Teaser: Despite only a brief mention in the Lewis and Clark journals, LaLiberté’s departure from the expedition demonstrates another facet of the challenge that the Corps of Discovery faced during their western trek.
Joseph LaLiberté – Deserter
One of the more obscure individuals mentioned in the journals of the Corps of Discovery was a man hired as a civilian, Joseph LaLiberté, likely used as an interpreter to the Oto people. Due to differences in spelling, LaLiberté may have been known as Le Bartee, Barter, Jo Barter, or Joab Barton. On Sunday, July 29, 1804, Lewis and Clark sent La Liberté with an Indian man to invite chiefs to meet with the expedition for a council. No one from the expedition would see La Liberté again until August 7, when Lewis and Clark ordered a search for another deserter, Private Moses Reed. According to Clark’s orders, George Drouillard, Francois Labiche, and two others were to put Reed to death if he did not give up peaceably (Clark, August 7, 1804). On August 17, Labiche returned to the expedition and reported that they had caught LaLiberté, “but he decived [sic] and got away” (Clark). As far as Reed, after he appealed for clemency, Clark ordered that he run the gauntlet four times (Clark, August 18, 1804). This meant that Reed walked through two columns of members of the expedition and each member of the expedition would strike him with switches. Reed could have suffered a total of 828 strokes (Mussulman) by the time the sentence was finished. Traditionally, each stroke required vigor, lest members of the gauntlet suffer the same fate.
In practice, commanders sentenced deserters to 180 lashes administered 25 at a time, although execution was not uncommon (Blyth, 5). At the outbreak of the War of 1812, when the regular army numbered around 19,000 people, commanders issued four death sentences for desertion, with three gaining reprieves. However, as the number of troops climbed to 31,000 in 1814, the number of death sentences climbed to 160, with only 14 reprieved (Grodzinski, 6). Courts martial generally decided the fate of those who deserted. Likely understanding the austere conditions of the expedition, Clark drafted guidelines prior to their departure on how to deal with misbehavior on the part of members of the expedition. In the guidelines, Clark wrote that courts martial would comprise seven individuals: one interpreter or sergeant to act as the president, at least one commanding officer, and five privates (Mussulman). Article 35 of the Articles of War dictated that all the members of the court-martial would give their vote toward a verdict.
The commanders of the expedition would have been bound by the June 30, 1775 Articles of War enacted by the Continental Congress. Depending on the nature of the offense, the court martial would have decided the punishment. According to Articles 8 and 9, for soldiers deserting, the punishment would be at the discretion of a court martial. However, Article 25 requires death for an ‘officer or soldier…who abandons any post committed to their charge’ (Vargas). According to Diffendal et al., there may have been no point to recapturing LaLiberté since he was a civilian and therefore his offense was not as serious, though he did steal a horse. Diffandal et al. may be in the minority, for other sources wrote that LaLiberté would have indeed been bound by the Articles of War (Maurer), particularly Article 32, which read: “All suttlers [sic] and retailers to a camp, and all persons whatsoever, serving with the continental army in the field, though not enlisted soldiers, are to be subject to the articles, rules, and regulations of the continental army.”
Little is known about LaLiberté after he escaped. However, there are a couple of possibilities. According to the St. Louis, Missouri archives, a Joseph LaLiberté married Julie Village on 11 January 1835. Others speculate that he may have lived with the Oto Indians for a number of years (Royot, 171). Others wrote that LaLiberté may have found himself near Jefferson City, MO, and dying under the name of Joab Barton in 1820 (Woodger & Toropov).
Marriage record of Joseph LaLiberté, found in Book 1, p.246 marriage records, recorder of deeds, St. Louis, MO.
References
- Avalon.law.yale.edu. 2022. Avalon Project – Journals of the Continental Congress – Articles of War, June 30, 1775. [online] Available at: <https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/contcong _06-30-75.asp> [Accessed 9 March 2022].
- Blyth, Lance R. "Fugitives from Servitude: American Deserters and Runaway Slaves in Spanish Nacogdoches, 1803-1808." East Texas Historical Journal, vol 38, no. 2, 2000, pp. 3-14.
- Diffendal, Anne P.; Moulton, Gary E.; Shambaugh-Miller, Michael; and Diffendal, Robert F. (1999). "Reconnaissance Survey of Lewis and Clark on the Missouri National Recreational River, Nebraska and South Dakota"(1999). Papers in Natural Resources. 294
- Grodzinski, John R. “”Bloody Provost”: Discipline during the War of 1812.” Canadian Military History, vol. 16, no. 2, 2007, pp. 25-32.
- Maurer, Dan, "Military Justice Under Washington," Military Affairs, vol. 18 (1964-65), 8.
- Mussulman, Joseph. “Discovering Lewis and Clark.” Discovering Lewis and Clark, 2022, http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/2640.
- Royot, Daniel. 2007. Divided Loyalties in a Doomed Empire. Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp.: Cranbury NJ.
- Vargas, Mark A. "The Military Justice System and the Use of Illegal Punishments as Causes of Desertion in the US Army, 1821-1835." The Journal of Military History, vol. 55, no. 1, 1991, pp. 1-19.
- Woodger, Elin & Toropov, Brandon. (2004). Encyclopedia of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Facts on File: USA.
- W. Winthrop, Military Law and Precedents 17, 45 (2d ed. 1920 reprint) https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112101338624&view=1up&seq=14
