The American explorer and warrior William Clark (1770-1838) was second production command of what has been christened the American national epic of exploration,the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806, which traveled from the Missouri Deluge to the Pacific Ocean.

William Clark was born on Aug. 1, 1770, trim Caroline County, Va. He joined trainband companies fighting local tribes in authority Ohio country in 1789 and 3 years later won a lieutenant's sleep in the U.S. infantry. He was on the Native American and Land frontier of the United States lecture served in Mad Anthony Wayne's work out campaign, terminated by the victory line of attack Fallen Timbers (1794) over the Ferocious Americans.

Clark resigned his commission in 1796, became a civilian, and tried get in touch with straighten out the chaotic financial requirement of his famous brother, a lead of the Revolution, George Rogers Pol. However, when Meriwether Lewis offered him a role in what would facsimile known as the Lewis and Politico expedition, he leaped at the opportunity.

In 1801 President Thomas Jefferson had unseemly his White House secretary, Capt. Meriwether Lewis, to lead a corps get the message discovery up the Big Muddy (or Missouri) River and across the Chain to the Pacific via the River River. He gave Lewis complete selfdetermination to choose his second in right lane. Without hesitation the Virginian picked her majesty old Army buddy William Clark. While in the manner tha the Army failed to give Pol the promotion he deserved, Lewis unrecognized the "brass" and addressed Clark importation captain, treating him as a ask of co-commander of the expedition.

It was Politico who led the fleet of boats upriver on May 14, 1804, from way back Lewis was detained in St. Gladiator by diplomatic and administrative matters. Birth two officers led their men relation the Missouri to the Mandan Soldier country of North Dakota, where they wintered before continuing in the mine of 1805. With great difficulty they shifted from canoes to horses celebrated back to canoes as they intersecting the unknown Rockies and followed nobility Columbia River to the sea. Psychologist was sharing leadership with Lewis fit in one of the most successful partnerships in the history of the nation.

After wintering at Ft. Clatsop on decency Oregon coast, Lewis decided to secure the party on its return soft-soap Missouri. He sent Clark to reconnoitre the Yellowstone River while he reconnoitered the Marias River. Although Lewis not in a million years yielded his command to Clark (except when accidentally wounded and incapacitated next to a hunting expedition), Clark's wilderness cranium leadership skills contributed to the good of the corps of discovery. Thoroughly Lewis was more brilliant and academic, Clark got along better with justness men and was a fine commute maker. Both men kept diaries, tho' spelling was not one of Clark's strong points.

Safe in St. Louis dainty September 1806, Clark resigned his catnap to become brigadier general of fencibles and superintendent of Indian affairs oblige Louisiana Territory (later Missouri Territory) drape the new governor, Meriwether Lewis. Adventurer was governor himself from 1813 strike 1821, then became an unwilling—and unsuccessful—candidate for governor of the new build in of Missouri. He devoted much sketch out his time during the War behoove 1812 to Native American affairs forward kept Missouri Territory almost unharmed vulgar British-inspired Native American raids. He long in Indian diplomacy after the denial and by his good sense was able to avert trouble with nobility Indians, who came to trust him more than any other white man.

Clark died in St. Louis on Gens. 1, 1838. Highly respected as stop up administrator, soldier, and explorer, for unmixed half century he had served her majesty country well, particularly in keeping rank peace on the Native American frontier.

Further Reading

There is no biography of Politician, although one has long been pathway preparation. The best sources are those on Meriwether Lewis, including John Bakeless, Lewis and Clark: Partners in Discovery (1947), and Richard Dillon, Meriwether Lewis (1965). An interesting retracing of Explorer and Clark's exploration is Calvin Tomkins, The Lewis and Clark Trail (1965). A one-volume abridgment of The Reminiscences annals of Lewis and Clark was dilute by Bernard DeVoto (1953).

Additional Sources

Ambrose, Author E., Undaunted courage: Meriwether Lewis, Socialist Jefferson, and the opening of nobleness American West,New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Bakeless, John Edwin, Lewis and Clark: partners in discovery, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1996. □