Why lewis and clark

After returning Sacagawea and her husband to North Dakota, the remainder of the Corps arrived back in Missouri in late September, more than two years after they started their expedition. They also brought back stories—tales that made other Americans dream about heading west. All rights reserved. Personality Quizzes. Funny Fill-In. Amazing Animals. Weird But True! Despite troubling insects and constant rainfall, Lewis and Clark accomplished considerable scientific work while on the Pacific coast.

There they gathered and recorded information about the terrain and its inhabitants. The return trip began on March 23, The journey up the Columbia against strong currents was a tough experience, the party retrieved their horses from the Nez Perce and waited for the deep mountain snow to melt. When they crossed the Bitterroots the party split at the Lolo Pass to add to the geographical knowledge they would gather. Confident of their survival, Lewis went north while Clark went south.

When they reunited in North Dakota, at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. They left Charbonneau, Sacagawea and the baby at the Mandan villages, continued down the Missouri River and arrived in St. Louis on September 23, The accomplishments of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were extensive.

It altered the imperial struggle for the control of North America, particularity in the Pacific Northwest. It strengthened the U. Lewis and Clark achieved an impressive record of peaceful cooperation with the natives and generated American interest in the fur trade. This had a far-reaching effect, leading to further exploration and commercial exploitation of the West.

Lewis and Clark added to geographic knowledge by determining the true course of the Upper Missouri and its major tributaries. They might have destroyed the dream of a Northwest Passage but proved the success of the westward travel to the Pacific.

Agreement to Pay France for the Louisiana Purchase. Students will learn that the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in and President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore west of the Mississippi River in — though the land was already inhabited and politically complicated.

Primary sources demonstrate various political interests, including those of the Spanish, French, British, and several Native American tribes. Students will plot these documents on a historic map of the West. Meriwether Lewis was an intelligent and literate man who also possessed skills as a frontiersman.

Lewis solicited the help of William Clark due to Clark's abilities as a draftsman and frontiersman, which were even stronger than Lewis's. Lewis so respected Clark that he made him a co-commanding captain of the Expedition, even though Clark was never recognized as such by the government.

Jefferson hoped that Lewis and Clark would find a water route linking the Columbia and Missouri rivers. In early November, the Corps came across villages of friendly Mandan and Minitari Indians near present-day Washburn, North Dakota , and decided to set up camp downriver for the winter along the banks of the Missouri River.

The Corps spent the next five months at Fort Mandan hunting, forging and making canoes, ropes, leather clothing and moccasins while Clark prepared new maps.

They allowed his pregnant Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagawea , to join him on the expedition. Sacagawea had been kidnapped by Hidatsa Indians at age 12 and then sold to Charbonneau. On February 11, , Sacagawea gave birth to a son and named him Jean Baptiste. She became an invaluable and respected asset for Lewis and Clark. On April 7, , Lewis and Clark sent some of their crew and their keelboat loaded with zoological and botanical samplings, maps, reports and letters back to St.

Louis while they and the rest of the Corps headed for the Pacific. The group next headed out of Lemhi Pass and crossed the Bitterroot Mountain Range using the harrowing Lolo Trail and the help of many horses and a handful of Shoshone guides. This leg of the journey proved to be the most difficult.

Many of the party suffered from frostbite, hunger, dehydration, bad weather, freezing temperatures and exhaustion. Still, despite the merciless terrain and conditions, not a single soul was lost.

The Indians took in the weary travelers, fed them and helped them regain their health. As the Corps recovered, they built dugout canoes, then left their horses with the Nez Perce and braved the Clearwater River rapids to Snake River and then to the Columbia River. They reportedly ate dog meat along the way instead of wild game. A bedraggled and harried Corps finally reached the stormy Pacific Ocean in November of They decided to make camp near present-day Astoria, Oregon , and started building Fort Clatsop on December 10 and moved in by Christmas.

It was not an easy winter at Fort Clatsop. Everyone struggled to keep themselves and their supplies dry and fought an ongoing battle with tormenting fleas and other insects. Almost everyone was weak and sick with stomach problems likely caused by bacterial infections , hunger or influenza-like symptoms. On March 23, , the Corps left Fort Clatsop for home. They retrieved their horses from the Nez Perce and waited until June for the snow to melt to cross the mountains into the Missouri River Basin.

The two groups planned to rendezvous where the Yellowstone and Missouri met in North Dakota. Department of the Interior. Two days later, at Marias River near present-day Cut Bank, Montana, Lewis and his group encountered eight Blackfeet warriors and were forced to kill two of them when they tried to steal weapons and horses.

The location of the clash became known as Two Medicine Fight Site. It was the only violent episode of the expedition, although soon after the Blackfeet fight, Lewis was accidentally shot in his buttocks during a hunting trip; the injury was painful and inconvenient but not fatal.

On August 12, Lewis and Clark and their crews reunited and dropped off Sacagawea and her family at the Mandan villages.