Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition facts for kids

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

This is a timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a famous journey across the American West from 1803 to 1806. It was a huge adventure to explore new lands!

1803: Getting Ready for the Big Trip

• January 18: President Thomas Jefferson sends a secret message to the U.S. Congress. He suggests a special trip to explore the Pacific Northwest.
• February 22: The House and Senate agree to President Jefferson's plan.
• March 15: Meriwether Lewis goes to a U.S. Army supply place in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. He gets guns and ammunition for the trip.
• April 19: Lewis arrives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He learns how to use tools like the sextant and chronometer to find their way by looking at the stars and sun. This is called celestial navigation.
• April 30: James Madison, who was the Secretary of State, and Robert R. Livingston, a U.S. Minister, agree to buy the Louisiana Territory from France. It costs $15 million. This huge land purchase makes the expedition even more important!
• May 17: Lewis leaves Lancaster and travels to Philadelphia. He studies medicine, anatomy (how bodies are built), and botany (plants). He also buys supplies and gifts for the Native American tribes they expect to meet.
• June 19: Lewis writes to William Clark, asking him to help lead the expedition.
• June 20: President Jefferson gives Lewis his instructions for exploring the new Louisiana Territory.
• July 4: Everyone hears about the plan to buy the Louisiana Territory in Washington, D.C..
• July 15: Lewis arrives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He oversees the building of a 55-foot keelboat, which is a large boat with a mast and benches for 22 rowers. He also buys a pirogue, a smaller boat over 40 feet long.
• July 18: Clark writes back to Lewis, saying yes to the invitation!
• August 31: After some delays, the keelboat is ready and loaded. Lewis and 11 crew members start their journey down the Ohio River.
• September 1: Lewis writes about their first day of travel. This is the start of the famous Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
• October 15: Lewis meets up with Clark in Clarksville, Indiana. Clark brings along his African-American helper, York. Over the next two weeks, they choose nine more people to join the team.
• October 20: The U.S. Senate officially approves the treaty for the Louisiana Purchase.
• November 15: The team camps where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet. Lewis and Clark practice using their tools to figure out their exact location (their longitude and latitude).
• November 28: The expedition arrives at a U.S. Army post in Kaskaskia, Illinois. They recruit more men there.
• December 6: Lewis rides a horse to St. Louis, in what is now Missouri. He plans to spend the winter getting more supplies.
• December 12: Clark arrives at the place where they will spend the winter. It's on the Mississippi River above St. Louis in Illinois. They start building Camp Dubois the next day.
• December 20: France officially hands over the Louisiana Territory to the U.S. The U.S. takes control on December 30.

