THIRTEENTH OF AN ONGOING SERIES

Uniforms to buckskins Officers carried weapons called espontoons.

Field dress uniform

Field hunting uniform

Norm Anderson of the Lewis and Clark Honor Guard in Great Falls portrays Capt. Meriwether Lewis wearing a dress uniform. Here are some details:

Anderson wears a replica of Lewis’ “field hunting, foraging or exploring uniform.”

Lewis and Clark wore round, felt hats bearing leather ornaments, or cockades, with eagle medallions at the center. For full dress they wore chapeau de bras, crescent-shaped hats like the one at right.

A silver ornament known as an epaulette on the right shoulder signified captain’s rank. An epaulette on the left shoulder meant lieutenant. Both shoulders signified a major.

Leather waist belts held hatchets, sheathed knives and a pouches.

Basic Army uniform Steve Schaller of the Lewis and Clark Honor Guard portrays Pvt. Silas Goodrich wearing the basic U.S. Army issue uniform of 17961804. The hats were issued with removable black bearskin crests, or caps with white-tail deer plumes (not shown).

Lewis wore a caped hunting frock made of linen.

Some uniforms included black leather neck stocks to guard against saber slashes. Officer and basic army coats were deep blue with red woolen collars, cuffs and lapels and coattails lined in white. The officers’ coats had silver trim decorated with false buttonholes.

The captains wore a gorget, or metal crescent handed down from the days of medieval knights. Knights used it to protect the throat.

The captains and sergeants wore decorative crimson sashes.

Metal breastplates inscribed with eagle motifs adorned their sword belts.

Swords worn on the captains’ left sides were attached to white shoulder belts.

Lewis and Clark’s trousers were called pantaloons. Enlisted men wore overalls. Photos by Tribune Photo Editor Robin Loznak

Enlisted men

Sergeant’s uniform Black leather waist belts with brass buckles kept sheathed knives handy.

A powder horn carried and dispensed gunpowder. A cartridge box on the right hip carried balls, or bullets, for the muskets.

Like many of their men, the captains often wore fringeless buckskin pants, frocks and moccasins.

Research by Larry Winslow

Sources: “Tailor Made, Trail Worn: Army Life, Clothing and Weapons of the Corps of Discovery.” by Robert J. Moore and Michael Haynes (illustrator). Far Country Press, P.O. Box 5630, Helena MT 59604. (2003). “A Manual for Interpreting Lewis and Clark: A Guideline for Individuals, Groups, Historic Sites and Re-Enactments,” by Gene Hickman and published by the Lewis and Clark Honor Guard (2003) in Great Falls.

Walt Walker, president of the Lewis and Clark Honor Guard in Great Falls, portrays Sgt. Patrick Gass. He wears a forage cap, which resembles a stocking cap turned up and trimmed in red. They made their own from old Army coats. When conditions were bad, all the men wore gaiters (not shown) over their ankles to keep mud out of their shoes.

Fatigue uniform issued to enlisted men Zach Staigmiller, 12, of the Lewis and Clark Honor Guard, portrays Pvt. George Shannon, who at 18 was the youngest member of the expedition. The uniform included white linen overalls and a matching frock, or shirt.

Graphic by Také Uda

Clothing of the Lewis and Clark Expedition By LARRY WINSLOW Tribune Staff Writer

The Lewis and Clark Expedition was a military mission, and the 35 members of the Corps of Discovery who were soldiers were expected to wear military uniforms. Tricorner hats were out, round hats were in. And forget about Davy Crockett’s coonskin caps. Fringes on buckskin clothing was frowned upon. One military exception, almost all of the men changed to leather moccasins soon after leaving St. Charles and civilization in May 1804. Lewis knew that the military clothing wouldn’t last the journey. The men would have to replace their garments with similar clothing made of deer

hide, or “buckskins,” and furs. Soldiers kept their fulldress dress uniforms in storage for the duration of the journey. Uniforms of red, white and blue for the regulars and drab and blue for the new recruits were worn during military inspections, ceremonies and parades for Indian tribes, and formal occasions such as a court-martial and punishment. In lieu of a uniform coat, the men wore fatigues, hunting shirts or frocks made of linen at first, and later buckskin for the hard work of getting the keelboat and two pirogues up the Missouri River. French engagés, hired in St. Louis as boatmen, hunters and interpreters

wore their own civilian clothing, a colorful combination of Indian and European-style clothing. A description of George Drouillard noted a yellow handkerchief on his head, a bright blue and white checkered shirt under a white linen frock, a blue and red woven sash, garters and blue wool leggings. His moccasin flaps were edged with blue and red wool. During the winter at Fort Mandan, with 32-degree-

below-zero weather and frostbite, the captains issued cold weather clothing Lewis had procured in 1803. “Blanket cappoes (coats) provided for each man who Stood in need of them & C.” Capt. William Clark noted that “I line my Gloves and have a cap made of the Skin of the Louservia (lynx)...” Back on the move in April 2005, moccasins wore out every two days and were constantly repaired or replaced. Even after they began wearing buckskin, or leather clothing, officers continued to carry espontoons and wear chapeau de bras bicorner military hats issued to officers. Enlisted men also continued to use the military knapsacks they had been issued.

When the expedition reached the Pacific coast, the rain rotted the old leather clothing as fast as the men could make replacements. One article of clothing the Corps adopted were hats made of interwoven cedar bark and beargrass by the Clatsop Indians. When the party left Fort Clatsop to return home, they had 358 pairs of moccasins, as well as shirts, overalls and coats of dressed elk skins. They took little time to replace worn out clothes. As the men neared civilization “nearly naked,” they traded with the fur expeditions coming up the Missouri. By the time they returned to “civilization,” many wore buckskins but also new linen or flannel shirts.

Clothing enlisted men wore as issued uniforms became unusable L&C Honor Guard’s Mike Staigmiller portrays Pvt. William Warner in leather garb worn later in the expedition. The captains also allowed the soldiers to wear black headscarves instead of hats.