Illustration by Ashley Barron
We hate to mention this right before the wonderful hoopla of St. Charles’ Lewis and Clark Heritage Days (lewisandclarkheritagedays.com), May 18 and 19, but St. Charles is only the sentimental starting point of the expedition. True, Meriwether Lewis galloped overland to catch up with his comrades there. But according to the mileage count that he and William Clark kept, Mile 0 was their camp in River Dubois (Wood River, Ill.). Local historians were glad to set us straight on a few other Lewis and Clark legends, too.
Legend: Lewis and Clark danced in the ballroom of the Jarrot Mansion in Cahokia.
Ruling: Fiction. The home wasn’t even built yet.
Legend: Lewis and Clark court-martialed one of their men before the expedition even left town.
Ruling: Fact. He was likkered up and mocking them to his mates.
Legend: Lewis almost died out near St. Albans, which pretty much would have scotched the historic expedition altogether.
Ruling: Fact. He climbed up the bluffs to Tavern Rock Cave and took a tumble. It would’ve been a 300-foot drop, but as Clark wrote, “He saved himself by the assistance of his Knife”—perhaps driving the spontoon into the ground to arrest his fall.
Legend: Lewis was later shot by one of his own men.
Ruling: Fact. He was wearing buckskins and looked like an elk; the guy shot him in the ass. Enraged, blaming the Indians, he pulled down his pants and pulled out the bullet. Only later, when his boatman started talking about “the one that got away,” did he realize what had happened.
Legend: William Clark and Sacagawea became lovers.
Ruling: Wishful thinking. A hot scene between Charlton Heston and Donna Reed in The Far Horizons does not count as historical proof.
Legend: Sacagawea served as guide and interpreter.
Ruling: Fiction. She did introduce them to her people, the Shoshone, and she did allay strangers’ suspicions. (Who brings a woman and a baby on a war party?)
Legend: Lewis and Clark ate dogs to survive.
Ruling: Half-truth. There were times when Fido was purely a ceremonial dish, and there were also times when the choice was between eating dog and going
hungry. (Clark, it’s said, chose to go hungry.)
Legend: Lewis and Clark were the first to sail northwest from St. Charles on the Missouri River, keep a journal, make a map, and organize trade with the native Americans.
Ruling: Fiction. Two surveyors did all that, for a shorter stretch, in 1795. Lewis and Clark used their map.
Legend: The expedition was a scientific one, a sort of National Geographic cataloging of flora and fauna and weather patterns.
Ruling: Fiction. It was a master plan for empire. The idea was for Lewis and Clark to set foot on the West Coast, lay claim to land there, and plant the American flag.
Legend: The expedition was a brilliant success.
Ruling: Fiction. It failed to give Thomas Jefferson what he really wanted: a water passage to the coast, positioning the U.S. for trade with Asia. Damn mountains got in the way.
