Fort Mandan
the river. Like his men, he would have to occupy himself otherwise for a while longer.
But at last the first sign of a warmer season came. On the first day of spring it began to rain. Then, by the end of March, great chunks of ice began to float down river. Now their boats could be pulled ashore and repairs made. By the 7th of April the boats were once again back in the water and reloaded.
On April 8, 1805, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, their men of Corps of Discovery, accompanied by Toussaint Charbonah and his wife Sacagawea with their infant son, left Fort Mandan. They continued their journey westward to discover a continent.
The old site of Fort Mandan has been obliterated by time and the ever-changing course of the river. The site today lies at least partially underwater.
Index of Forts in this series can be seen at:
Forts of the West: An Introduction http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/1379...
To learn more about Fort Mandan, on the Internet, please see:
Winter at Fort Mandan http://www.explorethelewisandclarktrail....
A Photographic Journey up the Missouri River in North Dakota - Fort Mandan http://nd.water.usgs.gov/lewisandclark/p... I highly recommend this site as a visual log of scenes that the Corps of Discovery may have experienced.
Further information concerning Western Forts and related incidents can be found at Suite 101 University at:
THE GREAT AMERICAN WEST, 1861 to 1876. http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/17161...
BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN, 1872 to 1876. http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/17638...
The sources for this article are:
Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1996.
Gilman, Carolyn. Lewis and Clark, Across the Divide. Smithsonian Books, Washington and London in association with the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, 2003.
Copyright 2005 Mary Trotter Kion
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