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The Expedition's Journey
Continues:
Pretty much business as usual in 1804. Parlay with
Native Peoples was progressing well. The Corps went about their business
trading, hunting and surviving. The weather was not too harsh at this
point and no unrest or discontent among the expedition.
Two chiefs came to have some talk: one the
principal of the lower village, the other the one who thought himself
the principal man, and requested to hear some of the speech that was
delivered yesterday. They were gratified; and we put the medal on the
neck of The Big White, to whom we had sent clothes yesterday, and a
flag. Those men did not return from hunting in time to join the council.
They were well pleased. (Second of those is a Cheyenne.) I took 8 men in
a small pirogue and went up the river as far as the first island, about
7 miles, to see if a situation could be got on it for our winter
quarters. Found the wood on the island, as also on the point above, so
distant from the water that I did not think that we could get a good
wintering ground there; and as all the white men here informed us that
wood was scarce, as well as game above, we determined to drop down a few
miles near wood and game.
On my return, found many Indians at our camp. Gave
the party a dram. They danced, as is very common in the evening, which
pleased the savages much. Wind S.E. A fine morning. The chief of the
Mandans sent a second chief to invite us to his lodge to receive some
corn and hear what he had to say. I walked down and, with great
ceremony, was seated on a robe by the side of the chief. He threw a
handsome robe over me, and after smoking the pipe with several old men
around, the chief spoke:
Said he believed what we had told them, and that
peace would be general, which not only gave him satisfaction but all his
people: they could now hunt without fear, and their women could work in
the fields without looking every moment for the enemy; and put off their
moccasins at night. [Sign of peace: undress.] As to the Arikaras, we
will show you that we wish peace with all, and do not make war on any
without cause. That chief-pointing to the second-and some brave men will
accompany the Arikara chief now with you to his village and nation, to
smoke with that people. When you came up, the Indians in the neighboring
villages, as well as those out hunting, when they heard of you, had
great expectations of receiving presents. Those hunting, immediately on
hearing, returned to the village; and all were disappointed, and some
dissatisfied. As to himself, he was not much so; but his village was. He
would go and see his Great Father, etc.
He had put before me two of the steel traps which
were robbed from the French a short time ago, and about twelve bushels
of corn, which were brought and put before me by the women of the
village. After the chief finished and smoked in great ceremony, I
answered the speech, which satisfied them very much, and returned to the
boat. Met the principal chief of the third village, and the Little Crow,
both of whom I invited into the cabin, and smoked and talked with for
about one hour.
Soon after those chiefs left us, the grand chief of
the Mandans came, dressed in the clothes we had given, with his two
small sons, and requested to see the men dance, which they very readily
gratified him in. The wind blew hard all the after part of the day from
the N.E., and continued all night to blow hard from that point. In the
morning it shifted N.W. Captain Lewis wrote to the N.W. Company's agent
on the Assiniboine River [fort, etc., there, about 150 miles hence] about
nine days' march north of this place.
Captain Clark, 31 October 1804
Go to our Corps of Discovery Expedition
Bicentennial Index page
to see all links in this series. Or click
here
to go directly to the next installment of our
journey.
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Bringing history alive: |
| Recreation for the Corps was
curious. When there was heavy work to be done such as
paddling the boats, marching for miles, surviving situations
that threatened their lives, there were also times when no
amusement was to be found. In these times, the men got into
mischief of drunken brawls and other non-constructive
pasttimes. Captain Clark would then give them some labor-intensive
chores or shooting matches among themselves and the local
residents.
But there are several references to singing and
dancing with accompaniment of two fiddlers, George Gibson
and our friend Cruzat. This entertained the men as well as
the Indians who traditionally engaged in these activities.
So it was that New Year's Day in 1805 at Fort Mandan was
observed thus.
The
Encyclopedia of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Brandon
Toropov and Elin Woodger under the heading of "Recreation on
the Expedition" reads:
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Everyday dress
for Captains and Corps
This 1918 canvas by Montana's
Cowboy Artist Charles Russell memorializes the Corps of
Discovery's meeting with Cameahwait's war party. (Cameahwait
was Sacagawea's brother.) Leaving his gun behind with two
Corps members, Captain Meriwether Lewis advanced with only
the American flag. His ploy worked: "We wer all carresed and
besmeared with their grease and paint till I was heartily
tired of the national hug," he wrote. |
"On New Year's Day 1805 at Fort
Mandan, Sergeant John Ordway reported that the men "went
up to the 1st village of Mandans to dance as it had been
their request, carried with us a fiddle and a tambereen
and a Sounden horn, as we arrived at the entrance of the
village we fired one round, then the music planed,
loaded again, then marched to the center of the village
and fired again, then commenced dancing. ... So we
danced in different lodges until late in the afternoon,
then a part of the men returned to the fort, the
remainder stayed all night in the village." The music
frolicking delighted the Mandan, and they were
especially taken with one of the men, Francois Rivet,
who danced on his hands, as well as with York, who,
Captain Clark reported, "amused the crowd very much and
somewhat astonished them, that so large a man should be
so active."
And in the Discovering Lewis and Clark website, Joseph
Mussulman wrote of this entertainment (see
www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1393):
"They liked to sing high, they liked to sing loud,
they liked to make a lot of noise. So, for instance, one
of the most popular tunes of that day is one that we
still use. They would have sung;
Ye sons of Columbia who lately have fought
For those rights which unstained from your sires have
descended.
May you long taste the glory their valor has bought,
And your sons reap the soil that your fathers defended.
\Mid the reign of mild peace, may your nation increase
In the wisdom of Rome and the glory of Greece.
And ne'r may the sons of Columbia be slaves.
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its
waves."
Discover the
music for yourself at
www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-channel.asp?ChannelID=153,
Music on the Trail. |
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