Background
William was born on August 1, 1770 in Caroline County, Virginia, United States. The son of John and Ann (Rogers) Clark.
William was born on August 1, 1770 in Caroline County, Virginia, United States. The son of John and Ann (Rogers) Clark.
Little is known of William's education, except that in 1782 William Clark studied under Richard Higgins, a local schoolmaster. Like many Virginia gentry of that day who rose to high position and were men of great ability, Clark never learned to spell. He did, however, acquire some knowledge of drawing, mapping, wild nature, and outdoor life, doubtless in part from the library collected by George Rogers Clark.
Though William had been too young to serve in the Revolutionary War with his brothers, he participated in Indian campaigns while still in his teens, after the Clark family had moved to Mulberry Hill, near Louisville, Ky., in 1784. When the local militia proved unable to protect Kentucky and other western settlements against the Indians, General Anthony Wayne organized his Legion of the United States (a name chosen because of popular objection to a regular army), and Clark received a commission in it. He served as a lieutenant in Wayne's Indian campaign of 1794. In the next year he was sent with a few soldiers on a prolonged reconnaissance of the Ohio and its junction with the Mississippi to bring back intelligence of Spanish activities. He proved a model intelligence officer, and the report he submitted to Wayne was excellent. For a brief period, Meriwether Lewis served under him.
In 1796 Clark resigned his commission and returned to Mulberry Hill to assist his brother George in business. In 1803 he received a letter from Lewis offering him joint command of the expedition which President Jefferson had ordered to explore the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase and find a route to the Pacific Ocean. On the advice of George Rogers Clark, to whom Jefferson had made a similar proposal a decade earlier, William accepted.
Starting from Wood River, opposite St. Louis, on May 14, 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered in North Dakota, ascended the Missouri to Montana in 1805, crossed the Rockies, reached the mouth of the Columbia River in November, and wintered on the Pacific Coast, returning to St. Louis on Sept. 23, 1806. They explored vast tracts unknown to white men, prepared the first map of the area, made large scientific collections, and established friendly relations with many Indian tribes. They accomplished this with the loss of only one man (from disease).
As a reward for his share in these achievements, Clark was made brigadier of Missouri militia and in 1813 became governor of Missouri Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, continuing to hold the latter post after Missouri became a state in 1820. During the War of 1812 he conducted an expedition up the Mississippi River against the Indians who supported the British. After the war he negotiated a series of treaties with the Indians. He was also surveyor general for Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas in 1824-1825 and in 1828 laid out the town of Paducah, Ky.
William Clark was listed as a noteworthy explorer, territorial governor by Marquis Who's Who.
William Clark was married to Julia Hancock. His second marriage was to Harriett Kennerly.
