Pathfinder | History 1301 "American Indians"

Lewis and Clark: The Essential Role of American Indians in American Exploration

Statement of Purpose

In 1803, Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis on an expedition to explore the Western American frontier. Along with specific instructions on what information to gather about the Western lands, Jefferson instructed Mr. Lewis to be peaceable toward the American Indians he encountered, to establish good relations with them and learn about their way of life. Jefferson was not aware how instrumental the role of American Indians would be to the success of the Expedition in reaching their destination of the Pacific Ocean. Along with the two Indians that accompanied the Corp of Discovery, tribes encountered along the way often provided indispensable guidance, direction, and supplies to the Corp of Discovery without which the journey would likely have been unsuccessful. This pathfinder will provide sources of both perspectives on these encounters: that of the tribes and that of the Corp of Discovery. My research will attempt to show the essential role of American Indians in exploration of the American West.

Primary Sources

~Lewis, Meriwether and William Clark. The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Washington, DC: National Geographic Adventure Classics, 2002

Of course, the most essential and most exhaustive account of the journey is found in the journals of the two captains themselves. These journals contain daily logs of everything from food inventory to Indian relations to plant life.

~Gass, Patrick and Carol Lynn MacGregor, ed. The Journals of Patrick Gass. Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 1997

Another first hand account of the voyage is that of Sergeant Patrick Gass. Debatably, Gass kept a better log of the journey than Lewis and Clark

~Floyd, Charles, John Ordway, Joseph Whitehouse and Gary Moulton, ed. The Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark, Volumes 9-11. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.

These three volumes in the 13-volume series contain the accounts of Sergeants Floyd and Ordway as well as Private Joseph Whitehouse, all part of the Corp of Discovery

Secondary Sources

~Kerrigan, Michael. Lewis and Clark: Voices from the Trail. New York: Barnes and Nobles Books, 2004

A basic information book on the Expedition, this book has lots of illustrations, photos, maps and journal entries. It gives a more tangible account of the journey through pictures and background information.

~Josephy, Alvin M. Jr. ed. Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006

A modern account of the Indian encounters of Lewis and Clark told by modern writers descendent from the tribes, these stories tell the side of the story few Americans hear—that of the American Indian.

~Ambrose, Stephen. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996

A friend’s recommendation of this book is how I became interested in this topic. Stephen Ambrose has written numerous history books. Ambrose presents this account In an easy-to-follow novel format, but all the information is accurate from actual accounts of the journey.

~Ronda, James P., Lewis and Clark Among the Indians. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.

I found this book in several of the Bibliographies from my other sources. It contains accounts of the Indian encounters of the Corp of Discovery as well as background on the tribes, and the role of Lewis and Clark as ethnographers.

~Howard, Harold P., Sacajawea. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.

A book on the legendary Sacajawea, Howard determines to set the record straight on this Indian woman who played an instrumental role as part of the Corp of Discovery.

~PBS Online. Lewis and Clark. Public Broadcasting System. http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/index.html Accessed April 13, 2006.

After making a well-known documentary on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, PBS also compiled an impressive website containing brief information about all the tribes encountered on the expedition, a searchable database of most of the journals of the Corp, interactive maps, etc.