Historical Society hears about Corps of Discovery’s Kentucky connection

“The mouth of the River Dubois is to be considered as the point of departure.” – From the Expedition Journal of Capt. Meriweather Lewis, May 14, 1804.
And so began the annual meeting of the Lyon County Historical Society, recently, as members reviewed the explorations of Lewis and Clark, paying particular attention to the Kentucky connections.
The presentation was offered by Ron Goldsmith, a retired speech pathologist from Edwardsville, Illi., who is also the volunteer manager of the store at the Lewis and Clark State Historic site in Hartford, Illi.
“The rivers were connected, and they were the highways of the time,” Goldsmith said. “In 1783, Thomas Jefferson, a Virginia delegate to Congress approached George Rogers Clark to lead the expedition to the Pacific from the Missouri River, in order to open trade with Asia, but Gen. Clark turned him down.
“Twenty years later, he had the same vision and sent an envoy to purchase the land, so the United States could control the river,” Goldsmith said. “A few secret treaties and a handful of double agents later, and the Louisiana Purchase was made a part of history.
It is believed that as many as half the members of the 1803 to 1806 Lewis and Clark expedition (known as the Corps of Discovery) were Kentuckians or had Kentucky connections.
Both Kentuckian William Clark and his slave, York. were expedition members. York was the first African American to cross the United States from coast to coast and the continent north of Mexico. The expedition did not spring from “nothing” at the mouth of the Missouri in May 1804. It was east of the Mississippi where the expedition’s very important planning, recruitment, and supply occurred, and, in this, Kentucky played a major role.
Lewis and Clark formed their partnership in Kentucky. Kentucky newspapers were often the first to report on expedition news.
Lewis met Clark in Louisville on Oct. 14, 1803 and asked him to begin recruiting the frontiersmen needed to serve on the expedition.
“Kentucky was fertile ground for the young woodsmen and hunters that Lewis knew were vital to the success of the journey,” Goldsmith said. “The nine young men were William Bratton, John Colter, Joseph and Reubin Field, Charles Floyd, George Gibson, Nathaniel Pryor, George Shannon, and John Shields.
“They had to pack and carry all their supplies, even their dental supplies along a road laid out by George Washington,” he said. “The 55-foot boat was late in being constructed, because of a lack of craftsmanship, while the pioneer seamen scared off bear and buffalo and hunted small game to survive. They had to have a second boat to carry the supplies. By the time the boats were finished, the river had dropped, and they had to drag the boat in some places.”
Clark sent expedition letters and artifacts to family in Louisville, some of which survive today and are in the collection of The Filson Historical Society. The first news of the expedition’s return was printed on Oct. 2 in “The Palladium,” a Frankfort newspaper. So much is known about the expedition because the expedition pioneers kept detailed journal entries. ‘Where’s George?’ became a favorite journal entry, as George Shannon often became separated from the party for as long as two weeks. At one point, he travelled farther down the river than the expedition, itself, and the crew found him chasing rabbits along the river.”
York, the manservant, was later freed in 1850 and joined his wife in Kentucky, who had already been granted her emancipation.
Clark returned to Kentucky and became an Indian agent. Doubt remains about the death of Meriweather Lewis.
For Lyon Countians, the closest historical marker relating to Lewis and Clark is Marker Number 2190 in Hopkinsville. It is located at Man and Court streets, and it indicates that “William Clark, co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and his family stopped at Allsbury’s Tavern in Hopkinsville on Oct. 2, 1809. In 1807, Clark was appointed militia brigadier general and chief Indian agent for the Louisiana Territory.