Pryor was given several important independent commands during the journey, including leading the horse herd during the return trip. When Crow warriors stole the horses near the Yellowstone, Pryor improvised by building bullboats — circular hide boats — and descended the river to rejoin Clark.

After the expedition, Pryor led the ill-fated 1807 attempt to return Chief Sheheke to the Mandan villages, which was repelled by the Arikara. He served with distinction in the War of 1812, reaching the rank of captain, and later settled among the Osage in present-day Oklahoma as a trader and Indian agent.

Pryor married an Osage woman and was adopted into the nation. He died in 1831 and was buried with Osage honors near present-day Pryor, Oklahoma — the town later named for him.

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“Serjeant Floyd Died with a great deal of Composure, before his death he Said to me, ‘I am going away. I want you to write me a letter.'”

Floyd had been ill for several days with what modern physicians believe was acute appendicitis — a condition that would have been fatal even in the best hospitals of the era. He was buried atop a bluff overlooking the Missouri River near present-day Sioux City, Iowa.

Clark named the nearby river “Floyd’s River” in his honor. Patrick Gass was later elected by the men to replace Floyd as sergeant — a remarkable example of frontier democracy within a military unit.

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