Manuel Lisa

Essential Facts

• Manual Lisa was born on September 8, 1772, in New Orleans.
• His parents were Christoval de Lisa and Maria Ignacia Rodriguez.
• Lisa and his brother, Joaquin, established trade partnerships with Native American Indians living in the Northwest Territory before the Louisiana Purchase (1803).
• After meeting members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1806, Lisa organized a fur trade expedition for 1807.
• The expedition’s success led to the establishment of the Missouri Fur Company.
• Lisa’s associates in his business ventures were some of the most famous frontiersmen, explorers, and politicians of the Fur Trade Era, including John Colter, Andrew Henry, William Clark, and Thomas Hart Benton.

Significance

Manual Lisa is important to American History for his role in laying the foundation for the Western Fur Trade despite his challenges and the limited success of his fur trade companies. During his career, he developed strong relationships with Indian tribes, led 13 trapping expeditions along the Missouri River and its tributaries, and established trading posts in the region.

History

Manuel Lisa led a flatboat expedition up the Missouri River in 1807, searching for beavers. This was one of the earliest trapping expeditions in the history of the Western Fur Trade. It was also the first American trading expedition that made contact with the tribes along the Missouri River.

• Lewis and Clark had just returned from the Pacific Coast in 1806.
• Jim Bridger, one of the most famous Mountain Men, was just three years old in 1807.
• William Henry Ashley, who developed plans for creating a fur trading empire through the Rendezvous System, was still 15 years away from planning his first expedition.

Early Years

Manual Lisa was born to Spanish parents on September 8, 1772, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was inspired to explore the territory surrounding the Upper Missouri River in part by the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Before 1807, Lisa traded with Indians along the Mississippi River and in the Northwest Territory, including the Osage.

• The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) — A military expedition that explored the upper regions of the Louisiana Purchase from St. Louis westward to present-day Astoria, Oregon. The expedition was the first overland expedition conducted by the United States government and was a major achievement that helped open the frontier for Westward Expansion and the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny.
• Northwest Territory — A vital region of North America that played a key role in many events that led to the American Revolutionary War, the Westward Expansion of the United States, and the removal of Indian tribes from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River. It included the Great Lakes Region, the Ohio Country, and the Illinois Country, which made it essential to the westward growth of the American Fur Trade.

Lisa’s 1807 Expedition

Lisa and Pierre Menard organized an expedition in 1807 that hired some men who had been with Lewis and Clark, including George Drouillard and John Potts. During the trip up the Missouri River, they encountered John Colter, who agreed to join them. Colter had also been with Lewis and Clark, but had left to hunt for beaver pelts on the Upper Missouri. 

The 1807 expedition was successful, prompting Lisa to plan another journey upriver after returning to St. Louis that fall. He also built a trading post, Fort Raymond, where the Yellowstone River meets the Bighorn River.

• Pierre Menard (1766–1844) — Menard was a merchant and politician from Canada who served as the first Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.
• John Colter (c. 1770–1813) — Colter was a soldier, trader, and explorer. He is considered by many to be the first true “Mountain Man” of the American West. He is most well-known for his involvement in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the discovery of “Colter’s Hell” near Yellowstone, and his legendary escape from the Blackfeet in 1809, which is known as “Colter’s Run.”
• George Drouillard (c. 1773–1810) — A frontiersman and cartographer, he was part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His father, Pierre Drouillard, is believed to have saved the life of Simon Kenton when Kenton was held as a prisoner by the Shawnee. After the 1807 expedition, George scouted and mapped the Bighorn Mountains. He joined the Missouri Fur Company and was lost during an expedition in 1810. His desecrated remains were found, and it was assumed Indians killed him.
• John Potts (c. 1776–1809) — Potts was with the Lewis and Clark Expedition and then explored present-day Montana with John Colter. The two were on the Jefferson River in 1809 when Blackfoot warriors attacked them. The Blackfoot killed Potts while Colter escaped in his famous run.

