DISPATCHES FROM THE DISCOVERY TRAIL

By Michael O. Perry

The day Lewis and Clark had long feared had arrived. One Indian was dead and another either dead or seriously wounded. After 2-1/2 years of traveling through Indian country without any major problems, how could this have happened? President Jefferson had given Lewis written instructions to treat Indians “in the most friendly & conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit.” While there had been some tense moments as the Corps crossed paths with hostile Indians, they had been able to use diplomacy to resolve conflicts in each case. At least, until July 26, 1806.

On July 3, after crossing the Rocky Mountains, the Corps split into several parties to further explore the northern plains. Lewis and nine men went to Great Falls using an overland route the Nez Perce had told him about. He left six men there to construct carts to portage the canoes that Sgt. Ordway would be bringing down the Missouri. Lewis took his three best men and headed north to determine if the headwaters of the Marias River lay above the 49th parallel; the United States owned all the land drained by the Missouri River.

Lewis was well aware of the danger in this mission, since it would require traveling across Blackfeet land. Lewis’s fear was based on experiences of other Indian tribes that had been victims of the aggressive Blackfeet nation. Lewis wrote they were a “vicious lawless and reather an abandoned set of wretches” and he was determined “to avoid an interview with them if possible.”

After traveling up the Marias River, only to find it did not go as far north as he hoped, Lewis decided to return to the Missouri River and rejoin the Expedition. On the morning of July 26, they left their camp near present-day Cut Bank, Montana, and proceeded down Two Medicine River. That afternoon, Lewis saw the thing he had feared most — a group of Indians coming towards them.

It appeared Lewis and his men were heavily outnumbered; the Indians had 30 horses, about half wearing saddles. Lewis wrote, “this was a very unpleasant sight.” He unfurled his flag and rode towards the Indians. After both sides met, cont page 7

In AprIl 2021 we Introduced A revIsed versIon of Michael Perry’s popular series which was expanded In the new book, Dispatches from the Discovery Trail, edited by Hal Calbom and published by CRRPress. It includes an in-depth author interview and new illustrations and commentary.

Lewis was relieved to find just eight young Indians herding horses captured in a raid, but he noticed two Indians had muskets obtained from French-Canadian fur traders. After giving his last peace medal to a chief, Lewis wrote, “I was convinced that they would attempt to rob us in which case… I should resist to the last extremity prefering death to that of being deprived of my papers instruments and gun.” Lewis invited the Indians to spend the night together in order to prevent them from returning to their village for reinforcements.

Lewis told his men they needed to watch the Indians all night to prevent them from stealing their guns and horses. After smoking with the Indians until dark, Lewis took the first watch. When he woke Reuben Fields at midnight, the Indians all appeared to be asleep. His brother, Joseph, took the next watch. All went well until daybreak, when the Indians got up and crowded around the fire.

Michael Perry enjoys local history and travel. His popular 33-installment Lewis & Clark series appeared in Columbia River Reader’s early years and helped shape its identity and zeitgeist. After two encores, the series has been expanded and published in a book. Details, page 47.

Lewis & Clark from page 5

In the blink of an eye

According to Lewis, Joseph Fields “carelessly laid his gun down behind him near where his brother was sleeping.” Before he knew it, the Indian wearing the peace medal took both of the Fields brothers’ rifles. Worse, two other Indians had slipped up to where Lewis and George Drouillard were sleeping and stole their rifles. When Joseph Fields saw what was happening, he yelled out to his brother. Reuben Fields jumped up and chased the Indian with the two rifles for 150 feet when, according to Lewis’s journal, “he seized his gun, stabed the indian to the heart with his knife… the fellow ran about 15 steps and fell dead.”

Lewis awoke to hear Drouillard shouting, “damn you let go my gun.” Drouillard recovered his rifle, but when Lewis realized his rifle was also gone, “drew a pistol from my holster” and ran after the Indian who had taken it. After Lewis warned the Indian he was going to shoot him, the Indian “droped the gun and walked slowly off, I picked her up instantly.” All four rifles were recovered and no shots had been fired. But, one Indian lay dead.