1804: Heading West on the Missouri River

• March 9: Lewis attends ceremonies in St. Louis to see the new U.S. territory officially transferred.
• March 26: Lewis is disappointed to learn that Clark's military rank is lower than his. But even though their ranks are different, they share command equally throughout the whole trip.
• March 29: Two soldiers, Pvts. Shields and Colter, are tried for fighting and threatening a sergeant. They apologize, and their apologies are accepted.
• March 31: Lewis and Clark have a ceremony to officially welcome 25 new recruits into the Corps. Five other men are chosen to return home on the keelboat before the main group crosses the Rocky Mountains.
• April 7: Lewis and Clark go to St. Louis by canoe for a dinner and a dance.
• May 14: The Corps of Discovery (that's what they called their team!) leaves Camp Dubois. Clark is in charge, and there are more than 40 people.
• May 16: They reach St. Charles on the Missouri River. They wait there for Lewis to return from St. Louis.
• May 17: Three soldiers are punished for leaving without permission. One soldier, Collins, gets 50 lashes (a severe punishment) for other charges too. The others get lighter sentences.
• May 21: With Lewis and Clark leading, the Corps sets off in the keelboat and two pirogues. They travel 2,300 miles to the Rockies. The men work hard against the Missouri River's strong current, mostly by rowing or pushing the heavy boats.
• May 25: About 50 miles from St. Charles, they pass La Charette, the last European-American town on the Missouri River.
• June 26: The expedition camps at Kaw Point where the Missouri and Kansas Rivers meet in today's Kansas. They've traveled 400 miles! They build a temporary defense just in case, but mostly they rest and fix their boats.
• June 29: While at Kaw Point, Pvt. Collins is punished again, this time for stealing whiskey while on guard duty. He receives 100 lashes. Pvt. Hall, who drank with him, gets 50 lashes.
• July 4: To celebrate Independence Day, Lewis and Clark name Independence Creek near Atchison, Kansas.
• July 11: The Corps enters what is now Nebraska. Pvt. Willard is caught sleeping while on guard duty, which is a very serious offense. He is sentenced to 100 lashes over four days.
• July 21: The expedition reaches the Platte River in Nebraska, 640 miles from St. Louis.
• July 30: The Corps camps near today's Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, on a hill they call Council Bluff.
• August 3: Lewis and Clark meet with chiefs from the Oto and Missouri tribes at Council Bluff. The chiefs want weapons, but the Corps offers gifts. This first meeting is mostly a success.
• August 4: The group leaves, but Pvt. Reed leaves without permission. Two days later, the captains decide Reed must be brought back.
• August 18: Reed is caught and brought back for trial. He is punished severely and removed from the Corps. But since leaving him alone in the wilderness would mean death, he is allowed to stay with the expedition through the winter.
• August 20: Sgt. Floyd dies, probably from a burst appendix. He is the only person to die during the entire two-year expedition.
• August 26: The men choose Pvt. Gass to be a sergeant. Pvt. Shannon, the youngest member, gets lost while looking for horses that Native Americans had taken.
• August 27: The Corps camps in Yankton Sioux territory in Nebraska, near the mouth of South Dakota's James River.
• August 30: Lewis and Clark talk with the Yanktons. The tribe wants rifles and whiskey. Instead, they are invited to send a group to meet President Jefferson in Washington, D.C.
• September 11: Pvt. Shannon is found on the river bank, starving and out of ammunition, after being lost for 16 days.
• September 20: They reach the Big Bend of the Missouri in central South Dakota, almost 1,300 miles from where they started.
• September 25: There's a tense moment with the Lakota Sioux near Pierre, South Dakota. Weapons are drawn, but an elder chief, Chief Black Buffalo, steps in and prevents a fight.
• October 13: Pvt. Newman is removed from the Corps for talking about mutiny (rebellion). Like Pvt. Reed, he is allowed to stay with the expedition until spring.
• October 24: The Corps reaches Mandan Native American territory near Washburn, North Dakota. They meet with Mandan and Hidatsa chiefs and start looking for a place to build a winter fort.
• November 2: They choose a spot for their winter fort across the river from the main Mandan village. They name it Fort Mandan to honor the tribe. Construction begins.
• November 4: Toussaint Charbonneau, a French fur trader living with the Mandans, is hired as an interpreter. One of Charbonneau's wives, a pregnant 16-year-old Lemhi Shoshone woman named Sacagawea, is also hired.
• December 24: Fort Mandan is finished.
• December 25: The Corps celebrates Christmas with special food, rum, and dancing.

1805: Across the Mountains to the Pacific

• February 9: Pvt. Howard climbs over the fort wall instead of using the gate. An Native American sees this and also climbs the wall. Howard is charged with breaking security rules, but Lewis cancels his punishment.
• February 11: Sacagawea gives birth to a son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Clark nicknames the boy "Pompy."
• April 7: With spring's arrival, the Corps continues its journey. The keelboat is sent back down the Missouri with a dozen men and a shipment for President Jefferson. The main group travels west in the two pirogues and six dugout canoes.
• April 25: The expedition reaches where the Yellowstone River meets the Missouri in northwestern North Dakota.
• April 27: They enter what is now Montana. In the following days, they see huge herds of up to 10,000 buffalo. They also see and kill their first grizzly bear.
• May 14: A sudden storm flips a pirogue, and many items, including the Corps' journals, fall into the river. Sacagawea quickly and calmly gets most of the items back, earning praise from Clark.
• May 26: Lewis sees the Rocky Mountains for the first time. He is happy, but then he thinks about how challenging the snow-covered mountains will be.
• June 1: In north-central Montana, the Corps finds an unexpected fork in the river. They vote on which branch is the Missouri. Only Lewis and Clark think it's the southern route. After days of discussion and exploration, they vote again, with the same result. Despite their doubts, the men agree to follow their leaders.
• June 13: A scouting group led by Lewis reaches the Great Falls of the Missouri. This discovery proves they chose the correct path.
• June 17: The men go around the falls, dragging their canoes and equipment across 18 miles of difficult land. This takes a month and a half!
• July 25: The expedition reaches the very beginning of the Missouri River in southwestern Montana.
• August 8: Sacagawea recognizes a rock formation from her childhood, Beaverhead Rock. This tells them they are in the area where the Shoshone tribe spends their summers.
• August 12: Lewis and three other men cross the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass on the Montana-Idaho border. Meanwhile, the expedition's shipment arrives at the President's house in Washington.
• August 13: While Clark is scouting, Lewis meets 60 warriors from the Shoshone nation. After showing they mean no harm, Lewis and his men are welcomed into the tribe's village.
• August 16: When the Shoshone become worried about a trap, Lewis lends his rifle to the Chief, and his men do the same. This gesture helps them gain the Shoshone's trust.
• August 17: Sacagawea has a joyful reunion with her brother, who is now a Shoshone chief. Clark returns, and with Sacagawea's help, the Corps is able to get the horses they need to cross the Rockies.
• September 11: The Corps begins crossing the Bitterroot Mountains, the most dangerous part of their entire journey. For the next 11 days, the men struggle through deep snow. They become so hungry that they have to eat some of their young horses.
• September 22: Coming out of the mountains, the expedition is welcomed by the Nez Perce Indians. In the days that follow, everyone gets sick from eating too much of the dried fish and boiled roots their hosts provide.
• September 26: The group travels down Idaho's Clearwater River to set up camp and build canoes. Work is slow as the men recover.
• October 7: The journey continues.
• October 10: The expedition enters what is now Washington state where the Clearwater meets the Snake River. They follow the Snake, which is the largest river flowing into the Columbia River.
• October 16: The Corps reaches the Columbia River. A few miles south, the Columbia starts to form the border between modern-day Oregon and Washington.
• October 18: Clark sees Mount Hood through the fog, about 45 miles away.
• October 22: The Corps goes down Celilo Falls, which is the start of a very dangerous 55-mile stretch of the Columbia River.
• November 7: Clark writes in his journal, "Great joy in camp we are in View of the Ocian." But he is a bit early. They have seen the Columbia River's wide mouth (estuary), but they are still 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
• November 8: The waves in the estuary are too dangerous for the canoes, so they set up camp.
• November 10: The men try to move forward by staying close to the shore, but the dangerous conditions force them back to shore again.
• November 12: A strong thunderstorm hits with hail, heavy rain, and strong winds. They bury all but one of their canoes under rocks to protect them from waves and floating logs. Then they move by land to a cove upriver. They are stuck there for several days because of the bad weather.
• November 15: When the weather improves, the estuary becomes safe to travel. The Corps reaches the Pacific Ocean! They land on a sandy beach they name Station Camp. They spend the next 10 days hunting, trading with the Chinook and Clatsop Indians, and exploring the coast.
• November 24: The Corps members vote on a place for their winter camp. Sacagawea and York, Clark's African-American helper, both get to vote. Following advice from local Native Americans, they choose a spot on the Oregon side of the river where there is more game to hunt.
• December 8: They begin building Fort Clatsop near modern-day Astoria, Oregon.
• December 30: The expedition's log fort is finished. But the winter is very hard, as it rains almost every day during their three-month stay.

