Violent Encounter with the Blackfeet

During the return journey, Lewis led a small party to explore the Marias River drainage. They encountered a band of eight Piegan Blackfeet warriors and camped together uneasily. At dawn, the Blackfeet attempted to steal the expedition’s horses and rifles.

“I sliped behind a rock and spoke to the effect that I would shoot them if they did not give back my horse.”

In the ensuing fight, Reubin Field stabbed one warrior and Lewis shot another. This was the only violent death caused by the expedition during its entire journey. Lewis’s party then rode over 100 miles in 24 hours to escape potential Blackfeet retaliation — one of the most harrowing episodes of the return journey.

This encounter had lasting consequences for American relations with the Blackfeet, who remained hostile to American traders and trappers for decades.