Chapter 27
Two Medicine
The Two Medicine River, northern Montana
Yes, once. At dawn on 27 July 1806, on the Two Medicine River in northern Montana, a fight broke out between Lewis’s small party and eight young Piegan Blackfeet men who tried to take their guns and horses. Reubin Field stabbed one of the Piegan men, and Lewis shot another. Both died. It was the only deadly fight of the expedition.
17–26 July 1806
At the Great Falls, Lewis leaves most of his men to dig up the caches and carry the canoes around the falls again. Then he rides north with just three men, George Drouillard and the brothers Joseph and Reubin Field, to explore the Marias River.
He wants to know how far north the Marias goes. If it reaches far enough, the United States could claim a bigger piece of the continent. For days they ride upstream through empty plains. Clouds and rain stop Lewis from taking the star sightings he needs. The river turns west, towards the mountains. Lewis names their last camp Camp Disappointment.
They are in the country of the Blackfeet, the most powerful nation on the northern plains. Lewis knows it, and he is nervous.
26 July 1806
On 26 July, riding along the Two Medicine River, they see a group of horses, and then eight young men of the Piegan, one of the Blackfeet nations. Both sides are startled. Lewis decides the best thing is to be friendly. They smoke together and camp together for the night by the river.
Through sign language, Lewis tells the young men something that alarms them. The Americans, he says, have made peace with the nations to the west, the Nez Perce and the Shoshone, and will trade them guns. For the Blackfeet, whose power comes partly from having guns their enemies lack, this is very bad news.
27 July 1806
At first light, the Piegan young men try to take the Corps’ guns and horses. Drouillard wakes up to find one of them grabbing his rifle and shouts, “damn you let go my gun.” Reubin Field chases another man who has taken his gun, and stabs him. He dies.
Lewis runs after two men who are driving off their horses. One turns towards him with a gun. Lewis writes: “I shot him through the belly.” The man, wounded, fires back. “Being bearheaded I felt the wind of his bullet very distinctly,” Lewis writes.
Then it is over. Two young Piegan men are dead. Before leaving, Lewis does something chilling: he “left the medal about the neck of the dead man that they might be informed who we were.” Then Lewis and his three men take several of the Piegan horses and ride south almost without stopping, through the rest of that day and most of the night, afraid that a larger war party will come after them.