Description

William Clark and the soldiers of the Corps of Discovery pulled away from Camp Dubois on May 14, 1804--without Captain Meriwether Lewis. The Missouri River was rising, the soldiers were restless, and Clark had grown weary of waiting for Lewis to finish his 'last-minute affairs.' What business detained Lewis? Those last-minute affairs were a closely guarded secret, and only a handful of citizens knew what held him in St. Louis: Pierre Chouteau, Auguste Chouteau, Charles Gratiot, and Captain Amos Stoddard. On May 19, Lewis carefully packed a number of gifts that would be hand-delivered to President Thomas Jefferson by Pierre Chouteau. On May 20, Lewis rode away from St. Louis in the throes of a terrible thunderstorm to meet with William Clark, waiting in St. Charles. The expedition didn't really start until the two men and their soldiers pushed away from St. Charles on May 21. Dennis Figg, a Jefferson City researcher, will describe these preparations, the special gifts, and what held up this important starting point in the Corps history.