Picture courtesy of Jim Kuntz.

"as we were pushing off this Morning two Canoes Loaded with fur &c. Came to from the Mahars nation [Omahas]...,at about 10 oClock 4 Cajaux or rafts loaded with furs and peltres came too one from the Paunees (Pawnees) the other from Grand Osage...we camped on a Willow Island in mouth of Gasconnade River"
William Clark, May 27, 1804

On May 26, 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped on an island at the southern end of Loutre Island near present-day Hermann. The party had made some 18 miles on this day aided by a wind that gave them a rare chance to use the sail on the keelboat. Along the way, they noted many signs of deer along the bank.

While encamped, Captain Meriwether Lewis issued a set of Detachment Orders dividing the 24 man crew of the keelboat (all enlisted privates in the army) into three messes under the command of Sergeants Floyd, Ordway and Pryor. These three messes contained the elite corps of men who were designated by the captains to make the entire journey to the Pacific Ocean and back. The crew of hired French boatmen, or engages, assigned to the red pirogue formed a mess under the Patroon, Baptiste Deschamps. They returned to St. Louis from Fort Mandan in the spring of 1805. Another mess, consisting of army personnel under the command of Cpl. Richard Warfington, formed the crew of the white pirogue. Warfington and the crew of the white pirogue were to pilot the keelboat back to St. Louis from Fort Mandan in the spring of 1805 along with reports from the captains and specimens collected on the expedition; these were to be forwarded to President Thomas Jefferson.

The next day (May 27) the expedition encountered several canoes and boatloads of traders. Some of these had come down from the Omaha Indian nation about 700 miles upriver; some had come down from the Pawnee nation on the Platte River; and some had come down from the Grand Osage villages on the Osage River. Sometime on the morning of May 27, the expedition passed the site of present-day Hermann and then continued on to the mouth of the Gasconade River where they stayed through May 28.

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