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Sergeant Charles Floyd was born in 1782 and died in 1804. He was the only man to die on the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Sergeant Floyd was first lead into the Lewis and Clark Expedition in October 1803. Lewis and Clark stopped in Louisville, Kentucky. Floyd decided to join the Army that same October. Floyd finished the trip down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi River to Camp Wood River area in the wintering months.
Floyd was a relative of Lt. William Clark and was approved as a Sergeant on the fourth day of April in 1804. He took command of the second squad. The Howard Shipyards of Jeffersonville, Indiana on the 31st of May 1932 is where the SERGEANT FLOYD was launched. The U.S. Government purchased the ship for the Army Corps of Engineers. The mission involved light towing, surveying and assessment of the work on the inland waterways under the authority of Missouri River Division of the Corps of Engineers.
Floyd was in charge of the officer's quarters and supplies. May 14, 1804 was the first entry made in Sergeant Floyd's diary. Two months had passed and the expedition had reached Iowa. Council Bluff was the place they met wit Indians. This mound is known as the Blackbird's Grave on the Nebraska side of the river. The king of the Omaha Indains was buried there.
On the fifth of August, Floyd first took ill. It is believed that a ruptured appendix was the cause of his illness and death. The expedition was at a town that is called Sergeant Bluff today. After the journey resumed it was only one day later that Sergeant Charles Floyd passed away on the twentieth of August, 1804. He had suggested a warm bath to ease his pain; however before they could get him to the water, he had died. Floyd was buried at the top of a high round hill overlooking the river. A cedar post had his name and death date upon it.
By 1857 the river had eroded and undermined the bluff causing most of the Sergeant's grave to slide into the river. Concerned citizens of Sioux City Iowa retrieved many of the bones including Sergeant Charles Floyd's skull. This was found at the edge of the river. His remains were buried about 200 yards east of the original burial site. At this time, there was only wooden markers placed at the grave. In 1894, there was a publication of Floyd's journal. This had aroused a new interest of citizens. Cattle had trampled Floyd's grave and the markers were carved away by souvenir hunters. Again the grave was reopened and the remains were identified and reburied on August 20th, 1895. A marble slab marked this time in sturdy urns and the site. This slab was three feet wide and seven feet long. Many efforts were made to raise money for the monument, which stands on his grave today. On the twentieth of August in 1900 the cornerstone was laid.
The fourth time Floyd's remains were unburied and reburied at the base of the monument. This monument is made of white stone one hundred feet tall and was completed on the thirtieth of May 1901. This monument was the first National Registered Landmark in the United States. If you wish to see this monument, it is located on Highway 75 south of Sioux City Iowa in the United States.
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