6. Sentry Duty

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6. Sentry Duty

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J.M.: When they are struggling to get those canoes up the Jefferson and the Beaverhead River, when they are trudging over the Bitterroot Mountains, when Lewis and his three companions are tiptoeing up the Marias Valley, do you suppose that discipline is relaxed to any significant extent?

S.A.: Not in any of those examples; I don't think it was relaxed at all. Now the captains did issue whiskey, as long as they had it... they ran out on the 4th of July of 1805 in Great Falls. But until then, they would reward the men with a gill of whiskey. They would let Cruzatte bring out his fiddle and play, and the men would get out and dance. This is what any good company commander does, to make sure that when the men have an opportunity to relax, they are able to relax. But when they were on the Marias River — absolutely — that small contingent with Lewis in command was just that, a contingent of troops under the command of the senior officer, out exploring, which was a big part (obviously so) of the expedition.

J.M.: So they kept their sentries?

S.A.: They always had their sentries.

J.M.: On duty, 24 hours a day?

S.A.: Yes.

J.M.: No matter how small they....

S.A.: That's right. Now the one Indian fight that happened on the Two Medicine River in Montana came about because... Lewis had posted sentries. They only had with them the two Fields [Field] brothers and George Drouillard, so it was only a four man contingent, but Lewis made sure there was a sentry posted. Unfortunately Reubin Fields laid down his weapon and an Indian stole it and a firefight ensued. Drouillard woke Lewis up by shouting... it was first light... by shouting "Damn you, let go my gun!"

That was part and parcel of what that expedition was like. They always, as any good military man does, looked after their weapons first of all. They always had those rifles with them. They always kept those rifles in working order. They carried with them nowhere near enough beads to trade with the Indians. They carried with them not enough whiskey. They carried with them not enough tobacco. They were short on other items. When they got back to St. Louis in September of 1806 after having been gone since May of 1804, they brought back with them enough iron to make balls out of and enough powder for a whole other expedition. These guys had that sense.... You give me a good working rifle and I'll take on anything.

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