1890-1891

Reproduction of a sketch of the Meeker tragedy at the White River Ute Indian Agency, September 29th 1879, Rio Blanco County, Colorado, shows soldiers surveying the destruction from the fire and battle between Native American Utes and Nathan Meeker, his employees. Identification reads: "(A) piles of ashes, (F) the Agency Farm, (G) graves of the Agent and employés where they fell, (J) house of Sub-Chief Johnson, (M) grave of Indian Agent Meeker, (P) grave of Post, the Clerk and Postmaster." Gravestones read: "N. C. Meeker, Agt. White River, Utes, Killed By Them, Sept. 29 or 30," and "W. H. Post, Clerk Agt. Killed By Utes, Sept. 29, 30, 31, 1879." Title and lettered identification typed below photographic reproduction of an etching of a sketch by Lieutenant C. A. H. McCauley, Third U. S. Cavalry.  Original printed in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on December 6, 1879, p. 245.

Utes, September 1879-November 1880. The Indian agent, N. C. Meeker, at White River Agency (Colorado) became involved in a dispute with Northern Utes in September 1879 & requested assistance from the Army. In response, Maj. T. T. Thornburgh's column of some 200 men (parts of the 5th Cavalry & 4th Infantry) moved out from Fort Steele (Wyoming). On 29 September this force was attacked & besieged in Red Canyon by 300 to 400 warriors. Thornburgh's command was finally relieved by elements of the 9th Cavalry that arrived on 2 October & of the 5th Cavalry under Col. Wesley Merritt who arrived on 5 October, but in the meantime Meeker & most of his staff had been massacred. Before the Utes were pacified in November 1880, several thousand troops, including elements of the 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, & 14th Infantry had taken the field. In 1906 the Utes of this area left their reservation & roamed through Wyoming, terrorizing the countryside, until they were forced back on their reservation by elements of the 6th & 10th Cavalry.

1800-1850 Official Indian Wars from U.S. Army Center for Military History

1800-1850 OFFICIAL INDIAN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES 

from U.S. Army Center for Military History

Tippecanoe, 21 September - 18 November 1811. In 1804 Tecumseh, a Shawnee, & his medicine man brother, the Prophet, with British backing, began serious efforts to form a new Indian confederacy in the Northwest. Governor William Henry Harrison 1778-1860 of the Indiana Territory rejected Tecumseh's demand that settlers be kept out of the region. In the summer of 1811 Harrison, with the approval of the War Department, undertook to break up the confederacy before it could organize a mayor attack against the settlements.

This portrait of Wm Henry Harrison 1778-1860 by Rembrandt Peale originally showed him in civilian clothes as a congressional delegate from the Northwest Territory in 1800; but the uniform was added, after he became famous in the War of 1812.

In September 1811 Harrison moved from Vincennes up the Wabash with a well-trained force of 320 Regular infantry & 650 militia. After building Fort Harrison at Terre Haute as an advanced base, Harrison marched with 800 men toward the main Indian village on Tippecanoe Creek, bivouacking in battle order on the north bank of the Wabash within sight of the village on 6 November. Tecumseh being absent, Harrison conferred with the Prophet who gave the impression that he would not attack while a peace proposal was under consideration. Nevertheless, just before dawn on 7 November 1811, the Indians attacked Harrison's forces. In a wild hand-to-hand encounter the Indians were routed & their village destroyed. Harrison lost 39 killed & missing, 151 wounded; the Indians suffered a similar loss. This indecisive victory did not solve the Indian problems in the Northwest. The tribes of the area were to make common cause with the British in the War of 1812.

Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee Nation 1768-1813

Creeks, 27 July 1813- 9 August 1814 & February 1836 - July 1837. The first of the Creek campaigns constitutes a phase of the War of 1812. The Upper Creeks, siding with the English, sacked Fort Mims in the summer of 1813, massacring more than 500 men, women, & children. These same Indians, grown to a force of about 900 warriors, were decisively beaten at Horseshoe Bend (Alabama) late in March 1814 by Andrew Jackson & his force of about 2,000 Regulars, militia, & volunteers, plus several hundred friendly Indians. In 1832 many Creeks were sent to the Indian Territory, & most of those remaining in the Southeast were removed there in 1836-37 when they went on the warpath during the Second Seminole War.

Seminoles, 20 November 1817 - 31 October 1818, 28 December 1835 - 14 August 1842 & 15 December 1855 - May 1858. This conflict began with the massacre of about 50 Americans near an army post in Georgia‹climax to a series of raids against American settlements by Seminoles based in Spanish Florida. Brig. Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, Indian commissioner of the area, attempted countermeasures but soon found himself & his force of 600 Regulars confined to Fort Scott (Alabama) by the Seminoles. War Department instructions to Gaines had permitted the pursuit of Indians into Florida but had forbidden interference if the Indians took refuge in Spanish posts. Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, who was ordered to take over the operation, chose to interpret Gaines' instructions as sanctioning a full-scale invasion of the Spanish colony. He organized a force of about 7,500 volunteers, militia, subsidized Creeks, & Regulars (4th & 7th Infantry & a battalion of the 4th Artillery), & invaded Florida with part of thin force in the spring of 1818. Jackson destroyed Seminole camps, captured Pensacola (capital of Spanish Florida) & other Spanish strongholds, & executed two British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot & Robert Ambrister, accused of inciting & arming the Indians. These activities threatened American relations with Great Britain & jeopardized negotiations with Spain pertinent to cession of Florida (Adams-Onis Treaty, 1819). Eventually the British were mollified & a compromise agreement was reached with the Spanish under which American forces were withdrawn from Florida without repudiating the politically popular Jackson. As for the Seminole problem, it was temporarily allayed but by no means solved.

In the Treaties of Payne's Landing (1832) & Fort Gibson (1833) the Seminoles had agreed to give up their lands, but they refused to move out. Following the arrest & release of Osceola, their leader, in 1835 Seminole depredations rapidly increased. These culminated 28 December in the massacre of Capt. Francis L. Dade's detachment of 330 Regulars (elements of the 2d & 4th Artillery & 4th Infantry) enroute from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to Fort King (Ocala)‹a disastrous loss for the small, Regular force of 600 men in Florida. Brig. Gen. Duncan L. Clinch, commanding Fort King, took the offensive immediately with 200 men & on 31 December 1835 defeated the Indians on the Withlacoochee River.

The War Department, meanwhile, had ordered Brig. Gen. Winfield Scott, commander of the Eastern Department, to Florida to direct operations against the Seminoles. Most of the hostilities had occurred in General Gaines' Western Department, but the War Department expected impending troubles in Texas to keep Gaines occupied. Nevertheless, Gaines had quickly raised about 1,000 men in New Orleans &, acting on his own authority, embarked for Florida in February 1836. Even after learning of Scott's appointment, Gaines seized supplies collected by Scott at Fort Drane & pressed forward until heavily attacked by Seminoles. He succeeded in extricating his force only with help from Scott's troops. Shortly thereafter Gaines returned to New Orleans.

