As those of you who know me are aware, I am a big fan of Lewis and Clark. I like history in general, in particular the Utah War, World War 2, the Mormon BAttalion and Western Fur Trade. But more than any of the others, Lewis and Clark just really floats my keelboat. ( A little Lewis and CLark humor there, heh heh heh).
Someting about it is so interesting. There are things in the expedition that blow me away, for example:
They took 40-some-odd people across a continent through unmapped wilderness in the face of starvation, disease, travel by foot horse and water, and unknown indiginous peoples. Through all this, only one man died, of a burst appendix.
The Spanish Government actually sent two brigades of soldiers north from Mexico to intercept and capture the Corps, they never found them
They identified 170somthing plants and 120somthing animals for science.
The men never knew that the "captains" were actually not equal in rank. Although promised the rank fo Captain if he would agree to go, the War Department felt that two Captains was not acceptable and instead gave him a commision as a second luitenant under Lewis. Even though he had previously been Lewis' commanding officer in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, they agreed to act as "Co-Captains" and to keep this tidbit from the men. Nobody knew untill years afterwards.
So anyway this morning on the john I was struck by a thought, which has kind of evolved into the folowing for your consideration:
EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM LEWIS AND CLARK
1. Always pack plenty of blue beads
2. Never let a blowhard man the rudder
3. Keep your powder dry
4. That iron boat might be a great idea, but if its not sticking together, let it go
5. Let everybody vote
6. Take time to write down what happens
7. Keep track of your men
9. Keep the receipts
10. Dont take the blind guy hunting
11. Never assume that because everyone thinks there are unicorns and an easy one day portage out there, dosent make it so.
And the most important thing of all:
12. Wherever the journey is taking you, make room in your life for a dog.
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This is great. I just finished Undaunted Courage and would add a few things. Just because the Government says it is going to pay for something doesn’t mean it will and take care when dealing with Grizzly Bears.
ReplyDeleteGood point, which is why I included #9 keep the receipts. Lewis was on his way to Washington to answer to charges of mishandling funds, and unauthorized purchases when he killed himself. There , I said it. i dont believe he was murdered.
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