Day-by-Day / July 19, 1803

July 19, 1803

Stoddard's new orders

From Washington City, Amos Stoddard is issued orders to find the best location for an Army fort on the west side of the Mississippi in preparation for the transfer of Louisiana and Jefferson’s Western expeditions. Meriwether Lewis is in Pittsburgh having the barge built.

Fort Kaskaskia View

view from a high hill above the Mississippi River and flood plains

© 5 March 2012 by Goodpairofshoes. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FortKaskaskiaView.jpg accessed on 21 April 2022.

Both the American and French forts provided a strategic view of the important village of Kaskaskia across what was then the Kaskaskia River. The Mississippi channel now flows in the channel directly below the bluff. See Fort Kaskaskia.

WAR DEPARTMENT July 19th 1803.

Amos Stoddard.

Sir. In consiquence of the recent cession of Louisiana to the United States, It will probably become necessary in the course of a few months to place an American Garrison in the Military Post on the Western Bank of the Mississippi now occupied by Spanish Troops—

If there is not sufficient accommodations for a Company, it may be prudent to provide temporary accommodations at Kaskaskias . . . .

You and Capt Bissell[1]Russell Bissell, not to be confused with his brother and commandant of Fort Massac, Daniel Bissell. will please to give me your opinion on the most eligible site for a permanent Garrison on the Louisiana side, taking into view with other considerations the Command of the mouth of the River Missouri, the Garrison to consist of one Company.

I am &c[2]Henry Dearborn to Amos Stoddard in Clarence E. Carter, The Territorial Papers of the United States (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1948), 13:3–4, digitized by Google … Continue reading

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Russell Bissell, not to be confused with his brother and commandant of Fort Massac, Daniel Bissell.
↑2 Henry Dearborn to Amos Stoddard in Clarence E. Carter, The Territorial Papers of the United States (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1948), 13:3–4, digitized by Google Books and available at archive.org.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).