Captains Lewis & Clark holding a Council with the Indians

The second edition of Patrick Gass's A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery, Under the Command of Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clarke of the Army of the United States, From the Mouth of the River Missouri Through the Interior Parts of North America to the Pacific Ocean, During the Years 1804, 1805 and 1806 (1810) includes six engraved scenes from the Lewis and Clark Expedition, including this depiction of a formal meeting with Indians that took place in present-day Nebraska on August 3, 1804. Gass, who served as a sergeant in the expedition and kept a personal journal during their travels, wrote of this encounter, "Captain Lewis and Captain Clarke held a council with the Indians, who appeared well pleased with the change of government, and what had been done for them. Six of them were made chiefs, three Otos and three Missouris."

This edition of Gass's journal was printed by Mathew Carey of Philadelphia. The first edition, published in 1807, did not include any illustrations. Gass may have created the drawings himself, or he may have consulted with another artist. Gass's journal was the first such account published about the expedition; in it, he coined the term "Corps of Discovery."