QUEBEC-RESEARCH-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [Q-R] Aug 11, 1806
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:11:51 EDT

In a message dated 8/11/2005 9:45:49 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

August 11

1806 Meriwether Lewis is shot in the leg
While hunting for elk along the Missouri River, Meriwether Lewis is shot in
the hip, probably by one of his own men.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had embarked on their epic journey to
the
Pacific two years earlier. The 33 members of the Corps of Discovery had
experienced many adventures and narrowly escaped disaster on several
occasions,
but they had lost only one man (Sergeant Floyd, a probable victim of
appendicitis) and suffered relatively few serious injuries. Now, at last,
they were
returning home; St. Louis was scarcely a month away.
A few weeks earlier, Lewis and Clark had divided the party in order to
explore additional new territory. The two groups were supposed to reunite
at the
junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. Lewis, traveling with nine
men, hurried down the Missouri, eager to be reunited with Clark and the
main
body of the expedition. However, he periodically had to take time to stop
and
hunt for game to feed the hardworking men.
On the morning of this day in 1806, Lewis spotted some elk on a bar in the
river thickly overgrown with willows. He put to shore and set out to hunt
accompanied by Private Cruzatte. Spotting an elk, Lewis was just about to
fire
his rifle when he was hit in the buttocks by a bullet. The blow spun him
around
and slashed a three-inch gash in his hip. Knowing that Cruzatte was blind
in
one eye and nearsighted in the other, Lewis immediately assumed the private
had mistaken him for an elk. "Damn you," Lewis cried. "You have shot me."
When Cruzatte did not respond, Lewis feared Indians might have attacked
him.
Rushing back to the boat, he rallied the men and sent them off to save
Cruzatte. Twenty minutes later, the men returned with Cruzatte. They had
seen no
Indians, and Cruzatte denied having shot Lewis and claimed he had not heard
his shouts.
For the rest of his days, Cruzatte insisted he had not shot his captain.
Lewis, however, had the offending bullet: A .54 caliber slug from a modern
U.S.
Army rifle. Lewis was shot by a gun identical to the one carried by
Cruzatte,
and one unlikely to be in the hands of any Indian. The near-sighted
Cruzatte
probably mistook the leather-clad Lewis for an elk, though it is unlikely
the private's guilt will ever be proven with absolute certainty.
His wound was not serious, but Lewis spent the next several days lying
faced
down in the bottom of a canoe as the party proceeded down river. The
following day, they caught up with Clark. By the time they reached St.
Louis on
September 23, Lewis' wound had healed and the excitement of homecoming
overshadowed the event.




What can I say, except I'm happy that the shooter wasn't my cousin
Toussaint.

Fr. Owen Taggart

This thread:

• Aug 11, 1806 by

  • Re: [Q-R] Aug 11, 1806 by