Into the Wilderness: The Lewis and Clark Expedition

6 Life after the Expedition

6 Life after the Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition had been the biggest event in the lives of its members. Most of the explorers were still fairly young, in their 20s and 30s. Sacagawea wasn't even 20 years old yet. And little Jean Baptiste wasn't even two. What did the future hold for the members of the Corps of Discovery? Did it hold happiness and long lives or did it hold disappointment, suffering, and early death? The lives of the Nine Young Men from Kentucky would takes both paths. Charles Floyd, of course, never came home. He lay buried on a hill overlooking the Missouri River, the only member of the Corps to die on the expedition. The Field brothers were two of Lewis and Clark's best men. After the expedition, Lewis described the brothers as "two of the most active and enterprising young men who accompanied us," who had "engaged in all the most dangerous and difficult scenes of the voyage." Perhaps Joseph Field's luck ran out. He was the first to die after the Corps's return. It isn't known how, where, and exactly when he died. He was dead by October 1807. Years later, William Clark reported that Joseph had been killed. It is possible that he was killed by Indians. His brother Reubin's fate was happier. After the expedition he married and settled on a farm in Jefferson County. He died in late 1822 or early 1823. George Gibson married a Louisville woman and briefly 49 lived in the area. While they were moving to St. Louis, he died on the Mississippi River in January 1809. John Shields was reunited with his wife upon his return home. They moved across the Ohio River to southern Indiana. He died in December 1809. William Bratton married a Kentucky woman, served in the War of 1812, and moved to Waynetown, Indiana, in 1822. There he served as a justice of the peace and as a school superintendent and died in 1841. George Shannon became the best-educated member of the Corps of Discovery. He lost a leg in an 1807 Indian fight, went to Transylvania University in Lexington, and helped to write the official expedition history. He became a lawyer, politician, and judge. He married a woman from Lexington in 1813 and moved to Missouri about 1828. There he continued the practice of law and was active in politics. He dropped dead in the courtroom while trying a murder case in 1836. Nathaniel Pryor also had some close calls with Indians. The Kentuckian stayed in the army after the expedition and became an officer. He got out of the army and worked as an Indian trader and in the lead furnace business on the Mississippi. An Indian attack destroyed that business, and he rejoined the army. Pryor rose to the rank of captain and fought at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815. He later returned to the Indian trade, settled in present-day Oklahoma, and married an Indian woman. He died in 1831. The last of the Nine Young Men became the most famous. John Colter became the first "mountain man" and had many adventures in the West. He was the first white man to see the 50 wonders of the geysers and hot springs of what would become Yellowstone National Park. He had run-ins with Indians. The most famous run-in was in 1808 when the Blackfeet captured him. They stripped him naked and told him to start running. The Indians let him get a head start and then chased after him, thinking they would catch him. But they had not counted on Colter's running ability. He outran all but one Indian. Just as that warrior was ready to catch him, Colter turned around, grabbed the Indian's spear and killed him. Colter then jumped in the river and hid in a beaver's den. The other Indians were very angry at this tum of events. They looked for Colter but couldn't find him. When it was safe, Colter began walking to a fort over 200 miles away-and made it. In 1810 after another close call, he decided his luck was used up. He settled in Missouri, married, and died in 1812 or 1813. Captain Lewis described George Drouillard after the expedition as a "man of much merit," whose skills as an interpreter...