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Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were almost a year into what would become the most famous boat and hiking trip in U.S. history, and Sergeant Charles Floyd was very sick. Floyd, a 20-something from the state of Kentucky, had the distinction of being related to William Clark and serving as the expedition’s quatermaster (the man in charge of food and supplies).
Back in July, Floyd had also been sick with severe abdominal pain, and it had passed. But it returned, worse than ever, in the middle days of August. And on August 20, 1804, Sergeant Floyd died of his illness. Like so many of his time, his death was the result of the fact that 19-century medicine had far more to learn about the human body.
Today, dozens (probably hundreds) of people are treated for appendicitis every day. The severity of the malady hasn’t changed since Floyd’s time. Appendicitis (I’m told) causes its victims intense abdominal pain. Untreated, the appendix will eventually burst, providing the individual temporary relief. But the bursting of the appendix releases infection directly into the body, causing perotinitis and sepsis (essentially, the body poisoning itself) and eventual death.
But for most people, it never gets this far. Appendicitis is fairly easy for a doctor to diagnose and, of all the procedures a surgeon could do, the appendectomy (removal of the damaged appendix) is relatively straightforward. So those suffering from appendicitis usually must endure a few days of intense discomfort which lands them in a doctor’s office and then on an operating table for a fairly common procedure.
This was not the outcome for young Charles Floyd. In 1804, “modern” medicine had no cure for his appendicitis. And Floyd’s place of death (on the Missouri River near present-day Sioux City, Iowa) was in the heart of Sioux Indian territory, where doctor’s offices were non-existant. There is some sense of irony in that Sergeant Floyd’s monument (shown above), raised in honor of the only man to die on the entire Lewis and Clark Expedition, now overlooks a city that boasts one of the nation’s best EMS (Emergency Medical Services) systems.
Recommended Reading: Undaunted Courage
