Qualla: Fort Mandan https://qualla.com/fort-mandan en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Fort Mandan https://qualla.com/fort-mandan Fort Mandan: Introduction https://qualla.com/fort-mandan/ On February 11, 1805, in a crude timber fort on the frozen Missouri River, a baby was born. Sacagawea, a young Lemhi Shoshone woman, delivered her son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau while the expedition that would carry them both to the Pacific waited out the brutal Dakota winter. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had likely first met Sacagawea here at Fort Mandan, the encampment their Corps of Discovery had built starting November 2, 1804, completing it in just twenty-five days. The fort sat slightly downriver from the five villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa nations near what would become Washburn, North Dakota. Today, the precise location of that fort is unknown. The Missouri River, relentless in its erosion, has likely swallowed it entirely.

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]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/2/j/fort-mandan-wp/cb2j-fort-mandan-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Fort Mandan: Building Against the Cold https://qualla.com/fort-mandan/ The men of the Corps of Discovery had reason to hurry. They started construction on November 2, 1804, and finished the triangular fort by November 27. The winter that followed justified every day of labor. Temperatures plunged so severely that several expedition members suffered ...

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]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/2/j/fort-mandan-wp/cb2j-fort-mandan-building-against-the-cold.mp3 0:06 2 full Fort Mandan: Diplomacy on the Frontier https://qualla.com/fort-mandan/ President Thomas Jefferson had given Lewis and Clark more than an exploration mission. They were to establish the first official contact between the United States and the nations they encountered, to forge friendly relations, to prepare tribes for the arrival of American traders,...

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]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/2/j/fort-mandan-wp/cb2j-fort-mandan-diplomacy-on-the-frontier.mp3 0:06 3 full Fort Mandan: The Mandan Miscellany https://qualla.com/fort-mandan/ Lewis and Clark did not waste the winter. Not knowing whether they would survive the journey west, they spent the long frozen months compiling everything they had learned since leaving St. Louis. Descriptions of Missouri River tributaries. Observations about the Native nations th...

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]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/2/j/fort-mandan-wp/cb2j-fort-mandan-the-mandan-miscellany.mp3 0:06 4 full Fort Mandan: Ashes and Water https://qualla.com/fort-mandan/ The Corps of Discovery departed Fort Mandan on April 7, 1805, heading west toward the Rocky Mountains, the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean. When they returned in August 1806, they found only charred remains. The fort had burned to the ground, the cause unknown. Whether it w...

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]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/2/j/fort-mandan-wp/cb2j-fort-mandan-ashes-and-water.mp3 0:06 5 full