Lewis’s men wanted to kill the Indians, but Lewis refused, saying the Indians had not tried to harm them. But things soon changed when the Indians attempted to steal their horses. Lewis wrote, “I pursued the man who had taken my gun who with another was driving off a part of the horses… being nearly out of breath I could pursue no further, I called to them… that I would shoot them if they did not give me my horse.”

Now what?

Lewis wrote, as he “raised my gun, one of them jumped behind a rock and spoke to the other who turned arround and stoped at the distance of 30 steps from me and I shot him through the belly, he fell to his knees and on his wright elbow from which position he partly raised himself and fired at me, and turning himself about crawled in behind a rock which was a few feet from him. he overshot me, being bearheaded I felt the wind of his bullet very distinctly.” Most historians believe the Indian Lewis shot died, but he possibly survived.

Lewis was concerned that the Indians who escaped would return, so the men rounded up the remaining horses, some of which belonged to the Indians. After throwing the Indians’ bows and arrows

… Lewis was concerned … I drove up that same path on my visit to the area, trying to relive it. And that’s out in the middle of nowhere, desolate, dry land. And I’m thinking, ‘Okay, they’re out there, and they see these Indians coming at them.’ And I’m sure they felt like they were going to die. And there were only three of them, and eight or ten Indians coming. And I think that’s probably the one time that Lewis feared being outnumbered or out-gunned by the Indians on the whole trip. Up ’til then, they’d had the cannon on the boat and other weapons that they could shoot and scare them off.” onto the campfire, Lewis left the peace “medal about the neck of the dead man that they might be informed who we were.” Then, they mounted their horses and rode 120 miles in 24 hours.

… scene of the crime?

The purported site of this incident was discovered in 1964 by two Cut Bank Boy Scout leaders who used the directions and descriptions contained in Lewis’s journal. Two of the ‘three solitary trees’ described by Lewis in his journal still stand, and the site has been marked and fenced by the local Boy Scout District and has been declared a historic site by the National Park Service. As part of the Bicentennial Commemoration in 2006, the Blackfeet Tribe organized a four-day symposium memorializing the fight. “The symposium will advance the Bicentennial’s top priorities of expressing American Indians’ perspectives about Lewis and Clark and examining our shared history from diverse, sometimes divergent, points of view,” said a tribal spokesperson.

Safe at last

They arrived at the mouth of the Marias River just as Sergeant Gass and his party came floating down the Missouri. Lewis wrote, “I was so soar from my ride yesterday that I could scarcely stand.” Now, if the Blackfeet managed to track them down, there were enough men and guns to repel an attack.

MORE TO THE STORY: A case of murder?

A BlAckfeet triBAl elder, G. G. Kipp, feels Lewis’s story is false. However, no existing written record supports his belief. Indians did not have a written language; they relied on oral histories to pass down events to future generations.

According to Kipp (in a presentation to the Blackfeet Community College’s Native American Scholars program, as reported in a 2003 Great Falls Tribune article), Lewis and his party ran into a group of young boys who were herding horses back to camp from a previous foray. “They stayed with them and gambled with them,” Kipp said in 2003. “In the morning, they went to part company, and the Indians took what they had won. That was it,” said Kipp, “that’s when they were killed.”

…or justifiable homicide?

A newspaper story dating back to 1919 offers another view. In 1895, George Bird Grinnell, one of the fathers of Glacier National Park, interviewed a 102-year old Blackfoot chief named Wolf Calf. He told Grinnell that when he was 13 years old, he and some other Indians met some white men in a friendly fashion. Their chief directed them to try to steal some things, according to Wolf Calf. He said they did so early the next morning, and the white men killed one of them with a big knife. When asked why the Indians didn’t pursue Lewis to retaliate, Wolf Calf said they were frightened and ran away – just like Lewis and his men, but in the opposite direction.

Next episode, we will learn more about that deadly journey.

By Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am a small-animal veterinarian. Often, when people hear of my career, they coo, “Oh, I wanted to be a vet too, but I’m just too tenderhearted.” Sometimes they’ll follow up with a horrified whisper: “All that euthanasia! How can you do it? Don’t you feel horrible?”

Miss M, this makes me feel like a monster. I am proud to be able to offer animals a good death and end their suffering. When people call me to euthanize their pets, they are desperate. They’ve seen their best friend go downhill in a hurry. They are often emotional wrecks, and their gratitude for my service is clear and genuine.

