The girls in front of a replica of the original Ft. Clatsop, which stood right here and is where Lewis & Clark wintered and re-supplied before making the long arduous trek back to "The States", as this area was just wild territory and not yet considered a part of the United States. Some of the things we learned was that Meriwether Lewis was personal secretary to President Thomas Jefferson, whom selected Lewis to organize and lead an expedition into the new Louisiana Purchase, acquired from France. Lewis, a former US Army Captain and infantry officer, asked his former commanding officer, William Clark, who at the time had left the Army for a civilian business venture, to join him as co-leader and promised him a reinstatement to his former rank of Captain. Lewis drew up the order and President Jefferson signed it and sent it to the War Department to be published. It was months later, just as the Exepedition was to depart from St. Louis that Lewis and Clark received the commissioning order from the War Dept. and.... the order read; "...Reinstatment to the rank of...First Lieutenant.." This was a great embarrassment to Lewis, a Virginia born gentleman, who gave his word to his former commanding officer that he be reinstated to his former rank of Captain. It seemed that the Generals at the War Department could not understand why it took two Captains to lead a small contingent of men and that having two Captains would only lead to trouble. So, they took it upon themselves to ensure only one superior officer was designated. Well, Lewis & Clark told none of the men of the expedition about the order and Lewis bestowed a "field commission" of Captain in the Corps of Discovery upon Clark. If you ever read any documents signed by Clark and compare the signature block to Lewis, you can clearly tell that Clark was keenly aware of his commissions limitations because he always signed it with "Corps of Discovery" following his rank and Lewis signed his with 1st Infantry following his rank. Clark knew his field commission only applied to the Corps of Discovery and not within the US Army, as a whole. However, none of the men in his trust knew this nuance. Ah, nothing much has changed in the military! |
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