Pike’s 1st Expedition – MO

Pike in Missouri (1st Expedition)

Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike, two corporals, and 17 privates left Cantonment BelleFontaine, North of St. Louis on August 8th, 1805 with provisions for four months of travel and a keelboat 15’ longer than the one Lewis & Clark traveled with. During the trip the Expedition was to hire 2 interpreters at Prairie du Chien who spoke several native dialects including Sioux. Pike could communicate in French as they met French along the Mississippi as well as British.

Of the 12 days they spent in Missouri on the ascent of the Mississippi River, four encampments were in Missouri and one on an island. On the return trip they were in a hurry and spent just three days in Missouri.

They encountered rain many days, sand bars, wind which helped when sailing the keelboat (or hindered), and Indians firing shots to salute them. They stopped often to dry out and caught fish for additional sustenance.

Men on the Expedition: Corporal Samuel Bradley, Corporal William E Meek, John Boley, Peter Brandon, John Brown, Jacob Carter, Thomas Daugherty, William Gordon, Salmon Huddleston, Jeremiah Jackson, Hugh Menaugh, Theodore Miller, John Mountjoy, David  Owens, Alexander Roy, Patrick Smith, John Sparks, Freegift Stoute, David Whelpley.

Interpreters hired at Prairie Du Chien were Pierre Roseau and Joseph Rienville.

Pike’s field maps below are excellent. Matches are good when overlaid on modern maps or compared to the modern map above. The two Pike Field Maps included, line up north to south with each other – plate 10 above plate 9.

     PIKE’S FIELD MAPS- Plates 9 and 10