St. Charles Encampment - Lewis and Clark Expedition Across Missouri - St. Charles , Missouri - Missouri Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

After their arrival in St. Charles on May 16, 1804, Capt. William Clark and the men of the Corps of Discovery made their encampment near this location.  They would spend five days in St. Charles waiting for Capt. Meriwether Lewis to arrive from St. Louis.  This would give Clark and the Corps of Discovery time to make last minute preparations for the real beginning of the expedition.

While the members of the expedition were here, a number of residents of the town, including several ladies, visited their camp.  Other visitors included some Kickapoo Indians, who told Clark that the Sauk Indians were preparing to make war against the Osage Nation.

On the first day of the encampment, Clark enlisted the two Frenchmen, Pierre Cruzatte and Francois Labiche, as permanent members of the Corps; they were experienced rivermen and would be responsible for navigating the keelboat on the difficult currents of the Missouri River.  He also set the men to work shifting the supplies forward in the three boats on the expedition.  This would help to keep the boats from riding up on floating logs.  On May 17, he convened a court-martial on the quarter-deck of the keelboat to try three of the men who had been absent without leave the previous night.  On the evening of May 19, some of the men went to a ball in the village.  Pvt. Joseph Whitehouse said the ball was attended by a number of French ladies who were remarkably fond of dancing.

On the afternoon of May 20, Lewis finally arrived from St. Louis.  Despite heavy rain showers, he had been escorted the whole way by several of the leading men of St. Louis.  That evening, the captains had supper with Charles Tayon who had until recently been the commandant of the District of St. Charles. ~ text of marker