Winter Camp at Wood River, IL As indicated in the Lewis’s detachment order of 3 March 1804, some soldiers use the cover of hunting trips and other errands to visit a local “whiskey shop” contrary to orders given before Clark and Lewis left for St. Louis.
Young Recruit from Kentucky
© Michael Haynes, https://www.mhaynesart.com. Used with permission.
Opportunistic Soldiers
Detachment Orders
Camp River Dubois, Febr. 20th 1804. . . .
No man shal absent himself from camp without the knowledge and permission of Sergt. Ordway, other than those who have obtained permission from me to be absent on hunting excurtions, and those will not extend their absence to a term by which they may avoid a tour of guard duty, on their return they will report themselves to Sergt. Ordway and recieve his instructions—
No whiskey shall in future be delivered from the Contractor’s store except for the legal ration, and as appropriated by this order, unless otherwise directed by Capt. Clark or myself—
Meriwether Lewis Capt.
1st. U.S. Regt. Infty.
Weather Diary
Therm at rise
weather wind Therm at 4 Oclk weather wind River 11 below 0 fair N W 22 above 0 E fall 3 in. —Meriwether Lewis and William Clark[2]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.
Winter Camp at Wood River (Camp Dubois) is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site, near Hartford, Illinois, is managed as Lewis and Clark State Historic Site and is open to the public.
