1804–1806 American overland expedition to the Pacific coast
"Lewis and Clark" redirects here. For the leaders of the expedition, see Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
For other uses, see Lewis and Clark (disambiguation).
Lewis and Clark Expedition
Portraits of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
Route of expedition with modern borders
Date
May 14, 1804 – September 23, 1806 (1804-05-14 – 1806-09-23)
Duration
862 days
Motive
Explore the 1803 Louisiana Purchase
Organized by
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson
Participants
Corps of Discovery, i.e. Lewis, Clark, and 40 men
Deaths
1 – Charles Floyd, August 1804 near Sioux City, Iowa
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select group of U.S. Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. Clark, along with 30 others, set out from Camp Dubois (Camp Wood), Illinois, on May 14, 1804, met Lewis and ten other members of the group in St. Charles, Missouri, then went up the Missouri River. The expedition crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas near the Lemhi Pass, eventually coming to the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean in 1805. The return voyage began on March 23, 1806, at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, ending six months later on September 23 of that year.
President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the expedition, shortly after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, to explore and detail as much of the new territory as possible. Furthermore, he wished to find a practical travel route across the western half of the continent—directly avoiding the hot and desolate desert southwest—and to establish an American presence in the new lands before European powers attempted to establish claims of their own. The campaign's secondary objectives were scientific, economical and humanitarian, i.e., to document the West's biodiversity, topography and geography and to establish positive trade relations with (potentially unknown) Native American tribes. The expedition returned to St. Louis to report their findings to President Jefferson via maps, sketches, and various journals.[1][2]
^Woodger, Toropov, 2009 p. 150
^Ambrose, 1996, Chap. VI
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This is the timeline of the LewisandClarkExpedition through the American West, 1803–1806. Jefferson, Thomas (January 18, 1803). "President Thomas Jefferson's...
1884) was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who, in her teens, helped the LewisandClarkExpedition in achieving their chartered mission objectives by exploring the...
for his role as the leader of the LewisandClarkExpedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the...
became the state of Missouri. Along with Meriwether Lewis, Clark led the LewisandClarkExpedition of 1804–1806 across the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific...
French Canadian explorer, fur trapper and merchant who is best known for his role in the LewisandClarkExpedition as the husband of Sacagawea. Charbonneau...
evidence of human presence in the cave before the late 1800s. The LewisandClarkExpedition camped within sight of the caverns on July 31, 1805, when they...
Columbia River, commemorates the LewisandClarkExpedition. Administration of the park, which includes both federal and state lands, is a cooperative effort...
Meriwether Lewis collected many hundreds of plants on the LewisandClarkExpedition. All of the plants Lewis collected in the first months of the Expedition were...
Oregon, United States in 1905 to celebrate the centennial of the LewisandClarkExpedition. While not officially considered a World's Fair by the Bureau...
22, 1813) was a member of the LewisandClarkExpedition (1804–1806). Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered...
(1773–1810) was a civilian interpreter, scout, hunter, and cartographer, hired for LewisandClark's Voyage of Discovery to explore the territory of the...
Jean Baptiste's father was also a member of the LewisandClarkexpedition, a French Canadian explorer and trader named Toussaint Charbonneau. Jean Baptiste...
Lewis of the LewisandClarkExpedition. The book is based on journals and letters written by Lewis, William Clark, Thomas Jefferson and the members of...
the LewisandClarkExpedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805–1806. Located along the Lewisand Clark...
until relatively recent times, and no single tribe had exclusive use of the Jefferson River when the LewisandClarkExpedition first ascended the river in...
specifications than the weapons of 1792 and 1794. Before their exploratory trip, the LewisandClarkExpedition obtained rifles from the Harper's Ferry...
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