Lewis and Clark reached a point in what is now Sioux City on August 20, 1804, near the mouth of the Floyd River. Sergeant Charles Floyd, who had been taken sick with a "Biliose Chorlick" the day before, died near a bluff on the east side of the river, and the small river was named for him. The next day the expedition passed the Big Sioux, and on the evening of August 22 they tied up on the north bank of the river at a point they already called Elk Point because of the elk seen nearby. The two captains, who shared leadership as exact equals in a partnership, then conducted their own primary election and nominated privates Pat Gass, a Pennsylvanian, George Gibson, also from Pennsylvania, and William Bratton, the expedition's blacksmith, to fill the vacancy left by Floyd's death. This was the first election held in the Louisiana Purchase and the northwestern part of the United States. Pat Gass won with nineteen out of a possible twenty-seven votes, if only soldiers, as seems most probable, could vote. Gass proved to be a most acceptable sergeant, and his journal became a worthy auxiliary to those kept by the two captains.