The Two Medicine Revisited
Phil Scriver
One of the fun aspects of reading history is to speculate on the results of an event if one or two things would have been different. These commonly called “what ifs” can serve to not only make history more interesting, but they can help with understanding how delicate the balance is between success and failure. Sometimes the difference is simply uncontrollable luck. It is common knowledge that the Lewis and Clark Expedition had numerous instances of good luck that definitely aided in the overall success of the mission.
The topic of this “what if” is the incident on the Two Medicine River when Lewis and his party met with several Blackfeet the afternoon of July 26, 1806 and the fracas the next morning when some of the Indians attempted to take the Expedition’s guns. What if the Blackfeet had been successful and made off with the guns before Lewis and his men could have resisted?
That afternoon when Lewis spotted some horses and several Indians he said he expected “that we were to have some difficulty with them” and that if they thought they could succeed the Indians would attempt to rob the party. At daylight the next morning four of the Indians tried to take Lewis’ party’s guns. This attempt failed, but what if they had been able to get the party’s guns and make good their escape? Would this have been the end of Lewis and his party? The balance of the Expedition surely would have been able to complete their trip back to St. Louis so the total expedition would have been a success.
From reading Lewis’ account of the scuffle that morning the Indians would probably have taken the party’s rifles and pouches, powder and lead, and fled. If they had been able to get back to their camp with these prizes their status as warriors certainly would have gone up several notches. By most accounts the eight Blackfeet that Lewis had encountered were young. They had apparently been on a horse raid since many of the horses in their band were saddled. In fact Lewis saw so many saddled that he thought the group much bigger than the eight he was able to see. These young men were probably still in the learning stages of becoming warriors. Consequently they would probably not have risked the extra time to kill Lewis and his party or to collect more of their baggage and take it. They would have surely taken all the horses; not only would this have added to the herd they already had, thus making them even more successful, but it would have reduced the chance of Lewis being able to give chase.
So where would this have left Lewis and his three companions? They would have spent a few minutes assessing their situation; on foot without guns in the middle of a country that hostile people called home. An examination of their baggage would reveal they still had their knives, navigation instruments and Lewis would have his pistol with one shot in it.
The eight Indians that Lewis encountered were most likely 15 to 16 years old; old enough to physically look adult, but still youthful in their actions. Older, more proven warriors may well have simply killed the party then leisurely searched their baggage taking what they pleased. But the youthful, lesser-experienced warriors only wanted to take the guns and horses then get to the safety of home to tell their brave deeds. The men they left on the prairie would live or die, it didn’t matter.
Lewis and his party would quickly realize giving chase was out of the question concentrating instead on their own survival and reunion with the main expedition. The only change in plans would be how fast they could reach the Marias. Traveling 20-30 miles per day on foot they could make it in 3 or 4 days. By way of comparison, when Lewis made his overland trip from the Marias to the Great Falls the summer before, he had traveled on foot 29 miles one day followed by 15 miles the morning of the next day reaching the falls by 1:00 pm.
According to Sgt Gass the party under Sgt Ordway’s command that had reportaged the Great Falls and were bringing the boats downriver from there had instructions to wait for Lewis at the Marias until September 1 before proceeding on downriver to join Clark. Gass further said Lewis planned to return to the Marias by August 5.
If Lewis and his companions had no further encounters with Indians and were successful in re-uniting with Ordway the only loss was a few days travel time. But what if they were not able to get to the Marias before Ordway left?
When Lewis examined what was left of his equipment he discovered the Blackfeet only took the guns and ammunition. He would have discovered also they were in good shape. There are many stories of mountain men only a few years later that made seemingly unbelievable treks across the west in much more dire straights. Remember also that Drewyer, who was with Lewis on the Two Medicine, was considered one of the first mountain men.
Their first order of business was to get out of Blackfeet country and to the Marias. At the risk of being caught out in the open prairie they would probably headed cross country directly to the Teton River. Upon reaching that river they would have followed it downstream to the Marias. Since they had knives and hatchets they may have opted to build a raft, but Lewis’ experience they year before on the Marias probably would have decided him against that activity. Instead he would have pushed on to rendezvous with Ordway.
Once Lewis and his companions reached the Marias they would have been in good shape. The Expedition had cached extra food and equipment there the year before. Sgt Ordway would have dug up the caches, but if he had left before Lewis rejoined them he surely would have left some of the supplies just in case Lewis did make it back to that place. Consequently Lewis would have some food and surely some ammunition. There was sufficient deer, elk and buffalo in that area that Lewis could have fashioned some sort of watercraft for his party of four; Sgt Pryor did down on the Yellowstone after the Crow Indians stole all his horses and left his party on foot.
My conclusion on this matter is that if the Blackfeet had been successful they would have only taken Lewis’ guns, ammunition and horses leaving the party alive but on foot. The party was fully capable of making the overland trip from the Two Medicine to the Marias on foot well within the time Ordway was to wait for their return. So if they had no further adventures with Indians Lewis and his party would have had a joyful reunion with Ordway at the Marias and continued on down the river to join with Clark pretty much on schedule.
