In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to lead a Corps of Discovery up the Missouri River in search of a water route to the Pacific. They arrived at Kaskaskia on November 29 looking for new recruits and sought strong young men familiar with the woods, good at hunting, and able to endure a long, difficult journey. From the troop stations there, they found twelve candidates, more than at any other place along their route: Sergeant Patrick Gass, Sergeant John Ordway, Private John Boley, Private John Collins, Private John Dame, Private John Robertson, Private Ebenezer Tuttle, Private Peter M. Weiser, Private Isam White, Private Joseph Whitehouse, Private Alexander Hamilton Willard, and Private Richard Windsor.