Day-by-Day / June 24, 1803

June 24, 1803

Expected timeline

In Washington City, President Thomas Jefferson tells Benjamin Rush that the Western Expedition will leave Fort Kaskaskia the first of September. In Dover, Delaware, Thomas Rodney accepts two Federal appointments setting him on a course to travel down the Ohio River at the same time as Meriwether Lewis.

Benjamin Rush

Charles B. J. F. de Saint Mémin (1770–1852)

Benjamin Rush shown in profile

Stipple engraving published in American Universal Magazine. Available at Library of Congress, lccn.loc.gov/2002735626.

Rush’s Thank You

June 24. 1803. Washington.

Th: Jefferson to Dr. Rush

I am thankful to you for your attentions to Capt Lewis while at Philadelphia and the useful counsels he recieved from you. he will set out in about 4. or 5. days, and expects to leave Kaskaskias about the 1st. of September. he will have two travelling months which will probably carry him 7. or 800. miles up the river for his winter quarters, from whence he will communicate to us, in the course of the winter his observations so far.

Accept affectionate salutations.[1]Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0457 accessed 10 June 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, … Continue reading

Because of delays in building the barge at Pittsburgh, Meriwether Lewis would just be starting down the Ohio in September. He and Clark reached Fort Kaskaskia on 28 November, and spent the winter at St. Louis. See also Rush and the Expedition.

Rodney’s First Reply

Dover Delaware June 24th. 1803

Dear Sir:

. . . I return you My thanks for the confidence you are pleased to place in me, and for the friendly politeness with which you Submit a Choice of Offices to my consideration—My own inclination favors an acceptance of the appointmts.

. . . the acceptance of any appointment Under the United States will vacate my Seat in the Supreme Court of this State [Delaware] . . .

. . . . .

Please to accept assurances of my very high respect and Esteem. Your most Obedient

Thomas Rodney[2]Thomas Rodney to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0456. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 40, 4 March–10 … Continue reading

For Jefferson’s offer, see June 17, 1803. For Rodney’s acceptance letter, see July 1, 1803.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0457 accessed 10 June 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 40, 4 March–10 July 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013, p. 605.]
↑2 Thomas Rodney to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0456. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 40, 4 March–10 July 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013, p. 604.]

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).