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The Corp of Discovery leaves Camp Dubois to explore and record what they discover west of the Mississippi River. They are following the Missouri River to its headwaters. More than four dozen men begin the journey west.
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The Corps of Discovery started their journey west from St. Louis on May 14, 1804 and they made their way as far as Mandan, North Dakota when snow started to come. They spent their first winter at Fort Mandan. The Mandan and Hidatsa Indian tribes helped them survive the below freezing weather.
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The group celebrates the first Fourth of July west of the Mississippi. They drink rationed whiskey and shoot cannons off the keelboats. They name a nearby creek Independence Creek.
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Lewis and Clark meet with Native American tribes for the first time. They meet with members of the Oto and Missouri tribes. They give them peace medals, fifteen star American flags and gifts.
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Sergeant Charles Floyd dies from a burst appendix. He is the first American soldier to die west of the Mississippi.He died near Sioux City, Iowa. The hill that he is buried on they name Floyd's Bluff and the nearby stream Floyd's River.
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A baby is born near Yankton, South Dakota. Lewis wraps the baby in a United States flag and declares the child an American.
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Chief Black Buffalo,Teton Sioux, mediates a dispute over a keelboat for passage further up the Missouri River.
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The Corps of Discovery reach the earth-lodge villages of the Mandans and Hidatsas, near present day Bismarck, North Dakota. They build Fort Mandan across the river from the main village.
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Lewis and Clark hire Toussaint Charbonneau and his wife a Shoshone Indian Sacagawea as interpreters.
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The temperature at Fort Mandan had reached 45 degrees farenheit below zero.
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The Corp of Discovery officially moved into Fort Mandan on Christmas Eve 1804.
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The Indians perform their buffalo calling ceremony and a herd of buffalc appear a few days later. They along with members of the Corp go hunting. Several people get frostbite. Lewis amputates an Indian boys toes without anesthesia or a surgical saw.
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The Corps of Discovery travel across Montana and the harsh area of the Bitterroot Mountains into Idaho. They are helped by Shoshone and Nez Perce Indians along the way.
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Sacagawea gives birth to Jean Baptiste. Lewis helps speed up the delivery by giving her a potion made of crushed up rattlesnake rattle.
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Lewis and another member of the Corp kill a grizzly bear. They had never seen such a large and furocious animal. They are chased often by the grizzly and learn to respect it.
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They received 29 horses a mule and an Indian guide named Old Toby to help them continue their journey west.
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Old Toby becomes their guide after getting 29 horses and a mule from Sacagawea's brother Chief Cameahwait on August 17th.
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The Corp of Discovery makes its way out of the Bitterroot Mountain near what is now known as Weippe, Idaho. They had been lost in the Bitterroot Mountains because of the heavy forests and the bitter cold and snow. They had run out of food and had to kill a horse to survive.
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The Nez Perce give the men salmon and camas root. The men eat so much they get sick. The Nez Perce teach the men how to make canoes from pine trees.
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Coboway Clatsop Indian chief was the only indian to make contact with the Corp at Fort Clatsop during their stay there. They traded Sacagawea's bluebead belt for food.
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It rained all but twelve days during the winter months. They were bored and the Clatsop Indians were not as friendly as the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians were. The time went by slowly and the men were homesick.
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The Corps of Discovery winter at Fort Clatsop near Astoria, Oregon. They say farewell to Fort Clatsop and head back the way they came. They get back to Montana and the groups splits to explore different areas. They later meet back up. During this time two Blackfeet Indians are killed. They finally make it back to St. Louis with having only on person from the group die.
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Lewis and Clark gave the Clatsop Indians Fort Clatsop and set out for home. They were ready to make their way back home. They were disappointed that they had not seen any trading ships while they were at Fort Clatop.
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The Corps of Discovery splits into smaller groups. Clark goes down the Yellowstone River. Lewis takes the shortcut to the Great Falls of the Missouri River to explore the northern most part of Louisiana Purchase.
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Captain Wiliam Clark writes his name on a rock and calls the rock Pompy's Tower,after Sacagawea's son whose nickname was Pomp. His signature and date are still on the rock.
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The young Blackfeet Indian warriors try and steal horses and guns from the group. They are caught and two of the Indian warriors are killed. Lewis leaves a peace medal on one of the Blackfoot Indian's corpses.
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the Corp of Discovery made it back to St. Louis with only one casualty and a whole bunch of information.
