II
_THE KNIGHT OF THE WHITE HOUSE_
And Meriwether Lewis was ready to start. The night before the Fourthof July he wrote his mother:
"The day after to-morrow I shall set out for the western country. I had calculated on the pleasure of visiting you, but circumstances have rendered it impossible. My absence will probably be equal to fifteen or eighteen months. The nature of this expedition is by no means dangerous. My route will be altogether through tribes of Indians friendly to the United States, therefore I consider the chances of life just as much in my favour as I should conceive them were I to remain at home. The charge of this expedition is honourable to myself, as it is important to my country. For its fatigues I feel myself perfectly prepared, nor do I doubt my health and strength of constitution to bear me through it. I go with the most perfect pre-conviction in my own mind of returning safe, and hope therefore that you will not suffer yourself to indulge any anxiety for my safety,--I will write again on my arrival at Pittsburg. Adieu, and believe me your affectionate son,
MERIWETHER LEWIS."
The Jefferson girls had returned to their homes. Dolly Madison andMrs. Gallatin supervised the needle department, having made"housewives" enough to fit out a regiment. Joseph Rapin, the steward,helped Lewis pack his belongings, Secretary Gallatin contributed a mapof Vancouver's sketch of the Columbia mouth, and Madison rendered hisparting benediction.
Out of the iron gate in the high rock wall in front of the White HouseMeriwether went,--fit emblem of the young Republic, slim and lithe,immaculate in new uniform and three-cornered _chapeau_, his sunnythick-braided queue falling over the high-collared coat,--to meet thePotomac packet for Harper's Ferry. All around were uncut forests, savethe little clearing of Washington, and up the umbrageous hillsstretched an endless ocean of tree-tops.
The wind blew up the Potomac, fluttering the President's gray locks."If a superior force should be arrayed against your passage, return,Meriwether," was the anxious parting word. "To your own discretionmust be left the degree of danger you may risk."
But Meriwether had no fears.
"Should you reach the Pacific Ocean,--endeavour to learn if there beany port within your reach frequented by sea-vessels of any nation,and to send two of your trusted people back by sea, with a copy ofyour notes. Should you be of opinion that the return of your party bythe way they went will be dangerous, then ship the whole, and returnby way of Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope. As you will be withoutmoney, clothes or provisions, I give you this open letter of creditauthorising you to draw on the Executive of the United States or anyof its officers in any part of the world. Our consuls at Batavia inJava, at the Isles of France and Bourbon, and at the Cape of Good Hopewill be able to supply you necessities by drafts on us."
For where in the world the Missouri led, no man then knew!
"I have sometimes thought of sending a ship around to you," saidJefferson, "but the Spaniards would be certain to gobble it, and weare in trouble enough with them already over this Louisiana Purchase."
Too well Lewis knew the delicacy of the situation. Spain was on fireover the treachery of Napoleon. "France has no right to alienateLouisiana!" was the cry from Madrid. But what could she do? Nothingbut fume, delay, threaten,--Napoleon was master.
"Under present circumstances," continued the President, "I considerfutile all effort to get a ship to your succour on those shores. Spainwould be only too glad to strike a blow. But there must be trade,there is trade,--all through Adams's administration the Russians werecomplaining of Yankee skippers on that northwest coast.
"Russia has aided us, I may call the Emperor my personal friend." Withpardonable pride the President thought of the bust of Alexander overhis study door at Monticello. "Though Catherine did send poor Ledyardback, Alexander has proved himself true, and in case any Russian shiptouches those shores you are safe, or English, or American. Thisletter of credit will carry you through.
"And above all, express my philanthropic regard for the Indians.Humanity enjoins us to teach them agriculture and the domestic arts."
And after Lewis was fairly started, the President sent on as a greatsecret, "I have received word from Paris that Mr. Broughton, one ofthe companions of Captain Vancouver, went up Columbia River onehundred miles in December, 1792. He stopped at a point he namedVancouver. Here the river Columbia is still a quarter of a mile wide.From this point Mt. Hood is seen twenty leagues distant, which isprobably a dependency of the Stony Mountains. Accept my affectionatesalutations."
