"The Nine Young Men From Kentucky"

Captain William Clark enlisted nine men at Clarksville, Indiana Territory, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. The new recruits became known as the "Nine young men from Kentucky." All would be selected as members of the Permanent Party.

They were as follows:

Sergeant Charles Floyd
Sergeant Nathaniel Pryor
Private William Bratton
Private John Colter
Privates Joseph and Reuben Field
Private George Gibson
Private George Shannon
Private John Shields

The Clothes They Wore

Seventeen of the men recruited for the expedition were soldiers in the U.S. Army. They most likely they started the journey in their military uniforms. The other recruits were outfitted in the woolen and linen European-style civilian clothing of the day or possibly buckskin.

As they traveled, of course, their clothes wore out or became torn and tattered. When this happened, the men fashioned new clothes from animal skins and furs. In fact, they adopted many of the Indian ways of dressing and making clothes from the tribes that they came in contact with along their journey.

Clothing not only protected the men from the weather, it was also an important item of trade with the Indians. Uniform coats, silk hankerchifs, and brass buttons literally saved the lives of the men by allowing them to obtain horses and canoes for transportation, and food when they were close to starvation.

The Food They Ate

Take a lunchbreak with The Corps at

"The Diner"

From reading Lewis and Clark's journals, we know that they ate a variety of foods, which can be divided into three categories:

Many of the foods the men ate, they had never tasted before (such as salmon). Here are two recipes you can you can make at home. (Please ask an adult for help before you do though!)

Legend has it that fishermen and hunters kept their dogs quiet by tossing them little scraps of batter fried in the lard leftover from frying their catfish. Soon the "Hushpuppies" became popular and have been a Southern tradition ever since.

The Weapons They Carried

Kentucky Flintlock rifle

Fifteen of the men carried of the Corps carried U.S. army regulation rifles hat came from the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. These rifles were "flintlocks", which means the bullet has to be pushed down into the 33-inch barrel of the rifle. It takes about 30 seconds to load a flintlock, which doesn't seem like a long time until you realize that an attacking grizzly bear can run 800 feet in that amount of time!

Other men in the Corp carried their own "Kentucky" flintlock rifles (these had even a longer barrel!), or muskets (more powerful guns typically loaded from the open end). Lewis had an air gun, which uses compressed air to fire a bullet, and pistols he purchased in Philadelphia. Officers carried swords as a symbol of their rank.

Gunpowder for the rifles was kept in lead cans. When a can was empty, it was melted and poured into molds to make bullets.

Knives and tomahawks were also issued to the men.

Tomahawks were invented by the Native Americans and adopted by settlers. They could be used as a weapon but most often served as a tool for the men. The Corps used them to build dugout canoes and also butchered bison, deer, and other game with them.

The Way They Traveled

The Corps traveled 6 to 12 miles per day, depending on the conditions. Under good conditions, such as level terrain or calm waters, they traveled more. Under poor conditions, such as crossing the Rocky Mountains, they traveled less.

Their days could be from 4 to 10 hours long, depending on the length of daylight and other factors.

The Corps used four types of boats during their journey:

Keelboats are made to carry a lot of weight. They have a keel, a heavy piece of wood running along the center of the bottom, to help control the boat in river currants. The Corps' keelboat was the largest of their vessels. It was 55 feet long and 8 feet wide. To the back of the boat (stern) was a small cabin with a deck on top. To the front (bow) was another deck. The men sometimes had to "pole" the boat forward in the river instead of rowing. To do this, each man would push a pole against the river bottom and then walk towards the back of the boat, pushing the deck with his feet.

The keelboat was sent back downstream when it became to difficult to navigate up the Missouri River. It returned with a small crew to St. Louis in the spring of 1805. It was loaded with a cargo of journals, a map, and animal specimens for President Jefferson.

Another type of boat taken on the expedition, but not used, was an invention of Captain Lewis'. It was a collapsible canoe with a iron frame that could be covered with animal skins. It weighed only 44 pounds but could carry up to one ton of weight. Lewis planned for the men to carry the frame until they reached the upper Missouri River, where they would cover it with animal skins, and seal the seams with sticky pine-tree pitch. This was a good plan, but unfortunately, it didn't work.

When the expedition reached the Missouri's Great Falls in Montana, there were no pine trees to provide the pitch for the seams. Lewis mixed a concoction of beeswax, buffalo fat, and ground-up charcoal to use instead. When they put the boat in water, it floated fine, but by night, Lewis' pitch mixture was falling off the seams, and the boat was leaking.