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October, 1804

Days later, when the expedition camped on a large sandy beach, a man called to them in French from the opposite shore. One of the Frenchmen with the Corps answered him and discovered that some of the Frenchmen in the expedition actually knew him. He came across the river to visit.

“Do you speak English?” Captain Lewis asked.

“Certainly,” the man answered.

“Are you going downriver?”

“Yes.”

“We have just had a bad experience with the Teton Sioux. Are any more of them ahead of us up the river?”

“No more,” the man said. “They are all behind you now.”

“But they are in front of you. You still have to deal with them.”

“That isn’t a problem. I know I have to pay them for safe passage, and I am ready to do it. They let me go by as long as I pay them.”

The French trapper remained and visited with his friends, talking until nearly midnight. The captains were relieved that they were finished with the Teton Sioux, but as a safety precaution they delayed sending out the hunters for another day.

Flocks of geese now winged their way south, honking loudly in their V-formations overhead. Large herds of elk and antelope crossed the river, migrating. A party of five Indians, one with a turkey slung over his shoulder, hailed them.

“Ignore them,” Captain Clark ordered the men.

Days shortened and nights lengthened. The nights were very chilly and mercifully killed off the mosquitoes. The river sparkled in October’s bright sunlight under brilliant blue skies, and the grassy prairie stretched as far as the eye could see. The Corps of Discovery found that autumn on the Missouri River was delightful. During October, the thick, wiry grass was golden brown, shimmering in the soft breeze while long shadows up and down the hills and valleys created a beautiful vista of light and shade. In the chilly fall air, the men built their fires a little larger as they gathered closer around them, discussing what they had done and seen that day and what they expected the next day.

The men awoke to frost. As they put out into the river, they encountered a herd of antelope swimming across the river. They killed four of them as well as one deer. Because their supply of meat had been depleted several days before, fresh game was most welcome, and they stopped to clean, cook, and eat their fill at a deserted Arikara Indian village.

Two passing Sioux Indians asked for food, which the captains gave them. They said they were going to visit the Arikaras. The Corps was now entering the territory of the Arikaras and soon came upon four Arikara villages. Captain Lewis took several men with him to one of the villages while Captain Clark formed a guard around the boats as a precaution.

“It’s good to hear the English language again,” a resident said as he approached Lewis and his party. The group was surprised to see someone who looked like an Indian but spoke English.

“You are an American!” Captain Lewis exclaimed.

“Yes, but I have lived with these good people for thirteen years and feel more like one of them now. My name is Joseph Gravelines.”

“You must speak their language then,” Lewis said.

“Yes, I speak Arikara, Sioux, French, and English.”

Lewis’s eyes widened in interest. “Are you familiar with the area upriver? The land and its people?”

“Of course.”

“We have been sent by President Jefferson to make contact with as many Indian nations as possible and try to establish trade and commerce with them. Your language skills could be a great advantage to us. I would like to hire you to go with us as interpreter,” Lewis offered.

After a bit of haggling about wages, Gravelines agreed.

Lewis extended his hand and asked, “Can you arrange to bring a delegation of Arikara chiefs to our camp tomorrow morning for a council?”

“I’m sure I can,” Gravelines responded.

The Arikara Indians, about two-thousand strong, were farmers who raised beans, squash, and pumpkins. They proudly showed off their carefully tended vegetable gardens to the captains and offered them vegetables as a gift. The expedition rejoiced in the vegetables because they had eaten very few for months. The Arikaras, whose men decorated their hair and arms with feathers and quills, were friendly and industrious. The women wore moccasins, fringed leggings, and a long shirt of antelope skin, generally white and fringed, that was tied at the waist.

The men of the Corps of Discovery were astonished to see what the Arikaras called ‘bull boats’ arrive at the riverbank. The strange-looking boats were made of a single buffalo hide stretched over a bowl-shaped willow frame. Each boat could hold five or six braves, in addition to three squaws to paddle it. Soldiers gathered around one to inspect it.

“They must be hard to steer,” Joseph Barter said.

“Yeah,” William Warner agreed. “They must have one squaw on each side to row and one in the back to use an oar as a rudder.”

“These boats look like they would be easy to make,” Thomas Howard added.

After smoking with the Arikaras at the council next morning, Lewis gave his basic Indian speech, with Gravelines interpreting. Then the captains distributed gifts. The council ended with the chiefs promising to consult with their warriors and to respond to Lewis’s speech the next morning.

