Josh Loftis hurried his high school graduation so he could
join the Lewis&Clark 200th anniversary reenactment tour.
But, these days he's more likely to be dressed as a Native
American.
At this month's Lewis & Clark Heritage Days celebration,
he won't be in the frontier clothes he wore on the two-year
boat trip up the Missouri all the way to the Pacific Ocean
and back.
Rather, Josh will be in the garb of a Shawnee Indian. He'll
have his head shaved and wearing Indian battle dress. Also,
his skin will be coated with the red clay which led to the
early native Americans' nickname, "red man."
Josh, now 21 and a college student, said, "I didn't change
sides. Rather, I'm looking for a more non-biased view of
what makes different people get into such things as wars."
When he started the Lewis&Clark adventure, he was planning
to return, go to college and maybe become a marine biologist.
Since coming back, he's been changing his career path.
He's now a freshman at Southwest Illinois College at Belleville,
studying history and theater. He's considering ways to use
his unique experience to better relations between white
and Native Americans.
One of his goals was to eventually help the Chinook Indians
of Washington state reinstate their status as an official
tribe. He also wants to write a book based on his tour experiences.
He comes from a unique background for such a career path.
He's a direct descendant of one of the men on the original
1804-06 Tour of Discovery. He speeded up his high school
graduation so he could join his grandfather as members for
the full Lewis & Clark reenactment.
But, he's also discovered he has some Shawnee Indian blood.
That's why he portrays a Shawnee during frontier reenactments
nowadays. At reenactments, he adopts the Indian name of
Alagwamagwa, the son of Irish father and an Indian mother.
Young Saint Louis.com caught up with Josh in early
April at Fort Des Chartes near Prairie du Rocher, IL. That
fort was the headquarters of the French and later the British
when those two nations controlled the middle of this country.
The fort was founded in 1720. It was rebuilt in 1753. The
French controlled the fort until 1765 and then the British
took over until the time of the Revolutionary War.
The state of Illinois acquired the site and made it into
a state park in 1913. The fort has been reconstructed and
hosted an encampment of frontier and Indians reenacters
during the April 5-6 weekend.
The event commemorated the 250th anniversary of the French
and Indians Wars which matched white Americans against an
alliance of French and Native Americans. The anniversary
was set in the middle of the 7-year duration of the war.
Families were entertained by a variety of activities including
firing of flintlock rifles. Josh and some fellow Indian
reenacters were on hand to showcase their unusual dress
and to play Indian-style games such as stickball.
He said, "We also interacted with the public to depict
Native Americans."
One of Josh's fellow Indians was David Wolgomuth of Eau
Claire, WI, who portrayed an Ojibway Indian.
Josh is in the process of establishing an alliance of young
people who portray Indians at various reenactments around
the country. He said the group will keep in touch via the
Internet and coordinate plans to meet at different events.
One of their next destinations will be the Lewis & Clark
Heritage Days in St. Charles.
That event on May 17-18 provides a host of activities for
kids and families. The event is located along the Missouri
River at the base of the hills that make up Old St. Charles.
At one time, St. Charles was the Missouri state capitol.
Also, there is a unique Lewis & Clark Center. There are
unusual displays of historic artifacts dating to the days
when the original Tour of Discovery headed upstream into
the unexplored western half of our country.
The Heritage Days will include exhibits about the whole
Discovery Tour and there will be full-scale replicas of
the boats the explorers used on the two-year trip.
(For more on Heritage Days, visit www.lewisandclarkcenter.org/heritage.html.)
Josh's Lewis & Clark adventure and its aftermath have been
going on for five years.
When he graduated from high school in 2003, he freed himself
up to take part in both the "eastern legacy" leg as well
as the "western legacy" leg that started off from the St.
Louis area.
The "eastern legacy" leg started from Elizabeth, PA, where
the original team picked up their boats. That leg involved
a journey down the Ohio River to Cairo, IL, and then up
the Mississippi to St. Louis.
From here, the "western legacy" leg started up the Missouri
River. The reenactment journey went from early 2004 with
a return to St. Louis on Sept. 23, 2006.
(YSL.com first wrote about Josh in the May,
2004, edition. Then, we interviewed him after his return
and that story was in the Nov.
2006, edition. To read those stories, click on Past
Stories at the top of the home page and then go to the
appropriate previous editions.)
In addition to his reenactment activities and his school
work, he also works 30 hours a week at Memorial Hospital
in Belleville. He's involved in patient transportation.
He also has a girlfriend.
In other words, he's been busy since his return from the
Tour of Discovery.
