Day-by-Day / December 3, 1803

December 3, 1803

Leaving Fort Kaskaskia

Ste. Genevieve, MO In the afternoon, Clark takes leaves Fort Kaskaskia taking the barge three miles up the Mississippi River. Daniel Clark tells Secretary of State James Madison how the residents of New Orleans look forward to its cession to the United States.

Celestial Observations

together with my Chronometer, as with her I took the time in my observation for equal Altitudes at the mouth of the Ohio, this peace has been going regularly since and I now took Eequal Altd.—
—Meriwether Lewis

Related: Deciphering the Celestial Data by Robert N. Bergantino | Formal Navigation by John Logan Allen

A Plan of the Several Villages

Thomas Hutchins, 1778, Detail

Early map of a settled area

Thomas Hutchins, A Topographical Description of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, 1778.

Leaving Kaskaskia

Set out from the landing at half passed 4 oClock passed an Island near the middle of the River the lower point within three quaters of a mile, came to on the Larbd side after Dark
—William Clark

New Orleans Anticipation

3 December 1803, New Orleans.

The morning of the surrender of the Country was gloomy and an incessant torrent of rain poured down the whole day . . . Except the noise of the Cannon not a sound was heard, the most gloomy silence prevailed and nothing could induce the numerous spectators to express the least Joy or give any sign of Satisfaction on the Occasion—a general fear & hatred of the french Government prevails and our own is looked to as the point of Salvation for the Country.

. . . . .

the day we take possession will be a day of Joy and exultation, it will not pass in Gloomy silence like that of which ushered in the Authority of the Prefect but the General Joy will manifest itself by the most heartfelt and unbounded acclamations—and when the American flag is hoisted the sound of the Cannon announcing the Event will be drowned in the louder cries of our exulting people.[1]“To James Madison from Daniel Clark, 3 December 1803 (Abstract),” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-06-02-0135. [Original source: The … Continue reading

For the “gloomy” transfer of Spanish Louisiana to France, see November 30, 1803. For the transfer to the United States, see December 20, 1803.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 “To James Madison from Daniel Clark, 3 December 1803 (Abstract),” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-06-02-0135. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 6, 1 November 1803–31 March 1804, ed. Mary A. Hackett, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Angela Kreider. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2002, pp. 136–139.]

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).