York was a marvel to the Arikaras. They gathered around him with great curiosity, even touching his skin to see if the black would rub off. They had never seen a black man before, and they called him Big Medicine—a term they used for the magic of the Great Spirit to explain things they didn’t understand. York was amused by their awe, and when a group of children approached him, he pretended not to see them until he wheeled and roared like a wild animal. The children screamed and ran in terror, and York laughed until tears rolled down his cheeks. He picked up a heavy log and lifted it above his head to show off his strength. He signed to the children that he had been a beast in the forest until Master Clark captured and tamed him. The soldiers laughed as they enjoyed York’s antics, but Clark intervened, quieting York lest the Indians take him seriously.

The Arikara way of showing appreciation was to offer their guests their handsomest squaws, and if the guests declined, the chiefs were insulted. Therefore, to show their friendship, the men of the Corps, including York, enjoyed the favors of the Arikara women. Later, however, the soldiers realized with regret that these favors had infected them with venereal disease.

This Arikara village contained about sixty lodges, each made of a round frame covered with willow branches and grass and then a thick coat of earth. The Arikara traded their agricultural products with neighboring Indian tribes for other necessities. The captains gave them a mill to grind their corn and showed them how to use it. The Arikaras were astonished at how quickly the machine could grind the corn, a task that usually took them hours of labor at the grinding stone.

At the council next morning, the chiefs agreed to everything Lewis had said. They also asked the captains to make peace between their people and the Mandans, with whom they were at war. One of the Arikara chiefs asked to go with the expedition to the Mandans to talk council with them to help make peace.

When the Corps of Discovery continued its journey, the countryside featured more timber than previously. Twenty or so miles upriver from the Arikara villages, the expedition came upon large stones on the bank that resembled a man, a woman, and a dog. The chief told them a story of a young man and a young woman who were in love, but whose parents forbade them to marry. The couple, taking their dog, went off to mourn. Legend says that they lived on wild grapes until they finally turned to stone.

As the days and weeks passed, Moses Reed, the soldier who had tried to desert the Corps, remained an unhappy malcontent, continuing to poison the mind of his close companion, John Newman. For some time Reed had agitated Newman against the captains, saying how unfair and arbitrary they were. Finally, Newman grumbled against the captains to other men.

“All our lives are at stake on this dangerous and useless expedition,” Newman harangued. “We should have more say in decisions that affect our lives, and we should be able to elect our own officers. This isn’t an ordinary Army mission, and everybody, including the captains, should stand guard and do their fair share of the work.”

When Lewis heard about Newman’s complaints, he arrested Newman for mutiny. Reed, no longer a soldier, was beyond the captains’ power to punish, but Private Newman was subject to the Articles of War. The captains convened a court-martial with Sergeant Ordway as head of the court. The jury of ten privates found him guilty of mutiny, sentenced him to seventy-five lashes and discharge from the army. Like Reed, he was also sentenced to join the French engages in the red pirogue as a civilian oarsman without pay.

“Captain Lewis, I throw myself on the mercy of the court,” Newman pled in his squeaky, high-pitched voice. “I’ve been a good soldier, and I want to finish the expedition with everyone else. I promise I will never rebel again.”

“Newman, you have been a problem ever since we arrived at Fort Dubois back in St. Louis,” Captain Clark lectured him. “Your quick temper and bellicose ways have been a problem, and your attempt to lead an insurrection is beyond the pale.”

“But when they make fun of my voice, Captain, I have to fight back.” Newman responded meekly. “I didn’t mean no harm by what I said about you and Captain Lewis.”

“Whether you meant harm is beside the point. You could have caused harm. You went too far, Newman, and there is no turning back.”

The men awoke to heavy frost the next morning. Walking on shore with Bratton and the Arikara chief, Lewis saw buffalo, elk, and great herds of antelope on the plains below. After two miles, they encountered a canoe with two French trappers coming downriver. “Ask them where they have been and where they are going,” Lewis instructed Cruzatte.

“We have been upriver, trapping beaver, but we were robbed by a hunting party of Mandan Indians who took our guns, ammunition, axes, and thirty beaver skins. They left us with nothing.”

Lewis replied, “We are on our way to visit the Mandan. In fact, we plan to winter with them.”

The trappers perked up, and one of them said, “We’d like to join you. Maybe you can talk them into returning our possessions.”

“That’s between you and the Indians,” Captain Clark answered. “If we are to winter with them, we have to get along with them. Your problems aren’t our affair, but we will provide you with a gun and ammunition so you can hunt and feed yourselves.”

The expedition was now entering the territory of the Mandan Indians, and the bowman spied a large group of Indians watching them from shore.

“Helmsman, put in,” Lewis ordered.

Lewis called out to the Indians and waved to them to come and talk. More than twenty Indians arrived, some of them women. With Gravelines interpreting, Lewis spoke to them.

