ever undertaken in the United States. The extent, fertility, and
possibilities of the great trans-Mississippi were made known, the
possibility of crossing the American continent was demonstrated, the
location of the great rivers and of the Rocky Mountains determined, the
general good-will of the interior Indians proved, and the practicability
of trade and intercourse established. Furthermore, conjoined with the
discovery of the Columbia by Gray, it laid the foundations of a claim
which, confirmed by settlement and acknowledged by Great Britain, gave
the United States its first foothold on the Pacific coast, and
ultimately secured to the American nation not only the magnificent
States of Oregon and Washington, but also the golden vales and mountains
of California.
Well might Jefferson declare that "never did a similar event (their
successful return) excite more joy through the United States. The
humblest of its citizens had taken a lively interest in the issue of
this journey."
Clark was an able and faithful assistant to the unfortunate Lewis, who
did not live to write the full story of the expedition. It seems,
however, that the disposition in some quarters to regard Clark as the
man to whom the success of the expedition was in greater part due, finds
no justification in a careful perusal of the narratives. So great a work
was enough glory for the two men, the commander and the assistant.
Clark's future career must be considered somewhat of a disappointment.
During his absence he was promoted to be a first lieutenant of
artillery, and on his return was nominated by Jefferson to be
lieutenant-colonel of the Second Infantry; but the Senate, by a vote of
twenty to nine, declined to confirm him, and he resigned his commission
as lieutenant February 27, 1807. Later he was an Indian agent and a
brigadier-general of the militia for the territory of upper Louisiana,
with station at St. Louis. In 1812 he declined an appointment as
brigadier-general, and the opportunity of having Hull's command--a
declination which was an injury to his country if he had the military
ability attributed to him. Madison appointed him Governor of the
Territory of Missouri, which office he filled from 1813 to the admission
of Missouri as a State in 1821. Contrary to his wishes, he was nominated
for the first governor, but failed of election. Monroe, in May, 1822,
appointed him Superintendent of Indian Affairs, with station at St.
Louis, which office he filled until his death, September 1, 1838.
Captain Lewis did not live to long enjoy the honors that he had so
bravely won. He reached Washington the middle of February, 1807, when
Congress, which was in session, made to both leaders and men the
donation of lands which they had been encouraged to expect as some
reward for their toil and danger.
The President considered the discoveries of sufficient importance to
present them to Congress in a special message, on February 19, 1806, and
in appreciation of Captain Lewis's valuable services, immediately
appointed him to be Governor of Louisiana, which office Lewis accepted,
resigning for that purpose from the army on March 4, 1807.
Of the civil services of Governor Lewis, Jefferson says: "He found the
Territory distracted by feuds and contentions among the officers, and
the people divided into factions.... He used every endeavor to
conciliate and harmonize.... The even-handed justice he administered to
all soon established a respect for his person and authority."
While on the way to Washington, in September, 1809, Governor Lewis, in a
fit of derangement, killed himself, thus, to quote again from Jefferson,
"depriving his country of one of her most valued citizens," who endeared
himself to his countrymen by "his sufferings and successes, in
endeavoring to extend for them the bounds of science, and to present to
their knowledge that vast and fertile country, which their sons are
destined to fill with arts, with science, with freedom, and happiness."
Surely posterity will declare that Meriwether Lewis lived not in vain.
[Illustration: Buffalo Skull.]
VI.
ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE,
EXPLORER OF THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND ARKANSAS RIVERS.
The trans-continental expedition of Captain Lewis and Lieutenant Clark
was only a part of the comprehensive plan of Jefferson, which looked to
the acquiring of definite and precise information concerning not only
the extreme Northwest Territory, but also of the entire
trans-Mississippi regions, whereon might be based intelligent action, so
as to insure to the citizens of the United States the greatest benefits
of internal trade and commerce. It was surmised that the adventurous and
enterprising traders of the Hudson Bay, or Northwest Company, had
encroached on the valuable hunting grounds near the sources of the
Missouri and Mississippi rivers; while to the southwest the secretive
and jealous policy of Spain had so well guarded its limited geographical
knowledge, that the United States was in such utter ignorance of its
newly acquired territory that it was impossible to even outline a
definite proposition for the determination of exact boundary lines
between Louisiana and the province of New Spain.
