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William Clark
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Like Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis, William Clark was a Virginian. Born on a plantation on August 1, 1770, he was the ninth of ten children. When he was fourteen, Clark's family moved to a new plantation in Kentucky. All of Clark's brothers fought in the Revolutionary War. Clark started serving as a militiaman in campaigns against the First, or Native Americans of the Ohio Valley in 1789. He became an officer in the regular army in 1792. However, Clark resigned from the army in 1796 to manage his family's plantation.
He joined the Corps of Discovery as co-captain at Meriwether Lewis's request. Clark was less formally educated than Lewis, and his journals are filled with grammatical and spelling errors—he spelled Sioux more than twenty different ways! But he excelled at drawing maps, and it was his duty to be the team's cartographer. In some cases, his detailed maps included information about the plant, wildlife, and possible mineral deposits that might be found.
In the winter of 1807, Lewis and Clark traveled to Washington, D.C., to receive payment completing their expedition. Each was rewarded 1,600 acres of land and $1,228. Lewis was then appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory, and Clark was given a double appointment as brigadier general of militia and superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Upper Louisiana.
On January 5, 1808, Clark married Julia Hancock. Together they had five children; the first was a son they named Meriwether Lewis Clark. In the summer of 1808, Clark became a business partner in the Missouri Fur Company, which planned to develop the American fur trading industry along the entire Missouri River.
From 1813 until 1820, Clark served as the governor of the Missouri Territory. His wife Julia died in the summer of 1820, and he married a second time in the fall of 1821. He and his second wife, Harriet Kennerly Radford, had two children. Clark died in St. Louis on September 1, 1838, of natural causes.
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William Clark first met Meriwether Lewis in the army. After the Expedition, Clark went on to become the governor of the Missouri Territory. |
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Corps of Discovery Journals
Read excerpts from the journals of William Clark and five other members of the Corps of Discovery.
William Clark's Map
Find out what tools William Clark used to draw his map of the area that he and the Corps of Discovery explored.
Mulberry Hill
See William Clark's home in Kentucky, where he and his slave York lived from 1785 until 1803.
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William Clark
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