Belongings of Sgt. Floyd

Portrait of Charles Floyd by Benjamin Trott; monochrome watercolor on ivory, ca. 1804.

It’s most likely that the men of the Corps all brought their own weapons (pistols, rifles, knives) with them on the Expedition to use in addition to the ones provided by the U.S. Army.

Jim Garry in his book, “Weapons of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” supports this idea with an entire chapter dedicated to personal weapons. He presents the unique situation following the death of Sergeant Charles Floyd when Captain Clark wrote in August 1804, “Give Sjt. Pryor Sg Floyds things except shot p[ouch]. & Tomhk. [tomahawk]”.

Pryor was Floyd’s cousin so it was natural that he would have been given the deceased sergeant’s personal items. But why would he not also have received the shot pouch and tomahawk? Garry explains two possible answers: these items were military issued, or they were considered such personal property that the Captains intended to return them to Floyd’s family.

Unfortunately in June 1806, Captain Lewis wrote that two tomahawks were stolen and one of them was Floyd’s which Clark intended to return to his family.