A 100-foot-high sandstone obelisk perched on a Siouxland bluff honors Sergeant Charles Floyd, the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die. He died on August 20, 1804, likely from peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix, in present-day Sioux City, Iowa. At 21, he was one of the youngest expedition members. Several Siouxland locations tell Floyd’s and the Corps of Discovery’s story. We will follow the explorers’ footsteps in the present-day Sioux City area.
Siouxland is an hour and a half northwest of Omaha, Nebraska, and 1:15 southeast of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Sioux Gateway Airport (SUX) offers round-trip flights to Chicago and Denver.
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Table of contents
Commissioning the Corps of Discovery | Meet Charles Floyd | Floyd’s death and burial | Remembering Floyd in Siouxland | The reburial odyssey | Floyd’s skull reconstruction | Raising the Floyd Monument | Eat Thai, drink a cortado, and stay in a treehouse
Commissioning the Corps of Discovery
President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis to lead the Corps of Discovery. Lewis chose William Clark as his co-captain. Their mission was to follow the Missouri River’s course to its source. Afterward, they were to find the Columbia River and follow it to the Pacific Ocean. Jefferson hoped the Corps would find the Northwest Passage, a fabled direct water route to the Pacific. Jefferson conceded that perhaps a short portage separated the rivers. Of course, 89 mountain ranges defeated Jefferson’s hopes.
Beyond mapping, the Lewis & Clark expedition was to establish trade routes, befriend the Native peoples while insisting upon American sovereignty, and add to the store of scientific knowledge. America’s leading scientists gave Lewis a crash course while Clark recruited the Corps of Discovery’s enlisted members. They left St. Louis on May 14, 1804, and returned on September 23, 1806, after an 8,000-mile journey.
This is his story and where to find more about Sergeant Floyd and the Corps of Discovery in Siouxland.
Meet Charles Floyd
Sergeant Floyd may have been Captain Clark’s relative. They were at least family friends. However, Floyd’s hiring was not a case of nepotism. He had already been elected as the Constable of present-day Clarksville, Indiana. Lewis promoted him to sergeant in April 1804. Another sergeant, Nathaniel Pryor, was his cousin. Each non-commissioned officer led a squad of privates, responsible for cooking their food and caring for their encampment. Each squad crewed a batteau, a flat-bottomed boat with a raked bow and stern and flaring sides.
Related: In 1811, Pryor spied on Prophetstown, Indiana, at Clark’s behest. His report led to the Battle of Tippecanoe.
The death and burial of Sergeant Charles Floyd in Siouxland
In late July, Clark recorded, “Serjt. Floyd verry unwell a bad Cold.” The sergeant seemed to recover. On July 30 in present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa, Floyd wrote, “I am verry sick and has been for Sometime, but have recovered my Helth again….” Good health didn’t last. On August 18, Clark wrote that Floyd was “much weaker and no better … no pulse and nothing will stay a moment in his stomach or bowels.” While Floyd suffered, Otoe-Missouria representatives arrived near present-day Homer, Nebraska. Floyd’s condition worsened as the conference continued. He died on August 20 “with a great deel of composure,” Clark reported. Before he died in present-day, Floyd told Clark, “I am going away. I want you to write me a letter.”
Sergeant Floyd rests on a high Siouxland hill
The Corps buried Floyd on top of a high round hill “1/2 Mile below a Small river to which we Gave his name,” Clark wrote. “He was buried with the Honors of War, much lamented.” After Lewis read the funeral service, the men marked the grave with a carved cedar post. It read, “Sergt. C. Floyd died here 20th of August 1804.” He was the first US soldier to die west of the Mississippi River.
Private Patrick Gass characterized Floyd’s burial as “in the most decent manner our circumstances would admit.” Clark wrote, “This man at all times gave us proofs of his firmness and Determination to doe honor to his countrey and to himself.” Two days later, the Corps elected Gass to fill Floyd’s role as sergeant, the first election west of the Mississippi. Floyd’s dictated letter and journal went to St. Louis in 1805 from Fort Mandan in present-day North Dakota.
