What was the task given to Lewis and Clark?

The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) was a federally funded venture to explore the North American West. The expedition’s principal objective was to survey the Missouri and Columbia rivers, locating routes that would connect the continental interior to the Pacific Ocean.

What was the name of the Lewis and Clark Expedition?

The Lewis and Clark Expedition from May 1804 to September 1806, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the first American expedition to cross the western portion of the United States.

Why did Lewis and Clark leave their children behind?

Previous encounters with French and British traders had infected many Indian women with syphilis, and Lewis and Clark had to treat some of their men for this disease, for which there was no cure then, only the dubious palliative of mercury pills. Old Indian traditions claim that the expedition left children behind as well.

How did Lewis and Clark make up their minds?

It took more than a week and two separate reconnaissance expeditions for Lewis and Clark to make up their minds. The south fork was the true Missouri, they decided. Every one of their men disagreed with them, but cheerfully followed them anyway. Lewis and Clark were right. The south fork was the true Missouri.

Where did Lewis and Clark use their latrines?

Julie Stein, an archaeologist and expert in chemical signatures in soil, tested the latrines at another site, Fort Clatsop, the Oregon area where L&C wintered next to the Pacific, explaining a bit more about how the process works. “When we live in the landscape, we drop a lot of phosphorous phosphates,” she told NPR in 2016.

What did Lewis and Clark do with their children?

Clark adopted Sacagawea’s children. William Clark took a shine to the boy, and when Sacagawea left the expedition in August 1806, he offered to adopt him and “raise him as my own child.” Sacagawea initially turned down the offer, but she later allowed Clark to provide for her son’s education in St. Louis.

Where did Lewis and Clark end their journey?

( Benjamin Zingg) After reaching the Pacific Ocean in November 1805, the corps established Fort Clatsop, near present-day Astoria, Oregon, as its winter quarters. Then, on March 23, 1806, the weary explorers headed for home and St. Louis. They retrieved their horses from the Nez Percé Indians and crossed the Bitterroot Mountains.

How did the Lewis and Clark Expedition get food?

When the men found themselves running low on food, they often obtained more by trading with Native tribes in exchange for tools and weapons. And, along the way, Sacagawea helped the Corps identify which plants were edible and which were not. But some moments of the journey proved to be more desperate than others.

What kind of pills did Lewis and Clark take?

Rush, a preeminent physician of the day, prescribed an early 1800s-era cure-all called calomel, a frighteningly effective purgative with a high dose of mercury chloride. He’d made his own version, which Lewis and Clark referenced in their journals as Dr. Rush’s Bilious Pills.