People / Charles Willson Peale

Charles Willson Peale

This series of articles by Charles Greifenstein looks at the life and contributions of artist and museum keeper Charles Willson Peale. At his Philadelphia museum, he displayed many of the expedition’s specimens helping to preserve the Lewis and Clark legacy. His portraits of several people key to the expedition’s success—including Meriwether Lewis and William Clark—are used here to tell the story of the “Corps of Northwestern Discovery.”

 

Pages about Charles Willson Peale

Pages with Artwork by Peale

    Early American Entomology

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    There were only four notable 18th century naturalists who showed much interest in America’s insects: a young Englishman named Mark Catesby, Finnish botanist Peter Kalm, Philadelphian William Bartram, and Reverend Frederick Melsheimer of New Hampshire.

    James Wilkinson

    Secret Agent Number 13

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    James Wilkinson was one of the most duplicitous, avaricious, and altogether corrupt figures in the early history of the United States. At the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, he was a paid agent of the Spanish government.

    Profile Portraiture

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    In 1802 the British-born Philadelphian, John Isaac Hawkins (1772-1805)5, invented a new kind of copy machine, a pantograph with which a person could produce a miniature copy of his or her profile through direct contact. He called it a physiognotrace.

    Thomas Jefferson

    America's founding idealist

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    To understand the Lewis and Clark Expedition, one must understand this complex American leader.

    The Osage Orange

    Maclura pomifera

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    Its oak-strong, hickory-tough wood made powerful, reliable hunting bows. Early French explorers and traders translated its Indian name into bois d’arc,–”wood for a bow,” which was easily anglicized into “bodark.”

    Clark’s Umbrella

    A matter of melanins?

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    There may have been one good personal reason why Clark carried an umbrella. Beneath our skins we’re all supposed to be pretty much alike, but at the epidermal level there are some conspicuous differences that we owe to melanin.

    Mule Deer

    Odocoileus hemionus

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    Drouillard spotted the first “Deer with black tales” on 5 September 1804, on the cliffs upstream from the mouth of the Niobrara River in northeast Nebraska. By 10 May 1805 Lewis had seen enough specimens to write an 800-word description of the new species.

    Coyotes

    Canis latrans

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    Clark shot “a Prarie Wollf, about the Size of a gray fox bushey tail head & ear like a wolf.” Lewis wrote his description of what proved to be a new species on 5 May 1805, in northeastern Montana.

    February 28, 1803

    Philadelphia mentors

    Washington, DC Thomas Jefferson signs the bill authorizing the expedition and asks for help from Benjamin Rush and Caspar Wistar. Lewis is issued a British passport.

    Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730–1794)

    Early American Army trainer

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    Until he presented his services to General Washington at Valley Forge, the Continental Army still consisted merely of a number of state-sponsored militias that were entirely independent of one another, each operating according to its own rules and regulations.

    Benjamin Rush

    America's M.D.

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    Rush was the most famous physician in America in 1803, the year Meriwether Lewis, at the behest of Thomas Jefferson, visited him in Philadelphia, where Rush would advise Lewis on how to keep his men healthy.

    Portraits of William Clark

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    Four portraits and one statue by five different artists show a diverse interpretation of the likeness of William Clark.

    The Louisiana Purchase

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    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.

    Air Gun Accident

    A shooting on Brunot's Island

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    “accedentaly the ball passed through the hat of a woman about 40 yards distanc cutting her temple about the fourth of the diameter of the ball.”

    Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809)

    The life of Captain Lewis

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    Born on 18 August 1774, he was exactly eight months old when Paul Revere made the legendary ride that signaled the beginning of the War of Independence, and the birth of the new United States of America, which Lewis was to serve with distinction.

    September 10, 1806

    News of Zebulon Pike

    Big Lake, MO The river is crowded not only with sawyers and snags, but fur traders heading up the river. The captains learn that Zebulon Pike is leading an expedition exploring the source of the Arkansas River.

    White-tailed Deer

    Odocoileus virginianus

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    Lewis had no reason to write about the common or fallow deer of the East Coast, although in using it for the purpose of comparison, he gave quite a clear picture of it. John Godman’s 1828 description relied partly on Lewis and Clark’s journals.

    Thomas McKean

    Pennsylvania governor

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    McKean, Pennsylvania governor, was the first pro-Jefferson, anti-Federalist governor in the nation. As Pennsylvania chief justice, he assumed it the right of the court to strike down legislative acts it deemed unconstitutional.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.