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August 18, 1804 - (Remained at Fish Camp) "Proceeded to the trial of Reed, he confessed that he Deserted & stold a public Rifle Shot-pouch powder & ball and requested we would be as favourable with him as we Could consistantly with our oathes – which we were and only sentenced him to run the Gantlet four times through the Party & that each man with 9 Swichies Should punish him and for him not be be considered in future as one of the Party. after the Punihment of about 500 lashes, at night we had some talk with the Chiefs about the cause of War between them and the Mahars. posponed the further consultation untill tomorrow. had a Dance which lasted untile 11 oClock, the Close of Cap Lewis Birthday*. a fine evening. " Clark Cap Lewis Birthday*- August 18 was Lewis's thirtieth birthday. August 19, 1804 - (Remained at Fish Camp) "a fine morning I prepd. a present from the Chiefs & Warriers, the main Cheif brack fast with us naked & beged for a sun glass* - at 10 o Clock we assembled the Cheifs & Warriers under an Orning and delivered a Speech ... those people were not well Satisfied with the Presents given them, they were much surprised at the air gun, and several curiosities which were Shown them none more than the magnet. Serjeant Floyd** is taken verry bad all at once* with a Biliose Chorlick we attempt to relieve him without success as yet, he gets worst and we are much allarmed at his Situation, all attention to him." Clark sun glass* - Probably a "burning glass" that is, a lens for focusing the sun's rays to start a fire, and item the Indians would find both useful and intriguing. Lewis had purchased eight dozen of them for presents in Philadelphia in 1803. Serjeant Floyd** - On July 31, Floyd had written in his journal, "I am verry sick and has ben for Somtime but have recovered my helth again." This suggests an infected appendix which now becomes acute and perforates. August 20, 1804 "Sergeant Floyd much weaker and no better. Floyd died with a great deal of Composure, before his death he said to me, " I am going away*" I want you to write me a letter. We buried him on the top of the bluff **with Honors of War. much lamented; a Seeder post with the Name Sergt. C. Floyd died here 20th of August 1804 was fixed at the head of his grave - This Man at all times gave us proofs of his firmness and Deturmined resolution to doe Service to his Countrey and honor to himself after paying all the honor to our Decesed brother we camped in the mouth of floyds river about 30 yards wide, a butifull evening. - " Clark going away* - The probability is that Floyd died of a ruptured appendix and consequent peritonitis. The ailment was not even recognized by medical science until twenty years after the expedition, and the first successful surgical treatment came in 1884. Probably no physician of the time could have done much more for Floyd than the captains did. A purgative like Rush's Pills, their usual remedy for digestive disorders, could only have hastened Floyd's death, but this is probably what Dr. Benjamin Rush himself would have prescribed if he had been present - along with bleeding, which would have accomplished nothing. The place of Floyd's death is near Sergeant Bluff on the Iowa side of the river, near the present town of Sergeant Bluff, Woodbury County, Iowa. top of the bluff ** - Within present Sioux City, Iowa; later travelers often remarked on the site, and George Catlin painted it in 1832. By 1857 the Missouri had undercut the bluff and the grave was opened and some of the bones lost. Citizens of Sioux City moved the bones to a new burial site. In 1895 the bones were again examined, and a concrete slab and a one-hundred foot monument was erected in 1901. The Floyd River still bears his name.
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