Patrick Gass (June 12, 1771–April 2, 1870) served as sergeant in the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1801-1806). He was important to the expedition because of his service as carpenter and he published the first journal of the expedition in 1807, seven years before the first publication based on Lewis and Clark's journals.

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MEMOIR OF PATRICK GASS ... BY DR. COUES.

I COMPILE the following biographical sketch of the famous Irish sergeant mainly from material presented by one who knew him well, Mr. J. G. Jacob, author of The Life and Times of Patrick Gass, cited on p. cxxiii, and editor of the Wellsburg Herald, of Wellsburg, W.Va. In private correspondence Mr. Jacob informs me that the substance of it appeared in the columns of his paper before it was made up in book form. Gass was born June 12th, 1771, at Falling Springs, Cumberland Co., near what was afterward Chambersburg, Franklin Co., Pa. When Mr. Jacob wrote of him, in 1858, he was a hale, hearty old man, and already long the sole survivor of Lewis and Clark's Expedition. His vigor and vitality were astonishing ; the more so, considering the hardships he had long endured, and his many years of the besetting sin of an old soldier. In stature he was low, having in his most erect manhood never exceeded five feet seven ; he was compactly built, broad-chested and strong-limbed, lean and wiry ; only very late in life was he bowed and crippled with rheumatism. When nearly 99 years old he retained his mental faculties, and had a good, sound memory for the events of almost a century. He died April 3d, 1870. In 1775 Gass' father moved over South mountain into Maryland. From 1777 to 1780 the boy lived with his grandfather, and was supposed to go to school ; but he says himself that he never learned to read, write, and cipher till he had come of age. His next recorded move was in 1780, memorable for the severity of its winter and the deplorable state of the American army. In 1782 the family "went west" — that is, across the Alleghenies. In 1784 they reached the forks of Yough, and located near Uniontown, then called Beasontown ; but next year was again " up stakes " with them, and they finally settled at Catfish camp, so called from a noted Indian chief of the time, and serving as a sort of halfway place between the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers. Here Patrick seems to have first developed some of his qualities, for he used to explore the vicinity, and has left his impressions of the site, as it was in 1790, of what is now Wellsburg, W. Va. There was at that day but one house, a log cabin, built and occupied for many years by one Alexander Wells; it was still standing in 1858.

We next hear of the Irish lad in 1792, when, having attained his majority, he was stationed as a soldier under Captain Caton at Yellow creek, guarding the frontier against Indians. These had long been troublesome, and were just then elated at having defeated General Arthur St. Clair's army, in November, 1791. General Anthony Wayne was sent against them, and the militia all along the frontier was. drafted into service. Patrick had been serving in the place of his father, who had been drafted ; he was soon after pressed into the service himself, and stationed at Bennett's fort, on Wheeling creek, near Wheeling ; but he does not seem to have been in any actual engagement. Indian hostilities were soon after put down entirely and forever in that region by the defeat of the redskins on the Miami by General Wayne, in August, 1792.

While stationed at Wheeling creek young Gass met the scout, Lewis Wetzel, a tall, slim, dark-visaged man, notorious for his deadly hatred of Indians, and credited by tradition with having killed more of them than perhaps any man of his time. They had murdered some of his relations, and he wreaked upon them a terrible vengeance, which in his case, as in many others, became a monomania. He used to shoot peaceable Indians on sight ; and on one occasion, being arrested and jailed in consequence, he was released by a mob — such being public sentiment on this score. Wetzel became a boatman, of the kind facetiously called "half-horse, half-alligator," and died a sot a few years later.

Peace being restored, young Gass became a carpenter, having bound himself in 1794 for two years or more. He built about this time at least one house which was standing in Wellsburg in 1859, and also worked on a house for Mr. James Buchanan, father of the boy who was afterward President of the United States, and whom Gass used to call "little Jimmy." The elder Buchanan was an Irishman who had emigrated to this country at an early day, and in York county had married a Miss Speer, the future mother of a president. The Gass family was connected by marriage with the Speers, and Patrick used to say that "little Jimmy" must have got his qualities from his mother, as his father was more thrifty than statesmanlike.

About this time, in 1794, Patrick met General Washington, when the latter was out with some troops to suppress the Whisky Insurrection of 1794. His biographer remarks that he "was too much of a patriot to resist the government, and he loved good old Monongahela too well to enlist against the Whisky Boys ; so he wisely remained neutral."

Gass seems to have stuck to his trade for the most part till May, 1799, when, under the presidency of the elder Adams, a war-cloud appeared on the horizon in the prospect of a rupture with the French. Throwing down his jack-plane, he enlisted in the 19th Regiment under Gen. Alexander Hamilton. He was sent from Carlisle to Harper's Ferry in June, 1800, and was soon afterward discharged from the service at Little York, Pa. But being evidently "cutout for the army," he immediately re-enlisted for five years under Major Cass, the father of General Lewis Cass. His intelligence and other merits caused his promotion as a non-commissioned officer, and he was intrusted with some responsible duties in recruiting, and in arresting deserters. His career was about to begin.