Missouri Fur Company

On February 24, 1809, Lisa and others established the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company, the first version of the Missouri Fur Company. Notable partners in the company included William Clark, Andrew Henry, Jean-Pierre Chouteau, and Reuben Lewis. The company aimed to expand its western fur trade operations, using St. Louis as its base of operations.

• William Clark (1770–1838) — Clark was a prominent explorer, soldier, and politician. After a successful career in the army, he helped lead the Lewis and Clark Expedition that explored and mapped the western United States. Afterward, he settled in St. Louis and served as the first Governor of the Missouri Territory.
• Andrew Henry (1775–1832) — Henry was a businessman, soldier, and fur trader essential in establishing the Western Fur Trade. Henry is famous for building the first American trading post west of the Continental Divide and founding the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.
• Pierre Chouteau (1758–1849) — Jean-Pierre Chouteau was a prominent merchant and politician. He was one of the earliest settlers of St. Louis. Chouteau and his brother, Auguste, controlled the fur trade with the Osage until the United States made the Louisiana Purchase (1803). In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson appointed him as Indian Agent for the new territory. Chouteau established a trading post that became Salina, Oklahoma, and encouraged the Osage to move to the region, earning him the nickname “The Father of Oklahoma.”

The company faced financial struggles and cash flow problems for several years. However, hostile encounters with the Indian tribes along the Upper Missouri River often interrupted operations. However, due to his experience dealing with Indians, Lisa was named the Indian Agent for the tribes living north of the Kansas River.

Lisa’s Trading Posts

Between 1807 and 1810, Lisa constructed a series of trading posts that promoted the Western Fur Trade:

• Fort Raymond — Built in 1807 in Montana. It was also known as Manuel’s Fort and Fort Manuel.
• Fort Mandan — Built in 1810 in North Dakota. This fort was originally named Fort Lisa.
• Cedar Island — Built in 1810 on Lake Francis Case in South Dakota.
• Fort Henry at Three Forks — Built in 1810 near Three Forks, Montana.
• Fort Henry at Henry’s Fork — Built in 1810 on Henry’s Fork of the Snake River in Montana.
• Fort Manuel — Built on Lake Oahe in South Dakota.
• Fort Lisa — Built in 1812 near Omaha, Nebraska.

AHC Notes

• East of the Mississippi River, the fur trade with the Indians was managed by the Factory System, which was established by President George Washington in 1796.
• Before the War of 1812 started, Lisa traveled to Fort Lisa. During this visit, the famous Shoshone guide, Sacagawea, died at the fort on December 20, 1820.
• The establishment of Fort Lisa made him the first white settler in present-day Nebraska.

War of 1812

During the War of 1812, Lisa was worried that British traders and officials would incite the Indian tribes to carry out raids and attacks on American trading posts and settlements. Lisa was forced to suspend operations after British forces, including Indian allies, burned Fort Lisa in present-day North Dakota.

• In 1813, he helped establish the Bank of St. Louis.
• In 1814, Governor William Clark appointed Lisa as the Indian Agent for the tribes above the Kansas River.
• Lisa successfully negotiated with the Omaha, Ponca, and Teton Sioux.
• He formed an alliance with the Teton Sioux, who carried out attacks on tribes allied with the British.
• Following the war, the Federal Government thanked him for his service.
• Lisa resumed his trading operations in 1815.

Partnership with Joshua Pilcher

Lisa reorganized his company several times before it became known as simply the Missouri Fur Company in 1819. His partners then were Joshua Pilcher, Thomas Hempstead, Joseph Perkins, Andrew Woods, Moses Carson, John B. Zenoni, Andrew Drips, and Robert Jones.

• Joshua Pilcher (1790–1843) — Pilcher was a prominent merchant, fur trader, and Indian Agent from Virginia. He assumed control of the Missouri Fur Company after Manuel Lisa died in 1820. Under his leadership, the company was successful and established Fort Benton at the mouth of the Bighorn River.

