N3806

Lewis & Clark Expedition - Bicentennial

Fred's Anecdotal Note

Private Francois Labiche

"The morning was fair, and the plains looked beatifull. The air was pleasant and a vast assemblage of little birds which croud to the groves on the river sung most enchantingly. " So wrote Lewis on the morn of July 11, 1806 as the Corps was about to cross the Missouri River on the way home. The men made bull boats (buffalo hides stretched over willow frames) Iike the ones shown behind Private Labiche. Having been taught the skills of a hunter and woodsman by his French father and several tribal tongues by his Indian mother, his contributions were many. Conversant in French and English, his interpreter skills were vital to the mission's success. He had helped find the Fort Clatsop site, and he was a skilled riverman like his friend Cruzatte. At the start

the pair had been ordered to "man the larboard bow oar alternately" putting the safety of the keelboat in their hands. As Private Labiche was about to paddle a round bull boat homeward across the wide Missouri, his thoughts of many personal accomplishments were serenaded "enchantingly" by a chorus of Montana songbirds.