Meeting Natives with Lewis and Clark
by Barbara Fifer
published by Farcountry Press
Discover the American Indians on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
When Captains Lewis and Clark began their Expedition of Discovery in 1803, they carried instructions from President Thomas Jefferson to learn about the American natives they met along the way. From St. Louis, up the Missouri River, over the Rocky Mountains, all the way to the Pacific Ocean and back again, the Corps of Discovery encountered Indian nations and tribes who were mostly unknown to them.
There were new things to learn every day—both for Jefferson's men of exploration and for the many different Indian peoples who had long ago settled in the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Columbia River Basin.
56 pages, 8.5 x 11 inches, 5 b/w photos, 18 color photos, 44 illustrations, 3 map(s), 40 softcovers per case
softcover
ISBN 10: 1560372699
ISBN 13: 9781560372691
$14.95
- Hunting and Fishing
- Trading and Gifts
- Creation Stories and Legends
- Councils and Chiefs
- Tipis and Earthlodges
- Food and Festivities
- Spoken Language and Sign Language
- Methods of Travel
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| Meeting Natives with Lewis and Clark |
| Lewis and Clark thought they were well prepared to hold a council with the Yankton Sioux.In mid-June, they'd hired Pierre Dorion, a French trader married to a Yankton woman, to interpret. Dorion had been heading down the Missouri River with the other traders when they met the expedition heading upstream.
On August 27, Dorion said they were entering Sioux country. They were near today's Yankton, South Dakota. Dorion told them to set a prairie fire, which meant an invitation for meeting. The captains did that, and two Sioux boys and an Omaha boy met them at the mouth of the James River. A council site farther upriver was chosen, and the next day the boys left to invite the Yanktons. That same day the Corps of Discovery reached the site, which they named Calumet Bluff. "Calumet" was the French word for the pipe of peace. Today, the bluff is on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, downstream from Gavin's Point Dam. On the 29th, the Yanktons arrived and formed their camp across the Missouri in South Dakota. For the first time, the expedition saw tipis. The council was held on August 30 and 31. The Yanktons were friendly, but the captains discovered that Dorion was not a good interpreter. On the first day, the captains gave their speech and "made" main and subchiefs, presenting larger and smaller peace medals depending on each man's importance. In the evening, the Sioux offered a feast of "fat dog," one of their special treats because of how much a dog was valued. The warriors danced and sang about their actions in battle. -from Plains Indian Nations: Yankton Sioux |
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Barbara Fifer was a historian, editor, and writer in Helena, Montana. With Farcountry Press, she authored Going Along with Lewis and Clark, Day-by-Day with Lewis and Clark, Lewis and Clark Expedition Illustrated Glossary, Wyoming's Historic Forts, and Montana's Mining Frontier Ghost Towns. She also coauthored Along the Trail with Lewis and Clark, Wanted Posters of the Old West, Deadwood Saints and Sinners, and Deadwood's Al Swearingen. |