In 1801 Gass went with a company under Captain Bissell up the Tennessee and in the autumn of 1802, Bissell's company with a battery of artillery, was sent to Kaskaskia in Illinois. There they were in, in the autumn of 1803, a call was made by the government for volunteers to accompany the Expedition of Lewis and Clark. Captain Lewis himself came to Kaskaskia in search of suitable material for his corps; and here was the meeting of two soldiers who were to tempt fate together — Meriwether Lewis, American patrician, in command, and Patrick Gass, Irish plebeian, in the ranks — each in his own sphere on the very edge of fame.

To one of Gass' adventurous and hardy nature, this was a golden opportunity. Of course he instantly volunteered — to tread where white man had never set foot before seemed glory mountain-high. But he did not very easily secure his captain's permission to transfer. He was a good carpenter as well as a good soldier, and was wanted in the garrison. So Captain Bissell objected. Whereupon the resolute Patrick persisted, and having found out Captain Lewis' whereabouts hunted the latter up and put the case plump. The result was his enlistment under Captain Lewis, his own commanding officer's objections notwithstanding.

Here I send Sergeant Gass to the Pacific ocean and back to St. Louis ; for I shall use his Journal all through the following pages to check and corroborate the narrative of his commanding officers. Shoulder-straps and chevrons understand each other well, and the latter may be heard to advantage with the former. The following extract of a certificate delivered by Captain Lewis to Sergeant Gass, dated St. Louis, October 10th, 1806, attests the high character and good conduct of this non-commissioned officer during the Expedition :

"As a tribute justly due to the merits of the said Patrick Gass, I with cheerfulness declare, that the ample support, which he gave me, under every difficulty ; the manly firmness, which he evinced on every necessary occasion ; and the fortitude with which he bore the fatigues and painful sufferings incident to that long voyage, intitles him to my highest confidence and sincere thanks, while it eminently recommends him to the consideration and respect of his fellow citizens."

At St. Louis, Gass and his companions were of course lionized. Very real lions they were, with a story to tell that is immortal. Gass' biographer remarks upon the sergeant's story, as subsequently published in 1807, that " it gives evidence of close observation and much shrewdness of reasoning. It is strictly and conscientiously accurate, for, contrary to the received aphorism regarding travelers' tales, we have never perused a work so devoid of the imaginative, or where was manifested so little desire to garnish plain prose with poetic tinsel. All is unpretending matter of fact. . . We see the adventurers just as they were ; and with rare modesty the author — although we have authority for saying he was one of the most useful, efficient, and intelligent men of the party — is kept strictly in the background, or, if mentioned at all, it is only incidentally in connection with some special party of which he was a member."

Remaining but a short time at St. Louis, Gass went to Vincennes, Ind., and thence to Louisville, Ky., where, with a couple of comrades, he rejoined Lewis and Clark. They had with them a deputation of Indians, headed by a chief called Big White, whom they were taking to Washington. The party paid their respects to President Jefferson, made their report to the proper officials, delivered their specimens and curiosities, and were discharged. Gass received his pay in gold, with the promise of future consideration, and went home to his friends in Wellsburg. Here it was that he arranged with the Irish schoolmaster, David M'Keehan, for the publication of his Journal, which appeared early in 1807, thus seven years before Lewis and Clark's own narrative was published. This prompt piece of work ended his connection with Lewis and Clark, during which he had spanned America from the tide-water of the Potomac to that of the Columbia, and thus formed a link in the chain that bound the Atlantic with the Pacific for the first time in the history of the United States.

Gass never exchanged the pen for the sword, for he was one of those who are marked by nature for heroism in very humble life ; but he quickly threw down the pen and shouldered the musket again. In the spring of 1807 we find him a soldier still, and he served at the then frontier post of Kaskaskia for the next four years of his life.

Embers of the Revolutionary War smoldered till 1812, when they burst into the second War of Independence. Formal declaration of war was made June 18th, 1812, under the administration of President Madison. Shortly before this Gass was at Nashville, Tenn., where he was drafted into the regiment raised by General Jackson to fight the Creeks, during some Indian disturbances which had broken out. He had, however, the option of enlistment for five years in the regular army. This he promptly accepted, with a bounty of $100, and marched north under General Gaines. He was at Fort Massac in Illinois, in 1813 ; and the 1st of July, 1814, found him at Pittsburgh, in a battalion under command of Colonel Nichols, with the Northern Army commanded by General Brown. He took part in the assault on Fort Erie, and was conspicuous for his bravery in the famous battle of Lundy's Lane, where he was attached to the 21st Regiment under the gallant Colonel Miller. Gass is said to have distinctly recollected hearing Miller's memorable answer, when ordered by General Ripley to capture the British battery : " I will try, sir." Sergeant Gass shows up gallantly in a sortie made on the 17th of August, where he was intrusted with the duty of spiking the enemy's guns. His selection for such duty, requiring cool courage, was a high compliment to the sergeant, and shows the estimation in which he was held. He was discharged from the service at Sackett's Harbor, in June, 1815, and returned to Wellsburg once more.