Lisa’s Final Expedition and Death

Lisa led one more expedition up the Missouri River in 1819. After returning to St. Louis in 1820, he became ill and died on August 20. Afterward, he was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

• The company’s leadership passed to Pilcher, who managed it for a few more years before it dissolved.
• The Missouri Fur Company found some success, but also struggled due to attacks from Indians around the Missouri River Region.
• The Missouri Fur Company inspired the formation of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and the American Fur Company.

Biography

AHC Note — This biography of Manuel Lisa is from the Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. I, edited by Allen Johnson and published by the American Council of Learned Societies in 1945. Minor text corrections have been made.

Manuel Lisa (September 8, 1772–August 12, 1820) was a prominent merchant and fur trader who helped establish the Western Fur Trade. Lisa was born in New Orleans to Christopher de Lisa, a native of Murcia in Spain, who came to America about the time the Spanish took possession of Louisiana, and Maria Ignacia Rodriguez, a native of St. Augustine, Florida.

Probably no later than 1790, Lisa went to St. Louis, where he became well established in the fur trade for the next ten years. The Spanish government awarded him a patent entitling him to a monopoly of trade with the Osage Indians.

Around 1806, he partnered with a group of St. Louis traders. On April 19, 1807, he led an expedition of 42 men up the Missouri River to build trading posts where furs might be stored and exchanged with the Indians. However, these posts were also fortified to keep watch on the Indians and defend against their attacks.

On November 21, 1807, he established a trading post at the mouth of the Bighorn River. The following spring, he built a fort near it called Fort Raymond, in honor of his son. This post, later known as Fort Manuel, was the first structure of its kind on the Upper Missouri River.

Upon returning to St. Louis in the summer of 1808, he partnered with Andrew Henry, Pierre Chouteau, and others to form the Missouri Fur Company. William Clark, who with Meriwether Lewis had ascended the Missouri in 1804, was to serve as the company’s resident agent in St. Louis.

 In June 1809, the company’s first expedition left St. Louis with 350 men. Roughly half were Americans, and the other half were French Canadians and Creoles. Lisa was one of the leaders of the expedition. About 12 miles above the mouth of the Big Knife River, they erected Fort Lisa in what is now North Dakota.

It had been Lisa’s intention to proceed to the Three Forks of the Missouri. However, he decided to send Pierre Menard and Andrew Henry instead. Then, in October 1809, he returned to St. Louis.

In the spring of 1811, he led a search party of 25 men from St. Louis to look for Henry and his command. This trip is famous in the history of the Missouri River because of a race between the barge of the Lisa party and a flotilla belonging to John Jacob Astor’s men, who were on their way to the Columbia River under the command of Wilson Price Hunt.

Hunt had a three-week head start on Lisa. However, on June 2, 1811, Lisa caught up and passed him, just beyond the mouth of the Niobrara River. Here, the two expeditions spent some time together. Lisa and his men helped the Astorians secure horses from the Arikara and Mandan Indians. Afterward, Hunt and his men continued overland. In October, Lisa and Andrew Henry returned to St. Louis.

In the summer of 1814, Lisa was appointed by William Clark, now the Governor of the Missouri Territory, to the post of sub-agent for the Indian tribes on the Missouri above the mouth of the Kansas River.

Lisa’s travels on the Missouri took him long distances. Between 1807 and his death, he made 12 or 13 trips and traveled at least 26,000 miles on the rivers. The company was profitable, and sometimes made as much as $35,000 a season.

Lisa was married three times. 

1. His first wife was Mary (or Polly) Charles. They had three children, all of whom died when young. Polly died in 1817, while he was on an expedition.
2. In 1814, while his first wife was still living, he married Mitain, an Omaha woman and a daughter of one of the leading families of the Omaha tribe. With her, he had two children, who survived him.
3. His third was Mary Hempstead Keeney. She was the daughter of Stephen Hempstead,  a prominent figure in the early history of St. Louis. 

In 1819, List made his last trip up the Missouri River, and Mary accompanied him. They spent the winter at Fort Lisa, which was built in 1812, just north of present-day Omaha, Nebraska. During this stay, Lisa entertained members of the Yellowstone Expedition, which Major Stephen H. Long led. 

Lise died in St. Louis the following summer and was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.