Completion of preparations for Scott's proposed three-pronged offensive converging on the Withlacoochee were delayed by Gaines' use of Scott's supplies, expiration of volunteer enlistments, & temporary diversion of troops to deal with the Creeks who were then on the warpath in Georgia & Alabama. (See Creek Campaigns.) Before the campaign could get underway, Scott was recalled to Washington to face charges of dilatoriness & of casting slurs on the fighting qualities of volunteers. Beginning in December 1836, Maj. Gen. Thomas S. Jesup carried out a series of small actions against the Seminoles, & in September 1837 Osceola was captured. Colonel Zachary Taylor decisively defeated a sizeable Indian force near Lake Okeechobee in December 1837.

After Taylor's expedition no more large forces were assembled on either side. Numerous small expeditions were carried out chiefly by Regular troops commanded successively by Jesup, Taylor, & Brig. Gen. Walker A. Armistead, & many posts & roads were constructed. Col. William J. Worth finally conceived a plan which consisted of campaigning during the enervating summer seasons with the object of destroying the Indian's crops. This plan was successful in driving a sufficient number of Seminoles from their swampy retreats to permit official termination of the war on 10 May 1842.

During the long & difficult campaign some 5,000 Regulars had been employed (including elements of the 1st, 2d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, & 8th Infantry) with a loss of nearly 1,500 killed. Nearly 20,000 volunteers also participated in the war which cost some thirty-five million dollars & resulted in the removal of some 3,500 Seminoles to the Indian Territory.

The final campaign against the remnants of the Seminoles in Florida consisted mainly of a series of skirmishes between small, roving Indian bands & the 4th Artillery which was stationed at Fort Brooke.

Black Hawk, 26 April - 30 September 1832. A faction of Sauk & Fox Indians, living in eastern Iowa & led by Black Hawk, threatened to go on the warpath in 1832 when squatters began to preempt Illinois lands formerly occupied by the two tribes. The faction held that cession of these lands to the Federal Government in 1804 had been illegal. Black Hawk asserted he would remove the squatters forcibly & attempted without success to organize a confederacy & make an alliance with the British. Finally, when Black Hawk's followers, including some 500 warriors, crossed the Mississippi into Illinois in early 1832 & refused to return, the 1st & 6th Infantry under Brig. Gen. Henry Atkinson, together with Illinois militia, set out in pursuit up the Rock River. A volunteer detachment suffered heavy losses in a skirmish on 14 May 1832 near present-day Dixon, Illinois, & Atkinson had to pause to recruit new militia. On 21 July a volunteer force severely chastised Black Hawk's band at Madison, Wisconsin, & Atkinson completely defeated what remained of it at the confluence of the Mississippi & Bad Axe on 2 August 1832, capturing Black Hawk & killing 150 of his braves.

Native Wars with the US Army - Bannocks & Piute 1878

Bannocks, 1878. The Bannock, Piute, & other tribes of southern Idaho threatened rebellion in 1878, partly because of dissatisfaction with their land allotments. Many of them left the reservations, & Regulars of the 21st Infantry, 4th Artillery, & 1st Cavalry pursued the fugitives. Capt. Evan Miles so effectively dispersed a large band near the Umatilla Agency on 13 July 1878 that most of the Indians returned to their reservations within a few months.

The Sheepeaters, mountain sheep hunters & outcasts of other Idaho tribes, raided ranches & mines in 1879. Relentless pursuit by elements of the 1st Cavalry & 2d Infantry compelled them to surrender in September of that year.

Native Wars with the US Army - Nez Perces 1877

Nez Perces, 1877. The southern branch of the Nez Perces led by Chief Joseph refused to give up their ancestral lands (Oregon-Idaho border) & enter a reservation. 

When negotiations broke down & Nez Perce hotheads killed settlers in early 1877, the 1st Cavalry was sent to compel them to come into the reservation. Chief Joseph chose to resist & undertook an epic retreat of some 1,600 miles through Idaho, Yellowstone Park, & Montana during which he engaged 11 separate commands of the Army in 13 battles & skirmishes in a period of 11 weeks. The Nez Perce chieftain revealed remarkable skill as a tactician & his braves demonstrated exceptional discipline in numerous engagements, especially those on the Clearwater River (11 July), in Big Hole Basin (9-12 August), & in the Bear Paw Mountains where he surrendered with the remnants of his band to Col. Nelson A. Miles on 4 October 1877. Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard, commander of the Department of the Columbia, & Col. John Gibbon also played a prominent part in the pursuit of Joseph, which, by the end of September 1877 had involved elements of the 1st, 2d, 5th, & 7th Cavalry, the 5th Infantry, & the 4th Artillery.

Native Wars with the US Army - Little Big Horn 1876-77

Custer's Last Stand - Battle of Little Big Horn

Little Big Horn, 1876-1877. Discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874, bringing an influx of miners, & extension of railroads into the area renewed unrest among the Indians, & many left their reservations. When the Indians would not comply with orders from the Interior Department to return to the reservations by the end of January 1876, the Army was requested to take action.

A small expedition into the Powder River country in March 1876 produced negligible results. Thereafter, a much larger operation, based on a War Department plan, was carried out in the early Sumner months. As implemented by Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan, commander of the Division of the Missouri (which included the Departments of the Missouri, Platte, & Dakota), the plan was to converge several columns simultaneously on the Yellowstone River where the Indians would be trapped & then forced to return to their reservations.

In pursuance of this plan, Maj. Gen. George Crook, commander of the Department of the Platte, moved north from Fort Fetterman (Wyoming) in late May 1876 with about 1,000 men (elements of the 2d & 3d Cavalry & 4th & 9th Infantry). At the same time two columns marched south up the Yellowstone under Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry, commander of the Department of Dakota. One column of more than 1,000 men (7th Cavalry & elements or the 6th, 17th, & 20th Infantry), under Terry's direct commend, moved from Fort Abraham Lincoln (North Dakota) to the mouth of Powder River. The second of Terry's columns, numbering about 450 men (elements of the 2d Cavalry & 7th Infantry) under Col. John Gibbon, moved from Fort Ellis (Montana) to the mouth of the Big Born.

On 17 June 1876 Crook's troops fought an indecisive engagement with a large band of Sioux & Cheyenne under Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, & other chiefs on the Rosebud & then moved back to the Tongue River to wait for reinforcements. Meanwhile, General Terry had discovered the trail of the same Indian band & sent Lt. Col. George A. Custer with the 7th Cavalry up the Rosebud to locate the war party & move south of it. Terry, with the rest of his command, continued up the Yellowstone to meet Gibbon & close on the Indians from the north.