Roxie’s reliable report: Gass’ election was held in present-day Elk Point, South Dakota. The Adams Homestead near North Sioux City preserves a wild Missouri River segment.
Related: Overwinter with Lewis and Clark in Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota.
Remembering Sergeant Charles Floyd in Siouxland
Every year, Siouxland’s Lewis and Clark attractions hold Corps of Discovery-themed events on the weekend nearest Floyd’s death anniversary. Reenactors portray his burial on Saturday at the monument and return to 1804 on the grounds of Sergeant Floyd River Museum and Welcome Center. The nearby interpretive center hosts musicians and demonstrations on that weekend.
Meet the Corps at the Sioux City Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Betty Strong Encounter Center
The 20,000-square-foot Sioux City Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center showcases animatronic mannequins of Jefferson, Floyd, York, the man Clark enslaved, and Lewis’s dog, Seaman, barking at a caged prairie dog. The animatronic captains discuss a deserter, a diplomatic event, Floyd’s illness, and death, and selecting a new sergeant. Beyond the mannequins, the center provides 35 free children’s classes and activities, 65 free programs for adults and families, and 10 new, temporary exhibits annually. Examine the permanent exhibits, a model of the expedition’s keelboat and play an interactive game, “Percy the Pelican.” Its hand-painted murals and exhibits use computers, flip books, stamping stations, text-and-graphic panels, lift-and-drop panels, a brass-rubbing station, and reproductions of military equipment.
The Betty Strong Encounter Center connects to the interpretive center on Larsen Park Road. It commemorates a “history of encounters” before and after the expedition. Its themes include agriculture, Mighty Mo fishing, heritage food and music, and Native Games days. Experience the changing Missouri River in the enclosed “River Connection” pathway. Sixteen Children of St. Augustine Indian Mission portraits explore today’s Indigenous cultures.
Missouri River Historical Development, Inc., built the Lewis and Clark Center in 2002 to commemorate the bicentennial. Five years later, they added the Betty Strong Center. The Crossroads, a hallway exhibit, connects them.
Honor Floyd at the Floyd River Campsite Rock
Ray “Bubba” Sorensen painted a Sergeant Floyd in Siouxland-themed rock in Chris Larsen Park. It stands at 700 Larsen Park Road near the Floyd River’s confluence with the Missouri River. Sorensen has installed Freedom Rocks in each of Iowa’s 99 counties, plus one in Nebraska.
Recovering Floyd’s pipe tomahawk
Clark carried Floyd’s pipe tomahawk to Canoe Camp on the Clearwater River, 4 miles west of Orofino, Idaho. He intended to return it to Floyd’s family. Instead, it was stolen on October 7, 1805, as the Corps launched canoes. On their return, Corps translator George Drouillard discovered where it had gone. The current owner had bought the tomahawk, and he was about to die. His relatives intended to bury it with its owner. However, Drouillard persuaded them to sell it for a “haderchief, two strands of beads, and two horses,” Lewis wrote.
When the Corps of Discovery returned in early September 1806, they restored Floyd’s disturbed grave. Clark reported, “We had this grave completely filled up and returned to the canoes and proceeded on.”
Related: Lewis tangled with the Blackfeet Nation near Cut Bank, Montana, on the return trip. Later, Clark carved his autograph into Pompeys Pillar. The national monument is a perfect Southeast Montana destination.
The Sergeant Floyd grave becomes a Siouxland landmark
The cedar post on the bluff became a landmark, and many travelers commented on it. In 1832, painter George Catlin sketched “this solitary cedar-post, which tells a tale of grief.” He climbed the bluff and “sat upon the grave, overgrown with grass and the most delicate wildflowers.” Around the same time, Maximillian, Prince of Wied, explored the gravesite. He reported (PDF), “The bank on either side is low. The left is covered with poplars; on the right, behind the wood, rises a hill like the roof of a building, at the top of which Floyd is buried. A short stick marks the place where he is laid and has often been renewed by travellers when the fires in the prairie have destroyed it.”
