J.M.: Why do you think it was a military expedition to begin with? That was Jefferson's idea...it was maybe an assumption. Why did he do that? S.A.: Because he was the commander and chief of the United States Army, and he wanted Meriwether Lewis, who was a captain in the army, to lead the expedition. Lewis then picked William Clark as his co-commander and got Clark his commission, so that the two were officers, they were the unquestioned leaders of the expedition. They had three sergeants, one of whom died and had to be replaced and the captains held an election to replace that sergeant. They had corporals. Everybody else was a private. Everybody knew everyone else's rank and position in the military hierarchy. And it was from beginning to end a military expedition. And why it was these guys were going into territory that nobody knew. What was going to be encountered? What were these Indians like? Well, a lot of those tribes had never before been seen by a white man. And obviously the experience first of all, the English settlers, and then the Americans east of the Appalachian Mountains, and in Kentucky and Tennessee and the areas to the west &had been one of almost unmitigated hostility on the part of very many of the Indian tribes. Were they going to be attacked? If so, they had to be capable of defending themselves. To do that it had to be a military expedition. Another reason was; who knew what the Spanish might be doing out there? Jefferson had purchased Louisiana from the French, but the Spanish were still down in Texas and New Mexico, and obviously, Mexico. And the Spanish had claims to this land. And the Spanish might very well be sending an expedition out to try to capture the Corps of Discovery. And in fact, the Spanish did do that. Lucky for the Spanish, they never found them. But they did do that. Then when you got to the continental divide and crossed over, this was not territory that belonged to the United States. And the possibility of difficulties that might lead to fire with the British was very real. There wasn t any question that it had to be a military expedition. Close Window from Discovering Lewis & Clark®, © 2004 VIAs, Inc.