BIOGRAPHY

Lewis

Meriwether Lewis was born on August 18, 1774 on a plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia. He spent his childhood in the wilderness and developed a love of hunting and exploring. As a young man, Lewis fought against the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. From there, he became an officer in the army and battled against Native Americans in the Northwest Territory. Over time, he learned a lot about Native Americans, their languages and culture.
As a friend and former neighbor of the Lewis family, President Thomas Jefferson recruited Lewis to be his private secretary in 1801. For two years, Jefferson prepared Lewis to lead a group of explorers across the Louisiana Purchase. To prepare for the trip, Lewis studied navigation, plants, and animals at the University of Pennsylvania.
After Lewis and his co-leader, William Clark, successfully returned from the three-year expedition, Jefferson appointed Lewis governor of the Louisiana Territory. On October 11, 1809, while on his way from his St. Louis headquarters to Washington, D.C., Lewis met an untimely and mysterious death at an inn. Most historians believe that Lewis committed suicide, yet others think that Lewis was murdered.

Clark

William Clark was born on August 1, 1770. He grew up on his family’s Virginia plantation, but moved to Louisville, Kentucky when he was 14. In 1789, he joined the militia to fight the Native Americans in the Ohio Valley. Three years later, he joined the army and became an officer, only to retire in 1796 to manage his family’s plantation.
In 1803, Clark’s army comrade, Meriwether Lewis, invited Clark to co-lead an expedition across President Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase. To prepare for the trip, Clark studied astronomy and cartography. He was responsible for the expedition’s record keeping and map making.
After Clark successfully returned from the expedition, Jefferson appointed Clark principal Indian agent and brigadier general of the militia for the Louisiana Territory. In 1813, Clark became governor of the Missouri Territory. When Missouri became a state in 1820, Clark unsuccessfully ran for governor, but continued to focus on Native American affairs. This experience helped him become Superintendent of Indian Affairs, a position that he held from 1822 until his death on September 1, 1838.