203 



among the Indians, that a party, an army, as they 

 called it, of soldiers were coming up the Mis- 

 souri.* After dispatching messengers to all the 

 Indians near, they hastened to the river, leaving 

 all their women and children with a few men in 

 the encampment. They did not permit me to go 

 •vith them. On the 25th of September, a council 

 was held on the River Sasqui, to deliberate on 

 ihe object this army should have in view, and to 

 determine what should be done. Lengthy debates 

 :ook place, and being much divided in sentiment 

 whether they should attack them, or not, they 

 disolved the council on the 29th, without de- 

 eding what should be done. Another council 

 was held on the 5th of November, consisting of 

 a much larger number, when they came to a de- 

 termination to invite the Rus to join them, and 

 to attack the soldiers early in the spring. They 

 also agreed to declare war against the Mandans 

 and the Gross-Ventres. During the winter, large 

 bodies of Indians assembled on the Sioux river 

 and the River Sasqui, near to the Missouri. 



In the mean time, war was declared against 

 the soldiers and against the Mandans and Gross- 

 Ventres. Early in the spring the spies they had 



4 



•The army reported to be coming up the Missouri, was 

 doubtless, the party under the command of Captain Lewis 

 and Captain Clarke, consisting of forty-five men, bound on a 

 voyage of discovery to the Pacific Ocean. This corps entered 

 the Missouri on the 14th of May, 1804, and passed the mouth 

 of the River Sasqui, about the 28th«f August. 



