In 1803, Thomas Jefferson bought
828,000 square miles of land from Napoleon's France. Known as the Louisiana
Purchase, the transaction drastically increased the
size of the United States. The general public had mixed
emotions about the deal. So to help win support,
Jefferson ordered an expedition through the territory, all
the way to the Pacific Ocean. That expedition would be led
by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Today we're going to
tell you a whole lot of cool facts about the
Lewis and Clark expedition. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel. Leave a comment, and let us
know what American history you would like to hear about. (GRUFFLY) Ugh, what the hell was
sitting around yammering for? Let's go on an expedition. [MUSIC PLAYING] The laws of the United States
gave certain kinds of people certain rights, and
denied them to others. But once the Lewis
and Clark expedition left official US
territory, they were free to do things
as they pleased. As such, they decided that
every member of the corps would have an equal vote on
every activity and decision. This was particularly
important for the man called York, who was the only
African-American of the group. In the United States,
he was Clark's slave. But once the corps was free of
US law, York was a free man, and was treated as one. He quickly became a highly
valued member of the team. Sacagawea, their famous
Native American guide, also got a vote, and was allowed
to make her own decisions. She was their expert
on the terrain, and she saved the
lives and property of various corps members
on more than one occasion. She was highly respected,
and was considered a leader among the team. The corps was governed
by kindness and respect, and no one was limited by their
origin, status, or ethnicity, something that would
not have been possible within the jurisdiction
of the United States. Since medieval
times, Europeans had sought a shortcut
that would allow for easy transportation of
people and goods from the east to the west. But until the creation of
the Panama Canal in 1914, no such route existed. Sailing around Africa
was slow and dangerous, and the land route across
Europe and Asia was even worse. By the 19th century,
nothing had changed, and Thomas Jefferson
held out hope that such a passage
might be found on the west side of America. Ascertaining whether the
American continent possessed a water route that led
all the way to the east was high among
Jefferson's priorities when he dispatched the
Corps of Discovery. It's known that Jefferson
was highly disappointed when he learned no
such passage existed. As a consolation
prize, he did enjoy many of the exotic items
brought back from the journey. And he actually used many of
them to decorate his home. Other than Lewis and
Clark themselves, the cause most famous
member is definitely the Native American
guide Sacagawea. In fact, there are more
statues of Sacagawea than any other woman
from American history. Her reputation
was well-deserved, and her guidance was absolutely
key to the expedition's success. While her job was technically
to be the corps' guide, Sacagawea did so much more. She also helped identify edible
and medicinal plants, as well as landmarks that made
it possible to measure the distance the
group was covering. But that's not all. She was also a bit
of an action hero. The corps traveled by
boat as often as possible. And some of those nautical
trips were incredibly dangerous. On one occasion, a
boat was overturned, and important items were
thrown into the river. With the river
raging around her, Sacagawea leaned over the side
of the boat with a free hand and rescued many of those
lost items from the water. And if that's not
impressive enough, she did all that while holding
her own baby in her other arm. One of the items
she saved that day is the famous journal
of the expedition that was kept by Lewis. Sacagawea's mere
presence was an aid to the corps in ways they didn't
even understand at the time. Many Native American cultures
did not include women in war parties, so they believed
the presence of sucker Julia indicated that the corps
were peaceful travelers. Moreover, many tribal warriors
would not attack the group because they traveled with
a pregnant woman, and later a mother and child. Though well-provisioned at
the start of their journey, the expedition found themselves
running out of supplies by the time they reached the
Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains. Since it was the
dead of winter, there was no way to supplement
their supplies by hunting and fishing. The team became so
desperate at one point, they were actually reduced
to eating tallow candles. The combination of the
weather and the lack of food nearly killed them all. But that was actually the
least of their worries. The group had no
way of knowing it, but they were being
watched by Nez Perce tribal scouts and
warriors who were eager to finish them off
and take any belongings that might be valuable or useful. Nez Perce oral tradition
holds that a woman named Watkuweis
persuaded the tribe to help the strangers instead. Why? Shortly before the
incident, she had been kidnapped by a rival tribe,
and then rescued and returned home by white men. It is said she demanded
the others do them no hurt. The Lewis and Clark
expedition set off into unknown territories
filled with unimaginable risks and dangers. So it's pretty remarkable
that by the time all was said and done, only
one single member of the team died on the journey. Three months into the trip,
Sergeant Charles Floyd became ill, complaining of
nausea and severe abdominal pains. He had been the first
to apply for the corps, so he was particularly
well-liked by both Lewis and Clark. He was also better educated
than most of the others, and was in better shape. This being the
case, everyone was surprised when he was the first
to falter out on the frontier. There was little the team could
do and no one else to turn to. Floyd's condition grew
