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William Clark, the celebrated explorer who joined Meriwether Lewis in leading an overland expedition to the Pacific from 1804 to 1806, looms large in the history of America’s westward expansion.
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Topics - William Clark (1770–1838) | Missouri Encyclopedia
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Time Periods - William Clark (1770–1838) | Missouri...
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Established in 1808 under the superintendence of William...
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Corps of Discovery. August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838. “Portrait of William Clark” by Charles Willson Peale, 1807. Independence National Historic Park. William Clark rose to prominence through his famous Western expedition with his partner, Meriweather Lewis. Together they explored lands never before seen by Americans and gathered ...
William Clark (born August 1, 1770, Caroline county, Virginia [U.S.]—died September 1, 1838, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.) was an American frontiersman who won fame as an explorer by sharing with Meriwether Lewis the leadership of their epic expedition to the Pacific Northwest (1804–06).
- Jay H. Buckley
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In June 1803, Lewis asked William Clark, a friend from his former army service, to serve as co-leader of the expedition. Clark gladly agreed. Jefferson’s final instructions to Lewis reflect the broad range of the president’s interests.
- Who Were Lewis and Clark?
- Louisiana Purchase
- Preparations For The Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Corps of Discovery
- Native American encounters
- Fort Mandan
- Sacagawea
- The Continental Divide
- Fort Clatsop
- Lewis and Clark Journey Home
Meriwether Lewis was born in Virginia in 1774 but spent his early childhood in Georgia. He returned to Virginia as a teenager to receive his education and graduated from college in 1793. He then joined the Virginia state militia—where he helped to put down the Whiskey Rebellion—and later became a captain in the U.S. Army. At age 27 he became person...
During the French and Indian War, France surrendered a large part of Louisianato Spain and almost all of its remaining lands to Great Britain. Initially, Spain’s acquisition didn’t have a major impact since it still allowed the United States to travel the Mississippi River and use New Orleans as a trade port. Then Napoleon Bonapartetook power in Fr...
preparations immediately. He studied medicine, botany, astronomy and zoology and scrutinized existing maps and journals of the region. He also asked his friend Clark to co-command the expedition. Even though Clark was once Lewis’ superior, Lewis was technically in charge of the trip. But for all intents and purposes, the two shared equal responsibi...
Lewis entrusted Clark to recruit men for their “Corps of Volunteers for Northwest Discovery,” or simply the Corps of Discovery. Throughout the winter of 1803-1804, Clark recruited and trained men at Camp DuBois north of St. Louis, Missouri. He chose unmarried, healthy men who were good hunters and knew survival skills. The expedition party included...
Most of the land Lewis and Clark surveyed was already occupied by Native Americans. In fact, the Corps encountered around 50 different Native American tribes including the Shoshone, the Mandan, the Minitari, the Blackfeet, the Chinook and the Sioux. Lewis and Clark developed a first contact protocol for meeting new tribes. They bartered goods and p...
In early November, the Corps came across villages of friendly Mandan and Minitari Indians near present-day Washburn, North Dakota, and decided to set up camp downriver for the winter along the banks of the Missouri River. Within about four weeks they’d built a triangular-shaped fort called Fort Mandan, which was surrounded by 16-foot pickets and co...
While at Fort Mandan, Lewis and Clark met French-Canadian trapper Toussaint Charbonneau and hired him as an interpreter. They allowed his pregnant Shoshone wife, Sacagawea, to join him on the expedition. Sacagawea had been kidnapped by Hidatsa Indians at age 12 and then sold to Charbonneau. Lewis and Clark hoped she could help them communicate with...
On April 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark sent some of their crew and their keelboat loaded with zoological and botanical samplings, maps, reports and letters back to St. Louis while they and the rest of the Corps headed for the Pacific Ocean. They crossed through Montanaand made their way to the Continental Divide via Lemhi Pass where, with Sacagawea’s he...
A bedraggled and harried Corps finally reached the stormy Pacific Ocean in November of 1805. They’d completed their mission and had to find a place to live for the winter before heading home. They decided to make camp near present-day Astoria, Oregon, and started building Fort Clatsop on December 10 and moved in by Christmas. It was not an easy win...
On March 23, 1806, the Corps left Fort Clatsop for home. They retrieved their horses from the Nez Perce and waited until June for the snow to melt to cross the mountains into the Missouri River Basin. After again traversing the rugged Bitterroot Mountain Range, Lewis and Clark split up at Lolo Pass. Lewis’ group took a shortcut north to the Great F...
Lewis and Clark learned that the surprising width of the Rocky Mountain chain destroyed Jefferson's hoped-for route between the Missouri and Columbia river systems. This finding resulted in a route over what is now South Pass (Wyoming) during later trips westward by fur traders and other explorers.
William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. [1] . A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Missouri .
