From which camp did the Lewis and Clark Expedition depart in May 1804?

The Lewis and Clark Expedition departed from Camp Dubois on May 14, 1804. The temporary camp stood on the east side of the Mississippi River near present-day Hartford, Illinois.

The expedition, officially known as the Corps of Discovery, was organized after the Louisiana Purchase. President Thomas Jefferson instructed Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the newly acquired western lands, map routes, document plants and animals, and establish relations with Native nations.

Clark and about 30 others left Camp Dubois at 4 p.m. on May 14. The group traveled by keelboat and smaller boats to St. Charles, Missouri, where Lewis joined them. The expedition then proceeded up the Missouri River and crossed the Rocky Mountains before reaching the Pacific coast.

Camp Dubois is often confused with Fort Mandan, where the expedition spent the winter of 1804–1805, or Fort Clatsop, where it stayed near the Pacific. Those were later locations on the journey, not the original departure camp.