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On March 16, 1803, Lewis arrived in Harpers Ferry with a letter from Secretary of War Henry Dearborn addressed to Armory superintendent Joseph Perkins:

 

Travel the Lewis and Clark Trail

Re-live the Adventure ~ Gettsyburg to Pittsburgh PA

On March 16, 1803, Lewis arrived in Harpers Ferry with a letter from Secretary of War Henry Dearborn addressed to Armory superintendent Joseph Perkins: 
Sir: You will be pleased to make such arms & Iron work, as requested by the Bearer Captain Meriwether Lewis and to have them completed with the least possible delay.  In addition to procuring 15 rifles, 15 powder horns, 30 bullet molds, 30 ball screws, extra rifle and musket locks, gunsmith's repair tools, several dozen tomahawks, and 24 large knives, Lewis also attended to the construction of a collapsible iron boat frame of his own design.

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Suggested Itinerary

Gettysburg - Pittsburgh, PA  (via Harpers Ferry, West Virginia)  260 miles

  Leaving Washington DC on March 15, 1803, Meriwether Lewis traveled via horseback (route in gold)  through the eastern towns preparing himself for the western expedition.   Lewis attended crash courses on botany, paleontology, navigation and field medicine.  Purchased guns, tomahawks and knives and sent an invitation to William Clark to co-command the expedition

 

POINT OF INTEREST: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia  Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

POINT OF INTEREST:   Elizabeth, PA - In 1803, Lewis apparently had his first two pirogues built here.  Visit the  Monongahela River, which flows from West Virginia into western Pennsylvania. The headwaters of the Monongahela River are at the confluence of the Tygart and West Fork rivers at Fairmont, West Virginia. The river joins with the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to form the Ohio River.

Pittsburgh, PA- On July 15, 1803, Lewis experienced great delays in getting the keelboat built and did not leave until August 31, 1803.

POINT OF INTEREST:    Visit the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.


 

Lewis and Clark Trail maps on this web site were provided courtesy of the National Park Service
GPO 1991-557-779


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