The obtaining of information for the solution of these problems was
intrusted, in the order named, to a young and promising officer of the
regular army, Zebulon Montgomery Pike, then a first lieutenant and
paymaster in the First regiment of Infantry. Pike was of military stock,
as his father, Zebulon Pike, had served as a captain in the war of the
Revolution, and even then a major of his son's regiment was destined to
live to see that son fall as a general officer. The son, born at
Lamberton, N. J., aspired early to military life, and from a cadet in
the ranks rose through the grades regularly.
I. THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
In 1805 the governor of Louisiana was James Wilkinson, a
brigadier-general in, and commander-in-chief of, the army of the United
States, who was then stationed at St. Louis. Pike appears to have been
considered by Wilkinson as an officer well suited to obtain definite
information about this vast territory, and consequently Lieutenant Pike,
with twenty enlisted men, was furnished provisions for four months, and,
under orders to visit the sources of the Mississippi, left St. Louis in
a large flat-boat, at about the worst season of the year, on August 9,
1805.
The first experiences were not encouraging, for the crew, through
inexperience or ill-luck, developed a faculty of picking up sawyers, or
submerged trees, which on one occasion stove the boat so badly that,
half-sinking, she was dragged with difficulty on a shoal where the
baggage could be dried and the boat repaired.
[Illustration: General Z. M. Pike.]
Here and there along the river were seen small bands of Indians, and in
due time the village of the Sacs was reached at the head of the Des
Moines rapids. The Sac chiefs, assembled in council, were told that
their great and new father had sent one of his young warriors to their
nation, in the lately acquired territory of Louisiana, to inquire as to
their wants, to give them good advice, to make peace, and to locate,
according to their wishes and needs, trading establishments and posts.
The Indians answered acceptably, but appeared to appreciate the presents
of knives, whiskey, and tobacco more than the speech. Vague rumors
obtained as to the value and importance of the lead mine near, below
Turkey River, but Mr. Dubuque, the proprietor, was too shrewd for the
young officer, and to his inquiries said that information as to the
grant, etc., was in St. Louis, that he made from ten to twenty tons of
lead yearly, and gave equally indefinite answers to other questions. A
journey of four weeks from St. Louis brought Pike to Prairie-du-Chien,
then the only place settled by white men in the whole valley of the
Mississippi above St. Louis. Originally occupied by three Frenchmen,
Giard, Antaya, and Dubuque, in 1783, it was now a scattered settlement
of thirty-seven houses, with about three hundred and seventy whites. The
Wisconsin River, which here joins the Mississippi, was yet the great
line of communication between the great lakes and the entire valley from
St. Louis northward, all goods and furs passing to and fro over the
route first traced by Joliet in his adventurous voyage of discovery in
1673. At Prairie-du-Chien the Indians assembled each autumn for the
annual trade or fair, and every spring the Indian traders here paused in
their western journey before plunging into the savage wilderness. Both
these occasions, it is needless to say, furnished frequent scenes of
violence and dissipation.
Unable to get his large barge above the rapids at Prairie-du-Chien,
Pike hired other boats above the falls and proceeded, his party
augmented by an interpreter, Pierre Roseau, and Mr. Fraser, a trader who
was going to the Falls of St. Anthony on business.
A short distance above Prairie-du-Chien, Pike had a council with the
Sioux, who evidently were recovering from a feast, and here he saw a
religious puff dance, "the performance of which was attended with many
curious manoeuvres. Men and women danced indiscriminately. They were all
dressed in the gayest manner; all had in their hands a small skin of
some description, and would frequently run up, point their skin, and
give a puff with their breath; when the person blown at, whether man or
woman, would fall and appear to be almost lifeless, or in great agony;
but would recover slowly, rise, and join in the dance. This they called
their great medicine."
