In St. Louis, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark write bonds with promises of land to former expedition members Joseph Whitehouse and Robert Frazer land. Bonds such as these enabled the former members to sell their ownership prior to the land being granted by Congress.
Northeast View of St. Louis from the Illinois Shore
By John Casper Wild c. 1840
Painted and drawn on stone; published at the Republican Office, 1840. Courtesy Missouri Historical Society, collections.mohistory.org/resource/148930.
In 1806, prospects for land in and around St. Louis were optimistic as illustrated by Wild’s romantic paintings of the city circa 1840.
Promises of Land
St. Louis October 8th 1806
Whereas we the undersigned having on the 1st of Jany. 1804. engaged Joseph Whitehouse to accompany us on a Voyage of Discovery through the Continent of North America to the Pacific Ocean did then in behalf of the United States bind ourselves to all the said Whitehouse for his services on that expedition a compensation in Lands equal to that granted by the said States to a Soldier of the Revolutionary Army—
Meriwether Lewis Capt.
1st. U.S. Infty.
William Clark[1]Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783–1854, ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 346–47.
Notes
| ↑1 | Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783–1854, ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 346–47. |
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Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
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