Phil Scriver
One of the fun aspects of reading history is to speculate on the results of an event if one or two things would have been different. These commonly called “what ifs” can serve to not only make history more interesting, but they can help with understanding how delicate the balance is between success and failure. Sometimes the difference is simply uncontrollable luck. It is common knowledge that the Lewis and Clark Expedition had numerous instances of good luck that definitely aided in the overall success of the mission.
The topic of this “what if” is the incident on the Two Medicine River when Lewis and his party met with several Blackfeet the afternoon of July 26, 1806 and the fracas the next morning when some of the Indians attempted to take the Expedition’s guns. What if the Blackfeet had been successful and made off with the guns before Lewis and his men could have resisted?
That afternoon when Lewis spotted some horses and several Indians he said he expected “that we were to have some difficulty with them” and that if they thought they could succeed the Indians would attempt to rob the party. At daylight the next morning four of the Indians tried to take Lewis’ party’s guns. This attempt failed, but what if they had been able to get the party’s guns and make good their escape? Would this have been the end of Lewis and his party? The balance of the Expedition surely would have been able to complete their trip back to St. Louis so the total expedition would have been a success.
From reading Lewis’ account of the scuffle that morning the Indians would probably have taken the party’s rifles and pouches, powder and lead, and fled. If they had been able to get back to their camp with these prizes their status as warriors certainly would have gone up several notches. By most accounts the eight Blackfeet that Lewis had encountered were young. They had apparently been on a horse raid since many of the horses in their band were saddled. In fact Lewis saw so many saddled that he thought the group much bigger than the eight he was able to see. These young men were probably still in the learning stages of becoming warriors. Consequently they would probably not have risked the extra time to kill Lewis and his party or to collect more of their baggage and take it. They would have surely taken all the horses; not only would this have added to the herd they already had, thus making them even more successful, but it would have reduced the chance of Lewis being able to give chase.
So where would this have left Lewis and his three companions? They would have spent a few minutes assessing their situation; on foot without guns in the middle of a country that hostile people called home. An examination of their baggage would reveal they still had their knives, navigation instruments and Lewis would have his pistol with one shot in it.
The eight Indians that Lewis encountered were most likely 15 to 16 years old; old enough to physically look adult, but still youthful in their actions. Older, more proven warriors may well have simply killed the party then leisurely searched their baggage taking what they pleased. But the youthful, lesser-experienced warriors only wanted to take the guns and horses then get to the safety of home to tell their brave deeds. The men they left on the prairie would live or die, it didn’t matter.
Lewis and his party would quickly realize giving chase was out of the question concentrating instead on their own survival and reunion with the main expedition. The only change in plans would be how fast they could reach the Marias. Traveling 20-30 miles per day on foot they could make it in 3 or 4 days. By way of comparison, when Lewis made his overland trip from the Marias to the Great Falls the summer before, he had traveled on foot 29 miles one day followed by 15 miles the morning of the next day reaching the falls by 1:00 pm.
According to Sgt Gass the party under Sgt Ordway’s command that had reportaged the Great Falls and were bringing the boats downriver from there had instructions to wait for Lewis at the Marias until September 1 before proceeding on downriver to join Clark. Gass further said Lewis planned to return to the Marias by August 5.
If Lewis and his companions had no further encounters with Indians and were successful in re-uniting with Ordway the only loss was a few days travel time. But what if they were not able to get to the Marias before Ordway left?
When Lewis examined what was left of his equipment he discovered the Blackfeet only took the guns and ammunition. He would have discovered also they were in good shape. There are many stories of mountain men only a few years later that made seemingly unbelievable treks across the west in much more dire straights. Remember also that Drewyer, who was with Lewis on the Two Medicine, was considered one of the first mountain men.
Their first order of business was to get out of Blackfeet country and to the Marias. At the risk of being caught out in the open prairie they would probably headed cross country directly to the Teton River. Upon reaching that river they would have followed it downstream to the Marias. Since they had knives and hatchets they may have opted to build a raft, but Lewis’ experience they year before on the Marias probably would have decided him against that activity. Instead he would have pushed on to rendezvous with Ordway.
Once Lewis and his companions reached the Marias they would have been in good shape. The Expedition had cached extra food and equipment there the year before. Sgt Ordway would have dug up the caches, but if he had left before Lewis rejoined them he surely would have left some of the supplies just in case Lewis did make it back to that place. Consequently Lewis would have some food and surely some ammunition. There was sufficient deer, elk and buffalo in that area that Lewis could have fashioned some sort of watercraft for his party of four; Sgt Pryor did down on the Yellowstone after the Crow Indians stole all his horses and left his party on foot.
My conclusion on this matter is that if the Blackfeet had been successful they would have only taken Lewis’ guns, ammunition and horses leaving the party alive but on foot. The party was fully capable of making the overland trip from the Two Medicine to the Marias on foot well within the time Ordway was to wait for their return. So if they had no further adventures with Indians Lewis and his party would have had a joyful reunion with Ordway at the Marias and continued on down the river to join with Clark pretty much on schedule.