Gentlemen,
Every summer Charley and I spend some time in the Bitterroot Mountains in Montana in an area that Louis & Clark passed through and camped. During that time the area was populated with multiple Indian tribes that were both skilled warriers and aggressive enough to anihilate several U. S. Army units at noteworthy Montana battlefiends like "Big Hole" and the "Little Big Horn". I have often wondered how less than 40 men could make that journey from St. Louis to the Pacific Northwest and back without being attacked or overrun by the thousands of Indians they came in contact with. Any one of those tribes could have smashed that expedition like a bug to take the supplies, guns, equipment, and clothing that every tribal chief surely coveted.
I have not read a detailed account of the Louis & Clark expedition and what I have read did not answer the question......How did they pull that trip off with such a small force? I have read extensively about small expeditions in Africa conducted by W.D.M. Bell, Stanley, Burger, Selous, and others who were able to intimidate African natives with firearms. Those tribesman considered the guns magic and the white men God like. But American Indians at the time of Louis & Clark were familiar with both the white man and the capabilities of his guns. The rapid rate of fire that a Comanche or Apache bow could deliver more than made up for the single powerful blow of the Anglo's smokey single shot black powder rifle, and the numerical superiority of the tribes made early victorys in battle with the small number of white invaders a snap.
My curiosity was answered by a video I came across today. Here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqFyKh-rUI&feature=player_embedded
Chip
Every summer Charley and I spend some time in the Bitterroot Mountains in Montana in an area that Louis & Clark passed through and camped. During that time the area was populated with multiple Indian tribes that were both skilled warriers and aggressive enough to anihilate several U. S. Army units at noteworthy Montana battlefiends like "Big Hole" and the "Little Big Horn". I have often wondered how less than 40 men could make that journey from St. Louis to the Pacific Northwest and back without being attacked or overrun by the thousands of Indians they came in contact with. Any one of those tribes could have smashed that expedition like a bug to take the supplies, guns, equipment, and clothing that every tribal chief surely coveted.
I have not read a detailed account of the Louis & Clark expedition and what I have read did not answer the question......How did they pull that trip off with such a small force? I have read extensively about small expeditions in Africa conducted by W.D.M. Bell, Stanley, Burger, Selous, and others who were able to intimidate African natives with firearms. Those tribesman considered the guns magic and the white men God like. But American Indians at the time of Louis & Clark were familiar with both the white man and the capabilities of his guns. The rapid rate of fire that a Comanche or Apache bow could deliver more than made up for the single powerful blow of the Anglo's smokey single shot black powder rifle, and the numerical superiority of the tribes made early victorys in battle with the small number of white invaders a snap.
My curiosity was answered by a video I came across today. Here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqFyKh-rUI&feature=player_embedded
Chip
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