The 7th Cavalry, proceeding up the Rosebud, discovered an encampment of 4,000 to 5,000 Indians (an estimated 2,500 warriors) on the Little Big Horn on 25 June 1876. Custer immediately ordered an attack, dividing his forces so as to strike the camp from several directions. The surprised Indians quickly rallied & drove off Maj. Marcus A. Reno's detachment (Companies A, G, & M) which suffered severe losses. Reno was joined by Capt. Frederick W. Benteen's detachment (Companies D, H, & K) & the pack train (including Company B) & this combined force was able to withstand heavy attacks which were finally lifted when the Indians withdrew late the following day. Custer & a force of 211 men (Companies C, E, F, I, & L) were surrounded & completely destroyed. Terry & Gibbon did not reach the scene of Custer's last stand until the morning of 27 June. The 7th Cavalry's total losses in this action (including Custer's detachment) were: 12 officers, 247 enlisted men, 5 civilians, & 3 Indian scouts killed; 2 officers & 51 enlisted men wounded.

After this disaster the Little Big Horn campaign continued until September 1877 with many additional Regular units seeing action (including elements of the 4th & 5th Cavalry, the 5th, 14th, 22d, & 23d Infantry, & the 4th Artillery). Crook & Terry joined forces on the Rosebud on 10 August 1876, but most of the Indians slipped through the troops, although many came into the agencies. Fighting in the fall & winter of 1876-77 consisted mostly of skirmishes & raids, notably Crook's capture of American Horse's village at Slim Buttes (South Dakota) on 9 September & of Dull Knife's village in the Big Horn Mountains on 26 November, & Col. Nelson A. Miles' attack on Crazy Horse's camp in the Wolf Mountains on 8 January. By the summer of 1877 most of the Sioux were back on the reservations. Crazy Horse had come in & was killed resisting arrest at Fort Robinson (Nebraska) in September. Sitting Bull, with a small band of Sioux, escaped to Canada but surrendered at Fort Buford (Montana) in July 1881.

Native Wars with the US Army - Apaches 1873 & 1885-86

Apaches, 1873 & 1885-1866. After Brig. Gen. George Crook became commander of the Department of Arizona in 1871 he undertook a series of winter campaigns by small detachments which pacified the region by 1874. In the years that followed, the Indian Bureau's policy of frequent removal created new dissatisfaction among the Apaches. Dissident elements went off the reservations, led by Chato, Victorio, Geronimo, & other chiefs, & raided settlements along both aides of the border, escaping into Mexico or the United States as circumstances dictated. To combat this practice the two nations agreed in 1882 to permit reasonable pursuit of Indian raiders by the troops of each country across the international boundary.

Victorio was killed by Mexican troops in 1880, but Chato & Geronimo remained at large until May 1883 when they surrendered to General Crook & elements of the 6th Cavalry, reinforced by Apache scouts, at a point some 200 miles inside Mexico. Two years later Geronimo & about 150 Chiricahua Apaches again left their White Mountain reservation (Arizona) & once more terrorized the border region. Elements of the 4th Cavalry & Apache scouts immediately took up pursuit of the Chiricahua renegades. In January 1886 Capt. Emmet Crawford & 80 Apache scouts attacked Geronimo's main band some 200 miles south of the border, but the Indians escaped into the mountains. Although Crawford was killed by Mexican irregulars shortly thereafter, his second in command, 1st Lt. M. P. Maus, was able to negotiate Geronimo's surrender to General Crook in late March 1886. But Geronimo & part of his band escaped within a few days (29 March). Capt. Henry W. Lawton's column (elements of the 4th Cavalry, 8th Infantry, & Apache scouts) surprised Geronimo's camp in the mountains of Mexico on 20 July. Although the Chiricahuas again fled, by the end of August they indicated a willingness to surrender. On 4 September 1886, 1st Lt. Charles B. Gatewood of Lawton's command negotiated the formal surrender to Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles who had relieved General Crook in April. Geronimo sad his band were removed to Florida & finally to the Fort Sill military reservation.

Native Wars with the US Army - Modocs 1872-73

Modocs, 1872-1873. The Bloc Campaign of 1872-73 was the last Indian war of consequence on the Pacific Coast. When the Modocs, a small & restless tribe, were placed on a reservation with the Klamaths, their traditional enemies, they soon found the situation intolerable. A majority of the Modocs soon left the reservation, led by a chief known as "Captain Jack," & returned to their old lands. A detail of 1st Cavalry troops under Capt. James Jackson became involved in a skirmish with these Modocs on Lost River on 29 November 1872 when the troops sought to disarm then & arrest the leaders.

Following the skirmish, Captain Jack & about 120 warriors with ample supplies retreated to a naturally fortified area in the Lava Beds east of Mount Shasta. On 17 January 1873 Col. Alvan Gillem's detachment of some 400 men, half of them Regulars from the 1st Cavalry & 21st Infantry, attacked the Modoc positions, but the troops could make no progress in the almost impassable terrain, suffering a loss of 10 killed & 28 wounded.

By spring of 1873 Brig. Gen. Edward R. S. Canby, commander of the Department of the Pacific, had collected about 1,000 men (elements of the 1st Cavalry, 12th & 21st Infantry, & 4th Artillery) to besiege the Modocs. Indian Bureau officials failed in attempts at negotiation, but General Canby & three civilian commissioners were able to arrange a parley with an equal number of Modoc representatives on 11 April. The Indians treacherously violated the truce. Captain Jack, himself, killed General Canby while others killed one commissioner, Eleazer Thomas, & wounded another. The siege was resumed.

Brig. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, who arrived in May to replace Canby pushed columns deep into the Lava Beds, hurrying the Indians day & night with mortar & rifle fire. When their source of water was cut off, the Indians were finally forced into the open, & all were captured by 1 June 1873. Captain Jack & two others were hanged, & the rest of the tribe was removed to the Indian Territory. During the course of the siege some 80 white men were killed.

Native Wars with the US Army - Seminoles 1817-8 & 1835-42 & 1855-8

Seminoles attacking a fort, possibly on the Withlacoochee River, in December 1835 during the Second Seminole War.  Library of Congress, Washington DC

Seminoles, 20 November 1817 - 31 October 1818, 28 December 1835 - 14 August 1842 & 15 December 1855 - May 1858. This conflict began with the massacre of about 50 Americans near an army post in Georgia-climax to a series of raids against American settlements by Seminoles based in Spanish Florida. Brig. Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, Indian commissioner of the area, attempted countermeasures but soon found himself & his force of 600 Regulars confined to Fort Scott (Alabama) by the Seminoles. War Department instructions to Gaines had permitted the pursuit of Indians into Florida but had forbidden interference if the Indians took refuge in Spanish posts. Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, who was ordered to take over the operation, chose to interpret Gaines' instructions as sanctioning a full-scale invasion of the Spanish colony. He organized a force of about 7,500 volunteers, militia, subsidized Creeks, & Regulars (4th & 7th Infantry & a battalion of the 4th Artillery), & invaded Florida with part of thin force in the spring of 1818. Jackson destroyed Seminole camps, captured Pensacola (capital of Spanish Florida) & other Spanish strongholds, & executed two British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot & Robert Ambrister, accused of inciting & arming the Indians. These activities threatened American relations with Great Britain & jeopardized negotiations with Spain pertinent to cession of Florida (Adams-Onis Treaty, 1819). Eventually the British were mollified & a compromise agreement was reached with the Spanish under which American forces were withdrawn from Florida without repudiating the politically popular Jackson. As for the Seminole problem, it was temporarily allayed but by no means solved.

