The thirty-fourth member of the expedition was a huge, shaggy black dog named Seaman, purchased by Captain Lewis in August of 1803 for $20 — quite a large sum of money at the time. Seaman was a breed of dog, quite rare in the United States in the early 1800s, known as a Newfoundland. These dogs are strong swimmers, and are known for their rescues of people and animals from the water.
Lewis and Clark both make mention of Seaman throughout their journals, writing of his hunting skills and praising him for his guarding abilities (especially against grizzly bears). The trip could not have been easy for Seaman, as the big, heavily-furred dog suffered from overheating and the torments of a variety of biting insects. Still, he managed to keep up with the expedition for its entire round-trip journey! The Native Americans encountered by the expedition were fascinated by Seaman, having never seen a dog like him before, and constantly offered Lewis valuable trade items in exchange for the dog. Lewis always refused those offers.
The last entry in Lewis's journal regarding Seaman was written on July 15, 1806. No one is certain what happened to Seaman after that, but an interesting clue has been found in a book published in 1814 by educator Timothy Alden. Alden writes that he visited a museum in Alexandria, Virginia, and while there he viewed a dog collar that read:
"The greatest traveller of my species. My name is SEAMAN, the dog of captain Meriwether Lewis, whom I accompanied to the Pacifick ocean through the interior of the continent of North America."
Alden continued to write that
"The foregoing was copied from the collar, in the Alexandria museum, which the late gov. Lewis's dog wore after his return from the western coast of America. The fidelity and attachment of this animal were remarkable. After the melancholy exit of gov. Lewis, his dog would not depart for a moment from his lifeless remains; and when they were deposited in the earth no gentle means could draw him from the spot of interment. He refused to take every kind of food, which was offered him, and actually pined away and died with grief upon his master's grave!"
Is this a true story of the last days of Seaman's life? While it is known that in 1812 William Clark donated some items to a museum in Alexandria, a fire destroyed most of the museum and its collections in 1871. For now, we are left to wonder exactly what happened to Seaman, the hardy dog explorer.
