LEWIS

AND

CLARK EXPEDITION

     Wellsburg was the host today to the reeanactors of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. There were two hand-crafted replicas of wooden vessels used by Lewis & Clark to recreate the first leg of the journey from Elizabeth, PA to Louisville, KY.

     The reenactors are following the same route that Meriwether Lewis and his early recruits sailed (more accurately, rowed) after buying a 55 foot keelboat in Elizabeth, PA. He used that vessel and two pirogues in his exploration of the Louisiana Territory, west of the Mississippi from May 1804 until September 1806.

     Lewis spent most of the winter of 1803 in St Louis, south of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Meanwhile Clark, with boats and crew, wintered near the confluence of the two mighty waters at Camp DuBois, then in Illinois. In May 1804, Lewis & Clark made rendezvous upstream on the Missouri at St Charles. There, they bought all the tobacco in town, signed on their last two men (Labiche and Cruzatte) and on May 21, 1804 they officially began the Lewis & Clark expedition.

     Twenty river-rat historians from St Charles, MO, are sailing down the Ohio River to build awareness of the Lewis & Clark expedition’s bicentennial which the nation will commemorate from 2003 to 2006.

     Today this group of reenactors stopped at Pier 12 in Wellsburg. They were met by city officials, groups of adults and children from the local grade schools. These children had a wonderful day, learning history in such an interesting way!

     While at the pier, they gave a short demonstration, and answered questions from the audience. ( 1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Ruby Greathouse from the Brooke County Museum was there in the costume/portraying Mrs. Miller who ran the Ordinary ( where the museum is now located) She is shown in the photo taking with the man that is portraying Meriwether Lewis. (7)

     The group then went up to Brooke Cemetery to pay honor with a gun salute at the gravesite of Patrick Gass. ( He was the last living member of this expedition).For more information go HERE.

     Eugene Gass Painter, introduced members of the Gass family attending today (8) (9)

     Mayor Ernie Jack thanked all who attended this event. (10) The honorary gun salute was given. (11) (12) (13) (14) followed by a song used when one member of the party would be leaving. This song was also used at burials services. Somewhat like we hear "Taps" played now. (15)

     When we returned to Pier 12, two of the group answered further questions from the students, and then gave them a detailed demonstration of how they loaded and fired their guns. (16)

     The reeanactors boarded the boats, giving three cheers for Wellsburg. (17) (18) (19)

     As they passed the Delta Queen that was docked in Wellsburg today, they gave them a gun salute.

     A PIROGUE IS A FLAT-BOTTOMED WOODEN BOAT. SOME SAY THE WORD IS A FRENCH DERIVATION OF A SPANISH ADAPTATION OF CARIBBEAN NATIES NAME FOR BOAT. OTHERS CLAIM IT WAS INTRODUCED TO THE EUROPEAN VOCBULARY BY WAY OF DUTCH EXPLORERS OF PACIFIC ISLANDS.

     We will watch and wait for this group to come by again in 2003.

     For further details you can use the web site www.lewisandclark.net

     Or, come to the Wellsburg Library and read the book "The Journal of Patrick Gass". PIECE OF THE PAST

Avella Man links ancestor to Lewis and Clark expedition

(this story is from the July 8, 2001 edition of the Steubenville Herald

by Janice Kiaski staff writer)

     Kids always made fun of Eugene Gass Painter’s middle name, but the ridiculing paid off.

     It made him realize early on that he had an important link to the nation’s history as the great-grandson of PATRICK GASS, who was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition that occurred nearly 200 years ago.

     It was an undertaking touted as the most important expedition in the country’s history marking America’s first exploration of land west of the Mississippi River into unknown, uncharted territory

     It also was a time in history when the Mississippi River marked the western boundary of the United States and most people lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean.

     That all would change with the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803, which doubled the size of the United States.

     Painter’s maternal great-grandfather who is buried in Wellsburg distinguished himself even further in the history books by being elected sergeant in the expedition On August 22, 1804, replacing Sgt. Charles Floyd, the only casualty of the expedition.

     Floyd as believed to have died from appendicitis.

     The vote among the Army men in the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery – the men had three sergeant candidates to choose from – marked the first Democratic election held west of the Mississippi River.

     It was an event first re-enacted in Elk Point, South Dakota, in 1999, when Painter was the honored guest and portrayed his great-grandfather in Elk Point’s first-ever Heritage Days celebration.

     The re-enactment is being held every August through 2004, the bicentennial of the expedition, and Painter will be returning there in August to again be part of it.

     In September 2000; members of the Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition of St Charles, Mo. Made a stop in Wellsburg as part of a retracing of the expedition. They arrived in two pirogues; boats that were replicas of those used be Lewis and Clark and visited Brooke Cemetery to pay tribute to Gass.

     Toward the end of August 2003, the re-enactors will recreate the passage of Lewis and Clark down the Ohio River, beginning at Elizabeth, Pa. During this part of the journey, they recruited men and gathered supplies. Lewis had left Pittsburgh in 1803 in one pirogue, shipping goods ahead to Wheeling where he purchased the second boat.