Siouxland’s population arises around Sergeant Floyd’s grave
William Thompson built a cabin at the base of Floyd’s Bluff in 1848. He established “Thompsontown,” but others called the little settlement “Floyd’s Bluff.” A year after Thompson’s arrival, Theophile Bruguier, a French Canadian fur trader, settled at the Big Sioux River’s mouth. He had dreamed about living in a place where two rivers joined near a high bluff. When he told his friend War Eagle of the Yankton Sioux, War Eagle said the dreamland was the confluence of the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers. Bruguier invited Council Bluffs, Iowa, outfitter James A. Jackson to establish a post at the confluence. Jackson’s father-in-law, Dr. John Cook, was a government surveyor, and he established the Town of Sioux City, Iowa. Cook tried to buy Thompsontown, but Thompson refused to sell. Sioux City soon wrested the county seat from Thompsontown, now Sergeant Bluff.
Roxie’s reliable report: War Eagle Park overlooks the Missouri-Big Sioux confluence, where Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota meet. War Eagle, two of his wives, and Burguier are buried in the park. A road leads to a parking lot, and a paved trail passes the markers. Follow an unpaved, narrow path beyond the markers to view the confluence. A chain-link fence impedes river views, but an eventual gap allows confluence photos.
The Missouri River carves away Floyd’s grave
Floods plague Siouxland, and Sergeant Floyd was a victim. In the spring of 1857, Missouri River floodwaters undercut Floyd’s Bluff. Part of Floyd’s grave slid down the hill, leaving his bones sticking out. When citizens discovered the disturbance, they lowered a man to retrieve the bones. Siouxland ceremonially reburied Floyd for the third time on May 28, 1857, 200 yards east of its previous location. The citizens installed new wooden markers. However, souvenir hunters desecrated the markers, and grazing livestock trampled the grave. The railroad dumped construction debris near the site in 1877, and its location became lost.
Floyd’s rediscovered journal prompts his final burial
In 1895, the Wisconsin Historical Society Director Reuben Gold Thwaites was examining his predecessor’s “high pile of [similar] notebooks” (PDF) when he discovered Floyd’s lost journal.
The journal’s publication rekindled interest in Floyd. In response, the Sioux City Journal demanded that Floyd’s grave be re-discovered. Witnesses to Floyd’s 1857 reburial gathered in the area and selected a site. The subsequent excavation revealed a coffin containing Floyd’s skull and other bones. The Floyd Memorial Association authorized photographs and measurements of Floyd’s skull and that two plaster casts be made. They also decided to temporarily inter Floyd’s bones in two pottery urns beneath a “properly inscribed” 8-inch thick, 7- by 3-foot marble slab. Five hundred spectators attended the inurnment on August 20, 1895.
See Floyd’s plaster skull and his reconstruction on the MV Sergeant Floyd in Siouxland
From 1933 to 1975, the United States Army Corps of Engineers used the MV Sergeant Floyd as a Missouri River workboat. She sailed America’s inland waterways for 18 months as a Corps of Engineers floating bicentennial exhibit. In 1983, the City of Sioux City bought her for a river museum and welcome center on Larsen Park Road. Visitors can view the history of Missouri River transportation through rare photos, artifacts, dioramas, and America’s largest exhibit of Missouri River steamboat and keelboat models. Enjoy the free admission. The Sergeant Floyd River Museum & Welcome Center’s first floor is accessible via a ramp, while the second floor requires an elevator. The pilot house requires narrow stairs. The adjacent public restroom facility is accessible.
Sergeant Floyd comes to life differently than at the interpretive center. In 1997, forensic artist Sharon Long, Floyd’s distant cousin, used one of the plaster skulls to recreate Floyd’s facial features. The plaster skull had lost its lower jaw, but photographs helped her. She created a new cast with an intact jaw and teeth. Then she rebuilt Floyd’s face with brown eyes because of his Welsh ancestry. The nasal spine suggested a hooked nose. A woman’s wig became Floyd’s brown hair. She finished sculpting Floyd’s head a month later. At that time, her sister sent her a picture of her great-grandfather, Floyd’s brother’s son. “I thought, ‘Look at that. You can tell they’re relatives,'” she said. In contrast, the interpretive center’s Floyd has lighter hair.