The war closed, and with it, Gass's career. He retired to an obscurity whence he never emerged. He was past forty and had lived his life, though his years were not yet half counted. He had nothing to show for the past, and nothing but memory to live on. His book was financially a failure, and temporarily forgotten ; in fact, it has always been rare, and practically known only to the bibliographer. So he simply settled down to make a living as best he could, tell his soldier's stories, and reap the wild oats he had sown. Having all the " defects of his qualities," he naturally gave way to drink, and for forty years was a sad drunkard. The marvel is that he lived so long with such habits, and that, too, after he had endured hardship enough to undermine the constitution of most men. He seemed made of steel that would neither break nor bend.

What romance may have entered into the young soldier's life we can only infer from his character and habits. But love conquered the old soldier at 58, and he was married in 1831 to Miss Maria Hamilton. During their married life, which lasted for 15 years, till her death in 1846, Mrs. Gass presented her husband with seven children. " It was customary," says his biographer, " to joke the old soldier on his rapid increase of family. Such jokes were always good-naturedly received, and he would characteristically remark that, 'as all his life long he had striven to do his duty, he would not neglect it now, but by industry make amends for his delay.' "
He is represented as being a good husband and father, kind and affectionate in his family.

To the statement that Mr. Gass never emerged from obscurity, one slight exception must be made. He was naturally interested in pension laws, considering that the pittance he drew from the government was ostensibly his only means of support, and that very late in life, when infirmity overtook him, he was thrown in part on the charity of the county. In some action taken by old soldiers Mr. Gass came to the fore, and figured at the convention held in Washington, January 8th, 1855. A call had emanated from the veterans of the war of 1812, who had assembled in Philadelphia, January 9th, 1854, for surviving soldiers to meet in their respective neighborhoods and elect delegates to the Washington convention. Mr. Gass had the post of honor at Wellsburg, December 25th, 1854, and was one of a committee of three selected to go to Washington. During the convention they were received by President Pierce and his Cabinet. The veterans memorialized Congress, and returned to their homes — with the usual barren result.

Writing in 1858, his biographer does not hesitate to say: "There is probably not now living a single man who has done so much for the public as Mr. Gass, and received so little. Among the many unique features of his character, this is not the least singular. He has never been a beggar, neither has he ever had emolument thrust upon him by the country he so faithfully served ; hence he is both poor and humble. He is still living, December, 1858, a hale, hearty Virginia Democrat of the old school."

I might have been excused if at this point I had concluded my sketch with the remark that no doubt Mr. Gass soon died. But I wished if possible to complete the record of this wonderful life. I sent to Wellsburg a letter of inquiry, which the postmaster was requested to deliver to "any friend, relative, or descendant of the late Patrick Gass." This was answered in a few days, and my respondent proved to be Mr. Jacob himself. From him I learned that Mr. Gass did not answer his last roll-call till the 3d of April, 1870, when he was in his 99th year. A short time before his death he professed the Campbellite faith, and was baptized in the Ohio river in the presence of a large concourse. His remains were interred in the cemetery at Wellsburg. Thus ended a life in some respects unparalleled. Gass was one of the most extraordinary men America ever produced. Men have turned their centenary — but how many have done so after such sieges of war, whisky, and women as Gass withstood for nearly a hundred years ? It may help us to appreciate the duration of his life, if we remember that he attained nearly the average period of human existence in the eighteenth century, and then rounded out to the full the traditional three-score and ten years in the nineteenth.

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Further Information (from wikipedia):

His skill as a carpenter was important to the expedition— he led the construction of the Corps' three winter quarters, hewed dugout canoes, and built wagons to portage the canoes 18 miles around the falls of the Missouri. On the return trip, Gass was given command of the majority of the party for a short period while Clark and Lewis led smaller detachments on separate explorations.

He remained in the army after the expedition returned, serving in the War of 1812, in which he lost an eye, and fighting in the battle of Lundy's Lane. At the age of sixty he married Maria Hamilton, aged 22. She bore 7 children (5 surviving to adulthood) over the remaining 15 years of her life. They settled in Wellsburg, West Virginia where he died, 99 years of age, the last surviving member of the expedition.

He kept a journal that was published in 1807, the first published journal from the expedition. In it, he coined the term “Corps of Discovery”. The book was first printed and sold by subscription in Pittsburgh at $1.00 per copy. It was later reprinted in England, and translated into French and German.

[The University of Nebraska at Lincoln has an online version of the Lewis and Clark journals and give 222 entries from Gass's journal: Online Index of Names in the Lewis and Clark Journals ]

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From the Wheeling Intelligencer newspaper:
He was 40 years old when his wife, Maria Hamilton was born. She died in 1849.
During the Revolutionary War, the Gass family lived in Maryland.
On 1784 the Gass family located near Uniontown, then called Beasontown, and later in Catfish Camp where Washington now stands.

After serving as a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, he returned to Brooke County where he published his Journals.
He died at age 99

In the Brooke Cemetery, the tombstone reads: