William Clark writes a letter from the Falls of the Ohio telling Meriwether Lewis that he has found some eligible recruits and is getting his affairs ready for departure down the Ohio River. Lewis is in Pittsburgh waiting for the barge to be built.
John Shields, chief blacksmith and gunsmith, was one of young men recruited by William Clark. They were often called the “Nine Young Men from Kentucky” but that dated moniker omits York, Clark’s slave who was also from Kentucky.
Louisville 24th July 1803
Dear Lewis
. . . . .
I am arranging my matters so as to detain but a short time after arrival here, well convinced of the necessity of getting as far as possible up the —————[1]With this blank, Clark defers to Jefferson’s request to publicly state that the Western Expedition would go up the Mississippi, not the Missouri. See Jefferson’s Secrecy
I have temperally engaged some men for the enterprise of a discription calculated to work & go thro’ those labours & fatigues which will be necessary. Several men (Gentlemens sons) have applyed to accompany us—as they are not accustomed to labour and as that is a verry assential part of the services required of the party . . . .
Pray let me here from you as often as possible. Yr.
W. C.[2]Clark to Lewis in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 112–13.
Notes
| ↑1 | With this blank, Clark defers to Jefferson’s request to publicly state that the Western Expedition would go up the Mississippi, not the Missouri. See Jefferson’s Secrecy |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Clark to Lewis in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 112–13. |
