Government Document
Land Warrants Issued to Expedition Members
Congressional authorization granting each member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition double pay and 320 acres of public land as compensation for their service. Lewis and Clark each received 1,600 acres. These land warrants were among the first grants of public land west of the Mississippi.
On March 3, 1807, Congress passed an act granting double pay and land warrants to the members of the expedition. Captains Lewis and Clark received 1,600 acres each; enlisted men received 320 acres each. Many soldiers sold their land warrants rather than settling on them. The land grants were located in the Louisiana Territory, making the expedition members some of the earliest American landholders in the trans-Mississippi West. The compensation reflected Congressional recognition of the extraordinary dangers and achievements of the expedition.
