January 2, 1804
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January 2, 1804

 

January 2nd    Snow last night, 〈rain〉 a mist to day    Cap Whitesides [1] Came to See me & his Son, and some country people, Serjt. Odderway return & bring me Some papers from Capt Lewis, who is [in] Kohokia on business of importance to the enterprise, the party verry merry this evening. Mr. Whitesides says a no. of young men in his neghborhood wishes to accompany Capt. Lewis & myself on the Expdts    Cap L. allso sent me a Letter from Capt. Amos Stoddard [2] which mentions his aptnt. to the Comd. of upper Louisiane, & to take possession of St Louis &c.

1. William Whiteside, a veteran of the Battle of King's Mountain (1780), came to Illinois from Kentucky in 1793 and settled at New Design, between Kaskaskia and Cahokia. Osgood (FN), 11–12 n. 5. (back)
2. Amos Stoddard was born in Connecticut but grew up in Massachusetts. At seventeen, in 1779, he enlisted in the Continental army and served to the end of the Revolutionary War. He was a lawyer and political figure in Massachusetts until 1798, when he rejoined the army as captain of artillery. After the Louisiana Purchase he was civil and military commandant of Upper Louisiana until civil government could be established. In March 1804, in St. Louis, he carried out the official transfer of Upper Louisiana from Spain to France, and from France to the United States. He assisted the preparations for the Lewis and Clark expedition in various ways, and several men from his company were detailed to accompany the captains. He was promoted to major in 1807 and died of wounds received fighting the British at Fort Meigs, Ohio, in 1813. He was the author of Sketches, Historical and Descriptive, of Louisiana (Philadelphia, 1812). Heitman, 619; Osgood (FN), xxiv–xxvii. (back)