     The re-enactors have planned stops in Steubenville, Wellsburg and Wheeling according to Painter. In April 2004, they will start up the Missouri River, retracing the route as much as possible with a keelboat and two pirogues. Since his childhood razzing, Painter a resident of Avella, (PA) has been a lifelong student of the expedition, a man who speaks on occasion to historical societies and groups about this part of history and is active in the Lewis and Clark Trail Foundation in Montana.

     He even shares the same birthday with his famous ancestor. Painter, 86, was born June 12, 1915. Gass was born in 1777 and died in Wellsburg in 1875 just weeks before turning 99. At the time of his death, Gass was the expedition’s last survivor.

     Ironically, Gass was not initially recruited to be among the four dozen men who set out in the spring of 1804 on the expedition led my Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, an expedition sanctioned by President Thomas Jefferson. The goal was for the men to travel as far west as they could by boat and then by land to reach the Pacific Ocean. It was a journey expected to take 18 months to two years.

     But it actually took two years and four months, according to Painter. “They left in April of 1804, got to the Pacific Ocean in November 1805 and came back to St Louis (Missouri) in September 1806”, Painter said.

     At the time recruiting as under way, Gass was in the Army in Illinois. Lewis was heading down the river in a keelboat, looking for volunteers for the expedition. Gass originally was turned down. “His commander said Gass was too valuable as a carpenter to go,” Painter said. But Gass felt otherwise. “Gass made a personal appeal to Lewis about how they’d need a carpenter to build shelter in the winter,” Painter said. “Lewis said it was a good point and made Gass a part of the expedition”.

     There were six men who kept journals during the expedition, including Gass. “His is the most continuous record all the way through,” Painter said.

     In 1945, Painter said his mother received a photograph from a cousin in Kansas. It was a picture of a family member and a Kansas historian holding a copy of an 1807 journal of the expedition printed from noted taken by his great-grandfather. Painter decided to find one for himself and did so through a used book dealer in New York City. Painter said a man named McKeon helped Gass edit his journal notes and had them published in 1807. “It was the first account of the trip that anyone had,” Painter said, explaining that it gave matter of fact insight into the expedition- Indians they had met, sights they had seen and new animals they had encountered.

     The original journal kept by Patrick Gass is believed to be at the bottom of the Ohio River. “The story that came down through the family is that it was lost in one of the floods”. Painter, who lives on the 412 acre Manchester Farm in a Colonial farmhouse built in 1810 by his paternal great-great-grandfather Isaac Manchester.

     After the expedition, Gass returned to Wellsburg where his family had moved from outside Washington, Pa. He worked odd jobs and then enlisted to fight in the War of 1812 before returning to Wellsburg. When his father died in 1827, Gass boarded with the Hamilton family in the Wellsburg area. In 1831, the 60 year old bachelor married the Hamilton’s daughter, Mariah, who was between 17 and 20.

     They bought property on Pierce’s Run in Brooke County, farmed and had seven children, including Rachel, the youngest of whom would be Painters grandmother. When Rachel was 11 months old, her mother died from measles. After 17 years of marriage, Gass was 77 year old widower left to raise his children. Painter said neighbors helped and Rachel was taken in by a family under a legal agreement on record in the Brooke County Court house.

     When Gass died, property divided among his children included a razor box carved by Sacagawea, the Shoshone Indian teen whose help was invaluable in navigating the expedition from the Northern Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean and back. She and her husband were on the expedition when Sacagawea gave birth to their son.

     Painter said the box is on display at the Interpretive Museum in Fort Canby, Washington. Having a link to such a bit part of history is special to Painter. “I’ve always been proud of the fact that I am a descendant of someone as famous as he was,” said Painter. He also is pleased that the 200th anniversary of the expedition is approaching and generating renewed interest in this chapter of the nation’s history.

     “I’m glad to see they’re getting recognition with the bicentennial coming up”.

NORTHERN PANHANDLE INCLUDED IN CELEBRATION

     Guns, boats, watermelons and Wellsburg all are a part of the recently inaugurated LEWIS ANC CLARK CORPS of the Discovery bicentennial celebration.

     Inspired by the cross-country journey facilitated by President Thomas Jefferson that mapped a route beyond the Mississippi River tot eh West Coast, locally this celebration will highlight the many beginnings of this journey which occurred in or around current Ohio Valley communities.

     While events, festivals and re-enactments are slated across the country at various points along the historic pioneers’ trail through 2006, celebrations in West Virginia are set to begin this month at Harpers Ferry and will continue throughout the year at points from Wellsburg to Huntington.

     March 28-30 will mark the West Virginia kickoff with an event titled “Supplied for Survival: Meriwether Lewis at Harpers Ferry” being held at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park.

