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12. A Military Man

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J.M.: Lewis, when he returned, was appointed Governor of Louisiana. His second in command -- Gates, was it?

S.A.: Bates.

J.M.: Bates said (that fall that Lewis died)...wrote to someone that Lewis had fallen from grace. He was almost despised by his constituency. That he really was a military man, he was in the wrong job. He was a military man, he was an officer, and that's where he should have stayed.

S.A.: I think Bates was probably right about that. Lewis was not a politician. Even though he had lived with the president and had many, many meals with the other politicians beyond Jefferson, in Washington, D.C. And he was very intelligent and a very well educated man. He knew how to get along with enlisted men. He sure knew how to get along with William Clark. And he was appropriate to Jefferson as a private secretary and then as the leader of the expedition. But beyond that he was a military man. He was accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed without any question.

Now he is Governor of Louisiana Territory, he's...there never was an American governor of one of those territories who was successful at it. There was so much pushing and pulling and tugging and yawing. And this guy wants that section of land. And this guy wants this kind of permission to mine metals in the area. And, this guy wants to put up a dock here. And this guy wants...you could not possibly satisfy them all. And of course he hadn't been voted into office, he'd been appointed.


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From Discovering Lewis & Clark®, © 2004 VIAs, Inc.