The Louisiana Purchase may have been a great victory for the United States of America, and although the land was now technically territory of the United States, there were already natives living on the land. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off into the land and encountered many of these different tribes, some were peaceful and happy to share their knowledge, and other tribes were more hostile and made their journey a bit more difficult. Native Americans made important contributions to the US expedition by teaching them about the land, allowing settlers to observe their culture, showing them how to trade.
One of the main goals of the expedition was to map out the land and to see what resources and types of lands and conditions were out further west. As they encountered many different landscapes and seasons, there were times it would have been hard to survive without the help and advice of natives. One of the most valuable native advisors they found was Sacagawea of the Shoshone Lemhi Indians. She was able to translate between the explorers and the tribes to maintain peace and help with exchanges and trades, she knew her way around trails along the land, and taught them about edible plants and roots that they could use along their journey for sustenance. [1] This was very important because this helped them prevent attacks from new tribes, and helped them replenish their supplies so they would be able to survive in the wilderness. The Nez Perez Tribe also taught them different ways for food preservation, like drying meat and fruits,[2] so they could take food with them without it spoiling or weighing them down and have food available to them when hunting or resources were scarce. The Nez Perez were also valuable allies for information about other tribes that were not so peaceful, as well as the Mandan tribe who specifically warned the expedition to be cautious of the Teton Sioux and as Clark recorded, that is was imperative to treat this tribe, “in the most friendly and conciliatory manner.” [3]They would later heed this advice when they encountered the Sioux tribe and confirmed them to me a less friendly tribe. As they pressed on across the land, the men came across various more tribes who graciously let them observe and learn from their cultures.
Each tribe the expedition encountered had unique and useful aspects to their culture that bound the natives together, but also gave each tribe an individual identity. The Oto tribe for example showed the men about their hunting-farming community, where they hunted bison, but also grew squash, corn and beans.[4] Farming was not particularly common amongst many tribes they encountered because of the conditions of the land and migration patterns of many native animals that were staples in their diet to survive. Farming gave the Oto tribe a chance to settle down in a specific territory with supplies to survive. The Teton Sioux on the other hand were a hunting and mainly a toll system instead of a trade system. The tribe was powerful and had many rivalries, and to cross through their territory they demanded tolls which often included things such as tobacco, supplies and food.[5] Besides how tribes got their food, many tribes had different morals and social concepts. The Black Feet for example were fond of sustaining their life through stealing[6], they had a concept like survival of the fittest, where they took advantage of other tribes and people and worked smarter rather than harder. The Chinook tribe left a particular impression on the men due to their poor appearance, as well as some previous advice that this tribe had the intention to kill the men.[7] Also based on appearance, the Flatheads introduced Lewis and Clark to a new custom they had to artificially alter the shape of their heads by compressing them between two boards to actually give them a pointed effect.[8] Lewis and Clark learned a lot about various tribes from customs to morals, and found that some tribes were similar to settlers and were happy to get along with new immigrants, while some tribes values morals and ethics that their modern society would deem wrong. One common thing they all shared though was trade, and as much as Lewis and Clark learned from the tribes, the tribes were on the receiving end of trades as much as they were.
Trade was important to Native Americans, it allowed them to make allies, and help one another survive by sharing resources from different territories as well as new tools from the expedition. The Oto Indians had an open-trade system that Lewis and Clark tried to redesign with the best intentions of introducing the natives to a structured and organized value system,[9] but this did not quite satisfy the natives and went back to their preferential method of trading with their neighbors as they saw fit. The Shoshone tribe bargained with Lewis and Clark, with the translation by Sacagawea, for various tools such as knives, pistols and ammunition, for horses[10] this allowed the expedition to venture further west at a more rapid pace to cover more land in a shorter time. The Chinook tribe was actually already familiar with international trade, as they had previously been trading with British traders who came out to the west Oregon coast.[11] This allowed for much easier trading when the expedition came around because the tribe was already more advanced with trading than many of the other tribes they encountered. Trade was essential to every tribe as well as to the expedition to allow them to survive and accomplish what they set out to do on a nationwide journey.
On their expedition Lewis and Clark encountered many different tribes, some who helped and some who hurt, but all contributed to what they learned and were able to bring back to the settlers about the Native Americans and the land that the United States had now claimed. Native Americans provided more in depth knowledge to simple observations about the land they were exploring, offered an insight as to how different tribes went about surviving and culturally thriving, as well as engaging in trade with the expedition to learn more from one another. Overall, the Native American tribes that Lewis and Clark encountered on their expedition offered an incredible insight for settlement in the new territory.
Footnotes:
[1] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Tribes: Minitari Indians," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_011_5_4.html.
[2] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Journey Leg: Among the Nez Perez," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_leg_17_11.html.
[3] Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents 1783-1854, (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1978), vol. 1, 64.
[4] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Tribes: Oto Indians," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_015_2_7.html
[5] Tennant, Brad, "Reading Between the Lines: Lewis and Clark’s Encounter with the Lakota," http://www.eotp.net/Reading%20Between%20the%20Lines%20by%20Brad%20Tennant.pdf.
[6] Public Broadcasting Service, "Blackfeet Indians," Lewis and Clark, accessed April 2014, http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/bla.html.
[7] Public Broadcasting Service, "Chinook Indians," Lewis and Clark, accessed April 2014, http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/chi.html.
[8] "Lewis & Clark and the ‘Old Baud’ Prostitution at Fort Clatsop," Frances Hunters American Heroes Blog, accessed April 2014, http://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/lewis-clark-and-the-old-baud-prostitution-at-fort-clatsop/.
[9] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Tribes: Oto Indians," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_015_2_7.html.
[10] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Journey Leg: Among the Shoshone," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_leg_11.html.
