Seaman: The Newfoundland Who Walked Across America With Lewis and Clark

Rob T. Case

Sep 22

6 min read

When people think about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, they usually picture two explorers, a determined crew, Sacagawea, and a long trail through unfamiliar country.

But one remarkable traveler had four legs.

Seaman was Meriwether Lewis’s Newfoundland dog and the only animal documented to have completed the entire journey to the Pacific Ocean and back. He swam rivers, retrieved game, guarded the camp, faced dangerous wildlife, and became a trusted companion to the Corps of Discovery.

In a journey filled with amazing animal facts and famous explorers, Seaman quietly became one of the most beloved famous animals in history.

A $20 Newfoundland from Pittsburgh

Meriwether Lewis bought Seaman in Pittsburgh in 1803, while preparing for the expedition. He paid $20-a considerable amount at the time, for a large Newfoundland water dog.

Lewis had good reasons for choosing the breed. Newfoundlands were known for their:

Powerful swimming ability
Great strength
Thick, water-resistant coats
Calm and gentle temperaments
Willingness to work alongside people

Lewis later described his dog as “very active, strong and docile.” Seaman was not simply brought along as a mascot. He was chosen as a working animal who could contribute to the expedition.

The dog’s name is usually given as Seaman, although some older books and transcriptions called him “Scannon.” The confusion likely came from difficult-to-read handwriting in the original journals. The strongest evidence for “Seaman” is a stream Lewis named Seaman’s Creek in Montana during the return journey.

The dog who caught swimming squirrels

Seaman’s first appearance in Lewis’s journal came on September 11, 1803, as the expedition traveled down the Ohio River.

The explorers noticed squirrels swimming across the river. Lewis sent Seaman into the water after them. The Newfoundland would catch a squirrel, kill it, and swim back to the boat with it in his mouth.

Lewis wrote that the squirrels were fat and made pleasant food when fried. It is an unusual detail, but it gives us a vivid picture of Seaman’s usefulness. He could turn a passing river crossing into a successful hunting opportunity.

Seaman swimming after a squirrel while the Lewis and Clark expedition watches from a wooden boat

As the expedition continued, Seaman helped catch other animals and retrieve game from the water. He was especially useful when wounded animals escaped into rivers or when birds and other small game were difficult for the men to reach.

The journals do not describe him as a trained hunting dog in the modern sense. Instead, they show a clever, strong animal who used his natural abilities to help the people around him.

More than a pet: hunter, guard, and companion

Seaman had several jobs during the expedition.

He retrieved game from the water, accompanied hunting parties, and helped bring animals back to camp. He also acted as a watchdog. His size, hearing, and alertness made him valuable at night, when the camp was surrounded by unfamiliar sounds and wildlife.

The dog also helped keep spirits up. A three-year expedition through rivers, mountains, mosquitoes, snow, hunger, and danger was exhausting. Seaman offered the men something familiar and comforting. He was a friendly presence around camp and, over time, the journals began referring to him as “our dog.”

That small change in language says a lot. Seaman started as Lewis’s personal purchase, but he became part of the larger group.

Seaman and the buffalo bull

One of Seaman’s most famous moments came in May 1805, when a buffalo bull charged through the sleeping camp.

Lewis wrote that the animal changed course twice and credited Seaman with helping divert it away from the men. The account is impressive, but the journals also contain a slightly different detail from Clark, who suggested that a man sitting up may have alarmed the buffalo.

So the fairest version is this: Seaman was present during a dangerous buffalo incident, and Lewis believed the dog helped protect the camp. The exact sequence is less certain than the popular story suggests.

Either way, it was not a safe place for a dog, or a person, to be sleeping.

Bears, beavers, and a very worried Newfoundland

The expedition traveled through country filled with grizzly bears. Seaman helped alert the men when bears came close to camp, and his barking added an important layer of warning during the night.

