Patrick Gass enlisted as a private in the Lewis and Clark Expedition from 1803 to 1806 and was selected as a sergeant in August 1804. His carpentry and soldiering skills earned written commendation from Meriwether Lewis. Gass later published his diaries of the expedition. A veteran of the War of 1812 and the Battle of Lundy's Lane, Ontario, he was born and lived here until age ten.