William Clark

William Clark (1770–1838) was an American explorer, soldier and territorial governor, born in Virginia. His family moved to Kentucky in 1785, and he served in the U.S. Army at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.

In 1803 his friend Meriwether Lewis invited him to share command of an expedition across the Louisiana Purchase; from 1804 to 1806 the Corps of Discovery followed the Missouri to the Pacific and back, mapping the American West.

Clark later governed the Missouri Territory and from 1822 was Superintendent of Indian Affairs in St. Louis, where he died in 1838.