In the Treaties of Payne's Landing (1832) & Fort Gibson (1833) the Seminoles had agreed to give up their lands, but they refused to move out. Following the arrest & release of Osceola, their leader, in 1835 Seminole depredations rapidly increased. These culminated 28 December in the massacre of Capt. Francis L. Dade's detachment of 330 Regulars (elements of the 2d & 4th Artillery & 4th Infantry) enroute from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to Fort King (Ocala)-a disastrous loss for the small, Regular force of 600 men in Florida. Brig. Gen. Duncan L. Clinch, commanding Fort King, took the offensive immediately with 200 men & on 31 December 1835 defeated the Indians on the Withlacoochee River.

The War Department, meanwhile, had ordered Brig. Gen. Winfield Scott, commander of the Eastern Department, to Florida to direct operations against the Seminoles. Most of the hostilities had occurred in General Gaines' Western Department, but the War Department expected impending troubles in Texas to keep Gaines occupied. Nevertheless, Gaines had quickly raised about 1,000 men in New Orleans and, acting on his own authority, embarked for Florida in February 1836. Even after learning of Scott's appointment, Gaines seized supplies collected by Scott at Fort Drane & pressed forward until heavily attacked by Seminoles. He succeeded in extricating his force only with help from Scott's troops. Shortly thereafter Gaines returned to New Orleans.

Completion of preparations for Scott's proposed three-pronged offensive converging on the Withlacoochee were delayed by Gaines' use of Scott's supplies, expiration of volunteer enlistments, & temporary diversion of troops to deal with the Creeks who were then on the warpath in Georgia & Alabama. (See Creek Campaigns.) Before the campaign could get underway, Scott was recalled to Washington to face charges of dilatoriness & of casting slurs on the fighting qualities of volunteers. Beginning in December 1836, Maj. Gen. Thomas S. Jesup carried out a series of small actions against the Seminoles, & in September 1837 Osceola was captured. Colonel Zachary Taylor decisively defeated a sizeable Indian force near Lake Okeechobee in December 1837.

After Taylor's expedition no more large forces were assembled on either side. Numerous small expeditions were carried out chiefly by Regular troops commanded successively by Jesup, Taylor, & Brig. Gen. Walker A. Armistead, & many posts & roads were constructed. Col. William J. Worth finally conceived a plan which consisted of campaigning during the enervating summer seasons with the object of destroying the Indian's crops. This plan was successful in driving a sufficient number of Seminoles from their swampy retreats to permit official termination of the war on 10 May 1842.

During the long & difficult campaign some 5,000 Regulars had been employed (including elements of the 1st, 2d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, & 8th Infantry) with a loss of nearly 1,500 killed. Nearly 20,000 volunteers also participated in the war which cost some thirty-five million dollars & resulted in the removal of some 3,500 Seminoles to the Indian Territory.

The final campaign against the remnants of the Seminoles in Florida consisted mainly of a series of skirmishes between small, roving Indian bands & the 4th Artillery which was stationed at Fort Brooke.

Native Wars with the US Army - Creeks, 1813-14 & 1836-37

1805 Unknown Artist Painting of Benjamin Hawkins on his plantation, instructing Muscogee Creek in European technology.

The first of the Creek campaigns constitutes a phase of the War of 1812. The Upper Creeks, siding with the English, sacked Fort Mims in the summer of 1813, massacring more than 500 men, women, & children. These same Indians, grown to a force of about 900 warriors, were decisively beaten at Horseshoe Bend (Alabama) late in March 1814 by Andrew Jackson & his force of about 2,000 Regulars, militia, & volunteers, plus several hundred friendly Indians. 

U.S. troops storm the breastworks at Horseshoe Bend 1814 New York Public Library

In 1832 many Creeks were sent to the Indian Territory, & most of those remaining in the Southeast were removed there in 1836-37 when they went on the warpath during the Second Seminole War.

Native Wars with the US Army - Tippecanoe 1811

Tecumseh

In 1804 Tecumseh, a Shawnee, & his medicine man brother, the Prophet, with British backing, began serious efforts to form a new Indian confederacy in the Northwest. Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory rejected Tecumseh's demand that settlers be kept out of the region. In the summer of 1811 Harrison, with the approval of the War Department, undertook to break up the confederacy before it could organize a mayor attack against the settlements.

1811 Tenskwatawaw called the Prophet was Tecumseh's brother 

In September 1811 Harrison moved from Vincennes up the Wabash with a well-trained force of 320 Regular infantry & 650 militia. After building Fort Harrison at Terre Haute as an advanced base, Harrison marched with 800 men toward the main Indian village on Tippecanoe Creek, bivouacking in battle order on the north bank of the Wabash within sight of the village on 6 November. Tecumseh being absent, Harrison conferred with the Prophet who gave the impression that he would not attack while a peace proposal was under consideration. Nevertheless, just before dawn on 7 November 1811, the Indians attacked Harrison's forces. In a wild hand-to-hand encounter the Indians were routed & their village destroyed. Harrison lost 39 killed & missing, 151 wounded; the Indians suffered a similar loss. This indecisive victory did not solve the Indian problems in the Northwest. The tribes of the area were to make common cause with the British in the War of 1812.

Lewis & Clark - Interpreting Native American Languages

Illustration from An Interesting Account of the Voyages & Travels of Captains Lewis & Clark in the Years 1804, 1805 & 1806 by William Fisher Baltimore 1812 

For the Want of an Interpreter

By Glenn F. Williams

A widespread misperception of Lewis & Clark’s expedition of discovery involves two intrepid frontiersmen trekking their way across an uncharted continent accompanied by their Indian guide & interpreter Sacagawea. More recent popular interpretations have added recognition of Clark’s servant York & the presence of Lewis’ dog Seaman. The two U.S. Army captains actually led a well-organized group of individuals chosen for their specific skills that was formed around a “permanent party” of twenty-nine soldiers, two civilians under contract for special work with the War Department, & two dependents (increased to three after the birth of Sacagawea’s son), one of whom was Sacagawea. At various times, they also hired other civilians with particular talents to perform important tasks. Without minimizing her contribution to the expedition, she was neither the only guide, nor the lone interpreter.