1806: The Journey Home

• March 23: The Corps leaves Fort Clatsop, excited to start their trip home.
• April 18: The expedition reaches the Columbia's Great Falls again. They need horses to cross the Rockies, but the Native Americans ask for very high prices, so they only buy four.
• April 28: They leave Oregon, following the Columbia to the Snake River in southeastern Washington.
• May 3: After a heavy snow storm, the Corps meets a friendly Nez Perce chief and 10 of his men.
• May 5: The expedition reaches present-day Idaho, where they pick up the Clearwater River.
• May 14: They started their journey too early, so the Corps must wait for the mountain snows to melt. The men camp for almost a month in what is now the Nez Perce Reservation.
• June 10: They pack up camp and four days later reach the Bitterroot Mountains.
• June 24: The Corps starts to cross the Bitterroots. With the help of three Nez Perce guides, they cut 300 miles off their journey.
• June 29: The expedition enters western Montana through Lolo Pass.
• July 3: The Corps splits into two groups to explore more land. Lewis leads one group down the Missouri, while Clark's group takes a northern route following the Yellowstone River. Along the way, they break into even smaller groups to explore.
• July 25: Clark names a rock formation on the Yellowstone River after Sacagawea's son. This place is now called Pompeys Pillar. Clark carves his name and the date on the rock, which is the only physical proof left of the Corps' journey.
• July 26: Traveling on horseback, Lewis and his men meet a small group of Blackfeet warriors. They spend the night together. But in the morning, two Blackfeet warriors are killed while trying to steal the group's guns and horses. Afraid of revenge, the men ride for almost 24 hours without stopping.
• August 2: Clark's group reaches the Missouri River and enters present-day North Dakota.
• August 11: Lewis is accidentally shot in the leg by one of his own men.
• August 12: The Corps reunites on the Missouri River in western North Dakota near the mouth of the Knife River.
• August 14: The expedition returns to a warm welcome from the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes.
• August 17: The men continue down the Missouri River, leaving Charbonneau, Sacagawea, and their son with the Mandans. Clark offers to raise the boy, who is now 19 months old. With the Missouri's current helping them, they can travel over 70 miles a day.
• September 23: The Corps arrives back in St. Louis, successfully finishing their 8,000-mile journey! It took them two years, four months, and 10 days.
• December 28: Lewis arrives in Washington, D.C. In late February, President Jefferson names him Governor of Upper Louisiana.

1807: New Roles

• January 15: Clark arrives in Washington, D.C. He is appointed as the Agent for Native American Affairs in the Louisiana Territory.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Cronología de la expedición de Lewis y Clark para niños