John Ordway was an American soldier and explorer who participated in the Lewis and Clark Expedition across the United States.
Background
John Ordway was born in 1775 at Bow, New Hampshire. He was one of ten children of John and Hannah (Morse) Ordway, who lived at Amesbury, Massachussets, until about 1774 and subsequently at Bow, New Hampshire. Ruins of the parental home at Bow show that the father was a substantial farmer. His elder son Stephen lived in later life at Hebron, New Hampshire, and became a prominent citizen there.
Career
About 1800 John enlisted in the United States Army and in 1803 was sergeant in Capt. Russell Bissell's company of the 16t Infantry, stationed at Kaskaskia, Illinois. Thither in that year came Capt. Meriwether Lewis, enlisting recruits for his expedition across the continent. Ordway joined the expedition, was continued as sergeant, and appointed to keep the rosters and orderly books. During the first winter of preparation, when the men of the party were encamped at Dubois River, opposite St. Louis, he was frequently in charge of the detachment during the absence of the captains, Lewis and Clark. With the expedition he spent the first winter at the village of the Mandan Indians, leaving there April 7, 1805, for the western journey. The next winter was spent on the shores of the Pacific, where Ordway endured his full share of the hardships and dangers of the situation. On the return journey the two leaders separated, Lewis undertaking a northern route, while Clark with Ordway sought the headwaters of the Missouri. From this point Ordway was dispatched with nine men to join Lewis; his journal covering the period July 13-19, 1806, is the sole record of that portion of the expedition. Ordway's party, augmented by some of Lewis' men, overtook Lewis on July 28, and continued with him to St. Louis, where the united expedition arrived in safety on September 23.
After his return Ordway paid a visit to his home and family in New Hampshire. In 1807 he went back to Missouri, where he bought considerable land and established a plantation in the New Madrid district. His home suffered severely in the earthquake of 1811, when as his sister described the scene, it was "a dreadful sight to see the ground burst and throw out water as high as the trees. " Practically nothing is known of Ordway's further career, except that in 1818 his widow, Elizabeth, applied for lands appropriated for the relief of the earthquake sufferers. The journal that John Ordway kept on the expedition was secured by Captain Clark for his records, but then it disappeared for many years. In 1913 it was found among the Biddle papers, and three years later was published in the Wisconsin Historical Collections. It is a straightforward, clear narrative of the day by day happenings on the journey. Both the commanders trusted Ordway and he appears to have been next to them in both ability and authority.
Achievements
Connections
John Ordway returned from the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1806 and married Gracey Walker.