     According to information released by the National Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Council, Lewis relied on the U.S. Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry for guns and hardware that would meet the unique requirements of his transcontinental expedition. He arrived at the site March 16, 1803 with a letter from Secretary of War Henry Dearborn requesting supplies, and in addition to gaining 15 rifles, 15 powder horns, 30 bullet molds, 30 ball screws, extra rifle and musket locks, gunsmith tools, tomahawks sand knives, Lewis also attended to the construction of a collapsible iron-framed boat, which he designed. Lewis reportedly left Harpers Ferry on April 18, 1803 with supplies that aided him, Clark and the Discovery Corps in their successful journey.

     Programs at Harpers Ferry will include historical re-enactments, a keynote address led by Lewis & Clark scholar Gary Moulton, a Panel discussion on the role of Harpers Ferry in the Lewis & Clark Expedition and the opening of the Meriwether Lewis Exhibit in the Lower Town Historic District.

     In chronological accuracy, July 6-8 the Harpers Ferry National Historic Park will present “Meriwether Lewis Returns to Harpers Ferry” which will focus on the captain’s final visit to Harpers Ferry to check supplies before departing west.

     Harpers Ferry, however, is only the first stop the adventurers made when preparing for their expedition. A pirougue used in their journey on the Missouri River reportedly was purchased when the explorer stopped in Wheeling in Sep of 1803.

     This leg of the mission that spanned more than 8,000 miles over two years, four months and 10 days will be highlighted at a celebration being held at Wheeling’s Heritage Port, Sept 6-8 titled “Guns, Boats and Watermelons, the Journey Continues” The event is free to the public and will commemorate Lewis’ stop in the “Friendly City”. The three-day celebration will include a West Virginia Humanities Council grant presentation of “Dear Brother: Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark”, by Historian James J. Holmberg

     In addition, Heritage Port was also named The Discovery Expedition of St Charles, a Missouri-based group of re-enactors who are retracing the journey of Lewis and Clark. The expedition will set up encampment on the waterfront and will provide a variety of historic presentations and activities for both children and adults.

     While Moundsville is not one of the Discovery Expedition’s designated stops, according to published journals of members of Corps of Discovery, Lewis stopped in the city and saw the 60 foot Grave Creek Mound. Also listed in the journals was Parkersburg, where area residents can still enjoy the flora and fauna described by members of the original expedition.

     On Sept 6, area residents are invited to attend festivities honoring Sgt. Patrick Gass, the longest survivor of the Corps of Discovery and the first of the 33 man group to publish his journals.

     Gass, who was born in 1771 at Falling Springs near Chambersburg, PA, was born to a pioneer family who traveled and resided throughout the Northern Panhandle and its neighboring regions including a home in Maryland near old Fort Frederick, Beasontown, now Uniontown, PA. and Catfish Camp, now Washington, PA.

     As his descendants report it, Gass grew to adulthood in Western Pennsylvania, but in 1792 he joined Captain Canton’s Company of Rangers of the Frontier and was stationed at Yellow Creek Fort, WVa. And at Bennett’s Fort, just 3 miles from Wheeling, where he met legendary scoutsmen such as Lewis Wetzel and Capt Sam Brady.

     In 1802, Gass was among those requested by Lewis to Join in the Corps of Discovery, and after a dispute with his military superior, Gass became a member of the expedition.

     Gass began logging his experience in his journal may 14, 1804, the morning the corps departed westward from the junction of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, and his journals continue throughout the mission, including his elected succession of Sgt. John Charles Floyd, the only fatality of the Lewis & Clark Expedition which occurred in what is now Sioux City, Iowa.

     According to journals and family accounts, following the historic expedition, Gass returned to the Northern Panhandle and settled in Wellsburg, departing frequently to serve his county, but ultimately settling in a log cabin he erected on Pierce’s Run. His journals were edited by David McKeehan, a Wellsburg school teacher at the time, and were published in Pittsburgh.

     Late in life, Gass reportedly resided at Waugh’;s Mills, only 3 miles from Pierce’s Run, and upon his death in April of 1870 he was buried in a private graveyard on the David Waugh Farm near his own home on Pierce’s Run, where he remained in an unmarked and reportedly forgotten grave for more than a half century.

     Those visiting the Sept 6 event will be able to visit this explorer’s grave in the BROOKE CEMETERY, and a monument to Gass now stands at Wellsburg Wharf at Sixth and Main streets, which those paying homage to the journey are also invited to visit.

     West Virginia’s celebration of the Lewis & Clark bicentennial will close with the Lewis & Clark Waterfront Festival being held in Huntington Sept 19-21. The festival will include a Lewis and Clark musical, local re-enactors and a variety of arts and crafts.

     On a related matter, the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh will also be hosting a variety of commemorative Lewis & Clark events starting in July and continuing through August. This will be comprised of multiple exhibits, performances, lecture series, teacher workshops and special guest attractions.


FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CALL 1-800-225-5982 OR VISIT
www.callwva.com

For additional information on related HISTORY CENTER EVENTS contact the center at
1-412-454-6000, (PA) Patrick Gass Information