Presenter Edward Red Eagle Jr., director of Wa Zha Zhi (Osage) Cultural Center in Pawhuska, Okla., speaks with a crowd of mostly educators Thursday about the interactions between American Indians and the Corps of Discovery. [Click to enlarge]

"When the Osage people come to Missouri, there is an awakening inside of ourselves," began Edward Red Eagle Jr.

A packed room greeted Red Eagle, an Osage Indian and director of Wa Zha Zhi (Osage) Cultural Center in Pawhuska, Okla., Thursday as he began speaking at the Arrow Rock State Historic Site Visitor Center.

Red Eagle presented the first installment of a four-part series on the interactions of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as they broke open the western frontier to European expansion. He was uniquely qualified for the task as a decedent of Corps of Discovery member Nathaniel Pryor as well as of American Indian stock.

Lewis and Clark's trek was an expedition that would completely reshape the world of Red Eagle's people.

It wasn't the first expedition to attempt passage through the Louisiana Territory, Red Eagle said, and it was a journey through totally foreign cultures as well as geography.

The corps encountered natives with a way of life which was incomprehensible to them. Their dress and customs were deep with meaning to the locals, but meant nothing to the explorers. "These things would be highly startling to anyone not familiar with them," Red Eagle said.

These people appeared to worship animal gods, which Red Eagle said was a misperception. He said that American Indians hold a deep respect for characteristics of the animal's spirit -- elements that they feel God has in nature.

Man does not naturally have these elements, but must grow into them, he said. "The Indian tries to mold his life around those elements of character," Red Eagle said.

Also foreign to the explorers, from European ancestry, was the American Indian view on land. Red Eagle said in his culture property is not an economic vehicle, as he demonstrated with a pen.

Giving a pen to Kathy Borgman, an organizer of the event, he said she should never sell or give away the pen. Instead, she would take care of it and pass it on.

"It is my vehicle of love," he said. "Then her vehicle of love in that she will respect me enough to hold my word for the rest of her life." The care taken in preserving feathers passed down through generations of tribes is an example of this; an intricate cultural difference that some Europeans would exploit for profit.

Conversely, the European ways were equally alien to the American Indians that they encountered. The sound of a blunderbuss rifle blast confused them, as did the appearance of these men with their culture which seems logical to Europeans, but violated the norms of the natives.

"Ask yourself, 'How was the corps successful? How did they do what others had failed to do?'" he said.

Red Eagle said that it was respect shown by Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery that made the peaceful interactions possible which led to the group's success.

He linked that respect to President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, he said, was fully aware that the corps would encounter the natives of the land and told Lewis and Clark to treat each tribe as if greeting a sovereign nation.

A slide shows samples of "peace medals," one means through which the Corps of Discovery extended the respect which Red Eagle said was vital to the success of their mission. [Click to enlarge]

In that same vein, the corps brought with them "peace medals." These simple medals represented the first stages of a government-to-government relationship, Red Eagle said.

Through this respect, the American Indians saw sincerity and honesty in the otherwise alien Europeans.

Following the Corps of Discovery, America's natives were often abused and lost large portions of territory. Remnants of these past abuses still sting. "We're not over it," Red Eagle said.

"I'm sorry. When I see you [European-Americans], you bring that; every bullet fired, every village burned ... I can't help that," he said. "But the challenge is how do we express that love of fellow man."

"None of you in here can undo that. I can't undo that," he said.

The public is invited to attend the next segment of the series, "Thomas Jefferson's Republican Vision for America: The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition," which will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 2, at the Marshall Public Library.

Scott Fritz, an adjunct professor at Western New Mexico University and Ph.D. of American history, will discuss Jefferson's vision of an America composed of virtuous, yeoman farmers.

The programs are sponsored by the Missouri Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are presented through a partnership of Arrow Rock State Historic Site, Friends of Arrow Rock and the Marshall Public Library. The Lewis and Clark discussion group hosts the programs.

The third part of the series will be "Fiddle and Dance Music of the Lewis and Clark Era," held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 9, at the Arrow Rock State Historic Site shelter house near the Missouri River overlook.

The program will conclude with "Otoe and Missouri Meet Big Knives" at the Marshall Public Library at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 16.

Contact Matt Heger at

marshallbusiness@socket.net