How would the Corps of Discovery have done without a one-eyed, half-French, half-Omaha, trilingual, fiddle-playing Missouri River boatsman whose nearsightedness in his "good" eye almost sent Meriwether Lewis to an early grave?

Well, probably not nearly as well.

Pvt. Pierre "Peter" Cruzatte was quite a beloved and respected member of the Corps. Before enlisting with Lewis and Clark at St. Charles, MO, in 1804, "St. Peter," as the men of the expedition called him, had traded many years on the Missouri. He had worked for the Chouteau fur interests and had honed his skills in the French and Omaha languages as well as English. Lewis hired him on as one of the main navigators. He worked as bowman on the keelboat because of his ability to spot the slack water eddies that would help move the boats upstream.

So respected were his skills as a boatman that when the expedition encountered the split of the Missouri before the Great Falls, all the men except the captains sided with Cruzatte when Cruzatte claimed the north branch to be the Missouri. Of course, he was wrong in that case, but Lewis nonetheless showed plenty of confidence in him in most matters pertaining to the river. For example, in the same journal entry (June 9, 1805) that Lewis talks about determining which fork was the true Missouri, he praises Cruzatte in another matter:

It was Cruzatte's "persuasive skills" that helped save the expedition's white pirogue on May 14, 1805. The captains had left Touissaint Charbonneau at the helm despite his having nearly capsized the same pirogue in a strong wind a month earlier. This time a squall blew in suddenly and Charbonneau, whom Lewis had called "perhaps the most timid waterman in the world," panicked. Instead of putting the pirogue's bow into the wind, he turned with it. The pirogue upset and was close to capsizing. Cruzatte yelled at Charbonneau to take up the rudder and turn the boat into the wind. Instead, Charbonneau froze, "crying to his god for mercy," according to Lewis. Cruzatte came to the rescue with a simple solution—he threatened to shoot Charbonneau instantly if he did not take up the tiller. He did and the boat, which contained all of the expedition's important papers, righted itself. As Lewis wrote, "the fortitude resolution and good conduct of Cruzat save her."

Off the river Cruzatte became important in another way. He could speak the Omaha language, a little Sioux, and was skilled in sign language. The captains used him at their various Indian councils and other Indian encounters with tribes on the lower Missouri. His translating skills helped the expedition gain access to the upper Missouri in September 1804. The Bois Brule Teton Sioux had captured one of the expedition's pirogues and had demanded that the Americans either trade with them exclusively or surrender the pirogue. Cruzatte's interpreting along with gifts the captains provided eased the situation and helped the expedition move on peacefully.

There was one other skill Cruzatte possessed that gained him many mentions in Lewis' journal. Cruzatte was an expert fiddler. Whenever the Corps took time to celebrate, Cruzatte and his violin were there. Another member of the Corps, George Gibson, also fiddled, but Cruzatte is almost always mentioned as the musician for a night's festivities. His exuberant fiddle playing was always a favorite of the men and Indians they camped with.

Of course, all the goodwill Cruzatte created might have been washed away thanks to a nearly tragic incident on the last leg of the expedition. As it is, Cruzatte is known as the man who shot Meriwether Lewis. Accidentally, true, and fortunately not fatal, but he shot his captain nonetheless.

On Aug. 11, 1806, Lewis and his party were trying to catch up with Clark, whose party was a few days ahead down the Missouri. Lewis saw some elk in a thick willow bar along the river. He went ashore and took Cruzatte with him for some hunting.

After they each shot an elk, they reloaded and headed back into the willow bar for more. As Lewis was about to pull his trigger with another elk in his sights, he was spun around by a severe blow. A rifle bullet had hit him an inch below his hip joint on his left side and passed through his buttocks to come out on the right side. The shot left a three-inch gash the width of the ball. No bone had been hit. The ball lodged in Lewis' leather breeches.

Lewis immediately suspected his one-eyed, nearsighted helmsman. "Damn you!" Lewis shouted. "You have shot me!" Cruzatte didn't respond, so Lewis guessed that perhaps an Indian was near. Lewis made it back to the canoes before collapsing and told the men they would have to go back to save Cruzatte from the Indians. The party returned with Cruzatte, who denied everything. No Indians were found. The bullet was from a U.S. Army rifle, one Indians weren't likely to have. Cruzatte later admitted he was at fault, thinking Lewis dressed in brown leather, was an elk in the thick brush.

The return trip to St. Louis was quite painful for Lewis. Perhaps that's why Lewis made no special recommendation for him in the letter requesting pay for the Corps members.

Cruzatte is said to have returned to the Rockies in 1807 on another expedition. He is believed to have been killed between 1825-1828.

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