September 14, 1803

Drunken Sailors

Set out this morning at 11 oClock was prevented seting out earlyer in consequence of two of my men geting drunk and absenting themselves. I f[i]nally found them and had them brought on board, so drunk that they were unable to help themselves passed several riffles and lay all night on the N. W. shore—
—Meriwether Lewis

Related: Alcohol Rations

Fevers and Ague

The fever and ague and bilious fevers here commence their banefull oppression and continue through the whole course of the river with increasing violence as your approach it’s mouth—
—Meriwether Lewis

Cinchona officinalis L. was one of several species of South American trees that yielded “Peruvian” or “Jesuit’s” bark for the treatment of malaria—Lewis’s “fever and ague.” Malaria had significant consequences for many travelers on the Ohio and lower Mississippi rivers. For Lewis, it may have contributed to his early death.

Related: Mosquito Ills and Cures | The Botanical Medicines | Medicine on the Trail | The Last Journey of Meriwether Lewis

Goiters

was here informed that there were some instances of the goitre in the neighbourhood two women who lived on the bank of the river just below they had emegrated to that place from the lower part of pensylvania and had contracted the disorder since there residence on the Ohio—
—Meriwether Lewis

Goiters are prominent swellings in the front of the neck caused by an enlarged thyroid gland. Although not understood in 1803, their cause was from a lack of iodine and selenium in the soil and consequently the drinking water and crops.^[1]“Goitre”, Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goitre accessed 19 August 2026.

Also on this day . . .

Lewis’s dog, Seaman, hunts squirrels swimming across the river, likely the Eastern gray squirrel.