Dolley Madison's Support of the Expedition

#Wednesday

From Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail:

Still basking in the gain of the Louisiana Territory, most Americans of 1803 were proud of the incredible expansion of their new nation and waited eagerly to hear from the men of the Expedition as they explored the vast new territory with the goal of finding a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean. 

According to Cokie Roberts’ book “Ladies of Liberty,” the women of Washington had so understood the importance of this mission that they supplemented the paltry congressional appropriation with a fund-raising drive, spearheaded by future first lady, Dolley Madison. Dolley often assisted President Jefferson in community affairs and entertaining at the President’s House (which worked out well, since the Madisons actually lived with Jefferson during the first year of his first term).

As her niece Mary E.E. Cutts later recalled, Dolley had a huge heart, and believed that Lewis & Clark “could never return from that land of savages.” Determined to supplement the miserly congressional appropriation of $2,500 for equipment, she organized the ladies of Washington and conducted a fundraiser to provide the Expedition with sack cloth, candle wax, lamps and lamp oil, cooking spices, canned goods, dried goods, writing materials, clothing and silver cooking utensils.

According to Dolley’s niece, when Lewis returned to Washington in December 1806, he brought the surviving silver service to Dolley and regaled the ladies with tales of “hair breath escapes and marvelous adventures,” along with “as many specimens as they could bring from so far off in the wilderness!” 




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