The Corps of Discovery Shoves Off Summary and Analysis

On the morning of May 13, 1804, Captain William Clark and a staff of around 40 people leave the Army camp of River Dubois, on the eastern mouth of the Missouri River. Clark mentions he wrote to Meriwether Lewis, who is in St. Louis attending some necessary business. The co-captain will be picked up later by the exploration team. The initial team leaves aboard 3 boats: 1 huge boat and two smaller pirogues. The boats are loaded with as many munitions and provisions as they can afford, but not as much as Clark would have liked. On the following day, the team reaches the French village of St. Charles, near St. Louis, where it waits to pick up Captain Lewis. Later that afternoon, the Corps leaves the village and sets up camp on an island 4 miles...