“I am Captain Lewis. My great chief sent me to greet all the Indians and to welcome them into a new family.”

“I am Black Cat, a chief of the Mandans. Welcome to our country.” Probably in his thirties, Black Cat looked lean and fit. The two men shook hands. The Indian hunting party and the Corps of Discovery all began to shake hands.

“Come, visit our village,” Black Cat invited the white men.

At the village, Black Cat introduced them to a chief named Big White, who showed them around the village. The Mandans had a long history of trading with white men and had learned a few words of English and French from trappers and traders. Like the Arikaras, the Mandans were farming people, and Chief Black Cat pointed out fields where his people grew corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. The village consisted of forty circular huts, similar to the Arikara lodges, that were built around a large clearing with a tall cedar post and a larger lodge at the center. The Mandan collection of villages served as the marketplace of the region. The Mandans and Hidatsas were allies and lived close to each other. There were five villages in the area—two Mandan and three Hidatsa. The Hidatsas were also known as the Minnitarees or the Gross Ventres, French for “Big Bellies.”

“Other tribes come to trade,” Chief Black Cat explained. “They bring horses, furs, buffalo hides, blankets, clothing, and guns. In summer, our villages fill with traders from the Crow, Cree, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Assiniboin, and Arapaho tribes. White men also come to trade.”

The lower Mandan village was led by Black Cat and his second chief, Raven Man. Further upriver was another Mandan village led by Chief Big White, with Little Raven as his second chief. Their lodges were round and very large, each accommodating several families.

The Corps of Discovery sailed on to the next villages with a fine breeze behind them. They saw a number of Indians on horseback strung out along the south riverbank. When the Corps stopped to eat, the Arikara chief onboard with the Corps went to speak with them, and one of them returned with him and spent the night with the expedition. The next day, the Corps stopped at noon at a hunting camp of Mandans that included women and children. An Irishman was also with the Indians, trading with Mandans for the Northwest Company of Canada.

“The United States has purchased the Louisiana Territory,” Lewis informed him. “You are now in America.’

“Yes, I know,” the Irishman said.

“News travels surprisingly fast in the wilderness.”

The expedition stayed two hours before proceeding upriver, where they encountered the second and third Mandan villages, one on each side of the river. They camped a little north of the Mandan villages at a convenient place to hold council with the whole Mandan nation. The captains found three Frenchmen living among the Mandans, including a man named Jessaume who had a squaw and a child.

“With your permission, we would like to spend the winter here,” Captain Lewis told Chief Black Cat.

“Good,” Black Cat responded, nodding his head.

“We will build a fort to live in,” Lewis added. “We need to find a place with big trees for logs to build the fort as well as plenty of game and fresh water.”

Black Cat said, “We will help you find such a place.”

Chief Black Cat, Captain Lewis, Captain Clark, and the new interpreter Jessaume traveled up the river some distance, but they did not find a place to build a fort for the winter.

“There must be five thousand people in these villages,” Clark marveled. “That’s more people than live in St. Louis and Washington combined!”

“Yes, and about a thousand of them are warriors,” Lewis added. “It’s a good thing for us they are friendly.”

The captains prepared for a council with the Mandans the next morning. Many Hidatsas from their villages farther up the river came for the council as well. They all met under an awning made with the sails from the boats, stretching around the meeting area to keep out the wind. Captain Lewis gave his speech through an interpreter and then distributed presents. The chiefs promised to make peace with other tribes and to go to Washington to meet President Jefferson in the spring. The council ended with a firing of the cannon, and the nations returned to their villages and hoisted the American flags Lewis had given them. The captains gave Black Cat a corn mill, which greatly pleased him and the people of his village.

Captain Clark took a detachment of eight men and two Mandan guides in a pirogue and embarked on a second unsuccessful search for a place to build a fort for winter quarters. The large trees required to build a lodge were scarce in this area. Mandans came to the Corps’ camp that evening with a gift of cornbread made with ground corn mixed with fat, and the captains gave them presents in return.

Black Cat invited Captain Lewis to his lodge, and because the captains assumed that Black Cat was the big chief of all the Mandans, Lewis and an interpreter went eagerly. Black Cat was dressed in the red jacket and cocked hat that Lewis had given him.

“It would fill my heart with joy to have peace with the Arikaras,” he said. Then his expression changed, and he added, “You were not kind to us when my people came for council and you gave us little presents. We expected great presents.”

“I could give only what we could bring in our small boats. We have many, many miles ahead of us to travel to the great ocean, and we gave you all we could.” Then he added, “Many white men will come after us who will bring you many great presents.” Black Cat’s dark eyes lit up at Lewis’s vision of the future.