At eighteen, in 1792, he volunteers to Thomas Jefferson, then President Washington’s Secretary of State, to explore up the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast for the American Philosophical Society. A distinguished scientist, André Michaux, is selected, but the plan is given up.
At twenty, volunteers in the militia, at the call of President Washington for troops to put down the Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania. Is soon commissioned a lieutenant in the regular army.
At twenty-seven, in 1801, is appointed by President Jefferson his private secretary.
At twenty-nine, in 1803, is appointed by the president to head the government exploring expedition up the Missouri River and on across to the Pacific Ocean.
1804—1805—1806 is engaged in the exploration. The Indians name him the Long Knife.
1807, appointed governor of Louisiana Territory, with headquarters in St. Louis.
October 10, 1809, on his way by horse from St. Louis to Washington, while at a settler’s cabin in present Lewis Co., Tennessee, 72 miles southwest of Nashville, he is shot, either by himself or by an assassin, and dies the next day, October 11. He is there buried. A monument has been erected over his grave.
Born August 1, 1770, in Caroline Co., tide-water Virginia.
Father――John Clark, of old Virginia Cavalier stock.
Mother――Ann Rogers, descendant of John Rogers, the “Martyr of Smithfield” burned at the stake in 1555, in England, for his religious beliefs.
William is the ninth of ten children, two others of whom have red hair. Five of his brothers enlist in the Revolution. One of these was the famous General George Rogers Clark, the “Hannibal of the West,” who saved Kentucky and the Ohio country from the British and Indians.
The Clarks and the Lewises are well acquainted. George Rogers Clark was born at Charlottesville, and members of the Clark family frequently ride over there.
Little William early shows a love for frontier life.
After the close of the Revolution the Clarks remove, by horse and wagon, from Caroline Co., Virginia, to Western Kentucky, and establish themselves in a stockade and blockhouse overlooking the Ohio River, three miles below Louisville, then known as the Falls of the Ohio; Mulberry Hill, the new home is christened.