Illinois Site Marks Place Where Lewis, Clark and 11 Kentuckians, Spent Bitter Winter

Lexington, KY, Herald-Leader ^ | 03-29-04 | Craig, Berry

[Theodore R.]

Illinois site marks place where Lewis, Clark and 11 Kentuckians, spent bitter winter

BERRY CRAIG

Associated Press

HARTFORD, Ill. - Pvt. John Colter was cold or bored, or maybe both.

The young Kentuckian and three other soldiers left Camp River Dubois allegedly for "hunting or other business." They sneaked off to a "neighboring Whiskey shop" and got caught.

Their commander confined them to camp for 10 days. The officer was Capt. Meriwether Lewis of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806.

The party of explorers, which included 11 Kentuckians, wintered in 1803-1804 at Camp River Dubois near Hartford, Ill. The tiny bivouac was named for a local stream that emptied into the Mississippi River.

"Here, the men learned to work together for a common purpose," said Cindy Upchurch, staff development specialist at the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site. "Here, that meant working together to keep from freezing to death."

The actual camp site is uncertain. Records only reveal that Camp River Dubois was on the Mississippi north of St. Louis and across from where the Missouri River joined the Father of Waters.

"The mouth of the Missouri is north of us, maybe an eighth of a mile, but that's not where it was 200 years ago," Upchurch said. "We're in the neighborhood of Camp River Dubois, but nobody knows exactly where 'X' marks the spot."

The state historic site on Illinois Route 3 includes a visitors center with a full-size, cutaway replica of Lewis' and Clark's keelboat. On the grounds is a reconstructed log-walled camp and cabins based on sketches by Capt. William Clark, who joined Lewis at Louisville.

"We had 175,000 visitors last year," Upchurch said. "Clark wasn't expecting nearly that many, so for the comfort of our visitors, we're glad we made our camp a little larger."

The exploring party, dubbed the Corps of Discovery, numbered about 40 men. They stayed at Camp River Dubois from December 1803, until spring 1804, when they ascended the Missouri, the first leg of their 8,000-mile trek to the Pacific Ocean and back to St. Louis.

President Thomas Jefferson dispatched Lewis and Clark to find out what was in the new Louisiana Purchase, a vast territory between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The duo was also to cross the Rockies and reach the sea.

En route to Camp River Dubois, Lewis and Clark signed up "nine young men from Kentucky" and other recruits. The captain and his slave, York, brought the total to 11 sons of the Bluegrass State in the Corps of Discovery.

The other Kentuckians, besides Colter, were Sgts. Charles Floyd and Nathaniel Pryor; and Pvts. William Bratton, brothers Joseph and Reubin Field, George Gibson, George Shannon and John Shields.

Colter, from Maysville, was 29 when the expedition began, according to author and historian George Yater of Louisville. "He has been described as five feet, ten inches tall, somewhat shy, with blue eyes and a quick mind," Yater wrote in a booklet about the Kentuckians, which is for sale at the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site visitors center.

Colter might have felt the need for some corn-squeezed "antifreeze" at Camp River Dubois. "It was a very cold and brutal winter with lots of snow," Upchurch said. "I can kind of sympathize with the men."

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

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