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Historical Background

Clark's later career

Clark's post-expedition public career and personal life were as filled with success and individual fulfillment as those of Lewis were with disappointment and tragedy. Fortune deserted the one; it stayed with the other. A prominent resident of St. Louis for 31 years, Clark lived to a ripe old age, his interest in all western matters never dimming. He corresponded with or was visited by princes, politicians, scientists, authors, travelers, Army officers, businessmen, and traders.

DURING these years, while profiting in the fur trade and in real estate investments in St. Louis and environs, Clark held numerous key offices, sometime holding more than one concurrently. He apparently served as Superintendent of Indian Affairs almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1838, [167] Also, on July 1, 1813, President James Madison appointed Clark as the first Governor of newly created Missouri Territory; he was reappointed three times, holding the office until Missouri became a State in 1821. Although a candidate for the office of Governor that same year, he failed to win election. In 1824-25 he served as Surveyor-General of the States of Illinois and Missouri and Arkansas Territory.

AS Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Clark worked through a network of Indian agents, many of them former Army officers, who lived at their agencies with their tribes. Clark participated in treaty matters, tried to prevent tribal wars, negotiated disputes among tribes, drove white squatters off Indian lands, and kept the natives from returning to lands they had already sold or ceded. [168] In this role, he broadened the base of goodwill the Lewis and Clark Expedition had established, and probably did more to help the Indians than any of his successors. Their friend, protector, and advocate, who always tried to obtain as much justice as possible for them, he was fondly known to many of them as the "Red-Headed Chief." Tribal delegations visiting St. Louis called on him; and, as a means of protection, Government or fur trading expeditions sought messages and greetings from him to the natives.

Clark's deft handling of the Indians insured relative peace in the area. While brigadier general in the militia of Louisiana Territory (1807-13), when troubles arose—most often with the Winnebagoes, Foxes, and Sauks up the Mississippi, under the influence of British traders—he raised units to quell them. During the War of 1812, he spared the Upper Mississippi Valley from anything more than stray raids by winning over to the American side hostile tribes, especially the Sioux, whom the British in Canada tried to incite.

OVER the years, Clark made numerous trips to the East on official or personal business, always stopping on the way to visit his family in Louisville. [169] On the first of these, in 1807-8, at Fincastle, Va., on January 5, 1808, he married 16-year-old Julia Hancock. She was to have five children. [170] In 1821, the year following her death, Clark married Mrs. Harriet Kennerly Radford, her first cousin and close friend and a widow with three children. She was to bear him two sons. [171]

IN 1809-10 Clark had made his second trip to the East. [172] Accompanied by his wife, his infant son Meriwether Lewis Clark, and two black servants, he set out on September 21, or only 17 days after Lewis had begun his tragic journey. While conducting official business in Washington, Clark likely also hoped to defend the propriety of his participation in the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company.

Apparently between Louisville and Lexington, Ky., where the night was spent with George Shannon, Clark learned of Lewis' death from a newspaper. This changed Clark's plans considerably. He would now need to close out Lewis' affairs, rescue the papers pertaining to the expedition, and arrange for publication of the history. Instead of spending a few weeks in the East as earlier planned, he would need to stay many months; he would not return to St. Louis until July 1, 1810.

Clark left his wife and son behind at Fincastle, Va., and proceeded alone. He did not find Lewis' mother, Mrs. Marks, at her home near Charlottesville, but spent the night with the family. He had better luck at Monticello, where he passed some time with Jefferson. Among other subjects, they talked about the death of Lewis and the problems it created. At Jefferson's suggestion, Clark journeyed to Richmond. He met the Governor and sat in at a meeting of the Assembly. He also discussed with William Wirt, a jurist and writer, the possibility of his preparing a history of the expedition, but nothing ever came of the meeting.

In Washington the Secretary of War assured Clark that Lewis had not lost the confidence of the Government despite the protested drafts—though it was too late to benefit Lewis. Clark also removed from Lewis' trunks, which had been forwarded to the Capital City, the papers relating to the expedition and carried them to Philadelphia to show to the prospective publisher of the proposed volume. [173]

While there, Clark persuaded scientist Benjamin S. Barton to finish writing the botanical and zoological descriptions for the scientific part of the book. Nicholas Biddle, prominent literary figure and lawyer, at first declined but later agreed to write the general narrative. In April 1810 he spent several days with Clark at Fincastle and interviewed him in depth about the expedition, after which he carried the Lewis and Clark journals back to Philadelphia. As further aids, Clark provided Biddle with Ordway's journal; hired Shannon to travel from Lexington to Philadelphia to provide direct assistance; corresponded regularly with Biddle; and paid at least one visit to him in Philadelphia, in March 1813. Biddle, who refused to accept any money for his effort, also utilized the journal of Patrick Gass and completed a rough draft within a year. He then turned it over for final polishing to Paul Allen, a journalist. Barton, a busy man, never completed his part of the history.

In 1812 C. and A. Conrad and Company went bankrupt, and Biddle arranged with the Bradford and Inskeep Company to print the book. They did so in 1814, in two volumes, with the title page credit going to Allen rather than Biddle. But, before distribution could be made, Bradford and Inskeep also went out of business. As a result, Clark never saw a copy of the book until many years later.

AT the age of 69, after an 8-day illness, on September 1, 1838, Clark died at the home of his eldest son, Meriwether Lewis Clark. [174] Besides Meriwether Lewis, the other surviving sons were George Rogers and Jefferson K. William Clark was buried on September 3 with Masonic and military honors on the farm of his nephew Col. John O'Fallon, on the edge of St. Louis; the gravesite is today part of Bellefontaine Cemetery. The funeral procession, the largest in the history of St. Louis until that time, was about a mile in length. [175]