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No Native American nation played a more important role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition than the Mandan Indians. This is because they helped the Expedition to enable staying over the winter, helped them trade, and taught the Expedition the geography of the land while hunting. The winter was very harsh because there were many freezing days, in which the temperature was below zero. In December of 1804, the average weather was four degrees above zero. The Mandan Indians traded their corn with the Expedition's axes and sharp small knives made by a former blacksmith, John Shield. The Mandan Indians hunted deer and buffalos with the Expedition. While they were hunting, the Indians taught the Expedition the geography of the land.

The Expedition stayed at Fort Mandan from December 21, 1804 to March 21, 1805. The Expedition named their fort as Fort Mandan in the honor of the Mandan Indians. Fort Mandan was on the Knife River, near Washburn, North Dakota. Supporting their good relationship, there were no fights at Fort Mandan.

During the stay at Fort Mandan, each man ate 9 to 12 pounds of meat everyday in order to keep warm. Although Lewis was not writing a regular journal in the winter of 1804 – 1805, but he wrote many reports to Jefferson. Most of the journal entries were written by William Clark, John Ordway, Patrick Gass, and Joseph Whitehouse.

Clark: “a french man by Name Chabonah (Toussaint Charbonneau), who Speaks the Big Belly language visit us, he wished to hire & informed us his 2 Squares were Snake Indians, we engau him to go on with us and take one of his wives (Sacagawea) to interpret the Snake language.”

The Expedition met Sacagawea when she was aged 16 to 17 on November 11, 1804.

Clark: “a Cold Day Continued at work at the Fort Two men Cut themselves with an ax, The large Ducks pass to the South an Indian gave me Several roles of parched meal two Squars of the Rocky Mountain, purchased from the Indians by a frenchmen Came down The Mandans out hunting the Buffalow—”

Lewis also doctored while he was at the Mandan village. For example, he sawed a thirteen-year boy’s frostbit toe.

While Sacagawea was pregnant, she got sick. Lewis made her to drink the rattles of rattlesnake mixed with water. He did this because Jessaume told him that it was his practice to administer a small portion of the rattles mixed with water. Jessaume was a citizen of the Mandan village who had been living with the Mandan village for fifteen years, participated fully in their ceremonial and social life. He said this method had always worked and it actually worked. On February 11, 1805, Sacagawea gave birth to Jean Baptiste. From this event, the Expedition hired Sacagawea, and her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trapper living among the Hidatsa, as an interpreter with their son, Jean Baptiste. Sacagawea and her son helped Expedition greatly when they met another

Indian tribe, because a woman and a child meant peace in the Indian world.

The Expedition enjoyed playing sports. They prevented the Indians to visit them on Christmas Day, as they said that this was one of their "great medicine days." The American flag was lifted on the fort and saluted with a volley of musketry. There were constant friendly visits from the Indians and they had parties and feasts. Party hunters went out with the Indians to hunt deer and buffalo.

On one cold Christmas day, the Expedition had a party for the whole day and the Mandan Indians all danced with them. Although the weather was twenty-three degrees below zero, the Indians continued to play their sports. Their favorite was a game of which resembled billiards. But instead of a table, the players had an open flooring, about fifty yards long, and the balls were rings of stone. The players shot along the flooring by the system of sticks like billiard-cues.

Gass: “we hoisted the American flag in the garrison, and its first waving in fort Mandan was celebrated with another glass.”

Ordway: “we had the Best to eat that could he had, & continued firing dancing & frolicking dureing the whole day. the Savages did not Trouble us as we had requested them not to come as it was a Great medicine day with us.”

On New Year’s Day, 16 Men of the Expedition went to the first Mandan village with their musical instruments and performed such as dances. One of the French voyageurs was especially applauded when he danced on his hands with his head downwards.

On February 4, 1805, Lewis noted that the Expedition had just about run out of meat.

On April 7, 1805, 13 people of the Expedition went back to give letters and reports to Jefferson. They also brought a present that consisted a stuffed male, female antelope with their skeletons, a weasel, three squirrels from the Rocky Mountains, the skeleton of a prairie wolf male and female blaireau,

[badger] or burrowing dog of the prairie with a skeleton of the female. Jefferson also received two burrowing squirrels, a white weasel, the skin of the louservia [loup-servier, or lynx], the horns of a mountain ram, or big-horn, a pair of large elk horns, the horns and tail of a black-tailed deer, a variety of skins, such as those of the red fox, white hare, marten, yellow bear, obtained from the Sioux. He also got a number of articles of Indian dress, among which was a buffalo robe representing a battle fought about eight years since between the Sioux and Ricaras against the Mandans and Minnetarees.

In conclusion, the Mandan Indians played the most important role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition since they enabled them to stay over the harsh winter with cheerful parties, traded them food with metals that the blacksmith made, and allowed them to hunt the land that was never explored by any American.