President Thomas Jefferson wanted to expand the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition has been called “The Greatest Adventure in American History.”
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the Corps of Discovery.
The largest trading center on the continent was located at the confluence of the Knife and Missouri Rivers.
On May 21, 1804, the Corps of Discovery left St. Louis, Missouri, traveling up the Missouri River with a keelboat and two pirogues.
Sergeant Charles Floyd, who probably died of a burst appendix, was the only member of the expedition to lose his life on the journey.
The expedition had its first contact with the Arikara tribe shortly before reaching North Dakota.
Punishment for soldiers who did not follow Army rules was a whipping.
The expedition reached North Dakota on October 14, 1804.
The Mandan and Hidatsa tribes lived along the Missouri and Knife Rivers.
Expedition members built Fort Mandan as their winter home and surrounded it with a stockade.
Charbonneau was hired as a Hidatsa interpreter. Sakakawea was the 16-year-old wife of Charbonneau.
The Indians were interested in Clark’s African-American servant, York, because they had never seen a Black person before.
John Shields, the blacksmith, made iron articles to trade to the Mandan and Hidatsa people for food.
Sakakawea’s baby was named Jean Baptiste and nicknamed “Pomp.”
On April 7, 1805, 12 men took the keelboat back toward St. Louis, and the other members of the expedition continued the journey up the Missouri River.
Seaman was Lewis’s dog who traveled along on the expedition.
The explorers were interested in “barking squirrels” which were prairie dogs.
The men found out that grizzly bears were very dangerous animals.
Members of the expedition covered themselves with bear grease as protection against mosquitoes.
Each man in the expedition ate about nine pounds of meat per day.
Sakakawea put herself in great danger to save valuable items from a capsizing boat.
The Shoshone chief turned out to be Sakakawea’s brother, Cameahwait, who gave the expedition horses, supplies, and a guide to help them go over the mountains.
On November 7, 1805, expedition members spotted the Pacific Ocean.
The Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1805–06 in present-day Oregon.
Lewis and Clark had every member of the expedition, including Sakakawea, vote on the location of the 1805-06 winter campsite.
Lewis and Clark separated in Montana and each took a separate route back to North Dakota.
Cruzatte, blind in one eye, accidentally shot Lewis while hunting.
Lewis and Clark appreciated Sakakawea’s skill in finding food, making medicine, building shelters, making clothing, and using her many other abilities on the journey.
Sakakawea’s Hidatsa home is the present-day site of the Knife River Indian Villages near Stanton, North Dakota.
Sakakawea is one of the most famous women in North Dakota history and has many honors dedicated to her.
The largest lake in the state is named “Lake Sakakawea.”
The Lewis and Clark Expedition spent more time in North Dakota than in any other state.
Lewis and Clark described 178 plants and 122 animals that were strange to Euro-Americans and Europeans.
In the years following the Lewis and Clark Expedition, American Indian tribes suffered from smallpox epidemics, destruction of bison herds, and loss of their lands.
