Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West

Lewis and Clark Historical Narrative Prompt: Write a first-person historical narrative that uses, underlines, and superscripts1 ALL posted terms.

1. Provide information about the mission of the Corps of Discovery.

2. Describe vivid details about the people and places the Corps encountered during the expedition.

3. Finally, explain the historic achievements and discoveries made by Lewis and Clark. Narratives must follow instructions, be typed and submitted in Google Classroom, use proper grammar and spelling, and use ALL terms.

Prompt: Write a first-person historical narrative that uses, underlines, and superscripts1 ALL posted terms. 1) Provide information about the mission of the Corps of Discovery. 2) Describe vivid details about the people and places the Corps encountered during the expedition. 3) Finally, explain the historic achievements and discoveries made by Lewis and Clark. Narratives must follow instructions, be submitted in Google Classroom, use proper language conventions, and use ALL terms.

1. Thomas Jefferson: After making the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, Jefferson hired Meriwether Lewis, "a man of courage undaunted," to lead an expedition to journey to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean. He hoped to open up the west to the citizens of the United States.

2. Meriwether Lewis: Captain Lewis was 28 years old at the time of the expedition. He invited his friend Captain Clark to join him on the expedition. Jefferson trained him to record and observe everything he saw and observed on journey. He almost lost his life after only two days on the journey by nearly falling off a cliff. 

3. Seaman: He was a Newfoundland dog that Captain Lewis purchased for to accompany him on the trip. Lewis might have chosen this breed of dog because of its size, strength, swimming abilities, and sagacity.

4. William Clark: Captain Lewis made him the co-captain of the expedition. He was a very practical and plainspoken man. He created accurate maps of the west. 

5. Northwest Passage: Jefferson hired the expedition to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean. 

6. Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps left St. Louis, Missouri in May of 1804 and traveled up the Missouri River. Thirty-three people were handpicked for their survival and wilderness skills.

7. Corps of Discovery: This is another name used by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The term "Corps" within these notes refers to the group of explores or the expedition. 

8. Louisiana Territory: Jefferson helped negotiate the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 for 15 million, which is less than three cents an acre. Napoleon decided to sell the land and it nearly doubled the size of the United States. 

9. Britain, Spain, Russia: These nations all had claims to the northwest section of the present United States. The expedition passed through lands claimed by all three countries.

10. York: He was both a slave and boyhood companion of William Clark . He was given the opportunity to vote when Captain Lewis and Captain Clark asked the Corps to choose a location to build Fort Clatsop. He was given his freedom ten years after the expedition.

11. St. Louis, Missouri: This city was where the Corps all began their westward journey up the Missouri River. 

12. barge: Tons of gear was carried on this boat as the Corps traveled the Missouri River. Mosquitoes and ticks tormented the Corps on their journey up the river. 

13. Omaha, Nebraska: One member of the Corps, Sergeant Floyd died in this region. This is also the location of the heart of the Great Plains.

14. Great Plains: The Corps traveled through this vast area of grassland and wrote of the beauty of the area. Lewis discovered a lot of new animal species on the plains including prairie dogs, a small animal that barked. Large buffalo herds roamed the plains and were important to the native tribes.

15. Native Americans: Lewis and Clark were under orders to maintain friendly relations with the native people. They explained to the natives that the United States now controlled their lands. The Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Sioux, Teton Sioux, and numerous other tribes all lived on the plains. 

16. Teton Sioux: They were the most powerful tribe on the Missouri. The Teton had superior numbers to annihilate the Corps and almost did until Chief Black Buffalo finally called off an attack in Pierre, South Dakota.

17. Fort Mandan: The Corps built this fort next to the Missouri River and stayed there for five months. The temperature during their stay sometimes was negative 45 degrees. The Corps found that the fort had burnt to the ground on their return trip.

18. Toussaint Charbonneau: He was a French trapper who had two young Shoshone wives. Lewis and Clark hired him after learning that one of his wives, Sacagawea, spoke Shoshone and Hidatsa and would accompany them on their expedition. 

19. Sacagawea: She was a Shoshone and was hired at 16. She was very important to the expedition because she showed the Corps edible plants and herbs such as white apples and wild artichokes, and licorice. She also saved precious cargo when the barge overturned. She met her brother, Chief Cameahwait, when Lewis and Clark traded with the Shoshone for horses. 

20. Jean Baptiste Charbonneau: He was born in the winter months at Fort Mandan and became the final passenger on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His mother, Sacagawea carried him on her back or placed him on a boat during his journey to the Pacific Ocean and back. His presence and that of his mother might have reassured native tribes that the Corps were not a war party, but peaceful travelers. 

21. Shoshone: Lewis set out to find this tribe because the expedition desperately needed horses before winter set in. Sacagawea was Shoshone and also the sister of Chief Cameahwait. This tribe traded horses with the Corps and provided them with two weeks of rest. 

22. Missouri River: They had to carry everything of value over seventeen miles of rough terrain because of the five cascades of the Missouri River. They had to climb a mountain Clark discovered that the source of the great river was a spring. 

23. Rocky Mountains: This range of mountains was very difficult for the Corps to cross. The guide lost his way a few times and the group even had to eat candles to avoid starvation. 

24. Nez Perce: This tribe provided food and comfort to the Corps for two weeks. An old woman from this tribe pleaded to spare the lives of the Corps. Captain Lewis said that this tribe was the most hospitable, honest, and sincere people that they encountered on the journey. Many natives of this tribe came out to watch the "white men drown" as they journeyed down the Snake River.

25. Columbia River: This is the final river the Corps traveled during their expedition to the Pacific. 

26. Astoria, Oregon: This is the location that the Lewis and Clark expedition stay for the winter. Lewis and Clark allowed a slave and woman to vote in the decision to stay in this location.  

27. Fort Clatsop: Many people considered it impossible to make it all the way to the Pacific Ocean alive, but the Corps accomplished their task. This fort was built by the Corps of Discovery/Lewis and Clark Expedition in Astoria, Oregon and named after the Clatsop tribe. The Corps settled for four miserable winter months at this fort with only twelve days without rain. Many of the Corps were eager to get home. 

28. expedition: The expedition took nearly two years getting to Oregon, but the return trip only took six months. The Corps used Clark's new map to make their journey back to St. Louis, which saved them time. Twenty-eight months after setting out, the group reached St. Louis. Americans proclaimed that Lewis and Clark were national heroes when they returned. The Lewis and Clark Expedition opened up the west to Americans and blazed the trail for America's future.

29. tribes: The Corps passed through the lands of almost 50 tribes during the expedition. Without the help of some of the tribes, the Corps of Discovery might have never completed the journey.

30. Governor Lewis: He documented 122 new species of animals and 178 plants during the expedition. Meriwether became governor of the Louisiana Territory. Historians think he either was murdered three years after the trip or took his own life. William Clark named his first son Meriwether Lewis Clark in honor of Captain Lewis. 

31. Governor Clark: William Clark went on to a successful career after the expedition. President Madison appointed Clark the governor of the Missouri Territory when it was formed in 1813. His maps from the expedition were used by the next hundred years to guide Americans west. Clark was a father of ten children. His first-born he named Meriwhether Lewis Clark. He adopted Jean Baptist Charbonneau, the son of Toussaint and Sacagawea. 

32. Missouri Territory: This territory originally was named the Louisiana Territory, but was renamed Missouri to avoid confusion with the state of Louisiana joined the Union on April 30, 1812. President Madison appointed William Clark as the governor of this territory in 1813. A southeastern portion of this territory became the State of Missouri on August 10, 1821.