Tactical Plan, July 3-August 12, 1806

he map above and the chart below illustrate the complexity of the tactical plan Lewis and Clark conceived at Fort Clatsop, set in motion at Travelers' Rest, and revised en route according to the exigencies of the moment. It attests to the military discipline and "A-Team" spirit the Corps of Discovery had learned from the countless challenges they had already met, solved and survived.

On July 24, the day Clark departed from his "canoe camp" on the Yellowstone, Lewis was waiting out the weather at Camp Disappointment on Cut Bank Creek. They were three hundred miles apart.

Upon leaving Travelers' Rest on the morning of July 3, 1806, they had expected to rendezvous at the mouth of the Yellowstone about August 5. Clark was two days early; Lewis was two days late. They finally met again on August 12, a few miles below the mouth of the Little Knife River, about 142 miles downriver from the Yellowstone.

A - Full company (33), to Travelers' Rest and from Shell Creek

Capts. Lewis, Clark; Sgts. Ordway, Pryor, Gass; Interpreters Drouillard, Charbonneau; Pvts. Bratton, Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, Joseph Field, Reubin Field, Frazer, Thompson, Goodrich, Gibson, Hall, Howard, Labiche, Lepage, McNeal, Potts, Shannon, Shields, Weiser, Werner, Whitehouse, Willard, Windsor; York, Sacagawea, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau

B – Clark, to Three Forks (23)

Capt, Clark; Sgts. Ordway, Pryor; Bratton, Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, Gibson, Hall, Howard, Labiche, Lepage, Potts, Shannon, Shields, Weiser, Whitehouse, Willard, Windsor; York; Toussaint and Jean Baptiste Charbonneau; Sacagawea

C – Lewis, to White Bear Is. (10)

Capt. Lewis; Sgt. Gass; Drouillard, Joseph Field, Reubin Field, Werner, Frazer, Thompson, McNeal, Goodrich

D – Lewis, to Cp. Disappointment (4)

Capt. Lewis; Drouillard, Joseph Field, Reubin Field

E – Clark, to Canoe Camp (13)

Capt. Clark; Sgt. Pryor; Bratton, Gibson, Hall, Labiche, Shannon, Shields, Windsor; York; Toussaint and Jean Baptiste Charbonneau; Sacagawea

F – Pryor, to Little Knife R. (4)

Sgt. Pryor; Hall, Shannon, Windsor

G – Clark, to Little Knife R. (9)

Capt. Clark; Bratton, Gibson, Labiche, Shields; York; Toussaint and Jean Baptiste Charbonneau; Sacagawea

H – Ordway, to White Bear Is. (10)

Sgt. Ordway; Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, Howard, Lepage, Potts, Weiser, Whitehouse, Willard

I – Gass & Ordway to Marias River (16)

Sgts. Gass & Ordway; Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, Frazer, Goodrich, Howard, Lepage, McNeal, Potts, Thompson, Weiser, Werner, Whitehouse, Willard

J–Lewis, to Shell Cr. (19)

Capt. Lewis; Sgts. Gass, Ordway; Collins, Colter, Cruzatte, Drouillard, Joseph Field, Reubin Field, Frazer, Goodrich, Howard, LePage, McNeal, Potts, Thompson, Weiser, Whitehouse, Werner

--Joseph Mussulman, 01/00