The ability to communicate in Indian languages was one of those absolutely crucial capabilities that Lewis & Clark had to acquire in order to accomplish the diplomatic component of their mission. One must recall that there is no single American Indian language. The native inhabitants of the Great Plains spoke many different languages & dialects. Even those from within the same “language group,” are not always mutually intelligible. Long before contact with Europeans, the various Indian nations on the plains developed a system of hand signs that could be mutually understood in order to communicate, negotiate peace, establish military alliances, & conduct trade with one another. What made the Captains’ task of finding sufficient interpreters even more complex was the fact that they did not know how many different Indian tribes of the various nations would be encountered along the route

There was little difficulty in finding individuals who knew one or more of the Indian languages spoken along the lower Missouri River. French, Spanish, English & American settlers, trappers & traders had interacted with the tribes for years, & it was only natural that some of the frontiersmen married Indian women. The children of mixed white & Indian marriages often spoke the languages of both parents. George Drouillard (pronounced DREW-yar), the son of a French father & Shawnee mother, was one of them. Captain Lewis met Drouillard in Illinois while recruiting at Fort Massac, & recognized that his talents as a scout, hunter & interpreter would be most useful, & engaged his services. Lewis met Francois Labiche & Pierre Cruzatte in the Saint Charles & Saint Louis areas, & recruited them into the army as volunteers. Both men were the sons of French fathers & Indian mothers, & both spoke French & Omaha as well as English.

Next to the ability to speak one or more Indian languages, proficiency in French was a decided advantage. French-Canadian traders & trappers had lived among various Indian tribes for decades, & the expedition was sure to encounter a number of them along the way. Although he could not speak an Indian language, Private John Baptiste Lapage could translate French & English. Having him along gave Lewis & Clark one additional man who could speak to the traders’ language, which was sure to prove helpful when they met a Frenchman who spoke the language of his hosts.

The Indian nations on the Great Plains had also developed a commonly understood means of communication based on “sign language” in order to facilitate trading between the various tribes. Fortunately, the engage´ Drouillard and, to a lesser extent, Private Cruzatte were conversant in the sign language of the plains Indians. When Clark recruited the volunteers who became known as the “Nine young men of Kentucky,” it is likely that Private George Gibson was enlisted, at least in part, for his ability to “talk in signs.” When the ability to communicate verbally was unavailable, the officers of the expedition could rely on “sign talking” as a last resort.

As the expedition made its way up the Missouri River in June of 1804, Captains Lewis & Clark sought councils with the leaders of the tribes through whose territory they were going to pass. Anticipating contact with the Lakota, Dakota & Nakota, or Great Sioux Nation, the captains realized Cruzatte possessed only a limited command at best, or only a few simple words & phrases at worst, of a Siouan dialect. While Cruzatte might prove helpful in establishing an initial rapport, serious communication would have to rely solely on Drouillard’s proficiency with the tedious process of “hand talking.”

Luckily, the corps encountered a party of French trappers heading down the river toward St. Louis. As the two groups paused to exchange news & information, Lewis & Clark made the acquaintance of a Frenchman named Pierre Dorion. Married to a Sioux woman, Dorion had lived among the Yankton & other bands for about two decades, & was highly conversant in their language. Realizing a man of his talents could be useful, Captain Lewis quickly engaged Dorion in the employ of the U.S. government to assist him in explaining President Thomas Jefferson’s Indian policies & assuring the tribes of the corps’ peaceful intentions. Instead of accompanying the expedition further west, however, Lewis desired that he provide those services while living among his wife’s people.

By late July 1804, Lewis & Clark were eager to convene their first meeting with representatives from one or more of the Oto, Missouri, Omaha, & Ponca, or Pawnee, nations along the “middle reach” of the Missouri. Several attempts were made to locate & invite tribal leaders, but without success. On July 23, Drouillard & Cruzatte went out to make contact with either the Pawnee or Otoes, & after five days of searching, only found the major town of the Oto deserted. While out on the prairie hunting game on July 28, Drouillard chanced to meet a lone Missouri Indian, & the warrior accepted the scout’s invitation to accompany him back to camp. The corps’ two officers learned that most of the man’s tribe, now reduced in numbers due to smallpox, were living with the Oto, & that most of both peoples were participating in a buffalo hunt. The Indian said he could, however, take someone from the expedition to where those who remained in the area were lodged.

One of the engage´ boatmen, a Frenchman known as La Libertee´, or Barter, could speak the Oto language, & was sent back with the Missouri brave to formally invite his tribal leaders to meet in a council on the bluff overlooking the river near the mouth of Boyer Creek, in present-day Nebraska. Two days went by with no word from messenger & the Otoes. Another man was sent to find & hurry them along, but found no trace of La Liberte  or his traveling companion. Lewis & Clark continued to prepare for the council in the event La Liberte  got through to deliver the invitation, although it was feared he had lost his way on the prairie. Thankfully, on the evening prior to the scheduled start of the council, August 2, a party of Oto & Missouri Indians arrived. Although no principal chiefs were among the group, there were six lesser chiefs, or headmen, in the delegation. A Frenchman named Fairfong, who lived among the Oto & Missouri & spoke their languages, accompanied them to the place that came to be known as the “Council Bluff.”

Captains Lewis & Clark learned from the Indian delegation that La Liberte´ had delivered the invitation, but left their village the day before & had not been seen since. As they met in council, Monsieur Fairfong’s translated from Oto to French for the headmen, while Drouillard or Cruzatte translated between French & English for the captains. Although the dialog passed between the two parties through two intermediaries speaking three languages, the council was deemed a success. At the end of the meeting, with diplomatic matters attended to, the Indians agreed to help in the search for the missing interpreter, but he eluded them. It was soon discovered that La Liberte´ had deserted rather than accompany the expedition further west. Although briefly apprehended a few days later by a patrol sent out from the corps, La Liberte´ made his escape & was not heard from again.

For the next two weeks, Lewis & Clark attempted to repeat the success they enjoyed at the Council Bluff with the Omaha & Sioux bands in the area. Accomplishing that goal, however, was complicated by the fact the two tribes were at war with each other. Any attempt to meet in council to explain the policies of the United States with both tribes present required that the captains broker peace talks between them as well. Captain Lewis sent Sergeant John Ordway & five men, including Cruzatte, to find & invite the Omaha to council, but the patrol returned to camp after finding no sign of them. Lewis also sent a three-man patrol accompanied by Dorion in an attempt to locate a band of Sioux, but they also returned without making contact.

Although his original encounter with Dorian had indeed proved fortuitous, Lewis & Clark could not afford to continue relying on chance meetings with trappers familiar with various tribal languages. This was made more evident on September 25, 1804, as they prepared for a council with the Teton Sioux. Captain Clark wrote that they “raised a Flag Staff & made a orning [sic] or Shade on a Sand bar in the mouth of the Teton River, for the purpose of Speeking [sic] with the Indians under.” At approximately 11 o’clock in the morning, the “1st. & 2d. Chief came” & shared a meal with the captains. Trying to establish rapport before beginning the council without an interpreter must have been difficult. Clark later confided in his Journal, “we feel much at a loss for the want of an interpreter,” & lamented, “the one we have can Speek [sic] but little.” At noon, following the meal, the officers & chiefs opened the council with the peace pipe ceremony, & “after Smokieing [sic] agreeable to the usual Custom, Cap. Lewis proceeded to deliver a Speech which we [were] oblige[d] to Curtail for want of a good interpreter.”

