
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990                   TAG: 9004130889
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EXPLORER WAS WILLIAM, NOT GEORGE

HISTORY is tough enough to understand without having some of the content a bit obscured. Erminie K. Wright (Opinions From Elsewhere, March 23) seems to have put George Rogers Clark in place as the major person on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Please, George's brother William was the person who, with Meriwether Lewis, made the 8,000-mile round trip to the Pacific Ocean at the request of President Jefferson. George did indeed conquer large amounts of territory for the fledgling country during the Revolutionary War.

President Jefferson wanted the far Northwest Territory explored before purchasing it from France. The French-Canadian trapper Toussaint Charbonneau and his Indian wife Sacagawea joined the Lewis and Clark expedition in November of 1804. This meeting in North Dakota territory gave the expedition the needed guides and supplies to go on the Pacific.

Yes, George died poor. He was rich in his love for the sister of the Spaniard who gave him gold to pay the troops while conquering the territory. The vouchers sent back to the Virginia legislature were not found until 1924. The cloud under which George died was then removed. Those vouchers might have established monetary wealth to George, but history has made him wealthy indeed.

\ GEORGE ROGERS CLARK FOX\ ROCKBRIDGE BATHS

by CNB