Lewis & Clark

On the Trail Again

In April, 1805, The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery was anxious to pack up and begin the journey west. After having endured a bitterly cold winter at Fort Mandan near the present city of Bismarck, ND, the expedition set out up the Missouri River. The keelboat accompanying them was sent back down-river to St. Louis with collected items and journals to be delivered to President Jefferson as well as letters from expedition members to their families. This would be the last communication with their world until the expedition returned 18 months later.

The National Guard in each trail state is preparing to support the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles as it makes its way to the mouth of the Columbia River. National Guard personnel will also support those commemoration events going on in their respective states.

Montana TAG Visits Lewis and Clark Boot Camp

Montana Adjutant General MG Randy Mosley visited National Guard members from around the country at Pompey’s Pillar National Monument near Billings. The general’s visit coincided with the Lewis and Clark Boot Camp, a two-day session to train Guard members in public outreach activities. He said of the Guard’s participation in the Lewis and Clark bicentennial commemoration, “This is one of those once in a lifetime things. This is part of our heritage and history. It we don’t tell this story, no one is going to.”

Six Young Soldiers to Follow the Trail

Much of the history and heritage of the expedition will be told by the Montana National Guard Explorer Team, a group of six young soldiers that will spend five months following the Lewis and Clark Trail through their state. Averaging about 19 years old, these six soldiers approximate the ages of what are called the “Nine Young Men from Kentucky”, volunteers enlisted by William Clark who were interested in the prospect of adventure in unknown lands. According to MSG Ted Reichert, Project Manager for the Montana National Guard’s commemoration, “We selected our six young people for somewhat the same reasons as did Clark but with an additional motive: These soldiers represent an age group we would like to attract into the Guard.”

The soldiers will be telling the expedition’s and the Guard’s story to the public. In addition to the Lewis and Clark Boot Camp, their preparation included training in modern military equipment as well as equipment used during the Lewis and Clark era. There was additional intensive training in Montana military history, readings and videos on the background of the Corps of Discovery participants, and Native American Culture.

For the five months that the Lewis and Clark Voyage of Discovery took to cross what is now Montana, members of the state’s National Guard will participate in 11 events. They will tell the story of the expedition, and emphasize the militia’s relevance then as well as the National Guard’s relevance today. The Montana Guard will assist in the commemoration through assisting in set up and tear down of the National Park Service’s “Tent of Many Voices” exhibit; providing a veterans and deployed soldiers salute at every event; and periodically performing a “Then and Now” presentation whereby two Guard members, one in modern military dress and one in period military uniform, compare notes on the state of the military in President Jefferson’s day versus the 21st century.