Raising the Sergeant Floyd Monument in Siouxland
Captain Hiram M. Chittenden of the United States Army Corps of Engineers recommended an Egyptian obelisk made of Kettle River sandstone from Minnesota. By May 1900, the association had raised enough money to build the monument. On May 29, workers began pouring the concrete foundation on top of the bluff. On August 20, five years after Floyd’s fourth burial, the association entombed Floyd’s remains in the base of the monument next to a time capsule. Next, the association laid the cornerstone.
Workers laid the sandstone blocks as they arrived from Minnesota, filling each six-block course with concrete as the monument ascended. However, delivery was slow, and only 55 feet of the 100-foot obelisk was in place. The work resumed on March 28, 1901. Workers laid the capstone on April 22, reaching 100.174 feet high. The base is 9.42 feet square, and the obelisk weighs 278 tons. Six blocks were used in each course. The workers completed the fence, paving work, tablet placement, and roadway in time for Memorial Day ceremonies.
Thousands attended the day-long ceremonies. By June 30, the monument was finished, and Chittenden resigned as engineer. In 1960, the High Potential Historic Site on South Lewis Drive became the nation’s first National Historic Landmark. The illuminated monument is open 24 hours a day.
Roxie’s reliable report: The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail lists the Sergeant Floyd Monument as one of the trail’s “pivotal places.”
The Sergeant Floyd Siouxland marker soars higher
Floyd’s monument soars higher than any other Corps member’s, including Lewis and Clark. Clark’s obelisk stands 35 feet tall. He died in 1838. His son Jefferson K. Clark, left money for the obelisk, which was completed in 1904. Lewis, then the governor of the Louisiana Territory, lost his life on the Natchez Trace in 1809 by either suicide or murder. He was headed to Washington, D.C., to seek payment for denied expedition expenses. His obelisk is more than 20 feet high with a broken top, symbolizing a life cut short. The Tennessee Legislature authorized its construction in 1848.
Related: Fort Dodge‘s Floyd of Rosedale is another famous Iowa Floyd.
Roxie’s reliable report: A 15-star and 15-stripe flag waves beside Floyd’s obelisk. Originally, the flag added a star and a stripe when a new state came in. This soon became impractical. Kentucky, Floyd’s home state was the 15th admitted to the Union in 1792. The design flew above Fort McHenry, Maryland, inspiring “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The Union held 18 states then. Finally, Navy Captain Samuel C. Reid suggested that each state get a star, but the stripes should honor the original 13 colonies. By this time, the Union had 20 states. President James Monroe signed the Flag Act of 1818 into law on April 4, 1818.
When you stand beside the monument, take in the view and imagine what Floyd would think of the massive changes from his day to ours.
Where to eat and stay in Siouxland
The pumpkin curry at Pete’s Thi on 5th is as delicious as it looks. The slightly spicy dish came with a bowl of perfectly sticky jasmine rice. It was a bit mild for my taste, so I added a dollop of hot sauce to increase the heat. Attentive — but not cloying — service and tasteful décor rounded out a fun experience.
The next morning, we ate at Koffie Knechtion, owned by the Knecht family. Roadie enjoyed a wildberry Danish and a bacon and asparagus quiche, washed down with a cortado, a Spanish coffee beverage. Cortados are half espresso and half lightly steamed milk, creating a micro-foam that gives the drink a rich flavor. Cozy and comforting don’t begin to describe the ambiance.
We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott (ad), but I would have loved to stay in the adjacent Airbnbs. One was a hobbit house (ad) with an adorable round front door. The Kottage Knechtion (ad) is a treehouse. Oh, yeah!
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