Lewis and Clark              Date:  2003

The Voyage of Discovery

1804-1806

Meriwether Lewis

Aug. 18, 1774-Oct. 11, 1809

Born on August 18, 1774, in Albemarle County, Virginia, to William and Lucy Meriwether Lewis.  One of three children, he lost his father at a young age.  In 1780 his mother married Captain John marks and two children were born of this union.  His mother lived to be 86.  She taught her children the value of medicinal properties of wild plants, books and plantation management.  It was in 1792 that Meriwether first approached Thomas Jefferson about undertaking an expedition to the Pacific Ocean At the age of 10, M. Lewis signed on as a volunteer under General George Washington to quell the whiskey Rebellion.  Lewis met William Clark around 1795 when he served under him for six months in the army where he quickly rose in the Virginia ranks as a private, ensign and Captain in 1800.  Active in the Masonic Order, he became a Royal Arch Mason.  He also speculated in land.  In 1700, he traveled widely on the rivers in a pirogue and keelboat and on horseback to army posts while serving as regimental paymaster.

In 1801, Lewis was invited to become President Thomas Jefferson’s private secretary, living with him in the “Presidents House” in Washington City, even chosen to deliver the First state of the Union Address.  It was in 1802 that Meriwether was asked to lead the expedition to the Pacific Ocean.

William Clark

Aug. 1, 1770-Sept. 1, 1838

Born on August 1, 1770, to John and Ann Clark in Caroline County, Virginia, William was the second youngest of ten children, whose older brother was George Rogers Clark.  When “Billy Clark” signed up for the Kentucky Militia he was continuing in the footsteps of his older brothers as Indian Fighters.  Well rounded and Studious, William was an excellent hunter and fisherman, a skilled negotiator with Indian tribes, wilderness construction and medicine through his service as an infantry Lieutenant.  At the age of 23, W. Clark was serving as quarter master in the US Army.  The federal government would be his only employer throughout his life.  When his mother died at 68 years of age, William became head of the Clark household.  Much of his time was spent trying to settle the debts of his brother George.  Upon his father’s death he assumed even more duties.  On July 17, 1803, when he received a letter from M. Lewis requesting his participation on a trip to “explore the interior of the continent of North America, Traveling on the Missouri and Columbia rivers as far as the western ocean and back” he readily accepted.  In addition he was told he would be promoted to the rank of Captain and would be Co-Commander “equal in all respects to him”.  This never happened!

The Corps of Discovery

May 21, 1804 –September 21, 1806

After much preparation and delay, the Corps left Wood River in a keelboat and pirogues.  It was a successful, yet dangerous trip as the men, Seaman and Sacagawea faced steep and rugged mountains, hostile Indians, fights among themselves and other scary incidents, yet they persevered along 8,000 miles of beautiful rivers and land heading west and then back to determine if an all-water route existed to the Pacific Ocean.

The Lewis and Clark expedition is well remembered here and throughout the United States with parks, sites and schools.  Interpretive signs are located along the Katy Trail in Missouri.  Just east of the State capitol at the Trailhead Plaza is a “Legacy Monument” depicting the figures of Meriwether Lewis, Seaman, William Clark, York and George Drouillard…

After the Expedition

Captain Meriwether Lewis

Upon arriving back in St. Louis, M. Lewis prepared a report to President Jefferson informing him that no all-water route existed to the Pacific Ocean.  He now wanted to be part of the lucrative fur trade which meant that he would have to solve the unfriendly Indian matter of the Sioux, Blackfoot and others.  He planned to visit Philadelphia to see about finding help with the publication of his journals, and to settle monetary debts of the expedition.  In 1807, Captain Lewis appointed Governor of the territory of Louisiana.  He rented a house in St. Louis which he shared with W. Clark and his bride.   He adopted a 13 yr. old, Toussaint Jessaume, wrote articles for the Missouri Gazette paper and organized the St. Louis Missouri River Fur Company.  In 1809, while on his way to Washington City to meet with officials about the expedition’s expenses he opted to take the Natchez Trace.  With servants and the journals on his pack horse he stopped to spend the night at Grinders Inn, 72 miles south of Nashville, TN.  Sometime on the night of October 11, it was said that he shot himself in the head and breast with his pistols, although other say he was murdered instead.  Major Neely buried him at the Inn.  Meriwether Lewis was 35.  A broken shaft placed thee in 1849 marks his plot.

After the Expedition

William Clark

He married Julia Hancock form Virginia, moving by barge with the first piano seen by St. Louis residents.  Their first son was named Meriwether Lewis Clark.  Four more children were born but Julia died at 28.  He married Harriet Radford, had three children, but she died at 43.

William became superintendant for Indian affairs for the Louisiana Territory with the rank of Brigadier General of the Militia and established Fort Osage opened an Indian Museum which contained items from the expedition, co-found the first school system and co-charted the first Episcopal Church west of the Mississippi.  In addition, with the death of M. Lewis he was not responsible for publication of the journals.  With the help of Mr. Nicholas Biddle, George Shannon and final editing by Paul Allen, they were published after 7 years, but due to a time lapse did not sell well.

W. Clark died in 1838 at 68 and after a military funeral was buried on John O’Fallon’s farm near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.  He is now interred in Bellefontaine Cemetery. 

Researched and written by Ann M. Spencer