Author Note

After returning from the 1804-1806 expedition with Meriwether Lewis, William Clark was appointed U.S. Superintendent of Indian Affairs (1807-1813), governor of Missouri Territory (1813-1821), and then Superintendent of Indian Affairs again (1822-1838). The documents given here show him in his official capacity informing the adjacent Indian nations of the end of the War of 1812. For more biographical data on Clark, see the introduction to document AJ-100a.

Document Note

In 1846 Clark’s nephew, Dr. John Croghan, gave to Lyman Copeland Draper the family’s manuscripts related to William and George Rogers Clark (1752-1818) as well as to other relatives. He also included the research notes and manuscripts assembled by two previous biographers of Clark. Draper continued to acquire and interfile Clark family papers for forty-five more years, until they filled more than eighty bound volumes. Precisely when and how the documents given here were obtained is not known. They are housed in volume 2M of the William Clark Papers, pages 24-29

Other Internet and Reference Sources

For a lengthy contemporary description of the Indian nations with whom Clark had relationships, see document AJ-156. For other early St. Louis documents, see AJ-088, AJ-100a, AJ-126 and AJ-148.

A useful starting point for information about the Missouri region during these years is the Library of Congress online exhibit, “Rivers, Edens and Empires: Lewis and Clark and the Revealing of America,” at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-landc.html

Other relevant documents can be viewed at the Library of Congress’ American Memory project in its “Louisiana Purchase Legislative Timeline” at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/louisiana5.html These include the House of Representatives report on the “Explorations of the Western Waters of the United States“ by Lewis and Clark, and documents concerning their appointments as governors of Missouri and Louisiana after the expedition.