This picture from Sgt. Gass's journal, shows Captain Clark with his men shooting a grizzly bear.
The Lewis and Clark expedition was the first American expedition that challenged America’s pioneering spirit of discovery because of the journey’s arduous and laborious nature. Throughout the 8,000 mile trek, Lewis and Clark’s company was incessantly bombarded with many perilous dilemmas, as they fought for their very own survival that ranged from disease, injuries, ravenous wild animals, and the untamed wilderness.
One of the many challenges Lewis and Clark encountered in their expedition was the inevitable risk of malignant illnesses and injuries. Lewis studied with Dr. Benjamin Rush to learn the basics for medical treatment that gave him the authority of overseeing the Corps’s medical care. At the time, it was believed that a person who was ill contained bad things within the body that needed to be released. This belief resulted in treatments that included vomiting and bloodletting, which is the removal of a patient’s blood. For instance, Captain Lewis bled a wounded member who suffered from heat stroke during the journey and gave him Niter, a medication administered that increased perspiration, urination, and reduced fever.[1] However, bloodletting only deteriorated the wounded member’s condition. In contrast, a more logical treatment would have been shade, rest, and fluid consumption.[2] Furthermore, disease was easily transferred; the men drank from the rivers which contained insanitary water that affected them by the development of boils on the their skin.[3]
Numerous illnesses often delayed the journey. As they advanced to the upper Missouri River on June 1805, Sacagawea carried a fever and suffered irregularities in the respiratory tract and had a weak pulse. As a result, constant bleeding exacerbated her condition that forced Lewis to prescribe her with “two dozens of barks and opium” and a plethora of sulfur water. In addition, during their journey across the Bitterroot Mountains on September 1805, the starved explorers contracted an intestinal infection known as dysentery because of the consumption of fish that contained contagious bacteria or parasites.[4] Consequently, Clark prescribed Thunderbolts, which was the cure-all purgative during that time. Unfortunately, Thunderbolts often did more harm than good because it contained a toxic substance called mercury.[5] To make matters worse, gonorrhea and syphilis were present in the native tribes west of the Rockies, and it put the Corp’s men in constant risk due to sexual activities with the native tribes. For example, two men from the expedition received pox after sexually contacting Chinook women. Despite the toxicity to the patients from mercury, mercury was often utilized as treatment for syphilis. Hence, the continued exposure to mercury led to severe complications, such as kidney failure and death.[6]
The expedition of Lewis and Clark was a “walking hospital” because it was plagued with many diseases and illnesses that derived from the long and exhausted expedition. During that time, the lack of medical advancement did little to help Lewis and Clark’s members because it offered ineffectual healing, and it resulted in more harm than good. Nevertheless, their treatments would have been similar in the hospital. Despite the harmful treatments, their party achieved their goals with only one fatality due to a ruptured appendix.[7]
In their voyage, one of their mission was to scientifically describe and document unknown animals that sometimes led to dangerous life and death confrontations with wild animals. On one occasion, a 300-pound beastly bear chased a group of corps men for a distance of about 70 yards after they had fired on the bear. After the encounter, Lewis wrote a comparison between a grizzly bear and black bear in his journal; he described the grizzly bear, as “more furious and required multiple shots to take down.”[8] Unfortunately, Clark had another confrontation with a grizzly bear on May 5, 1805. Clark was accompanied by a hunter, and both men instantaneously fired five ball rounds until the bear finally collapsed.[9] Likewise, the Corps men also faced dangers from other animals, such as wolves and rattlesnakes. For instance, a wolf viciously bit Nathaniel Pryo and Richard Windsor, both Corp members, as they were sleeping and caught them by surprise.[10] Similarly, Joseph Whitehouse, a Corp member, unknowingly stepped on a rattlesnake that bit him on the leg. To make matters worse, insects inflicted misery to the explorers as they traveled down the Missouri River due to the swarm of mosquitoes that nipped on the explorers faces and eyes, causing them to swell.[11]
Despite the vast unknown wilderness, Lewis and Clark embarked on a two and a half year journey with many obstacles that confronted them in order to explore the American frontier. In doing so, they had to overcome the risk succumbing to diseases, injuries, and the potential harm from unknown wild animals. However, their efforts were not in vain, as they provided extensive knowledge of the Northwestern frontier’s geography, diverse animals, and Native American tribes that contributed to scientific research and U.S. expansion.
[1] Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery. U of Nebraska Press, 2004, 333.
[2] National Park Service. Accessed April 5, 2014. http://www.nps.gov/jeff/historyculture/medlc.htm., paragraph 2.
[3] Ibid. Paragraph 1.
[4] Woodger, Elin, and Brandon Toropov. "illnesses and injuries on the Lewis and Clark Expedition." Encyclopedia of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Accessed April 1, 2014. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=ELCE0157&SingleRecord=True, paragraph 4-5.
[5] U.S. Army Center of Military History, "Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery." Accessed April 1, 2014. http://www.history.army.mil/LC/The Mission/LC_Pamphlet/, page 13.
[6] National Park Service. Accessed April 5, 2014. http://www.nps.gov/jeff/historyculture/medlc.htm., paragraph 4.
[7] Ibid. Paragraph 6.
[8] Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery. U of Nebraska Press, 2004, 124.
[9] Discovery Communications, "The Great White Bear." Accessed April 3, 2014. http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/great-bear-stakeout/about-grizzlies/history/great-white-bear.htm, paragraph 3.
[10] National Park Service, "Lewis and Clark Expedition." Accessed April 3, 2014. http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/lewisandclark/encounters.htm, paragraph 2.
[11] University of Virginia, "Medicine and Health on the Lewis and Clark Expedition." Accessed April 3, 2014. http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/lewisclark/journey/, paragraph 37.
