Lewis and Clark Connection - Wellsburg, West Virginia
Posted by: BruceS
N 40° 16.153 W 080° 36.856
17T E 532796 N 4457709
Historical marker new the wharf area in Wellsburg, West Virginia.
Waymark Code: WMK7ZY
Location: West Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 02/25/2014
Published By: RGS
Views: 8
Text of marker:
The Corps of Discovery, under the command of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, was the first official expedition through the interior of the North American Continent sponsored by the United States.
Captain Meriwether Lewis passed Charles Town in Virginia (later renamed Wellsburg) on September 7, 1803. Lewis brought the expedition's keelboat down the Ohio River to rendezvous with William Clark near Louisville, Kentucky.
The expedition spent toe winter of 1803-04 at a camp located near what is today Wood River, Illinois, preparing for the arduous journey to the Pacific Ocean and back.
Sidebar text:
Patrick Gass (1771-1870)
Meriwether Lewis considered Patrick Gass a man of "capacity, diligence, and integrity." Gass, a good soldier and a first rate carpenter, volunteered for the expedition, over the objections of his superiors, while station at Fort Kaskaskia in Illinois. When Sgt. Charles Floyd (the expedition's only casualty) died on 20 August 1804, Gass was elected by the party to replace him as "Sergeant in the corps of volunteers for North Western Discovery." Gass returned to Wellsburg after the expedition-- he was the last living member of the Corps of Discovery at his death in 1870.