| Meriwether Lewis |
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| William Clark |
Wyandotte County Encampment of the Corps of Discovery
June 26 – June 29, 1804
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"The Countrey about the
mouth of this river is verry fine…"
On May 14, 1804, President Jefferson sent Captain
Meriwether Lewis and Lt. William Clark, along with 41 men "to trace
the Missouri to its source, to cross the Highlands, and follow the best
water communication which offered itself from thence to the Pacific
Ocean." The expedition arrived at Kaw's Point on June 26, 1804.
Kaw's Point is where the Kansas River runs into the Missouri River.
Kaw's Point, in 1804, was about 1/4 mile up the Missouri river from its
current location. Lewis and Clark halted at the mouth of the Kansas for
three days. Lewis weighed the water of the two rivers and found the
Missouri's to be heavier, meaning it carried more mud. Still, Clark
found "the waters of the Kansas is verry disigreeably tasted to
me."
Clark’s map of the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers The men sunned powder, hunted, repaired pirogues, dressed deer skins, took mathematical measurements of the area, and built a six foot high temporary fortification of logs and brush. Though Clark noted they passed by the remains of "the 1st old Village of the Kanzas" a few miles upstream, they did not meet with any of these early residents of Wyandotte County. |
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| "This River receives its name from a nation which dwells at this time on its banks…" | |
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On the day the explorers first saw the Kansas, Clark
wrote that they had encountered "a great number of Parrot queets." The
now extinct Carolina Parakeet inhabited the eastern part of the United States at
that time. It moved about in compact flocks often numbering hundreds. Lewis and
Clark were the first to record the presence of this colorful bird west of the
Mississippi. They saw their first buffalo, but they had to wait eight more
weeks, until August 23, before they succeeded in killing one.
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Just
after midnight, June 28-29, Private John Collins was on guard duty. He tapped a
barrel. Just one little sip wouldn't hurt. Just one more. Another. Soon he was
drunk. Private Hugh Hall came up; Collins offered him a drink; Hall accepted.
Soon they were drunk together. At dawn, the sergeant-of-the-guard put them under
arrest, and shortly thereafter Clark began drawing up court-martial papers to be
presented to a court composed of the men of the expedition.
Collins was sentenced to one hundred lashes on his bare back; Hal was sentenced to fifty. "The Commanding Officers approve of the Sentence of the Court and orders that the Punishment take place at half past three this evening . . ." But the expedition didn't lose their services; both men were at the oars -
groaning, but at the oars - as they left Kaw’s Point that afternoon. Compiled by Janet Vogel |
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