The problems stemming from the lack of good translation nearly resulted in tragedy when, after the meeting, one of the chiefs became “verry [sic] insolent in words & justures [sic], pretended Drunkenness & staggered up against [Clark]” declaring the expedition could proceed no farther without providing them with sufficient presents. Clark described that the gestures were so threatening in nature, that he drew his sword & signaled the soldiers on the keelboat to prepare for action. When the troops “Showed a Disposition to Defend themselves” & their officer, the chief called off his warriors in observance of an uneasy truce. Clark then ordered all the men on shore, except the two soldiers who spoke the Omaha language, to board the pirogue as he attempted to resolve the controversy. The standoff continued, with Clark trying his best to communicate through inadequate interpreters, until Captain Lewis & the rest of the corps arrived in the other pirogue. Tempers cooled, albeit somewhat uneasily, as the members of the expedition prepared to continue the movement upstream.

In the meantime, the services of an interpreter prevented the tense situation from growing even worse. Two weeks before meeting with Lewis & Clark, the Teton Sioux had attacked an Omaha village, & took forty-eight women & children captive. In keeping with their diplomatic mission, the captains secured the Tetons’ agreement to deliver their captives to Dorian, who was living with the Yankton tribe of Sioux, & he would see to their return home. Speaking in their own language, the Omaha prisoners warned Private Cruzatte that the Tetons intended to stop & rob the members of the expedition before allowing them to proceed upstream. Although the captains prevailed in convincing the angry chief to let the boats proceed peacefully, the soldiers of the corps were prepared to resist any hostile act with force.

On October 8, 1804, at the mouth of what is now called the Grand River, Captain Lewis went ashore “with 2 interpreters & 2 men” to visit an Arikara village. While they were gone, Captain Clark “formed a Camp of the French [engage´s] & the guard on Shore, with one Sentinel on board the boat at anchor … all things arranged for Peace or War.” The camp was then approached by a pirogue piloted by several Frenchmen, two of whom were traders named Joseph Gravelines (or who Clark called “Gavellin”) & Antoine Tabeau. Lewis described Gravelines as “a man well versed in the language of this nation,” & familiar with the Arikara country & society.

While meeting Monsieur Gravelines was certainly fortunate, it again accentuated the problem of communicating with the Indians. Gravelines & Tabeau explained that the Arikara had once been members of ten different tribes formerly related to the Pawnees, but had since separated. Because of losses in war & from disease, their numbers were reduced until they decided to join together for mutual protection. As a result, there was no one language common to all the bands, so people of different villages “do not understand all the words of the others.” Without someone like Gravelines & Tabeau to interpret for them, Lewis & Clark could not have met in a successful & productive council with the Arikaras.

The expedition proceeded into the area populated by the Mandan & Hidatsa, the latter also called the Minatare, Indians in what is now North Dakota. The good relations & trust Lewis & Clark established with the Arikara through the strength of their interpreters’ skills carried with them into the meeting with the Mandans on October 24, 1804. On the first encounter with “one of the Grand Chiefs” of that tribe, both the chief of the Arikara who accompanied them & Lewis & Clark, were received “with great Cordiality & serimony [sic],” & invited them to smoke the peace pipe. Their host then took Lewis & the two interpreters to visit the lodges of the chief at the principal village of the tribe.

Three days later, after they were comfortably among the people, Lewis & Clark met another French trader employed by the North West Company. Rene´ Jessaume lived with his Indian wife & children in the chief’s village, & he offered his services an interpreter as long as they remained among the Mandan & the neighboring Hidasta. After visiting all the villages, Lewis & Clark got to the business of holding a council to broker a peace between the Arikara & the Mandans. Jussaume was able to help the captains prepare for the meeting by providing them with information about the personalities of the various chiefs & tribal politics.

Arriving at the corps’ camp on October 27, the council got down to business the next morning, Sunday, October 28. The grand council brought Captains Lewis & Clark together with the chiefs of the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara nations, & over the next two days, Jussaume translated the captains’ message promoting intertribal peace, & encouraging good relations & commerce with the United States. After the meeting concluded, the Mandans adjourned to consult among their village chiefs. They returned to the council fire to meet with Lewis & Clark on November 1, & announced, “They would make peace with the Ricares (Arikaras).”

The next day, the captains having decided to proceed no further up the Missouri River before the onset of winter, the members of the expedition pitched tents, cut trees & began to build winter quarters. One of the huts was prepared for Jussaume & his wife & child, so he could be on hand whenever the officers required his services as a translator. Early in their stay, Jessaume had introduced the officers to other North West Company traders living with nearby Mandan & Hidatsa villages, further helping to facilitate their communications as the corps prepared for its winter encampment. Through these interpreters, Lewis & Clark learned that in their raids against enemy Indian tribes, Hidatsa warriors had traveled west on the very route the expedition would be taking in the spring.

Gaining information from them was very important, & it emphasized that if a Northwest Passage did not exist, they would have to leave their boats & travel over the Bitteroot Mountains, & cross a considerable distance over land to complete their mission. In that eventuality, horses would be essential. After learning that the Shoshone were well supplied with horses, having someone who could speak their language was a priority. Furthermore, a competent translator who spoke the Shoshone language could not only help to obtain horses & guides for the expedition, but would facilitate in communicating the soldiers’ peaceful intentions & carrying out their diplomatic mission.

On November 4, which Clark described as “a fine morning,” while the men of the corps were busy felling trees to build the stockade & barracks they would name Fort Mandan, Monsieur Toussaint Charbonneau came to inquire if the soldiers were looking to hire one of his talents. Although he could not speak Shoshone, his appearance had a tremendous impact on the conduct of the rest of the expedition. Sacagawea, one of his two wives, was a Shoshone who had been captured by a war party that attacked the group hunters she had accompanied as a young girl. In the custom of most Indian nations, she was adopted into the tribe of her captors & learned their language. Charbonneau offered that Sacagawea would go along to interpret in her native language through their common use of Hidatsa, as part of the contract hiring him. She was pregnant when Charbonneau offered her services, but he insisted that the baby would be soon born, & that both mother & child would be ready to travel by the spring. On March 11, 1805, Clark formally engaged Charbonneau, & enlisted him “as an interpreter through his wife.”

Even with that formality out of the way, the problem of communicating with the Shoshone was not completely solved. While Charbonneau could speak Hidatsa, he could not speak English. Neither of the captains was conversant in French. In order to communicate with their interpreter, the officers ironically had to call upon Private Francois Labiche, who spoke both French & English. By April 7, 1805, “every arrangement necessary” for the corps’ departure to complete its mission was complete. On breaking camp, a detachment of six soldiers commanded by Corporal Richard Warfington, along with the discharged French engage´ boatmen, began their return trip to Saint Louis aboard the keelboat. The Arikara chief & the interpreters Gravelines & Tabeau, all of whom had spent the winter at Fort Mandan, accompanied them as far as the chief’s town. At the same time the “return party” headed downstream, Captains Lewis & Clark led the thirty-three members of “permanent party” up the Missouri on the two pirogues & six canoes.

