Lewis and Clark. Native Americans

Native American Contact

Lewis and Clark are often associated with being the very first people to explore and discover the western United States of America. What we seldom hear about are the Native Americans who have been living off and occupying that land long before the expedition of Lewis, Clark and the Corps of Discovery. As the expedition explored westward toward the Pacific Ocean it has been noted that Lewis and Clark contacted close to 50 Native American tribes and the expedition quickly came to realize how unique each tribe truly is. Each tribe had its own way of; dialect, making shelter, gathering and harvesting food, farming, hunting and clothing.

            When first coming into contact with these tribes the expedition had a certain greeting ceremony they would perform to show Native Americans that they come as friends and not enemies. This ceremony usually included Lewis and Clark speaking with the tribe chief and explaining that their land is now property of the United States and Native Americans have a “great father” (President Thomas Jefferson). Gifts were typically exchanged between the Natives and the expedition to show signs of peace and friendship.

            Many Native American tribes the expedition encountered on their journey west resulted in Lewis and Clark being accepted as guests and the tribes sharing food, shelter and resources with the expedition. During the time Lewis and Clark stayed with these tribes they would gather the tribe chiefs together and tell each chief that the United States and the “great father” wanted peace among all the Native American tribes in the West and if the chiefs agreed to peace they would be awarded with a trade deal with the United States in return. All the tribes had to do was send a delegate East to meet with the “great father” to accept the trade deal. This trade deal seemed like a great incentive for the tribes because many of the tribes the expedition encountered wanted resources and goods from America like guns, ammo, kettles, etc. Some of the tribes wanted mostly guns and ammo to hunt better and to protect themselves. Many of the tribes also gave Lewis and Clark invaluable information on where to go and how to make it to the Pacific Ocean so the expedition could be successful and survive in a land that is unknown to them (Lewis & Clark).

            The Native American tribes that Lewis and Clark contacted during their expedition played an extremely important key role in the expedition’s success of exploring the western United States and making it to the Pacific Ocean, yet we rarely/never hear anything about these tribes in modern day history and how these tribes were key players in the story of Lewis and Clark.

1.     “Lewis & Clark.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/index.html.

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 8, 2017 at 1:10 AM

    Thank you for your information about Lewis and Clark. As a kid growing up, I learned of Lewis and Clark, but in my small view of the world carried a lifetime view of Lewis and Clark braving the bold new world on their own without the help of others. Little did I realize that without the help of the Native Peoples they would have perished.

    Thank you again for the information.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Colleen ChioffeDecember 10, 2017 at 7:34 PM

    This was a really interesting read. I really don't know much about Lewis and Clark. To think the Native Americans assisted them along the way makes sense, but I never thought about the fact that Lewis and Clark would have needed help exploring this unknown land. Thanks for posting this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownDecember 20, 2017 at 8:05 AM

    One of the primary things that Lewis and Clark planned to do on their journey was to conduct diplomacy with all of the Native tribes that they were going to come in contact with. At least six of the staff of Lewis and Clark were at least part or whole Native Americans (National Park Service, n.d.). Lewis took a course in diplomacy before he left on the expedition so that he would know how to negotiate with the Native tribes. He was told that trade and gift giving were an important part of the Native American culture. Lewis brought with him "peace medals produced by the U.S. Government in silver for presentation to American Indian chiefs" (National Park Service, n.d.). Peace medals were a significant part of the governments interactions with Native Americans and they symbolized " a covenant between nations" (National Park Service, n.d.). Some of the information that Lewis and Clark reported was inaccurate but it did provide an important part of the history with many tribes. The Lewis and Clark Expedition ended up being the beginning of the "invasion of American Indian homelands in the West" (National Park Service, n.d.).

    Reference:
    National Park Service. n.d. Lewis and Clark Expedition. Retrieved from: https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/lewisandclark/indians.htm

    ReplyDelete

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