On the Fourth of July the same hand that drew up the Declaration ofIndependence had drawn for Meriwether Lewis a Letter of Credit,authorising him to purchase anything he needed on the credit of theUnited States in any part of the world. Was Jefferson thinking ofthose days when George Rogers Clark gave drafts on New Orleans for theconquest of Illinois? This again was another venture into a darkunwritten West.
The next day Lewis "shot all his guns" at Harper's Ferry, examinedextra locks, knives, tomahawks, accoutrements that had beenmanufactured at his special direction. The waggoner from Philadelphiacame jolting by with Indian presents, astronomical apparatus, andtents on the way to Pittsburg.
Pittsburg? A cloud of smoke hung even then over the embryotic city.Two thousand miles inland, it already had a flourishing ship-yard.Several large vessels lay on the stocks and builders were hammeringday and night.
"The 'Louisiana,' three hundred tons, is waiting for the next rise ofthe river," said a strapping tar. "In May a fleet of schooners wentout to the Caribbees. You are too late for this summer's freshet."
"Come, gentlemen, gentlemen all, Ginral Sincleer shall remem-ber-ed be, For he lost thirteen hundred me-en all In the Western Tari-to-ree."
Captain Lewis took a second look at the singer,--it was George Shannonstanding on the dock.
"Why, Captain Lewis! Where are you going?"
George was an old friend of Meriwether's, and yet but a lad ofseventeen. His father, one of those "ragged Continentals" that marchedon Yorktown, had emigrated to the far Ohio.
Jane Shannon was a typical pioneer mother. She spun, wove, knit, madeleggings of skins, and caps and moccasins, but through multitudinousduties found time to teach her children. "To prepare them forcollege," she said, "that is my dream. I'd live on hoe-cake for everto give them a chance." Every one of her six boys inherited thatmother's spirit, every one attained distinction.
At fourteen George was sent to his mother's relatives on theMonongahela to school. Here he met Lewis, forted in that winter camp.The gallant Virginian captured the boy's fancy,--he became his model,his ideal.
"And can you go?" asked Captain Lewis.
"Go? I will accompany you to the end of the world, Captain Lewis,"answered George Shannon. "There is no time for mails,--I know I havemy parent's consent. And the pay, that will take me to college!"Shannon enlisted on the spot, and was Lewis's greatest comfort inthose trying days at Pittsburg.
The boat-builders were drunkards. "I spent most of my time with theworkmen," wrote Lewis to the President, "but neither threats norpersuasion were sufficient to procure the completion before the 31stof August." Loading the boat the instant it was done, they set out atfour o'clock in the morning, with John Collins of Maryland, and GeorgeGibson, Hugh McNeal, John Potts, and Peter Wiser, of Pennsylvania,recruits that had been ordered from Carlisle. Peter Wiser is believedto have been a descendant of that famous Conrad Weiser who gave hislife to pacifying the Indian.
By this time the water was low. "On board my boat opposite Marietta,Sept. 13," Lewis writes,--"horses or oxen--I find the most efficientsailors in the present state of navigation," dragging the bateaux overshallows of drift and sandbars.
And yet that same Spring, when the water was high, Marietta had sentout the schooners "Dorcas and Sally," and the "Mary Avery," onehundred and thirty tons, with cheers and firing of cannon. When Lewispassed, a three-mast brig of two
hundred and fifty tons and a smallerone of ninety tons were on the point of being finished to launch thefollowing Spring, with produce for Philadelphia.
George Shannon was a handsome boy, already full grown but with thebeardless pink and white of youth. His cap would not fit down over hiscurls, but lifted like his own hopes. Nothing would start the boats atdaylight like his jolly, rollicking
"Blow, ye winds of morning, Blow, blow, blow,"
rolling across the tints of sunrise. His cheeks glowed, his blue eyesshone to meet the wishes of his captain.
Past the fairy isle of Blennerhassett with its stately mansionhalf-hid behind avenues of Lombardy poplar and tasteful shrubbery,Captain Lewis came on down to Fort Washington, Cincinnati, where brigshad lately taken on cargoes and sailed to the West Indies.
Bones? Of course Lewis wanted to look at bones and send some to thelearned President. Dr. Goforth of Cincinnati was sinking a pit at theBig Bone Lick for remains of the mammoth, and might not mammoths bestalking abroad in all that great land of the West? Mystery,mystery,--the very air was filled with mystery.