Devil Doc
When Death smiles, Corpsmen smile back
It was on this day in 1804 that Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark set out from St. Louis, Missouri, on their overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back. President Thomas Jefferson had ordered the expedition to survey the land that had been included in the Louisiana Purchase.
On this day in 1804, the day they started their journey, William Clark wrote in his journal: "Rained the fore part of the day. ... I Set out at 4 oClock P.M., in the presence of many of the neighboring in habitants, and proceeded on under a jentle brease up the Missourie ... a heavy rain this after-noon."
Meriwether Lewis wrote on the same day, "I could but esteem this moment of my departure as among the most happy of my life."
Clark was thirty-three years old at the time and Lewis was twenty-nine. They were both Virginians and outdoorsmen. They were well-stocked for their journey: they brought clothes, guns, medical supplies and 193 pounds of portable soup—a thick paste made by boiling down beef, eggs and vegetables. They also brought gifts for Native Americans, including silk ribbons, ivory combs, 130 rolls of tobacco, vermilion face paint, 144 small pairs of scissors and twelve dozen pocket mirrors.
They crossed the Rocky Mountains, nearly starving to death in the process, surviving on horsemeat. They identified 178 plants and 122 animals that had never before been recorded for science, including the grizzly bear, which often chased the group across the plains and mountains.
They ultimately covered about eight thousand miles, and they lost only one man on the journey. He died of appendicitis. They returned to St. Louis in 1806.
On this day in 1804, the day they started their journey, William Clark wrote in his journal: "Rained the fore part of the day. ... I Set out at 4 oClock P.M., in the presence of many of the neighboring in habitants, and proceeded on under a jentle brease up the Missourie ... a heavy rain this after-noon."
Meriwether Lewis wrote on the same day, "I could but esteem this moment of my departure as among the most happy of my life."
Clark was thirty-three years old at the time and Lewis was twenty-nine. They were both Virginians and outdoorsmen. They were well-stocked for their journey: they brought clothes, guns, medical supplies and 193 pounds of portable soup—a thick paste made by boiling down beef, eggs and vegetables. They also brought gifts for Native Americans, including silk ribbons, ivory combs, 130 rolls of tobacco, vermilion face paint, 144 small pairs of scissors and twelve dozen pocket mirrors.
They crossed the Rocky Mountains, nearly starving to death in the process, surviving on horsemeat. They identified 178 plants and 122 animals that had never before been recorded for science, including the grizzly bear, which often chased the group across the plains and mountains.
They ultimately covered about eight thousand miles, and they lost only one man on the journey. He died of appendicitis. They returned to St. Louis in 1806.