Yes, I am morally comfortable assisting people to say goodbye, and helping their beloved pets over the edge into the great unknown, or rainbow bridge, or chance at reincarnation, or whatever awaits them. But I am wounded by comments like these. Please don’t say I’m too sensitive ... the hypothetical person I’m talking with has just said I succeeded in becoming a vet because I am insensitive.

Can you offer an appropriate response that I can whip out in a hurry? I don’t want to be insulting, but I do want folks to see how their insensitive remarks sting.

GENTLE READER: After thanking them for the insult, Miss Manners presumes.

“I can assure you it is never easy to euthanize. But the alternative is far crueler.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: At a family gathering, should guests help with cleanup?

GENTLE READER: That depends. Are you a parent whose children are lounging around while you do all the work? Then you should assign them tasks.

Or are you the adult child who doesn’t want parents messing in your kitchen? Then you should assure them that you enjoy pampering them for a change.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have worked and served in a number of high-profile local positions, and have had the good fortune to meet many wonderful people. I am often approached with greetings when I go to stores, restaurants, etc. The problem is that even though these people look familiar, occasionally I cannot remember their names or how we originally came into contact years ago. They know me on sight, by name, but sometimes I haven’t a clue as to who they are.

Their greetings are always friendly and I am always polite, responding as though I know them. But is there a polite way to ask their name without offending them?

GENTLE READER: “You are so good to remember me. Please remind me of your name and how we met?

I am afraid that my memory is not as good.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: When my brother, his family and I attended a wedding that was held six hours from page 8 away, I drove my car and my brother accompanied me. My sister-in-law drove her car, with my 30-year-old nephew and his girlfriend as passengers.

However, I made the return drive home alone, while the four of them rode in their car. Was it impolite of them to not volunteer for someone to ride with me?

Our homes are very close to each other and we left at the same approximate time. At 75 years of age, I would have felt more comfortable with company just in case of an emergency.

GENTLE READER: Their behavior was not impolite. But while Miss Manners is unable to provide you with the basis for a good grievance, she can solve your actual problem: Next time, say, “Would one of you come with me in my car? It’s a long drive and I would love the company.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: As a university professor in my mid-60s, I feel very comfortable with my job. I find my daily interactions with students refreshing, and enjoy the company of several colleagues in the profession. I have a rich intellectual life.

I love what I do and do what I love. Unless I develop a severe disease, I plan to continue my work until I feel that it is time to stop.

Yet all kinds of people -- not only family and friends, but strangers I occasionally chat with on planes -- keep asking me why I have not retired. I never ask anybody else about their retirement plans, not even my closest friends.

I keep saying that I have a fulfilling and gratifying job, yet people insist. Is there a better answer?

GENTLE READER: “When you retire, you are probably going to want to pass on your wisdom to the next generation. I am lucky enough to do that for a living. Why should I stop?”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I feel like there’s a large generational gap that needs to be addressed. What is considered necessary or obvious to one generation is considered frivolous or foreign to another. Culture changes, and so do expectations regarding behavior.

I’m a younger millennial, turning 28 next month. Millennials and Generation Z have radically different attitudes than previous generations towards things like work culture, dining and even thankyou cards. We discuss our pay openly to promote equity in the workplace. We care more about how a dining partner treats the waitstaff than which fork he or she uses. And while we do

Details, Dining Guide, page 28

Longview Outdoor Gallery

Unique sculptures along the sidewalks of Downtown Longview, both sides of Commerce Ave.

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Gift Books Lewis & Clark, Astoria, Columbia River ... poetry, history, 5 titles, see pg 2 Gift Subscriptions for yourself or a friend!

Mon-Wed-Fri

Other times by chance or 1333 14th Ave, Longview Free local delivery of books 360-749-1021 appreciate everybody who gives us gifts, we simply do not place value on thankyou cards like previous generations. We understand the inherent gratitude one receiving a gift has for the giver. We show our appreciation through helping each other out and supporting one another, because our actions speak more loudly than our words.

It’s not that we don’t appreciate you or that we feel entitled to gifts. It’s that our way of saying “thank you” is different. We don’t expect to receive thank-you cards, so please don’t expect us to send them.

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