Sold – A Page From William Clark’s Financial Journal, Signed

After Clark returned from the Louis and Clark Expedition, President Jefferson appointed him principal Indian agent and brigadier general of the militia for the Louisiana Territory. In 1813, he became governor of the Missouri Territory and retained that office until Missouri became a state in 1820. From May 1822 until his death on September 1, 1838, Clark was Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis. The superintendency covered a wide territory and included most of the Indian tribes on the Western frontier. No man more capable could have been selected for this position, either from the government’s standpoint or that of the Indians. Clark was a man of integrity and administrative ability, with years of experience in Indian affairs. His knowledge of their problems and his fair dealings had made him a man of prestige among the Western tribes, which was greatly to the government’s advantage.

It is widely known that Clark kept a journal during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Less well known is that he continued the practice in later life, maintaining diaries and public account journals while serving as both territorial governor and Indian affairs superintendent. This is a page from one of his acccount journals detailing seven payments he authorized in the latter post, including one to Secretary of State Henry Clay.

Autograph Document Signed, 5 by 7 inches, St. Louis, April-July 1826, with expenditures listed “By the amount of Treasury draft.” John Shackford was an Illinois landowner from whom the government leased warehouse space and purchased horses. He received $1,400. The firms of Askew & Odenheimer and Fallon & Kegle were paid $2,000 and $16,000, respectively, and another firm received $27,300, a very large sum then. J. Patterson received $500, and surprisingly, Henry Clay was paid $520. What business then-Secretary of State Clay was doing with the Indian Affairs bureau, which was under the War Department, would be interesting to determine.

On the verso, there is a notation at top showing that the amount brought over from previous pages was $88,342. Below that there is a form to use for drafts on the “Cashier of the United States, branch bank New York.” It is dated St. Louis, July 13, 1827, indicating that the page was left blank aside from the dollar notation and used later to create the draft form. Lewis Cass, the drawer, was then governor of Michigan so perhaps Clark used a name and amount for the form that he had actually expensed.