Northwest Iowa

Southeast South Dakota

                                   The Lewis & Clark Expedition
                                             A "History Brief"              

The Lewis & Clark Expedition departed from St. Louis, Mo on May 14, 1804.  
Led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the expedition was sent
by the U.S. government to explore the Missouri River and the territory of the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase.

• The Lewis and Clark party traveled through the Sioux City area on
   August 20 and 21 in 1804.

• Sergeant Charles Floyd was a member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. 
  A native of Kentucky, Floyd died near Sioux City on August 20, 1804, the only fatality during the two and a half-year expedition.

• Floyd became ill on the evening of August 19, following a ceremony with  local Native American tribe.  His illness was a stomach disorder 
  described as bilous colic, now believed to have been appendicitis.  This was an untreatable disorder at the time, and he would have died even in the care of a hospital.

• Sergt. Floyd died sometime after 2:00 in the afternoon on Monday, 
  August 20, 1804.  The body was taken about a mile up the river and 
  Floyd was buried with Honors of War on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River.

• A cedar post was placed at the grave with the inscription: "Sergt. C. 
  Floyd died here 20th of August 1804." Captain Lewis read the funeral service for Floyd.

• Both the bluff (Sgt. Floyd's Bluff) and a small river upstream (Floyd River) were named for Sergt. Floyd by the expedition.

• Floyd was the first U.S. soldier to die west of the Mississippi.

• Following the burial of Sergeant Floyd, the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled upstream and camped at the mouth of a river that they later named Floyd's River.

• On the morning of August 21, the group set out early and passed what they called Willow Creek (Perry Creek).  They continued on beyond the Big Sioux River and camped on the left side of the Missouri River, south of present day Jefferson, South Dakota.

• Two years later, in 1806, Lewis and Clark returned to Floyd's grave on 
  their way back down the river.  They found that Floyd's grave had been disturbed and they restored the grave to its previous condition.

• In the years that followed, Floyd's Bluff and the cedar post became a landmark for white travelers in the area.  

Photo courtesy of the Sioux City Public Museum

• The Missouri River tore at the bluff over the years, cutting away at its side.  By 1857, erosion from a rain exposed the end of the grave and carried off the cedar post.
• The citizens of Sioux City reburied the remains of Floyd in a walnut coffin, 600 feet back from the river.
• In 1895, the second grave was opened and the remains moved once again.  On August 20, 1895 a slab of engraved marble four feet by eight feet was placed over the grave site marking the third burial of Sgt. Floyd.
• Local leaders felt that a more fitting memorial to Sergeant Floyd was needed, and in 1900 work was begun on a 100ft tall sandstone monument in the form of an Egyptian obelisk.  The Floyd monument was built on the 1895 burial site and was completed by Memorial Day 1901.
• The Floyd Monument was erected by the Floyd Memorial Association of Sioux City, along with the help of the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers and the state of Iowa.
• In 1960 the Floyd Monument became the first historic landmark registered by the United States government.

Learn more about Lewis and Clark at the
Sioux City Public Library!

www.siouxcitylibrary.org/lewisclark.htm