Fort Mandan facts for kids

Winter view of reconstructed Fort Mandan, North Dakota

Fort Mandan was a camp built by the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition. They stayed there during the cold winter of 1804-1805. The camp was located along the Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Today, the exact spot of the fort is believed to be underwater. However, a copy of the fort has been built nearby for people to visit.

Building the Fort

Interior yard of the replica of Fort Mandan, North Dakota

The men of the Corps of Discovery started building Fort Mandan on November 2, 1804. They used cottonwood trees cut from the riverbanks. The fort was shaped like a triangle. It had tall walls and an open space inside. There was a gate facing the Missouri River, which was their main travel route.

The fort had storage rooms to keep their supplies safe. Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark even shared a room. The expedition stayed at the fort until April 6, 1805. They built it close to five villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa Native American nations.

Winter Conditions

The winter at Fort Mandan was extremely cold. Temperatures sometimes dropped to minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit (-43°C)! The fort helped protect the explorers from the harsh weather. Even so, some men got frostbite from being outside for even a short time.

Meeting Native American Tribes

Lewis and Clark's room at the reconstructed fort

While at Fort Mandan, Captains Lewis and Clark worked on an important mission. They wanted to make friends with the different Native American tribes living nearby. President Thomas Jefferson had asked them to do this.

Their goal was to build good relationships with as many tribes as possible. They also wanted to prepare the tribes for American traders coming to the area. The expedition also claimed the land for the United States. This was different from how Native Americans had used the land for thousands of years.

The Teton tribe had already shown they did not want the expedition there. So, Lewis and Clark tried to make friends with the Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan tribes. They hoped these tribes would help them against the Teton.

The Mandan tribe was somewhat open to this idea. When the expedition returned in 1806, a Mandan chief named Sheheke traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet President Jefferson. However, the Mandan did not fully agree to trade only with the United States. They still wanted to trade with Canadian traders from Great Britain. The Hidatsa tribe was not interested in the American offers and often avoided meeting with Lewis and Clark.

Getting Ready for Spring

The Corps of Discovery spent the winter preparing for their journey west. They fixed their equipment and made new clothes. They also prepared dried meats for their travels. Before Fort Mandan, they had used maps from earlier explorers. From this point on, they would be exploring lands unknown to Europeans. Clark even got information from Chief Sheheke to help him draw new maps of the western route.

Lewis and Clark also used this time to write down their discoveries. They described the smaller rivers that flowed into the Missouri River. They wrote about the Native American nations they met. They also described the plants and rocks they had collected. They put all this information into a document called the Mandan Miscellany. In the spring, they sent a copy of this document back to government officials in St. Louis. They sent it on their large keelboat.

Sacagawea Joins the Expedition

It was at Fort Mandan that Lewis and Clark likely first met Sacagawea. Her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, worked as an interpreter for the expedition. The journals suggest that Sacagawea lived at the fort with him. Their son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, was born on February 11, 1805. He was probably born at the fort and stayed with his mother throughout the entire expedition.

Fort Mandan After the Expedition

When the Lewis and Clark Expedition returned in August 1806, they found that Fort Mandan had burned down. No one knows why. Over time, the Missouri River has changed its path. The original site of the fort is now underwater.

Today, the Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation has built a copy of the fort. It is located near the North Dakota Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. This replica was built using descriptions from the expedition's journals. It shows what the fort looked like and how the explorers lived. Inside, you can see copies of things like Lewis's field desk, Clark's map tools, and the beds the men slept in.

The site also has staff who give tours and teach visitors about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. There are walking trails along the property and the river.

See also

In Spanish: Fuerte Mandan para niños