Early Map of the Expedition

William Clark and Prince Maximilian

What Happened to the Corps?

Catlin's Depiction

What Happened to the Corps?

Sometime in the decades following the expedition, William Clark used the cover of this account book to compile a list of the members of the Corps of Discovery and to annotate who remained alive. Clark incorrectly listed Patrick Gass among the deceased. Clark also noted that Sakakawea (“Se car ja we au”) was dead, contradicting the modern belief that she lived to an old age. Sakakawea’s son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, who traveled with the expedition as an infant, was mistakenly listed here as “Tousant,” a misspelling of his father’s name. However, Clark correctly noted that Prince Paul of Württemberg, who met the young Charbonneau in St. Louis in 1823, invited him to back to Germany with him (Jean Baptiste returned to the United States in 1829).

William Clark. Account Book, May 25, 1825 to June 14, 1828.