August 19, 1804
We are all very worried about Sgt. Floyd who is very ill. We all hope for the best but we all including himself thinks he will die. I saw a buffalo today and shot it and brought it back to eat it was delicious....

Cameron Allen Randolph

August 15, 1804
Captain Lewis told us today that we had just gone in a big 183/4 mile circle on the river when it was only 900 or so yards. Captain Clark is taking advantage of all the fish and caught 800 of them. I noticed Seaman did not like fish at all and saw that he was very happy when he caught a mouse to eat. Then all of a sudden Reed burst through the trees on the river bank followed by two men. Reeds punishment was two run a gauntlet 4 times with the men beating him with sticks. I herd one of the chiefs saying that it was a terrible punishment for Reed but then herd Lewis say that It was the least we could do to him for the crime.

Cameron Allen Randolph

August 11 1804

We are all concerned about Moses Reed who has not returned back to the ship from the Council Bluff. The captains think he has deserted and I agree with them. Captain Lewis was very angry at Seaman for scaring of a prairie wolf with pups earlier today that he was trying to catch, Lewis said that it was almost like Seaman was trying to protect her.

Cameron Allen Randolph

The Mandan Indian Village

August 2nd 1804
We are meeting with our first Indians tomorrow and we are all very excited. Captain Lewis has made a speech for the chiefs of the tribe explaining how the Spaniards and the French don’t own the land any more and aren’t there “fathers” that Thomas Jefferson was and he was the new person to trade with and ask for help or protection. We plan to give them a gift of a casket of gun powder, 50 balls, and a bottle of whiskey. Even though we hope everything will go right we are bringing loaded rifles just in case.

Wish us luck,

Cameron Allen Randolph

May 23, 1804

We are finally leaving for the Mandan Indian Village where we will spend the winter. Our ship is a long narrow keelboat boat full of barrels of whiskey, gunpowder, and food. Even with the keelboat’s 22 oars the boat is still very hard to maneuver up the great Missouri River. At this time only about an hour into our journey we have already been caught on 4 sandbars and have had to duck countless times to avoid be hit with a tree limb. Captain Lewis fell today when he was walking with his dog Seaman on a narrow path above the Missouri. I hear that without his knife that he used to stop his fall he would have been dead. Even with all these mishaps I still feel confident about this expedition and I hope that we will all return safely.

Until next time,

Cameron Allen Randolph