[11] Public Broadcasting Service, "Chinook Indians," Lewis and Clark, accessed April 2014, http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/chi.html.
One of the main goals of the expedition was to map out the land and to see what resources and types of lands and conditions were out further west. As they encountered many different landscapes and seasons, there were times it would have been hard to survive without the help and advice of natives. One of the most valuable native advisors they found was Sacagawea of the Shoshone Lemhi Indians. She was able to translate between the explorers and the tribes to maintain peace and help with exchanges and trades, she knew her way around trails along the land, and taught them about edible plants and roots that they could use along their journey for sustenance. [1] This was very important because this helped them prevent attacks from new tribes, and helped them replenish their supplies so they would be able to survive in the wilderness. The Nez Perez Tribe also taught them different ways for food preservation, like drying meat and fruits,[2] so they could take food with them without it spoiling or weighing them down and have food available to them when hunting or resources were scarce. The Nez Perez were also valuable allies for information about other tribes that were not so peaceful, as well as the Mandan tribe who specifically warned the expedition to be cautious of the Teton Sioux and as Clark recorded, that is was imperative to treat this tribe, “in the most friendly and conciliatory manner.” [3]They would later heed this advice when they encountered the Sioux tribe and confirmed them to me a less friendly tribe. As they pressed on across the land, the men came across various more tribes who graciously let them observe and learn from their cultures.
Each tribe the expedition encountered had unique and useful aspects to their culture that bound the natives together, but also gave each tribe an individual identity. The Oto tribe for example showed the men about their hunting-farming community, where they hunted bison, but also grew squash, corn and beans.[4] Farming was not particularly common amongst many tribes they encountered because of the conditions of the land and migration patterns of many native animals that were staples in their diet to survive. Farming gave the Oto tribe a chance to settle down in a specific territory with supplies to survive. The Teton Sioux on the other hand were a hunting and mainly a toll system instead of a trade system. The tribe was powerful and had many rivalries, and to cross through their territory they demanded tolls which often included things such as tobacco, supplies and food.[5] Besides how tribes got their food, many tribes had different morals and social concepts. The Black Feet for example were fond of sustaining their life through stealing[6], they had a concept like survival of the fittest, where they took advantage of other tribes and people and worked smarter rather than harder. The Chinook tribe left a particular impression on the men due to their poor appearance, as well as some previous advice that this tribe had the intention to kill the men.[7] Also based on appearance, the Flatheads introduced Lewis and Clark to a new custom they had to artificially alter the shape of their heads by compressing them between two boards to actually give them a pointed effect.[8] Lewis and Clark learned a lot about various tribes from customs to morals, and found that some tribes were similar to settlers and were happy to get along with new immigrants, while some tribes values morals and ethics that their modern society would deem wrong. One common thing they all shared though was trade, and as much as Lewis and Clark learned from the tribes, the tribes were on the receiving end of trades as much as they were.
Trade was important to Native Americans, it allowed them to make allies, and help one another survive by sharing resources from different territories as well as new tools from the expedition. The Oto Indians had an open-trade system that Lewis and Clark tried to redesign with the best intentions of introducing the natives to a structured and organized value system,[9] but this did not quite satisfy the natives and went back to their preferential method of trading with their neighbors as they saw fit. The Shoshone tribe bargained with Lewis and Clark, with the translation by Sacagawea, for various tools such as knives, pistols and ammunition, for horses[10] this allowed the expedition to venture further west at a more rapid pace to cover more land in a shorter time. The Chinook tribe was actually already familiar with international trade, as they had previously been trading with British traders who came out to the west Oregon coast.[11] This allowed for much easier trading when the expedition came around because the tribe was already more advanced with trading than many of the other tribes they encountered. Trade was essential to every tribe as well as to the expedition to allow them to survive and accomplish what they set out to do on a nationwide journey.
On their expedition Lewis and Clark encountered many different tribes, some who helped and some who hurt, but all contributed to what they learned and were able to bring back to the settlers about the Native Americans and the land that the United States had now claimed. Native Americans provided more in depth knowledge to simple observations about the land they were exploring, offered an insight as to how different tribes went about surviving and culturally thriving, as well as engaging in trade with the expedition to learn more from one another. Overall, the Native American tribes that Lewis and Clark encountered on their expedition offered an incredible insight for settlement in the new territory.
Footnotes:
[1] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Tribes: Minitari Indians," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_011_5_4.html.
[2] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Journey Leg: Among the Nez Perez," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_leg_17_11.html.
[3] Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents 1783-1854, (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1978), vol. 1, 64.
[4] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Tribes: Oto Indians," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_015_2_7.html
[5] Tennant, Brad, "Reading Between the Lines: Lewis and Clark’s Encounter with the Lakota," http://www.eotp.net/Reading%20Between%20the%20Lines%20by%20Brad%20Tennant.pdf.
[6] Public Broadcasting Service, "Blackfeet Indians," Lewis and Clark, accessed April 2014, http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/bla.html.
[7] Public Broadcasting Service, "Chinook Indians," Lewis and Clark, accessed April 2014, http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/chi.html.
[8] "Lewis & Clark and the ‘Old Baud’ Prostitution at Fort Clatsop," Frances Hunters American Heroes Blog, accessed April 2014, http://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/lewis-clark-and-the-old-baud-prostitution-at-fort-clatsop/.
[9] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Tribes: Oto Indians," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_015_2_7.html.
[10] National Geographics Society, "Lewis and Clark Journey Leg: Among the Shoshone," National Geographic, accessed April 2014, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_leg_11.html.
[11] Public Broadcasting Service, "Chinook Indians," Lewis and Clark, accessed April 2014, http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/chi.html.