Louisiana and Aaron Burr 347 



credit of originating this first exploring expedition 

 ever undertaken by the United States Government. 



The two officers chosen to carry through the work 

 belonged to families already honorably distinguished 

 for service on the Western border. One was Cap- 

 tain Meriwether Lewis, representatives of whose 

 family had served so prominently in Dunmore's 

 war; the other was Lieutenant (by courtesy Cap- 

 tain) William Clark, a younger brother of George 

 Rogers Clark. 1 Clark had served with credit through 

 Wayne's campaigns, and had taken part in the vic- 

 tory of the Fallen Timbers. 2 Lewis had seen his 

 first service when he enlisted as a private in the 

 forces which were marshaled to put down the 

 whiskey insurrection. Later he served under Clark 

 in Wayne's army. He had also been President Jef- 

 ferson's private secretary. 



The young officers started on their trip accom- 

 panied by twenty-seven men who intended to make 

 the whole journey. Of this number one, the inter- 

 preter and incidentally the best hunter of the party, 

 was a half-breed; two were French voyageurs; one 

 was a negro servant of Clark; nine were volunteers 

 from Kentucky, and fourteen were regular soldiers. 

 All, however, except the black slave, were enlisted 

 in the army before starting, so that they might be 

 kept under regular discipline. In addition to these 



1 He had already served as captain in the army ; see Coues' 

 edition of the "History of the Expedition," LXXI. 



2 See his letters, quoted in Part V, Chap. V. There is a 

 good deal of hitherto unused material about him in the 

 Draper MSS. 



