William Clark was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor.
37 Facts About William Clark
2.
William Clark's parents were natives of King and Queen County, and were of English and possibly Scots ancestry.
3.
William Clark did not have any formal education; like many of his contemporaries, he was tutored at home.
4.
Clark's five older brothers fought in Virginia units during the American Revolutionary War, but William was too young.
5.
The William Clark family settled at "Mulberry Hill", a plantation along Beargrass Creek near Louisville.
6.
In 1789,19-year-old William Clark joined a volunteer militia force under Major John Hardin.
7.
William Clark kept a detailed journal of the expedition, beginning a lifelong practice.
8.
William Clark's travels prevented him from participating in General Josiah Harmar's disastrous campaign into the Northwest Territory that year.
9.
In 1791, William Clark served as an ensign and acting lieutenant with expeditions under generals Charles Scott and James Wilkinson.
10.
William Clark was involved in several skirmishes with Indians during the continuing Northwest Indian War.
11.
At the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, William Clark commanded a company of riflemen who drove back the enemy on the left flank, killing a number of Native Americans and Canadians.
12.
In 1795, William Clark was dispatched on a mission to New Madrid, Missouri.
13.
William Clark served as an adjutant and quartermaster while in the militia.
14.
William Clark returned to Mulberry Hill, his family's plantation near Louisville.
15.
William Clark spent three years on the expedition to the Pacific Coast.
16.
William Clark concentrated chiefly on the drawing of maps, the management of the expedition's supplies, and leading hunting expeditions for game.
17.
William Clark set up his headquarters in St Louis, Missouri, where he would live for most of the rest of his life.
18.
In Louisiana and Missouri, William Clark served the United States government for the longest term in history as diplomat to the Native American peoples.
19.
William Clark felt as though he held a firm hand when he had to, but at the same time he had passion towards them as people still deserving of rights.
20.
William Clark took his position as one of extreme importance to not only the government of the United States, but to the Native American people as well.
21.
William Clark recognized Indians' nationalism, their history, language, culture, and territory and negotiated treaties between the various nations and his.
22.
William Clark tried to protect Indians and preserve their culture by removing them from the influences of white society, providing life-saving inoculations, having their portraits painted, and assembling a museum of Indian artifacts.
23.
William Clark established the short-lived Fort Shelby, the first post in what is Wisconsin.
24.
William Clark was reappointed to the position by Madison in 1816, and in 1820 by President Monroe.
25.
William Clark appeared before Supreme Court Judge John BC Lucas in St Louis on July 6,1813, to take the oath of office as governor of the Missouri Territory.
26.
William Clark feared the influence the British would have on the Native Americans.
27.
William Clark held office for the next seven years until he was voted out of office in 1820, in the first election after Missouri became a state.
28.
In 1822, William Clark was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs by President James Monroe, a new position created by Congress after the factory system was abolished.
29.
William Clark served in that position until his death; his title changed with the creation of the Office of Indian Affairs in 1824 and finally the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1829, both within the War Department.
30.
William Clark managed retaliation against Black Hawk and those allied with him in the Black Hawk War, when hostilities arose between them and the Americans.
31.
William Clark issued "an extermination order", which he gave to Lewis Cass, a man who played a central role in Jackson's removal policy.
32.
William Clark believed in the Jeffersonian ideology in which assimilation would be the best course of action for Native Americans.
33.
William Clark expressed sympathy for those uprooted tribes and promoted their interests as he understood them, nevertheless, he agreed with and implemented the policy of Indian removal, negotiating 37, or one-tenth, of all ratified treaties between American Indians and the United States.
34.
William Clark served as a guardian to Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau.
35.
William Clark died in St Louis on September 1,1838, at age 68.
36.
William Clark was originally buried at his nephew John O'Fallon's property, in 1838.
37.
Jefferson William Clark's wife had to complete the building of the monument after Jefferson died in 1900.