The Sealed Lead Powder Kegs of Merriwether Lewis

Lewis and Clark at the mouth of the Columbia River, 1805. LC-USZ62-50631 While everyone knows the legend of the Girandoni .46 cal. 20-shot repeating air rifle carried by the Lewis & Clark Expedition on their 28-month exploration of the West, it was far from their only piece. According to research by S.K. Wier, Lewis obtained 15 rifles, likely Model 1792 Contract Rifles from Harpers Ferry Arsenal in the spring of 1803, and there were likely another 15 .69 caliber Charleville-pattern Model 1795 Springfield muskets carried by attached soldiers as well. Plus: Clark brought some personal guns, including a small .36-caliber “squirrel rifle” and an “elegant fusil,” a lightweight gentleman’s sporting smoothbore. Lewis brought a case of matched pistols, one of which he traded for a horse, and a “fowler,” an extra-long smoothbore, also traded to the Indians for supplies. Both captains carried a military-issue “horseman’s pistol,” either the “US 1799 North and Cheney” model (similar to the…