Eastern Beginnings

The Lewis and Clark Expedition ostensibly began in February 1801 when President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Army commander General James Wilkinson requesting that Lieutenant Meriwether Lewis become the President’s personal secretary. Exploration of North America’s western half had long been a goal of the president, and now he had a young protégé who might lead such an expedition.

On 18 January 1803, Lewis hand-delivers to the U.S. Congress the President’s request to fund what would become known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The President works in Washington City and Monticello to craft instructions and line up the best talent to assist Lewis. In France, three diplomats negotiate with Napoleon Bonaparte to purchase the Louisiana Territory.

Meriwether receives training, supplies and equipment in Philadelphia and avails himself of armaments and specialized equipment—including a collapsable iron-framed boat—at the Schuylkill and Harpers Ferry arsenals. By July 1803, everything is at Fort Fayette in Pittsburgh. All Lewis needs is a large boat to carry everything down the Ohio. He also needs to know if William Clark will accept his invitation to join him.

In-depth Articles

The Kickapoos

Always on the move

by Kristopher K. Townsend



Perhaps more than any North American people, the Kickapoo exemplify the transitory nature of the native nations encountered during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 1803, there was at least one village near Ste. Genevieve on the Mississippi River.

 

The Shawnees

by Kristopher K. Townsend



As soon as the expedition boats arrived at the Mississippi River, the captains began counting Shawnee people. The Estimate of the Eastern Indians reports that 600 “Shawonies” were living on the “apple River near Cape Gerardeau.”

 

The President’s Secretary

by Arlen J. Large



It was 4 March 1801, Inauguration Day for the third president. Nine days previously Jefferson had asked Meriwether Lewis to serve as his private secretary in the raw new mansion called the President’s House.

 

Jefferson’s Monticello

Source and paradigm

by Joseph A. Mussulman



After some eight months of planning and discussion, President Thomas Jefferson handed his twenty-eight-year-old secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, a letter containing instructions for the conduct of one of the most significant undertakings in American history.

 

Lewis’s Report on Army Officers

The 1802 Army's Reduction in Force

by Stephen S. Witte



In his capacity as the President’s secretary, Meriwether Lewis prepared a report in which he classified the Army’s officers by military merit and by political affiliation, if known. Both of these factors were considered in identifying candidates for dismissal.

 

Lewis’s Estimate of Expenses

by Kristopher K. Townsend



Prior to Jefferson’s annual message to Congress on 15 December 1802, Lewis prepared a roughly itemized estimate of $2500 as the cost of the expedition.

 

Synopsis Part 1

Washington City to Fort Mandan

by Harry W. Fritz



The Corps of Discovery, as it would be called, or the “corps of volunteers for North Western Discovery,” as Lewis put it, epitomized the rising glory of the United States—its sense of limitless possibilities and unparalleled opportunities.

 

The Louisiana Purchase

by Pierce Mullen



Easter week in Paris, 1803, was truly momentous for the young United States of America. The American Minister to France, Robert R. Livingston was sent to discuss the difficult question of New Orleans, the Mississippi and Franco-American relations.

 

Jefferson’s Secrecy

Lewis and Clark under cover

by Arlen J. Large



During the planning and preparations for the Western Expedition, Thomas Jefferson practiced selective levels of secrecy.

 

Lewis and the Board of Agriculture

by Arlen J. Large



As the President’s private secretary, the 28-year-old Army captain wasn’t in the same league with the political heavy-weights on the new American Board of Agriculture.

 

Early American Flags

by Joseph A. Mussulman



Lewis’s long list of needs for the journey would have been a large supply of American flags, to be flown on their boats, over their camps, and at their council sites. Leading up to the Lewis and Clark expedition, what did the young country’s flags look like?

 

Eastern Travels

Washington City to Pittsburgh

by Lorna Hainesworth



Lewis’s letters reveal a fastidious quartermaster, a meticulous project director, an exceptional logistics manager and a superb bureaucrat who was scrupulously devoted to detail. Lorna Hainesworth unravels the eastern travels of Meriwether Lewis between March and July 1803 using a letter that she uncovered in 2009.

 

Harpers Ferry by Air

Wedge of history

by Joseph A. Mussulman



Harpers Ferry’s tiny footprint belies the richness of its roles in American history—in industrialization, in commerce, and especially in the unfolding of the Civil War and the long struggle of African-Americans out of slavery.

 

Harpers Ferry

U.S. Armory and Arsenal

by Joseph D. Jeffrey



During preparations, Lewis relied on the Harpers Ferry Armory and Arsenal for the guns and hardware that would meet his unique requirements.

 

Shipping the Supplies

Quartermaster Lewis

by Frank Muhly, Joseph A. Mussulman



Considering all he had to do to prepare for the expedition, Lewis was fortunate in that he could rely on a small cadre of Army personnel to help him assemble, pack, and ship his supplies.

 

The Personnel Plan

A small and fast corps

by Arlen J. Large



Moving between Philadelphia and Washington City in 1803, Lewis devised a plan for recruiting personnel while traveling to St. Louis. Plan A was to go down the Cumberland River, Plan B, the Ohio.

 

Lewis in Philadelphia

Training and shopping

by Charles F. Reed



When Meriwether Lewis traveled to Philadelphia in 1802, his guide to the city was Mahlon Dickerson who gave him a survey of people and places well beyond the privilege or opportunity of most Philadelphians of the time.

 

Jefferson-Lewis Cryptology

Jefferson's ciphers

by Joseph A. Mussulman



It was Thomas Jefferson who gave cryptography in America its greatest impetus. Sometime in 1803 Jefferson presented Meriwether Lewis with a cipher based on a square table or tableau used to create a substitution cipher.

 

The American Philosophical Society

Promoting useful knowledge

by Carol Lynn MacGregor



In this brief extract from We Proceeded On, the quarterly journal of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Carol MacGregor explains the beginning and purpose of the American Philosophical Society and its connection to the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

 

Barbary Coast War

Lewis's "Mahometant yoke"

by Joseph A. Mussulman



The story of what was known by his detractors as “Jefferson’s War,” opens for us a narrow window on a little known but intriguing episode in Meriwether Lewis’s brief position as the President’s secretary.