During the winter of 1804-1805, the Mandan were the hosts of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition. They were so close to the Corps that Lewis and Clark named their winter encampment after the tribe, Fort Mandan.
For many students of the expedition, that is where the Mandan story ends. These people were simply the welcoming hosts of American heroes. In the years following Lewis and Clark, the world changed drastically for the Mandan, a people who called themselves the Numakaki, or “all the people,” prior to the 1830s. As trappers surged into their homelands and disease annihilated villages, the Mandan learned how to survive on the forever-changed Missouri river.
Caitlyn Clark, who is currently pursuing a master’s in history at Harvard University, has been studying history since she was 13-years-old. Since then, Clark has written several articles for historical magazines and regularly gives presentations across the U.S. about her book, From the Treaty City to the Western Sea: Lewis and Clark in Greenville, Ohio. Presently, she is the executive director of the Mercer County Historical Society in Celina, Ohio, and the administrative director of the Garst Museum in Greenville, Ohio. Clark is also a member of the Fort Greene Ville Chapter of the DAR.
