Day-by-Day / July 27, 1803

July 27, 1803

Orders for Kaskaskia

Lewis is in Pittsburgh having a military barge built prior to departure down the Ohio River. From Washington City, orders are issued to lease land in Kaskaskia to build an American Army post.

Kaskaskia Lease

Kaskaskia Town and Fort

by Philip Pittman

map with a small village on the left of the Kaskaskia River and a fort on a bluff on the other side

“Map of Cascaskies” engraved by Thomas Kitchen (1718–1784), 26 x 48 cm. Courtesy David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries, available at www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~337701~90105778.

Pittman’s maps provided British policymakers with detailed information on the Spanish and French settlements in the Mississippi valley prior to the American Revolution.

War Department July 27th 1803.

R. Bissell. & A. Stoddard.

GENTLEMEN . . . . it will be advisable at present to possess the site discribed near Kaskaskia Village. You will endeavor to obtain a lease of from fifty to one hundred acres of land for the purpose, and commence a post on the plan proposed to Capt. Stoddard, of which he has a Sketch, the lease should be for two or three years—In the Months of November or December at farthest I presume we shall have possession of Louisiana, and Capt. Stoddards Company of course will take post at St. Louis.

If there should not be sufficient accommodations at St. Louis for the whole of Capt. S.s. Company he will leave a part of them at Kaskaskia during the winter. You will Gentlemen use the means you possess to conciliate the feelings of the people on the Louisiana side of the River, and dispose them to conduct in a friendly and peacable manner, assuring them that they will be secured in all their rights civil & religious.

. . . . .

I have written to Mr. Hook to forward the timbers & other articles mentioned as having been left at Pittsburgh by Capt. Stoddard.—

I am &c[1]Clarence E. Carter, The Territorial Papers of the United States (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1948), 13:4–5, digitized by Google books.

For the lease agreement for the land on which to build Fort Kaskaskia, see September 4, 1803 .

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Clarence E. Carter, The Territorial Papers of the United States (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1948), 13:4–5, digitized by Google books.

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).