He also had an unpleasant encounter with a beaver. In May 1805, a beaver bit Seaman in the hind leg and severed an artery. Lewis worked to stop the bleeding and feared that the injury might kill him. Thankfully, Seaman recovered and continued the journey.

Some popular retellings say that Seaman drove off beavers or bravely fought them away from camp. The surviving records support a more modest, but still dramatic, version: he was involved in the expedition’s hunting activities and was badly wounded by one of the animals.

The distinction matters because Seaman’s real story is already remarkable without adding details that the journals do not confirm.

Seaman standing watch at a Lewis and Clark camp beneath a moonlit wilderness sky

The time Seaman was stolen

During the return journey along the Columbia River, Seaman was briefly taken by a group of Native people.

Lewis was furious. The dog was valuable to him, both as a working companion and as a friend. He sent men to recover Seaman and reportedly threatened the village involved. The dog was eventually returned, and the person blamed for taking him was released after Seaman was recovered.

This episode shows just how important Seaman had become to Lewis. Earlier in the journey, a Shawnee man had offered three beaver skins for the dog. Lewis refused, explaining that he had paid $20 for Seaman and prized him for his gentle nature and abilities.

Seaman was not something Lewis was willing to trade, or leave behind.

A story that may be legend: the squirrel-pelt bandage

There is a charming story that Lewis once cut a squirrel pelt and used it to help bandage Seaman’s injury.

It is easy to imagine how such a story developed. Seaman caught squirrels for the expedition, and Lewis carefully treated the dog after his beaver bite. But researchers have not found a clear passage in the surviving journals confirming that a squirrel pelt was used as a bandage.

For that reason, the squirrel-pelt detail should be treated as a later story or embellishment, not established fact. The documented version is still touching: Lewis personally worried over Seaman’s wounds and worked to save him after the beaver attack.

The only animal to complete the journey

The Corps of Discovery left the eastern United States in 1803, crossed the continent, reached the Pacific in 1805, and returned in 1806.

Seaman was with them for the full route.

He traveled by boat, on foot, through forests, across plains, over mountain passes, and along the Pacific coast. He endured cold, heat, insects, injuries, hunger, and long days of travel. He was one of the very few members of the expedition to complete the entire round trip.

In July 1806, Lewis named Seaman’s Creek in Montana. It was a fitting tribute to a dog who had traveled so far.

Seaman walking beside Lewis and Clark expedition members along a rugged trail toward the Pacific

What happened to Seaman afterward?

This is where the reliable story ends.

The last known journal reference to Seaman is from mid-July 1806. After that, he disappears from the surviving record. We do not know exactly where he went, how long he lived, or whether he remained with Lewis after the expedition returned.

A later story claims that Seaman stayed beside Lewis after the explorer’s death in 1809, refused food, and died grieving at his master’s grave. It is a powerful tale, and one that helped make Seaman famous, but it is not verified.

A collar said to have belonged to Seaman once carried an inscription describing him as “the greatest traveler of my species.” The collar was reportedly in a museum in Alexandria, Virginia, but it was likely destroyed in a fire. Because the artifact no longer survives, and because the story was recorded years after the expedition, historians remain cautious.

The uncertainty may be frustrating, but it also leaves room for Seaman’s story to remain partly mysterious.

Seaman’s lasting legacy

Today, Seaman is remembered through statues, monuments, interpretive centers, and historical markers along the Lewis and Clark Trail. His likeness appears at sites connected with the expedition, including places in North Dakota, Iowa, Idaho, Missouri, and Oregon.

He is also remembered as the unofficial fourth member of the expedition: a dog who worked, suffered, explored, and returned with the people who depended on him.

Among the great celebrity pets of the past, Seaman stands out because he did not live in a palace or appear in newspapers. His fame came from loyalty and endurance. He helped a group of explorers survive one of the most challenging journeys in American history, and made the journey feel a little more like home.

That is why Seaman remains one of the most memorable dogs in the story of America: not because he was merely carried along, but because he truly pulled his weight.