How did Lewis and Clark celebrate Independence Day?

The United States of America was a mere 28 years old by the time Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Corps of Discovery were working their way up the Missouri River. In 1804, the men were nearing present-day Doniphan, Kansas. They spotted a stream on the Kansas side of the river, and as Clark writes: “as this Creek has no name, and this day is the 4th of July, we name this Independence us. [U.S.] Creek.”

That night, they camped at a spot which Clark called “one of the most butifull [beautiful] Plains, I ever Saw.” They would dub the area “Joe Fields Snake Prairie” due to the private being bit by a snake (possibly a rattlesnake) on this day. Capt. Lewis treated the bite with Peruvian bark, which contained quinine, and Fields recovers. The Americans celebrate their independence with a shot from the boat’s swivel gun and and extra ration of whiskey.

On July 4, 1805, the men had reached the Great Falls of the Missouri, in modern-day Montana — becoming the first Europeans to do so. Capt. Lewis wrote that “we are now about to enter on the most perilous and difficult part of our voyage.” They spent the day attempting to set up their portable iron-frame boat, and the men tried to figure out a mysterious noise that sounded to them exactly like artillery. This booming sound, which is actually a global phenomenon near mountains, remains unsolved to this date. To celebrate, the nation’s 29th birthday, the men finished off the last of the alcohol and danced to the fiddle until a storm cut the festivities off at 9 p.m..

On this day in 1806, the weary explorers were passing through western Montana and had split into two groups on their return journey; Lewis taking the Blackfoot River and Clark on the Bitterroot River. Lewis and his men were leaving Nez Perce territory behind and gave the Indians presents and provisions as the Americans headed east. Sgt. Patrick Gass wrote that the Nez Perce “are the most friendly, honest and ingenuous people that we have seen.”

Meanwhile, Clark writes, “This being the day of the decleration of Independence of the United States and a Day commonly Scelebrated by my Country I had every disposition to Selebrate this day and therefore halted early and partook of a Sumptious Dinner” of venison and roots.