Firearms of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

by S. K. Wier

Firearms were essential to the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for daily hunting for food, and for natural history collections. Traveling across an unmapped and unknown wilderness, remote from familiar sources of aid and supply, guns were one of the indispensable tools of the explorers. During the entire expedition, lasting 2 years and 4 months, more than 30,000 dinners were required. Even though they departed with tons of supplies, during most of the journey they relied on hunting for food. Hunters went out virtually every day. Dozens of new animals were discovered and preserved specimens sent back east.

The journals and records prepared by the expedition members show that they carried U.S. military rifles obtained from the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and service muskets brought by soldiers posted from other units. Personal firearms were brought by Captains Clark and Lewis, and some of the hunters enlisted for the journey may have used their own rifles. The French-speaking boatmen may have carried “trade guns,” a common type of musket. Lewis brought an “air gun,” a case of matched pistols, and a fowler, and Clark brought his personal .36 caliber long-rifle, and an "elegant fusil.”. A “swivel gun,” a small cannon, was mounted on the keelboat, and the two pirogues each had a blunderbuss, each also mounted on a swivle. All the firearms of the Lewis and Clark expedition were single-shot, muzzle loading, black powder guns with flintlock ignition, the notable exception being Lewis's air gun, which on several occasions astonished native Indians with its repeating operation.

Two kinds of guns were the main reliance of the explorers. Lewis obtained fifteen rifles at Harpers Ferry Arsenal in the spring of 1803. Apparently these were the “1792 Contract Rifle,” modified for the expedition with Harpers Ferry model 1803 locks and patchboxes. They were plain, Pennsylvania-style rifles, with no ornamentation, hand-made by gunsmiths in Pennsylvania. Full stocked, they had an original barrel length of 42 inches, which was likely shortened a bit for the expedition, and caliber at least 49 and perhaps as large as 54.

The other gun of daily use was the “Charleville pattern” musket, the standard firearm of US soldiers of the period. It is a 69 caliber smoothbore, and is now called the “Model 1795 Springfield” musket. Both the rifle and musket weighed nearly ten pounds and required most of a minute to load a single patched shot. Powder horns, powder measures, patching, and lead balls were required accessories. Lewis devised lead powder canisters, each holding 4 pounds gun powder and made with 8 pounds of sheet lead which was used to cast into bullets. The expedition began with 51 of the powder canisters (mostly with rifle grade powder) and some wooden kegs of powder, size not known.

Clark brought a small 36 caliber “squirrel rifle,” and an “elegant fusil,” a light-weight gentleman's sporting smoothbore. Lewis brought a case of matched pistols, one of which he traded for a horse, and a "fowler," an extra-long smoothbore, also traded to the Indians for supplies. Both captains carried a “horseman's pistol” either the “US 1799 North and Cheney” model, similar to the French Charleville 1763 pistol, or the “US 1799 Contract” pistol (McCormick model), both now great rarities.

Lewis's air gun was a remarkable property of the expedition. Widespread agreement is that it was a Girandoni-style air rifle, originally designed and built in Europe for the Austrian army. The Girandoni was .46 caliber, had a magazine for 20 shots, and was a repeater. Lewis used it to impress Indians in council. It was smokeless, and could fire 20 shots in one minute. The Indians wereimpressed. The air gun was the most unusual piece of equipment on the expedition. Air guns of that period and caliber are not silent and make a very loud crack.

There are no known surviving guns from the expedition. Claims are made for three guns, but the claims are doubtful, lacking any definitive proof. None of the supposed expedition guns show the degree of wear expected from a two-year, 8000 mile, wilderness trip in small boats and horseback, and the arguments for their presence on the expedition come down to the enthusiast's "but could it have been" sort.

For more see Guns of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, S. K. Wier, published in "We Proceeded On," the journal of the Lewis and Clark Trail Historic Foundation, May 2006, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 10-17, and see Letters, August 2006, vol. 32, no 3. If you need more details about the expedition's guns I have a much longer account as a chapter in a book I am writing.