Tobacco, knives, vermilion, and whiskey cemented the good feeling, the
eight gallons of whiskey being more show than reality; for it appears
from the context to have been three-fourths water, and probably was of
the kind which Pike elsewhere called "made whiskey."
The uncertain weather of Lake Pepin nearly shipwrecked the boats, which
reached the Sioux village at the junction of the Mississippi and St.
Peters, or Minnesota, on September 11th. Here a council was held with
the Sioux, wherein two of the chiefs formally signed away a square
league of land at the Falls of St. Anthony. The true value of their
signatures may be estimated from Pike's letter to General Wilkinson,
wherein he says: "I had to fee privately two (doubtless the signers) of
the chiefs, and besides that, to make them presents at the council." In
addition to the transfer of land Pike pledged to have a trading post
established there, and urged that the Sioux maintain peaceful relations
with the Chippeways.
It is somewhat amusing to read Pike's address, where in one breath he
states that rum "occasions quarrels, murders, etc., among yourselves.
For this reason your father has thought proper to prohibit the traders
from selling you any rum;" and then accepting the situation, adds,
"before my departure I will give you some liquor to clear your throats."
There were two hundred and fifty warriors present, and it appears to
have taken sixty gallons of liquor to effect the clearing operation,
while peace with the Chippeways assumed an indefinite phase.
The Falls of St. Anthony were passed by land portage. These being the
first boats to make the portage, as Pike claims, it was with no small
feeling of relief that he saw his boats in the upper river, loaded for
the journey, on September 30th. His condition was at the best
discouraging, for as he says, "I had not accomplished more than half my
route; winter fast approaching; war existing between the most savage
nations in the course of my route; my provisions greatly diminished, and
but a poor prospect of an additional supply. Many of my men sick, and
the others not a little disheartened; our success in this arduous
undertaking very doubtful, and about to launch into an unknown
wilderness."
Rapids and shoals impeded progress somewhat, but the 10th of October
brought them to an island where the interpreter had wintered with
another Frenchman in 1797. Pike made every exertion to hasten, for he
was very desirous of reaching Crow-wing River, the highest point ever
attained by trappers in birch canoes. The bad weather, snow, injury to
his boats, and the breaking down of several of his men, combined to
render further advance impossible, and on October 16th he fixed his
winter quarters at the mouth of Pine River, 233 miles above the Falls of
St. Anthony. Pike's intentions were far from passing the winter himself
in a wretched cantonment, for his was a nature foreign to such isolation
and inactivity as the place promised.
Elsewhere he adds: "It appears to me that the wealth of nations would
not induce me to remain secluded from the society of civilized mankind,
surrounded by a savage and unproductive wilderness, without books or
other sources of intellectual enjoyment, or being blessed with the
cultivated and feeling mind of the civilized fair."
Huts were built, canoes made, game obtained, all with great difficulty
and hardship, for every burden fell on Pike, without the aid of a doctor
or assistant as his second in command. In a game country, and under
conditions where his insufficient food-supply must be eked out by the
rifle, he was such an indifferent hunter that he did the maximum of
work with the minimum of result. Unskilled in canoe-making and
management, he succeeded in building three canoes, of which one sank,
wetting and injuring his supply of ammunition, with the result that
finally he blew up his tent in drying out the powder.
Occasionally small hunting parties of Sioux or of Menominees came to the
camp, and on December 3d Mr. Dickson, who had a trading post sixty miles
to the south, visited Pike and cheered him up. Dickson possessed much
geographical information about the western country, and in addition to
useful directions as to the best route for Pike to follow, expressed his
confidence in its fullest success.
It would seem doubtful if the men shared the enthusiasm for a mid-winter
trip through an unknown country filled with savages and where game must
form a considerable part of their food. At all events, they managed to
split a canoe which their commander relied on for the journey. Pike was
dissatisfied, but not discouraged, and on December 10th started
northward with eleven men, a boat, and five sleds.
At the stockade there were nine men under Sergeant Kennerman, who was
given detailed written instructions as to his duties. Mindful of the
possible dangers to his own party, Pike also gave orders as to the
course to be pursued if his own party did not return to the cantonment
by a given date the following spring.
