Lewis the Governor and Clark the Brigadier General
Planning, exploration and most of the reporting phase of the Lewis and Clark expedition was over. The realities of governing the complex Upper Louisiana Territory settled in on the newly appointed Governor Lewis and Brigadier General Clark. Editing and printing of the Lewis and Clark Journals by Lewis, and returning Sheheke and his family to their home at the Mandan Villages by Clark, were the primary responsibilities outlined by President Jefferson and Secretary of War Dearborn.
The time between March 1807 and October 1809 has been examined by noted Lewis and Clark writers and scholars. In August 1807, Lewis returned to his mother’s home in Virginia, following his report to Jefferson and the initial work in Philadelphia to publish the Journals. Lewis then traveled to Richmond in September to observe the Burr Treason Trial.
A document of more than 10,500 words describing Lewis’ Observations and Reflections relating to the American Indian People and the fur trade in the Upper Louisiana Territory is attributed in part to this period. This document shows that Lewis was developing a framework for governing the territory and establishing a solid economic foundation.
The Journey to St. Louis
Late 1807 or early 1808, Lewis departed Ivy, Virginia for St. Louis via the Great Valley Road, the Boone Trace and Wilderness Road. His traveling companions were John Pernier, his free mulatto servant, and Reuben Lewis, his younger brother. Lewis was honored at a public dinner in Lexington, Kentucky. Lewis arrived in St. Louis on 8 March 1808.
Governing in a Multi-Faceted Culture
In 1808, cultural changes were sweeping the country. The Spanish style of governing was still strong in the minds of the former French and Spanish citizens. General Wilkinson’s self-serving influence and Aaron Burr’s seditious followers had their own agenda. United States policy and the cultural differences with the American Indian Nations added a destabilizing factor, made even more difficult by the British efforts to influence the Tribal People.
During the expedition Lewis and Clark were truly military commanders without bureaucrats second-guessing every decision. Now people 1,000 miles to the East required written communications which slowed territorial governance. At the very best, it required a month of travel time to send documents or letters to Washington.
Accomplishments 1807-1809
Even with the challenges, a great deal was accomplished:
- Improved strength of Fort Bellevue (later Fort Madison) near the Iowa-Missouri border
- Packaged and shipped the 1807 Big Bone Lick bones to Thomas Jefferson
- Assisted in establishing the Missouri Gazette by editor Joseph Charless
- Clark crossed Missouri, guided by Nathan Boone, to build Fort Osage east of present-day Kansas City
- Negotiated a Treaty with the Osage Indians
- Lewis wrote and published the Territorial Laws
- Completed work on the Observations and Reflections for Secretary Dearborn
- Organized the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company
- Successfully returned Sheheke and his family to their home on the upper Missouri River
- Appointed Daniel Boone to serve as Justice of the Peace
Lewis’s Death, 1809
Governor Lewis’s tragic death on October 11, 1809, along the Natchez Trace near present-day Hohenwald, Tennessee, remains one of the enduring mysteries of American history. Clark would go on to ensure that the expedition journals were eventually published and continued his distinguished career as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in St. Louis until his death in 1838.
