Charles Floyd (1782 - August 20, 1804) was a United States explorer, an officer and quartermaster in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was a relative of William Clark.
He took ill at the beginning of August 1804 and remained so until his death. William Clark described Floyd's death as one "with a great deal of composure" and that before Floyd died he said to Clark: "I am going away. I want you to write me a letter." Clark diagnosed the condition which led to Floyd's demise as bilious colic , though modern doctors and historians agree Floyd's death was more likely to have been caused by a ruptured appendix. A funeral was held and Floyd was buried on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River, which the expedition named Floyd's Bluff, in his honor.
He died near what is now Sioux City, Iowa.
By 1857, erosion had caused much of Floyd's grave--even the original marker left by the crew of the expedition--to slide into the river and wash away; concerned citizens rescued most of his skeleton, including his skull, and re-buried it 200 meters east of the original burial site.
However, after Floyd's journal was published in 1894, new interest was taken in him and his gravemarker was stolen by thieves. He was re-buried once more on August 20, 1895 with a monument. A marble cornerstone three feet wide and seven feet long was placed in 1900. When the monument of white stone standing 100 feet high was complete on May 30, 1901, Floyd's grave was moved for the fourth time to rest by it, where it remains to this day.
Floyd's final resting place is located on Highway 75 south of Sioux City, Iowa in the United States.
External links
- The Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark: John Ordway and Charles Floyd ISBN 0803280211