progressively worse. Clark stayed by his side for a
whole night trying to help him. And Lewis did indeed
record that, on August 15, Floyd seemed to
recover a little bit. However, shortly after that,
he became even more ill, and finally passed
away on that same day. According to Lewis, Floyd
met his end with composure. Though no one knows
for sure, it's believed Floyd likely
died of a burst appendix. Floyd was buried on a bluff
overlooking the Missouri River. A red cedar marker bearing his
name, title, and life dates was placed at his grave. The location was
marked on one map drawn by Lewis as Floyd Bluff. Despite being only
about 16 years old, Sacagawea was married
to a French fur trader, and was already pregnant
with her first child. She was doted on
by the whole corps, who thought of her
as family, and had nicknamed her Janie, a name she
is known to have approved of. Her labor, which occurred
at a stop in North Dakota, was long and difficult,
and the entire corps waited on her like
nervous fathers. Luckily the young woman made
it through, and gave birth to a healthy baby boy who she
named Jean Baptiste, or John the Baptist. The child quickly
acquired the name Pompey in honor of the Roman
general, and was soon known just as Pomp. The men of the
expedition took turns babysitting Pomp and fashioning
toys to entertain him. Jean Baptiste took
the whole trip with the rest of the corps. And when the expedition ended,
Sacagawea and her husband left him with Clark
while they traveled to visit various native
villages in North Dakota. They were also close. Clark himself raised the child
and paid for his education. In August of 1806, a
wagon filled with findings from the first leg
of the expedition arrived in Washington, DC. It was the first
and only thing that had ever been heard
from the corps since they departed,
leading many to assume they had perished. Some newspapers even printed
articles suggesting the team had been killed by wild
animals, Native American tribes, or the elements. The Lewis and Clark
expedition left its mark on American history,
but it didn't leave much of a physical
mark on America itself. While the members
of the expedition did enjoy carving their names
into trees along the way, all of those trees are now gone. This includes a famous
grove near the Pacific Ocean where every member of
the Corps of Discovery was known to have
left their mark. In fact, the only remaining
trace of the journey is an inscription carved
by Clark into what is known as Pompeys Pillar. The pillar is a
large rock formation located in Montana,
which was named after-- you guessed it-- Sacagawea's son. While preparing
for the expedition, Lewis purchased a
Newfoundland puppy whose name was unclear to
scholars for over a century. How'd that happen? Well, the name only appears a
single time in Lewis's journal. And at some point,
it got smudged. Historians eventually decided
the name read Scannon. But it was an unusual
name, and no one could figure out its meaning. Today it's known that Lewis's
dog was actually called Seaman, likely because
his breed is known for being great swimmers, and
were often trained to rescue people who were drowning. Lewis records several
occasions on which Seaman saved corps members
from a watery grave, and at least one occasion where
Lewis himself saved Seaman. Seaman was beloved by the corps,
and he was very protective of them, often
acting as a watchdog. In fact, when the expedition
encountered its first grizzly bear, Seaman tried to attack it. On another occasion, he
chased a Buffalo away from their campsite. Many of the natives
encountered along the trail found the large shaggy dog
very impressive, and at least one tried to buy him. On a different occasion, a
group of tribal teenagers Stole the dog under
cover of darkness. Lewis was so enraged he
tracked the thieves back to their village and
threatened to burn the whole thing to the ground
if he didn't get his dog back. Very little is known
about what happened to Seaman after the expedition. However, a book published
claims that a well-known teacher had visited a museum
where he saw a large dog collar bearing the
inscription "the greatest traveler of my species. My name is Seaman, the dog of
Captain Meriwether Lewis, whom I accompanied to
the Pacific Ocean through the interior of the
continent of North America." [MUSIC PLAYING] Lewis wasn't just a keeper
of detailed journals, he was also a gifted artist. His sketches of the plants,
flowers, and animals discovered by the corps were
rendered in stunning detail and described meticulously. The journals, which, thanks
to Sacagawea and a long line of preservationists,
still exist today, are incredibly precise
and extremely neat. The caretaking is obvious,
and indicates Lewis never sketched while exhausted, or
being swarmed by mosquitoes, or bounced along in
the back of a wagon. Today these journals have
been bound in leather, and are kept at the American
Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, where they
can be viewed by appointment. A journey that
lasts for two years is bound to make even the most
seasoned frontiersman miss his family. And though most of the men
were young and unmarried, many had sweethearts back home. One of the many ways the
expedition members cope with being away from
their loved ones was to name geographic
sites along the trails after the very
people they missed. Lewis carefully recorded all
of these names in the Maps he drew in his journals. The tradition began with
the bluff and river named for aforementioned Sergeant
Charles Floyd after his death, and continued
throughout the journey. In one particularly romantic
instance, William Clark is believed to have
named the Judith River after his own sweetheart,
a woman named Julia Hancock. After the expedition he
proposed, and she accepted. They were married
January 5, 1808. So what do you think? Do you think you would've
made a good frontiersperson? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're
at it, check out some of these other videos
from our "Weird History."