On August 12, 1805, Captain Lewis, Drouillard & two of the men were scouting about seventy-five miles in advance of the main body, crossing the Continental Divide at what today is called Lemhi Pass. When the expedition reached Shoshone territory, they began seeking members of that tribe in order to obtain horses. Two days later, they encountered a group of Shoshones, & used Drouillard’s sign language skills to make the first contact. Lewis’s journal entry for October 14 read, “The means I had of communicating with these people was by way of Drewyer [Drouillard] who understood perfectly the common language of jesticulation [sic] or signs which seems to be universally understood by all the Nations we have yet seen. It is true that this language is imperfect & liable to error but is much less so than would be expected. The strong parts of the ideas are seldom mistaken.”

When the main body caught up, the Shoshone proved to be not only is from Sacagawea’s band, but their leader & chief warrior Cameahwait was actually her brother. On August 17, after being separated for five years, Sacagawea & Cameahwait met in joyful reunion. Although the event made the acquisition of horses easier for Lewis & Clark, communicating their intentions was still a complicated matter. The two officers’ messages had to pass through three interpreters to reach the Shoshone chief. First, Lewis or Clark spoke to Labiche in English. Labiche passed the message to Charbonneau in French. Charbonneau repeated it to Sacagawea in Hidatsa, & Sacagawea then translated the message into Shoshone for her brother. Then, the process was reversed.

Less than a month later, on Wednesday, September 4, 1805, the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery encountered a party from those the Shoshone called the Tushepau, otherwise known as the Salish or Flathead nation. Their people lived in a village of thirty-three lodges with a population of four hundred, including eighty warriors. According to Clark, members of the Corps, “found them friendly.” When the captains invited the chiefs & warriors for a council, Clark noted that they “Spoke to them (with much difficulty as what we Said had to pass through Several languages before it got to theirs…” The methods of interpretation between Indian nations & the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery were repeated with every encounter, albeit with some variation given the peculiarities of the languages involved.

Perhaps the most complicated translation occurred during the return trip. On April 28, 1806, near confluence of the Walla Walla & Columbia Rivers, the expedition encountered a band from the Walla Walla Indians. Lewis & Clark again initially relied on Drouillard’s “hand talking,” & the conversation was taking its labored & imperfect course when Sacagawea found someone who could speak her native language. She soon approached the two captains with a Shoshone woman who had been taken captive during a raid by Walla Wallas, not unlike her own experience with the Hidatsa. When the discussion resumed, Lewis & Clark spoke to Labiche in English; who spoke to Charbonneau in French. Charbonneau then relayed the message to Sacagawea in Hidatsa; which was translated to the captive woman in Shoshone, who translated it into Walla Walla for the headmen of that tribe.17 It was not the last time that Lewis & Clark met in council with Indian leaders, but the “conversation” was probably their most intricate.

Through the course of their mission, Lewis & Clark met numerous times with groups of native peoples. Their ability to communicate enabled them to perform the diplomatic mission they had been given by President Jefferson. That ability also aided them in assisting warring tribes to resolve their conflicts without continued fighting. Most of all, their ability to communicate ensured the survival of the corps’ members & the completion of their duty by earning the friendship & the ability to trade with the Indians for needed supplies, food, horses & guides.

Ask almost any American today, who was Lewis & Clark’s interpreter  Almost always, he or she will answer with the name of “Sacagawea.” She is rightly given credit for the rapport she brought to encounters with Indian sachems & headmen, particularly among her native Shoshone. Her ability to translate her native language into Hidatsa was the key to negotiating with both her own people & the Walla Walla. But let us not forget that without her husband Toussaint Charbonneau to translate Hidatsa into French, the value of her contribution would have quickly diminished.

The other traders that were met & employed along the way, Pierre Dorion, Fairfong, Rene Jessaume, Joseph Gravelines & Antoine Tabeau, were equally important in communicating with numerous Indian nations. But as in the case of Sacagawea, their contributions would have all meant little without Privates Francois Labiche & Pierre Cruzatte translating French, & Omaha, into English. Finally, let us not forget the abilities of Private George Gibson & the indispensable George Drouillard for their skill in Indian sign language. Indeed, the Lewis & Clark expedition may have failed completely for “want of a good interpreter.” Fortunately, the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery had several. 

Lewis & Clark - On to the Pacific Ocean with the Help of Native Americans

On November 15, 1805, the US Corps of Discovery under Meriwether Lewis & William Clark reached the Pacific Ocean at what is now Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington.

The U.S. Army & the Lewis & Clark Expedition

Fort Mandan to the Pacific

While at Fort Mandan, the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery continued its association with the Indians. The soldiers took part in Indian hunting parties & social events & built goodwill by providing rudimentary medical care & the services of their blacksmith, John Shields, to the tribes. They took time to speak with British & French-Canadian traders who were well established with the Indians, & gained valuable intelligence. On 27 October, they hired Rene Jessaume as an interpreter with the Mandan. A week later they recruited French-Canadian fur trader Baptiste Lepage into the permanent party to replace Private Newman, who had been “discarded” from the expedition for “repeated expressions of a highly criminal & mutinous nature.” Then they hired another French-Canadian fur trader, Toussaint Charbonneau, as an interpreter. The 44-year-old Charbonneau had been living & trading among the Hadatsa for the past five years & had been active on the Upper Missouri since at least 1793. Later, in March 1805, Lewis & Clark hired Charbonneau to accompany the expedition west & agreed that he could bring along his young Shoshone wife, Sacagawea, who had given birth a month earlier to a boy they named Jean Baptiste.

On 6 April 1805, Lewis & Clark sent the keelboat back to St. Louis. In the keelboat were Corporal Warfington; six privates (including Newman & Reed, who had been discharged from the expedition for desertion); Gravelines, the pilot & interpreter; two French-Canadian traders; & an Arikara chief returning to his village. The next day the remainder of the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery departed the Mandan villages in two pirogues & six dugout canoes heading north. Along the way west, the Expedition continued to note abundant plant & wildlife. The scenery was stunning, & spirits were high. On 14 April Clark saw his first grizzly bear. Eleven days later the Corps reached the mouth of the Yellowstone River & camped there. On 10 May the men saw their first moose. A week later Clark noted in his journal that the men were beginning to be use deerskins to make moccasins & leggings, as the original uniform trousers were wearing out.

