Neumann and Kravic, 1975.
Spontoons
A spontoon, formally called an espontoon, was a spear carried by European and American army officers in the 18th century. The spontoon served as a badge of rank, to direct troops, and occasionally for a personal weapon in battle, as need arose. Lewis and Clark sometimes carried a spontoon when walking on shore during the river journey, using the spontoon as a kind of walking stick in rough and slippery terrain, as a gun rest, and rarely for defense against dangerous animals.
During the War for Independence General George Washington directed that officers carry spontoons rather than firearms. He wrote "As the proper arming of officers would add considerable strength to the Army, and the officers themselves would derive great confidence from being armed in the time of action, the General orders every one of them to provide himself with a spear or half pike as soon as possible -- fire arms, when made use of, withdrawing their attention too much from their men, and to be without either, has a very awkward and unofficer-like appearance."
At Valley Forge in 1778 a council of brigade commanders recommended that "...the Quartermaster General be directed to cause spontoons or pikes made for the officers, the staff six feet long and one inch and one quarter diameter in the largest part, and that the iron part to be one foot long." There was no standard design for the spontoon; they varied from ornate to crude.
At the time of the Expedition, spontoon patterns were not as ornate as many 18th century designs, with a fairly plain spear point and crossbar. The center spontoon in the illustration (British, circa 1750 -1786) is of this kind and has a blade 9 1/2 inches long. Spontoons have long metal straps extending from the blade to strenghten the spontoon against breakage, and small crossbar at the bottom of the point. The foot of the staff may be shod with an iron cap or point to reduce wear.
Many days during the river journey either Lewis or Clark investigated the land along the river as the boats advanced, while the other remained on board. Long wooden walking sticks were used by explorers and Boy Scouts to the end of the nineteeth century, for a variety of purposes , from vaulting small ravines to contriving emergency stretchers.
On the upper Missouri in 1805 the captains had several adventures while walking with a spontoon and gun. On May 26 Lewis noted in his journal "it was after dark before we finished butchering the buffaloe, and on my return to camp I trod within five inches of a rattle snake but being in motion I passed before he could probably put himself in a striking attitude and fortunately escaped his bite, I struck about at random with my espontoon being directed in some measure by his nois untill I killed him. ."
On May 29 the party discovered a "the remains of a vast many mangled carcases of Buffalow which had been driven over a precipice of 120 feet by the Indians and perished." Lewis wrote "we saw a great many wolves in the neighbourhood of these mangled carcases they were fat and extreemly gentle, Capt. C. who was on shore killed one of them with his espontoon."
Lewis saved himself with his spontoon in a famous incident on June 7. "... the grownd remarkably slipry, insomuch that we were unable to walk on the sides of the bluffs where we had passed as we ascended the river. notwithstanding the rain that has now fallen the earth ... in it's present state it is precisely like walking over frozan grownd which is thawed to small debth and slips equally as bad. ... In passing along the face of one of these bluffs today I sliped at a narrow pass of about 30 yards in length and but for a quick and fortunate recovery by means of my espontoon I should been precipitated into the river down a craggy pricipice of about ninety feet."
On June 14 1805 Lewis took his spontoon on a long solitary excursion and his lengthy journal entry is fascinating reading. After shooting a buffalo he was pursued by a grizzly bear into the river. The bear nearly reached him and Lewis in a desparte move pointed his spontoon turned and ran only when Lewis, whose gun was now unloaded, pointed his spontoon at the bear. Soon afterwards he spotted what he describes as a "tyger cat" standing near its burrow. He fired at the animal, using his spontoon for a "steady rest." Even before he could see if his shot hit the "tyger," three buffalo charged him at full speed. "It now seeemd to me that all the beasts of the neighborhood had made a league to distroy me..." Dark was falling and he turned back to camp as quickly as possible. This is the last mention of a spontoon which I have found in the journals.
Replica Spontoons
Replica spontoons fittings of fine quality can be found for sale new. One possible source is Jas. Townsend and Son, Inc. (http://www.jastown.com/), and you can try ebay.
Sources of Information
Gilman, Carolyn. 2003. Lewis and Clark Across the Divide. Washington: Smithsonian Books.
Hoovestol, Howard. "The Espontoons of Captains Lewis and Clark." We Proceeded On, February 1990.
Hunt, Robert K. "The Espontoon: Captain Lewis' Magic Stick." We Proceeded On, February 1990.
Moulton, Gary E. 1983-2001. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 13 vols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Neumann, George C. and Kravic, Frank J. 1975. Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Harrisburg: Stackpole Books.
Peterson, Harold L. 1968. The Book of the Continental Soldier. Harrisburg: Stackpole Books.
National Park Service. 2004. Preparing for the Expedition: Weapons
(http://www.nps.gov/jeff/LewisClark2/CorpsOfDiscovery/Preparing/Weapons/Weapons.htm)
Text Copyright © Stuart Wier 2005
Stuart Wier
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Boulder, Colorado 80303
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swier@earthlink.netCitation:
Wier, Stuart K. 2005. Spontoons of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Boulder, Colorado: http://home.earthlink.net/~swier/LCspontoon.html.