An influential figure in the early republic, William Clark helped to explore and describe the North American West with his partner Meriwether Lewis during the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-06). He then became closely involved with the management of western lands and their inhabitants in the decades of settlement that followed.

Born on August 1, 1770, Clark was from a prominent Virginia family whose members included his older brother, George Rogers Clark. In 1784 he moved with his family to Kentucky, where his parents established an estate called Mulberry Hill. With a minimal formal education, he learned how to survey land, manage slave labor, and explore the natural world. He also developed his skills in drawing and cartography. His direct and pragmatic mindset later served him well in his years as an explorer and frontier settler and administrator.

Clark began his military career early, and he may have joined his brother as an Indian fighter at age 16. By 1789 he was serving in a volunteer militia under Colonel John Hardin in his fight against Native Americans near the White River. Clark's military experience continued throughout the early 1790s, and in March 1792 he was commissioned a lieutenant of infantry in the Legion of the United States (see Army, U.S.). Besides seeing action in several battles, including the Battle of Fallen Timbers (August 20, 1794), he was given military assignments to negotiate with Native Americans. Clark acted as a representative to the Chickasaw near Memphis, trading rifles and ammunition in exchange for allegiance to the United States against Spain. He met Meriwether Lewis in 1794 during the campaigns against the Native Americans in Ohio.

In 1796 Clark resigned his commission and returned to Louisville, where he tried to salvage the fortune of his brother George Rogers Clark, who was deeply in debt. On June 19, 1803, Meriwether Lewis wrote, inviting him to join in the transcontinental expedition proposed by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the Far West and (it was hoped) discover an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean. As a man who had lived on and explored the frontier for most of his life, Clark was drawn to the planned expedition and brought with him the practical experience and resourcefulness necessary for such a dangerous trip. Beginning in May 1804, for more than two years the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled up the Missouri River, across the Rocky Mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, and back again to St. Louis. During the return trip, Clark separated from Lewis for a while to navigate part of the Yellowstone River. Throughout the epic journey, he took responsibility for many of the practical tasks necessary to survival, drew the maps, measured mileage with remarkable accuracy, and described the new western landscape through his diaries and drawings.

In 1807 Clark resigned from the army and became brigadier general of the militia for the Louisiana Territory he had just explored. In 1808 he married Julia Hancock, a young woman from his native Virginia. Living in St. Louis, Clark became superintendent for Indian affairs in the Upper Louisiana (later called Missouri) Territory; his old friend Meriwether Lewis was governor of the territory. In the first years after their triumphant return, both men were preoccupied with establishing order in the administration of the West. Clark fared better financially than his friend Lewis and often acted as his de facto caretaker as Lewis's mental state became more volatile.

After Lewis's death in 1809, Clark declined the president's offer to make him Lewis's successor but eventually accepted a later opportunity to be governor in 1813. During the War of 1812 (1812-15), Clark's organized the defense of St. Louis but met with limited success when he led an expedition to Prairie du Chien on the Upper Mississippi, as his forces were attacked there and downriver at Rock Island. After the war ended, Clark, remained active as a businessman trading on the frontier and as a government official negotiating treaties with Indians.

He gained the respect of many Native Americans and was known as the "Red-Headed Chief." If he could be sympathetic to Indians, he remained an imperious slave owner, for many years refusing to free York, the African-American slave who had traveled with him on the Lewis and Clark Expedition (though York was eventually freed through persistent badgering of his master). While historians now contend that Clark's actions as an explorer, administrator, and businessman compromised the future vitality of western Indian tribes, he continued to act for what he considered to be their best interests. He left an ambiguous legacy of conquest and conciliation, which was not unusual for Indian agents during the early 19th century. William Clark died in St. Louis on September 1, 1838.

Bibliography:

1) John Bakeless, Lewis and Clark: Partners in Discovery (New York: William Morrow, 1947).

2) Thomas P. Slaughter, Exploring Lewis and Clark: Reflections on Men and Wilderness (New York: Random House, 2003).

3) Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1904-05; reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1969).

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