Clark, William ___ 1770-1838 ___ American ___ soldier, explorer, civilservant

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Clark was born in Caroline County, Virginia, but moved with his family to Louisville, Kentucky in 1785. He joined the army, and was commissioned as a lieutenant 1792. He served four years in Anthony Wayne's regiment, taking part in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, before leaving the army. In 1803 he was asked by Meriwether Lewis to share command of a newly-formed Corps of Discovery. Clark spent three years on the famous expedition, focusing mostly on drawing maps and identifying native flora and fauna. In 1807, he was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs in the Louisiana Territory. When the Missouri Territory was formed in 1813 Clark was appointed governor. During the War of 1812 he led several campaigns, before returning to spend the rest of his working life in the administration of Indian affairs. The western American plant Clarkia (family Onagraceae), related to the Evening primrose, is named after him.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - White bear, drunk Indians

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1804-1806 ___ travel exploration geology nature

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
etext
etext - 1826-1831
 

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Library of the American Philosophical Society

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Journals of Lewis and Clark
The Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark
 

July 2005, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.