The Louisiana Purchase Expedition

Shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned an expedition whose primary objective was to explore and map the newly acquired territory and establish an American presence there before other European powers tried to claim it. It consisted of a select group of U.S. Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. This two and a half year journey faced the obvious perils of inhospitable Native Americans, dangerous wildlife, and tortuous terrain. However, the one enemy this expedition encountered which was more ruthless than all the others was syphilis.
For several centuries before the expedition, syphilis had been a well identified disease in Europe where it swiftly spread

I cured him as I did Gibson last winter by the uce of murcury. I cannot learn that the Indians have any simples which are sovereign specifics in the cure of this disease; and indeed I doubt very much wheter any of them have any means of effecting a perfect cure. when once this disorder is contracted by them it continues with them during life; but always ends in decipitude, death, or premature old age; tho’ from the uce of certain simples together with their diet, they support this disorder with but little inconvenience for many years, and even enjoy a tolerable share of health; particularly so among the Chippeways who I believe to be better skilled in the uce of those simples than any nation of Savages in North America. The Chippeways use a decoction of the root of the Lobelia, and that of a species of sumac common to the Atlantic states and to this country near and on the Western side of the Rocky Mountains. this is the smallest species of the sumac, readily distinguished by its winged rib, or common footstalk, which supports it’s oppositely pinnate leaves. these decoctions are drank freely and without limitation. the same decoctions are used in cases of the gonnaerea and are effecatious and sovereign. notwithstanding that this disorder dose exist among the Indians on the Columbia yet it is witnessed in but fiew individuals, at least the males who are

Louis several months later and arrived in Washington to celebrate the new year of 1807 with President Jefferson. In March of 1807 Lewis's appointment as Governor of the Territory of Louisiana, and Clark's as Superintendent of Indian Affairs and a brigadier general of Militia, were confirmed by the Senate. In turn, Lewis returned to St. Louis to govern the Louisiana Territory. At the beginning he proved to be an effective civil servant, but after a year into his term it was noted that his reports to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn and President Jefferson were becoming increasingly insufficient. Others noticed that Lewis was making unwise and grandiose real estate investments and his relationships with friends and colleagues began to deteriorate. In 1809 Lewis's health deteriorated and he dived deeper in debt. In fact, it became evident that for over two years Lewis had been living far beyond his means. In an effort to appease his creditors he handed over what land he had acquired in Louisiana to settle his debts. Later on in that year, he prepared for a business trip to Washington and departed St. Louis by riverboat. When the boat docked, the ship’s captain gave a statement that Lewis was in a state of mental derangement, having made two attempts to kill himself. He remained in bad mental and physical health, but eventually showed no signs of derangement ten days later. Coupled with what we now know about syphilis, these acts of poor judgment