A boat was taken along, which the freezing river soon obliged Pike to
abandon and intrust to a young Indian for the winter. The journey was
practically made by common sleds, dragged by men harnessed up two
abreast. Often the sleds broke down, making necessary frequent changes
and portages of the baggage, but they were greatly encouraged by camping
at Crow-wing River, the farthest point ever reached by canoe.
In early January they ran across four Chippeway Indians, the tribe from
which hostility was possible. Their anxiety was speedily relieved by
finding that they were companions of Mr. Grant, a trader from the post
on Sandy Lake. Grant turned back with them, and they reached the
trading-post on Red Cedar Lake on January 3, 1806. Pike's satisfaction
at seeing a house once more was tinctured with chagrin at finding it
surmounted by a British flag. Here he tarried only a few hours and then
pushed on to Sandy Lake, where he was later joined by his men, who were
delayed by their heavy sleds. He was much surprised at the air of
comfort at Sandy Lake, where potatoes were grown in great quantities,
fish and game abundant, while the Indians furnished in trade
maple-sugar, wild oats, and rice. The Sandy Lake trading-post had been
established in 1794, and might be considered the headquarters of the
Fond-du-Lac department, in which, in 1805, there were one hundred and
nine employees, with fifty children and twenty-nine women, who were all
Indian or half-breed, there not being at that time a single white woman
northwest of Lake Superior.
[Illustration: Indian Snow-shoes.]
Pike's discerning mind noted that his methods of travel were inferior to
those followed in the country, so he built sleds after the Hudson Bay
pattern, adopted the racket or snow-shoe for the winter march, and hired
local Indian guides. Grant, the trader, accompanied him to Leech Lake,
which Pike believed to be the main source of the Mississippi, but he
could not consider it as an original discovery, as the ubiquitous
Northwest Company had an establishment on this lake, under Hugh
McGillis, in 47° 16´ N. latitude, about twenty miles east of Lake
Itasca, the true source of the Mississippi. On February 14th Pike
visited Red Lake and passed to the north, which carried him to the
drainage-basin of the Red River, in latitude 47° 43´ N. Evidently
familiar with Carver's travels, he fell into the not unreasonable error
of thinking this land "to be the most elevated part of the northeast
continent of America," whereas the head of the Minnesota is some four
hundred feet higher.
Pike held a council with the Chippeways at Leech Lake on February 14th,
when he persuaded the chiefs to give up their British flags and medals,
to promise peace with the Sioux, and to send two of their young chiefs
with him to St. Louis.
As to the trading establishments, he generously refrained from seizing
the goods, but hauled down the British flag; required the agents of the
Northwest Company to promise to issue no more flags or medals to
Indians, to have no political dealings with them, but to refer them to
agents of the United States; to obtain licenses for Indian trade from
and pay duty to the United States for all imported goods.
On February 14th he turned his face toward home, his mind free from
anxiety, though he knew the hard marches, extreme cold, and many
hardships before him. He now wore snow-shoes, but on one long march the
pressure of his racket-strings brought the blood through his socks and
moccasins, yet he marched on, keeping pace with his guide despite the
excruciating pain.
March 5th found Pike back in his stockade at Pine River, his adoption of
local methods having facilitated travel to such an extent that in his
return he nearly tripled the length of his outward marches. He found the
garrison well and safe, but was greatly disturbed to find that his
trusted sergeant, Kennerman, had indulged in riotous and extravagant
living, having drank up, eaten, given away, or traded off the best of
the food and the greater part of the liquor. The natural sequence of
such conduct appeared in an escapade where the sentinel made a Sioux
Indian drunk and then ordered him out of the tent, when the intoxicated
savage fired on the sentinel, fortunately without harm. On his return he
was fortunate enough, in a Menominee camp near the stockade, to see a
dance, called the feast of the dead, at which "every three were served
with a panful of meat, and when all were ready there was a prayer, after
which the eating commenced. It was expected we would eat up our portion
entirely, being careful not to drop a bone. We were then treated with
soup. After the eating was finished the chief again gave an exhortation,
which finished the ceremony. They gather up the fragments and threw them
in the water, lest the dogs should get them. Burning them is considered
sacreligious."
