Wampum and the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Necklace featuring wampum by Leonard Harmon, a Native artist and citizen of the Lenape Tribe of New Jersey and the Nanticoke Tribe of Delaware.

Photo by Leonard Harmon

In 1803, as Captain Meriwether Lewis considered what to bring on his expedition West, one thing was clear; he needed to secure enticing items to trade with the Tribes the expedition would meet along the way. Lewis would eventually learn that the preferred currency of the East would not be as valuable as the expedition traveled West.

Lewis knew the Corps of Discovery would inevitably run out of some items purchased in Philadelphia and St. Louis and would have to trade items they did have in their inventory with someone who might have what they needed. Lewis directed traded items to be packed including tobacco, articles of clothing, and beads. Hairpipes, or wampum, made of shells appearing to have swirls of purple and white, were not among Lewis’ initial supplies purchased in Philadelphia. But, he was able to source 24 in St. Louis before the group moved up the Missouri River.

While following the Missouri River, crossing the Rocky Mountains, and making their way along the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed along a variety of trading beads in different colors and of different values to Tribal members.

Wampum is often referred to as the first American currency, and there are records of it being used in Massachusetts to pay taxes. To Tribal nations, however, wampum's value is more than monetary. For the Onondaga Nation, for example, wampum is central to life and used in ceremonies, to record history, and to ratify treaties.

Though expedition members assumed wampum to be the most valuable of the beads, Lewis wrote that Tribal members were fond of moderately sized blue and white beads, which were common in the East. In March 1806, Lewis wrote,

The favorite ornament of both sexes are the common coarse blue and white beads which the men wear tightly wound around their wrists and ankles many times untill they obtain the width of three or more inches. They also wear them in large rolls loosly around the neck, or pendulous from the cartelage of the nose or rims of the ears which are purforated for the purpose. The women wear them in a similar manner esxcept in the nose which they never purforate.

By the time the Lewis and Clark Expedition turned East, leaving the Pacific Ocean and heading home, they had niether wampum nor beads in abundance to trade. The hungry soldiers began removing buttons from their military uniforms to barter for food, guides, and the necessities of survival.

Read more about wampum and other beads of the Lewis and Clark Expedition on our partner Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation's website, Discovering Lewis & Clark.

Learn about Leonard Harmon's modern Indigenous art using wampum from Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.