Winter, 1804
Clark had come prepared with his design for the fort, which he named Fort Dubois, and he immediately set the men to felling trees for the needed logs. He charged Private Gass, chosen because he was an expert carpenter, with supervising construction of the fort. For weeks, through snow, sleet, and howling wind, the woods around the camp rang with the sounds of axes, crosscut saws, awls, hammers, and the loud profanity of Private Gass as the fort took shape. Clark also made design improvements to the keelboat, including the addition of lockers along its sides with lids that could be raised to form rifle supports. With the lids down, the lockers formed a catwalk where crew members could walk while pushing the boat forward with iron-tipped poles.
The countryside around the mouth of the Missouri River was pleasant land that had been largely settled by French immigrants. The soil along both the Missouri and the Mississippi was exceedingly rich for twenty miles or more up each river, providing excellent land for farming.
For twelve days, Captain Lewis remained in St. Louis buying supplies and continuing to talk with trappers and traders who had traveled up the Missouri. He also conferred with town leaders, forming friendships as he told about the coming exploration of the unknown western territory. Even in this outpost town, everyone was aware of President Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana Territory. As the chosen leader of the exploration, Lewis was already a famous man to them.
Among Lewis’s new acquaintances was a man who had traveled to the Mandan villages. He confirmed what others had said: the Sioux Indians were hostile, numerous, well-armed, and certain to demand a tribute for passing through their stretch of the Missouri River. Lewis decided to send the cannon to Fort Dubois immediately for installation on the keelboat. It could fire a solid lead ball weighing a pound, or it could fire sixteen musket balls at once. At close range, it would be a highly lethal weapon. He enclosed a note of explanation.
I have been warned by everyone who has been up the Missouri that the Sioux will demand a tribute to allow us to pass their area. The last thing we want is a fight with Indians, but if the Sioux become hostile, they must be made to understand that they are now under jurisdiction of the United State government and must submit to that authority.
Lewis also sent along the four blunderbusses, which were extra-heavy shotgun-type weapons that could be loaded with musket balls, scrap iron, or buckshot. He recommended that two of them be mounted on swivels in the stern of the keelboat and one in each pirogue.
At Fort Dubois, the enlisted men began to hear tales about powerful warring nations of savages along the upper Missouri who were larger-than-life, fierce, and particularly cruel to white men.
“Sounds like these Indians are real ferocious,” Private John Colter laughed. “I can’t wait to meet up with them.” These soldiers and frontiersmen were not men to be intimidated, and the stories merely whetted their appetite for adventure.
“Clark, I think you should go to St. Louis with me and talk with some of these trappers who have been up the Missouri,” Lewis said as the two men sat in Clark’s office at camp. “It will be good for you to hear their first-hand accounts, and you might think of questions that I haven’t.”
“Good idea,” Clark agreed. “We can leave Sergeant Ordway in command of the fort while we’re gone.” They called all the men together.
“Captain Clark and I are both going into St. Louis,” Lewis announced. “Sergeant Ordway will be in charge while we’re gone, and no one will leave the fort without his knowledge and permission.”
Ordway was an impressive man—tall, muscular, and personable. However, when the captains departed, trouble raised its ugly head within an hour. These were young and robust men, many of them fresh from the wilds of Kentucky and unaccustomed to military discipline. During the first evening, John Colter, Hugh McNeal, Moses Reed, Alexander Willard, and Peter Weiser were playing poker in the snug warmth of their quarters. Colter was due to go on guard duty, but he was enjoying himself as his winnings piled up on the table before him.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on duty?” one of the players asked him.
Colter grunted as he studied his cards.
Five minutes later Sergeant Ordway came through the door. “Colter, you’re late relieving Warner at guard,” he said.
Colter looked up from the game. “I don’t take orders from enlisted men.”
“The captains put me in charge in their absence, and you are to take orders from me as you would an officer.”
“I’m winning now. I’ll go on duty when I start losing.”
“Very well. I’ll write you up and you can tell the captains about it.”