Leaving his cantonment at Pine River, by boat, on April 7th he descended
the Mississippi without any strikingly new experiences, and on the last
day of the month drew up his boat at St. Louis, with undiminished
numbers, after an absence of nearly nine months.
Pike had more than carried out his orders to explore the sources of the
great river, and did something more than give to the world the first
definite and detailed information as to the upper river and its
tributaries. He discovered the extent and importance of the British
trade in that country, brought the foreign traders under the license and
customs regulations of the United States, and broke up for all time
their political influence over the Indians. He did much to restrain the
unlawful sale of liquor to Indians by domestic traders, and not only
inspired the Indians with respect for Americans, but also induced them
to at least a temporary peace between themselves. He replaced a foreign
flag by the ensign of his own country, and for the first time brought
into this great territory the semblance of national authority and
government.
II. THE UPPER ARKANSAS RIVER AND NEW SPAIN.
Pike returned to find his services in demand for a second expedition to
the head-waters of the Arkansas and Red rivers. The original
arrangements contemplated the detail of another officer, but Pike, at
the solicitation of General Wilkinson, consented to take command of the
party, commenced his preparations at once, and received his formal
orders on June 24, 1806, less than two months after his return from the
north. In accepting this long and dangerous service, he indicates
clearly the soldierly sense of duty which actuated him. "The late
dangers and hardships I had undergone, together with the idea of again
leaving my family in a strange country, distant from their connections,
made me hesitate; but the ambition of a soldier and the spirit of
enterprise which was inherent in my breast induced me to agree."
The primary object of the expedition, according to the letter of
instructions, was to conduct to Grand Osage a deputation of freed
captives of the Osage Nation, while the subordinate purposes were the
accomplishment of a permanent peace between the Kaws and Osages and the
establishment of a good understanding with the Comanches, which latter
object, the letter runs, "will probably lead you to the head branches of
the Arkansas and Red rivers, approximated to the settlements of New
Mexico, and there you should move with great circumspection, to keep
clear of any reconnoitring parties from that province, and to prevent
alarm or offence. The executive," it was added, "is much interested in
ascertaining the direction, extent, and navigation of the Arkansas and
Red rivers," which Pike was charged to determine by sending one party
down the Arkansas, while he should return by the Red.
The written instructions were doubtless supplemented by verbal orders,
for Pike says: "The great objects in view (as I conceived) were to
attach the Indians to our Government and to acquire such geographical
knowledge of the south-western boundary of Louisiana as to enable our
Government to enter into a definite arrangement for a line of
demarcation between that territory and North Mexico."
Captain Pike's[1] force consisted of two officers, an interpreter, and
nineteen men of the army. The officers were Lieutenant James B.
Wilkinson, son of and aide-de-camp to General Wilkinson, and Doctor John
H. Robinson, the latter a volunteer without pay. The party, with
fifty-one Osage Indians, left Belle Fontaine, July 15, 1806, and
travelling by boat up the Missouri and Osage rivers reached Grand Osage,
near the head of the river, August 18th, thus accomplishing the "primary
object."
Pike found no difficulty in obtaining an audience for speeches, though
he was somewhat dismayed at the presence of one hundred and eighty-six
warriors at an assembly, to all of whom he was obliged to give liquor.
It was quite different when men and horses were wanted, and it was with
the utmost endeavor that he was able to start westward on September 1st,
with fifteen horses for his baggage, accompanied by only three Pawnees
and four Osages.
Crossing the Grand and Verdigris he passed through a beautiful country
with abundant game, but the Indians became restless, and despite his
presents and persuasions, only three accompanied him to the Pawnee
village on the Republican fork of the Kansas.
The information here obtained and the stand taken by the Pawnee chief
would have deterred a less courageous and determined man than Pike from
pushing beyond. A large Spanish force, some six hundred men, had a few
days before visited the Pawnees, when they had turned back on assurances
from the chief that he would turn back any American force.