On this day, May 14, 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition set out from Camp Dubois, Illinois.

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Lewis and Clark Expedition


Portraits of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark


Route of expedition with modern borders

Date: May 14, 1804 – September 23, 1806
Duration: 862 days
Motive: Explore the 1803 Louisiana Purchase
Organized by: U.S. President Thomas Jefferson
Participants: Corps of Discovery: Lewis, Clark, 40 men, and one woman (Sacajawea)
Deaths: 1 – Charles Floyd, August 1804 near Sioux City, Iowa

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select group of U.S. Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. Clark, along with 30 others, set out from Camp Dubois (Camp Wood), Illinois, on May 14, 1804, met Lewis and ten other members of the group in St. Charles, Missouri, then went up the Missouri River. The expedition crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas near the Lemhi Pass, eventually coming to the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean in 1805. The return voyage began on March 23, 1806, at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, ending six months later on September 23.

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