Lewis & Clark faced their first major navigational test on 2 June 1805. Arriving at the junction of two large rivers, the captains
needed to decide correctly which fork was the Missouri. Between 4 & 8 June, Lewis & a party reconnoitered the northwest branch, which Lewis later named the Marias River, while Clark & another group explored the southwestern branch. After comparing their notes, reevaluating their intelligence, & studying the maps they had brought from St. Louis, Lewis & Clark determined that the southwestern branch was the Missouri River, even though all their men thought otherwise. Nevertheless, in a great tribute to their leaders, the men followed Lewis & Clark, although they believed the captains were wrong. Then, on 13 June, Lewis saw a majestic sight: the Great Falls of the Missouri River. The captains had been right. Here, the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery made camp & prepared for the great portage.

Lewis & Clark were proud of their men. The Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery was “zealously attached to the enterprise, & anxious to proceed.” Indeed, as Lewis wrote, there was not “a whisper of discontent or murmur” among the men, who acted in unison & “with the most perfect harmoney [sic].” That the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery was a tough, resourceful, & tightly knit group was due to the great leadership of the two captains, who complemented each other so well & had molded their troops into a confident & cohesive force. They would need that confidence & cohesiveness during the arduous eighteen-mile portage around the Great Falls. Over the next three weeks, the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery struggled up steep slopes, over prickly pear cactus thorns & jagged ridges, around gullies & ravines, in the scorching summer heat to complete their passage of the falls. The expedition rested for two days & continued the journey on 14 July.

On 12 August, the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery reached the source of the Missouri River. The next day an advance party of Lewis, Drouillard, & two privates encountered the Shoshones. Using friendly hand signals & gifts, the soldiers managed to win the trust of the Indians. Four days later Clark & the rest of the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery joined Lewis & established Camp Fortunate. At the council that evening, Sacagawea was there to interpret. But before the meeting began, she recognized the Shoshone chief Cameahwait as her brother. She immediately embraced him. Lewis wrote that the reunion was “really affecting.” More gifts, promises of future trading, & the good fortune that the chief of the Shoshones was the brother of Sacagawea enabled the party to secure horses & guides for the journey along the Continental Divide & over the rugged Bitterroots to the country of the Nez Perce Indians. The hard, forced march across the Rockies along the Lolo Trail, where the freezing cold & lack of food pushed the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery to the limits of its endurance, ended in late September, when the advanced party under Clark met the Nez Perce.

On 23 September, Lewis & Clark held a council with Twisted Hair & some lesser chiefs of the Nez Perce. Anxious to get to the Pacific (and of the fact that they were no longer in U.S. territory), the captains dispensed with the usual displays of American military might & instead passed out medals & gifts, explained their mission to Twisted Hair, & requested his assistance in building canoes for the expedition. Indeed, the soldiers were so weak from crossing the Rockies that they could hardly move & spent nearly a week recovering. The Nez Perce could have easily destroyed the expedition, but thanks largely to their generosity & kindness, the canoes were finished by 6 October, & the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery was ready for its final leg to the Pacific.

On 7 October, the Expedition began its journey down the Clearwater, Snake, & Columbia Rivers to the ocean. In dealing with the tribes they encountered along the way, Lewis & Clark followed their usual practice of expressing joy at meeting the Indians, urging them to make peace with their neighbors, handing out gifts, & promising more trade goods from future American traders. To impress the tribes, the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery occasionally paraded in formation or showed off a magnifying glass, the air gun, or another device. Friendly talk & displays of the expedition’s military prowess usually impressed the Indians & guaranteed safe passage, although the soldiers were less successful in halting the intertribal warfare.

In the distance lay the Pacific Ocean. On 7 November, the soldiers spotted an inlet from the Pacific near the mouth of the Columbia River. “Great joy in camp,” Clark wrote in his journal, “we are in view of the Ocian [sic] . . . this great Pacific Octean [sic] which we been so long anxious to See [sic].” As soon as they arrived at the ocean, Lewis & Clark began reconnoitering for a site to make their winter camp. After exploring the region along the northern shore of the Columbia near the ocean, the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery crossed the Columbia to its southern side, where it was more sheltered from the heavy winds & rough seas. There, the soldiers built Fort Clatsop close to the present location of Astoria, Oregon.

The men of the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery named their winter quarters after the local tribe, as they had the previous winter. Fort Clatsop was about fifty feet square, with two structures that faced each other. One structure was divided into three rooms that housed the three enlisted messes. The other structure was divided into four rooms, one of which served as quarters for the captains & another the Charbonneau family. The third was the orderly room, the fourth a smokehouse. Palisade walls joined these two structures. At one end was the main gate; at the other a smaller, “water gate” (fresh spring water was about thirty yards away). In the middle of the fort was a parade ground. On 30 December the Expedition completed Fort Clatsop as its winter quarters, establishing tight security to safeguard its equipment & to avoid any trouble. Clark wrote that “the Sight of our Sentinal” brought a sense of peace & security to the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery.

Indian Spy by Albert Bierstadt (German-born American painter, 1830-1902)

Albert Bierstadt (German-born American painter, 1830-1902) Indian Spy

Matthew Biagell explains in his book Albert Bierstadt that,"Athough Bierstadt made probing studies of individual Indians during his travels in the West, he usually generalized their appearances & activities in his paintings. He placed them, as he placed European peasants in earlier works, in the middle distance, so that we witness their presence in a landscape setting rather than focus on their movements." Many of his landscapes including Native Americans are the western equivalent of his European generalized landscapes & reveals Bierstadt's consistent attitude toward subject matter regardless of its locale human subjects are engaged in seemingly unrelated activities. His paintings, bathed in a golden glow, often suggest nostalgia for a previous age when Native Americans were thought to have lived harmoniously with nature. Here they are not wily, wicked, or predatory, but are engaged instead in peaceful domestic industry. Works such as this are obviously part of the broad western European tradition of Arcadian scenes, but in its American version the tradition assumes a particular complexity & ambivalence. His painting including Natives often portray the nobility of the Indians before their contact with Europeans & subsequent debasement. Paintings displaying this attitude undoubtedly provided the public with the images it wanted to see, especially during the years Indians were systematically being driven from their lands. Suchromanticized paintings might also be considered retardataire; the Indian, noble or otherwise, no longer engaged many serious 19C writers after the 1850s, & precise anthropological & linguistic analyses of Indian tribes were already being included in the Pacific railroad reports by that time.

Albert Bierstadt (German-born American painter, 1830-1902) was best known for these lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. To paint the scenes, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion. Bierstadt, was born in Solingen, Germany. He was still a toddler, when his family moved from Germany to New Bedford in Massachusetts. In 1853, he returned to Germany to study in Dusseldorf, where he refined his technical abilities by painting Alpine landscapes. After he returned to America in 1857, he joined an overland survey expedition traveling westward across the country. Along the route, he took countless photographs & made sketches & returned East to paint from them. He exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum from 1859-1864, at the Brooklyn Art Association from 1861-1879, & at the Boston Art Club from 1873-1880. A member of the National Academy of Design from 1860-1902, he kept a studio in the 10th Street Studio Building, New York City from 1861-1879. He was a member of the Century Association from 1862-1902, when he died.