Tense Confrontation with the Teton Sioux

The encounter with the Teton Sioux (Lakota) at the mouth of the Bad River was the most dangerous confrontation of the entire expedition. The Lakota controlled trade on the upper Missouri and saw the American expedition as a threat to their economic and political power.

“The 2nd Chief was verry insolent both in words and justures, pretended Drunkeness & Staggered up against me, declaring I Should not go on. I felt My Self warm & Spoke in very positive terms.”

Warriors seized the pirogue’s mooring cable and strung their bows. Clark drew his sword and Lewis ordered the keelboat’s swivel gun aimed at the shore. For several tense moments, the expedition teetered on the edge of armed conflict.

The crisis was eventually defused through the intervention of Chief Black Buffalo, and the expedition continued upstream after several uncomfortable days of diplomacy. Clark later described the Teton Sioux as “the vilest miscreants of the savage race.”