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Avoiding Black Buffalo Chief of the Sioux

By: Phil Scriver, LC200 Historian

As the Expedition left, the Cheyennes ask Clark to send traders to teach them how to trap beavers so they could trade with the Americans. They would then no longer need to deal with the Sioux who were causing so much unrest along the river.

It was now time to get downriver; Clark noticed the prairies were changing colors from the green of summer to the browns and golds of fall. However, he did want to replace some of the specimen that had been ruined in the caches upriver. He mentioned trying to collect specimen of antelope, mule deer, prairie dog and magpie. Collecting these would cost the Expedition several days.

Clark also realized they still had to get past the Sioux who had given them trouble on the trip upriver. That encounter had almost resulted in armed combat. Their chief, Black Buffalo, had not been able to get all the trade goods he had wanted, so he might very well be more aggressive if encountered now. It was a situation that added to the hunters’ normal difficulties of finding enough meat to feed the Expedition. They were sure the Sioux Knew they were on their way down river and would be watching very carefully for them so the hunters, in turn, had to watch very carefully for Sioux while trying to find game and find specimen for Clark.

For the first few days it may have seemed as though nature was creating an additional challenge. What could have been a rapid descent was frequently stopped by strong winds that made the water so rough the Expedition was forced to halt their travel. They camped the night of August 25th below the mouth of Chantier Creek in the area of several old Ricara villages that had been destroyed by the Sioux. Clark notes that the Sioux had recently departed the area of the river they were now passing through.

The next day’s weather was more favorable for travel; the Expedition made 60 miles. That morning the Expedition passed the site of their encounter with Black Buffalo two years before, then at the mouth of the Bad Teton River they found a bullboat and a raft. They also saw the campfires that were about two weeks old. Clark knew they were in Sioux country. That fact and the signs of Sioux recently being in the area must have put him in a very defensive mood. Only a few days earlier he had been very positive and in good spirits, but now it was just the opposite. He notes in his journal that “we are much on our guard determined to put up with no insults from those bands of Sioux.” They camped that night about ten miles below Regis Loisel’s Fort and about four miles above Medicine River. Lewis is walking a little now, and recovering fast from the wound where he was shot.

The Expedition now has a real problem. They are entirely out of meat and need to send out hunters, but they are in country that has recently been occupied by the Sioux who they do not want to meet. They went four miles to the Medicine River but the hunters had no luck so they proceeded on into the Big Bend. Fortunately they were able to kill an elk for their noon meal. At the lower end of the Big Bend the roar of buffalo was heard. Hunters were sent out and soon satisfied the Expedition’s requirements for meat.

Clark has now decided that they will try in earnest to collect some specimen to replace others that had been ruined in caches. He sent out hunters to get mule deer and antelope. All were to rendezvous downriver where they had camped September 16 and 17 on the upriver trip in 1804. This area was rich in game so Clark wanted to spend an extra day here to collect specimen. He was also trying to get a prairie dog and a magpie. Their camp was near present day Oacoma, South Dakota. This day and the next proved futile for specimen collection. Although there was an abundance of game it was not of the kind Clark needed.

They proceeded downriver slowly with all the hunters out and the rest of the party making several stops. At one stop Clark climbed a hill out of the river bottom where he observed “a greater number of buffalo than I had ever seen before at one time. I must have seen nearly 20,000 of those animals feeding on this plain.” He went on to make a very remarkable observation, “I have observed that in the country between the nations which are at war with each other the greatest numbers of wild animals are to be found.”

August 30th proved to be the day that Clark did not want to happen. A few miles below their camp of the previous night Clark saw several men on horseback. Using his spyglass he found more on other hills. Altogether he located nearly 100 Indians who had seen the Expedition. The Indians fired some guns as a salute and the Expedition returned the salute. At this point Clark could not be certain what tribe they belonged to. Their actions appeared hostile which meant Sioux, but the country they were indicated they could be from one of several friendly tribes. Clark wanted to find out but would not take any chances so he sent three Frenchmen from the Expedition over to a sandbar to talk with the group on the shore. Sure enough they were Teton Sioux from Black Buffalo’s tribe. Clark flatly told them that their chief had been deaf to council and ill-treated the Expedition two years before. Clark considered them to be bad people and they should not cross the river or he would kill them. To complete the tongue lashing, Clark told them that there would be no more traders trading with them and that white men would come upriver whenever they wished. If the Tetons tried to stop them an army would come upriver and whip anyone who dared to oppose them. He concluded with a statement that he knew the Tetons were at war with the Mandans, Ricaras, Minetares and Cheyennes, but the Teton would lose because the Mandans had more guns and the Expedition had given them a cannon. The Indians did not challenge this bluff and departed. Clark notes they were watch for the next two days.

The Expedition camped for the night of September 1st across the river from Calumet Bluff just below present day Gavin’s Point Dam. This was the same location they stayed for five days during the upriver trip and counseled with the Yanktons. Clark comments that the flag they had put up two years before was still standing.