The next day, this same group of men requested Ordway’s permission to visit a nearby whiskey vendor. Knowing they would most likely become drunk and rowdy, Ordway refused. The men left without permission and, as predicted, returned to the fort drunk and useless. Ordway wrote another report for the captains. Other men went out on the pretext of hunting and instead found a whiskey vendor and got drunk.
When Captain Clark returned from St. Louis and read Ordway’s reports, he severely reproached the miscreants who stood at attention before him. “Disobeying a direct order from a military superior is a very serious offense,” he announced sternly. “In wartime, it is punishable by death, and any time we are in Indian territory, we are in a potential war zone.” He paused to emphasize the importance of his words. “I know you are all good men. That’s why we selected you. But it is imperative that you obey orders. Since this is your first offense, you are restricted to camp for ten days. But if another such offense occurs, you will be dismissed from the expedition and sent back to your former duty stations.”
The episode had a sobering effect on the men. However, the expedition was at Fort Dubois almost four months and there was little for them to do. These were healthy young men, full of energy and a desire for fun. When they felt bored with the day-to-day routine of the camp, they drank and fought among themselves.
The situation got out of hand when John Colter loaded his gun and threatened Sergeant Ordway when Ordway gave him an order. Fighting was one thing, but threatening to kill Sergeant Ordway, the ranking sergeant and a key man in the expedition, was too much. Military discipline had to be enforced, and the captains ordered Colter court-martialed for mutiny.
“How do you plead: Guilty or not guilty?” Captain Clark demanded.
“I’m guilty as hell, Captain,” Colter admitted. At 5’7” Colter looked small, but he was broad-shouldered and powerfully built. He had been a ranger with Simon Kenton in the wilds of Ohio, and Clark knew he was as tough as they came. “I did it, but I want to go on this expedition more than I ever wanted anything. I’ll be a model soldier from now on if I can stay with the expedition.”
Clark scowled at the contrite soldier before him. “This is your second offense and the second time you have defied Sergeant Ordway. I shouldn’t give you another chance, but we need capable men. This is your final warning. If anything like either of these offenses occurs again, you will be dismissed not only from this mission but also from the army. There will not be a third chance, and I mean for the entire duration of our expedition. We will abandon you in the wilderness if you are found guilty of another offense. Understand that very clearly.”
“Yes sir, Captain. I understand.”
Captain Clark dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
Preparations for the expedition intensified as the additional supplies Captain Lewis had ordered began to arrive in the middle of March. Ice on the Missouri River was breaking up, the days were getting longer, the first show of buds appeared on bushes and trees, and the great geese and duck migrations were beginning. Spring was arriving at last. The entire company showed renewed spirit and enthusiasm. The captains called an assembly to announce the names of those who would continue the westward journey after the Mandan villages. The two captains stood together, but Captain Lewis did the talking.
“Twenty-seven men will go with our expedition to the Pacific Ocean. This group will be known as the Corps of Discovery, since exploration is the main purpose of our journey. Those who are not chosen for the Corps of Discovery will accompany us as far as the Mandan Indian villages, where we will all spend the next winter. Then those men will return to St. Louis in the spring with the keelboat, under the command of Corporal Warfington.”
The men were eager to learn who had been chosen. In addition to the two captains, the Corps of Discovery would include three sergeants and twenty-two privates. The Corps would be divided into three squads that would be led by Sergeants Ordway, Floyd, and Pryor. The last two men were cousins, and among the names of the privates called were two brothers, Joseph and Reuben Fields. Some of the other men were old friends from home. Although not announced, everyone understood that Captain Clark’s slave, York, would go along, as well as Captain Lewis’ beloved dog, Seaman.
Some of the men selected had an acquaintance with Indians and had gained a familiarity with the sign language that different tribes along the Missouri River used to communicate with each other. Among the men in the Corps of Discovery, all but two were in their twenties and unmarried.
Undoubtedly, among the men not chosen there was disappointment, but all realized the importance of the mission thus far, including the months to come with the Mandans.
“That went well,” Clark commented to Lewis as the men dispersed.
“We have an excellent group of men for the work ahead of us. I’m eager to get started!”