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Historical Background

EPILOGUE

TO celebrate the return of the explorers, the leading citizens of St. Louis held a gala dinner and ball in their honor on the evening of September 25 at Christy's Inn. [148] Wined and dined and partaking of dainties they had not tasted in more than 2 years, they heard innumerable toasts to their courage and resourcefulness.

Disbanding the expedition

Closing out the expedition's affairs detained Lewis and Clark in the city longer than they had anticipated—for about a month. On October 10 they settled accounts with Drouillard and discharged all the enlisted men, [149] who the next day received the pay and clothing arrearages due them. At an unknown date, the two captains sold at public auction all the weapons, ammunition, supplies, equipment, and likely the canoes. [150] The sale yielded $408.62. Lewis and Clark also visited with old friends in the area and worked on reports and correspondence.

The eastward jaunt

Probably in late October, Lewis and Clark set out eastward over land. In their party were: York; Ordway; Labiche; probably Frazer; Mandan Chief Sheheke, with his wife and son; his escort-interpreter Jessaume, his Indian wife, and their two children; Pierre Chouteau, Osage Indian agent, as well as various chiefs of that tribe he was escorting to Washington; and likely Pierre Provenchere and others from St. Louis. [151] Packhorses apparently carried botanical and zoological specimens the expedition had acquired since leaving Fort Mandan in April 1805, including sea otter and other skins, skeletons of various quadrupeds and birds, and a plant and seed collection.

The group arrived in Louisville on November 5, 1806. [152] Everyone, including the Indians in their finery, attended a grand ball given especially for them. Lewis and Clark undoubtedly visited George Rogers and Jonathan Clark, and paid a call on Lucy (Clark) Croghan at Locust Grove. [153] Gass, who had been waiting at Vincennes to meet Lewis, came to Louisville when he learned the latter had deleted a planned stop at Vincennes. [154]

William Clark and York stayed behind at Louisville. The former planned to spend some time with his relatives and then proceed to Fincastle, Va., to court Julia ("Judith") Hancock, after whom he had named the Judith River in Montana. About mid-November Lewis and the rest of the party headed east. [155] At Frankfort, Ky., Chouteau and his Osages separated from the rest; and traveled via Lexington, Ky., to Washington, D.C., where they arrived sometime before December 24, a few days ahead of Lewis. Meantime, moving from Frankfort over the Wilderness Road through Cumberland Gap into Virginia, Lewis reached Locust Hill estate, his birthplace along Ivy Creek, in plenty of time to spend Christmas with his mother, Mrs. Lucy Marks. While there, as Jefferson had probably requested, he took Sheheke and his party to see Mandan and other Indian artifacts that had been assembled at Monticello.

Lewis' stay in Washington

Lewis and his party arrived in Washington on December 28. [156] He and his Indian charges, objects of special attention along with Chouteau's Osages, were quickly swept up in a social whirl. The Indians received personal audiences with President Jefferson, and he honored them with a New Year's Day levee at the White House. [157] Lewis, and Clark in absentia, were feted on January 14 at a banquet presided over by Maj. Robert Brent and attended by prominent Washington residents, Congressmen, Government officials, Sheheke, Chouteau, and Provenchere. [158] This celebration had been postponed from an earlier date in the hope that Clark could be present, but he did not make an appearance in the city until a few days afterwards. [159]