George Drouillard (c. 1773–1810) was a civilian interpreter, scout, hunter, and cartographer, hired for Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804–1806, in search of a water route to the Pacific Ocean.
It is believed that Drouillard was killed in what is now the state of Montana while trapping beaver, in an attack by the Blackfeet or Gros Ventre tribes.
[3] Drouillard is credited with saving the life of colonist and explorer Simon Kenton, held as a prisoner of the Shawnee at Sandusky, Ohio, in 1778.
He brought gifts to trade for Kenton's life and said the British needed to interrogate the man about revolutionary activities on the frontier.
[4] At age 28,[5] Drouillard was hired by Captain Meriwether Lewis for the United States' official expedition into the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.
Lewis, who mentioned Drouillard often in his journals (referring to him as "Drewyer" in a transliteration of his French name), praised the young man highly as the most skilled hunter among all the men of the party.
In 1810, Drouillard failed to return from a beaver-trapping trip in the Three Forks region of the upper Missouri River,[5] where the expedition had already encountered hostilities from the Blackfeet and Gros Ventre peoples.