The Corps of Discovery

A detailed Summary of The Corps of Discovery

In this essay I will explain what I learned from the Corp of Discovery movie our class watched. I will also tell my thoughts and comments on it. I learned a lot from the movie and understand more about the expedition then I did ever before. In the paragraphs that follow I will explain what I learned followed by my thoughts and comments.

The event that led mostly to this Corp of Discovery expedition was of course when the US bought the Louisiana Territory from France for 15 million dollars. This freed up a lot of space for the United States. Thomas Jefferson, president at the time, decided he wanted this land explored. He wanted to explore the land way before it was sold to the US. He at first was just going to send an expedition over as sort of what I would call a "spy" mission. Then of course it turned into just a regular expedition because the US received this land.

Jefferson appointed Merriwheter Lewis as commander of the mission. When Lewis found out he wrote straight to William Clark asking him to share in commanding this mission. Clark agreed and they were set. They actually had it pretty good in a couple of ways. Lewis had the brain smarts of the group as Clark had the more outdoor smarts. A keelboat was b

On October 11th 1809, Lewis committed suicide at Grinders Inn in Tennessee. On December 20th 1812, Sacagawea dies at Fort Manuel in present day South Dakota. On September 1st 1883, Clark dies at his eldest sons home.

During the first part of the expedition (1804) many new and important things happened as well as some sad things. The Corp of Discovery first encountered two Indian groups by the names of the Oto and the Missouri. They met with them and gave them medals, flags, and other gifts. They made peace with them. A very sad event happened on August 20, 1804. Sergeant Charles Floyd died of what the crew called colic. Historians later concluded that it could have been a burst appendix. They named a nearby stream and a mountain after him. An interesting thing happened when the men encountered a new animal. It was actually a prairie dog but they didn't know it. They tried to drown it and send it to Thomas Jefferson! They did later though successfully catch one and sent it back to Jefferson. The expedition entered what is now the Great Plains finding new animals such as Deer Mule, Antelope, and coyotes. A month later in the expedition a very scary confrontation occurred. While the crew was moving along the river they met the Titon Sioux. They demanded one of the crew's boats as a toll to travel up river. The expedition continued on until they stopped at what seemed to be two Indian Villages. In fact they were the Mandan and Hidatsas. These tribes proved to be very useful and helpful. The crew decided to build a fort across river from these tribes. They would use this fort for the winter. A man named Tousaint Charbonneau was hired as an interpreter for the expedition. His wife was a 16-year-old Shoshone woman named Sacagawea. She will prove to be very helpful along the journey because she knows a lot about the territory to follow.

The next part of the journey (1805) was also an interesting one filled with new and exciting things. On April 7th, 1805 Sacagaqwea gave birth to a young baby boy, which she name John Baptist

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Approximate Word count = 1388
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History