Sergeant Floyd Monument
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Sergeant Floyd Monument
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Sergeant Floyd Monument, Sioux City, Iowa
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| Location | S. Lewis Blvd. Sioux City, Iowa |
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| Coordinates | 42°27′45.25″N 96°22′39.08″W / 42.4625694°N 96.3775222°WCoordinates: 42°27′45.25″N 96°22′39.08″W / 42.4625694°N 96.3775222°W |
| Built |
Original Memorial: 1804 Current Memorial: 1901 |
| Architect | Floyd Memorial Association of Sioux City |
| Architectural style | Obelisk |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000340 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | June 30, 1960 |
Original Memorial: 1804
The Sergeant Floyd Monument is a monument on the Missouri River at Floyd's Bluff in Sioux City, Iowa, USA. The monument honors Charles Floyd, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, who died on the upstream voyage in 1804 and was buried here.
The monument is the first designated National Historic Landmark of the United States.
Charles Floyd (1782 – 1804) was a United States explorer, a non-commissioned officer and quartermaster in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A native of Kentucky, he was a relative of William Clark. He was one of the first men to join the expedition.
While exploring the Louisiana Purchase with Lewis and Clark, Floyd took ill at the end of July 1804. On July 31, Floyd wrote in his diary, "I am very sick and has been for sometime but have recovered my health again." However, this apparent recovery was soon followed by a severe turn for the worse. William Clark described his colleague's death as one "with a great deal of composure", and said that before Floyd died, he told Clark: "I am going away. I want you to write me a letter." The sergeant died on August 20. The expedition held a funeral and buried Floyd on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River; they named it Floyd's Bluff in his honor.
Clark diagnosed Floyd's illness as bilious colic, though modern doctors and historians agree Floyd's death was more likely to have been caused by a ruptured appendix. The brief "recovery" Floyd described may have represented the temporary relief afforded by the bursting of the organ, which would have been followed by a fatal peritonitis. Because there was no known cure for appendicitis at that time, he could not have been saved by even the best physicians of the day.
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