The two captains went to Washington early in the year following their
arrival in St. Louis. There is extant a letter from Captain Lewis,
dated at Washington, Feb. 11, 1807. Congress was then in session, and,
agreeably to the promises that had been held out to the explorers, the
Secretary of War (General Henry Dearborn), secured from that body
the passage of an act granting to each member of the expedition a
considerable tract of land from the public domain. To each private
and non-commissioned officer was given three hundred acres; to Captain
Clark, one thousand acres, and to Captain Lewis fifteen hundred acres.
In addition to this, the two officers were given double pay for their
services during the time of their absence. Captain Lewis magnanimously
objected to receiving more land for his services than that given to
Captain Clark.
Captain Lewis resigned from the army, March 2, 1807, having been
nominated to be Governor of Louisiana Territory a few days before. His
commission as Governor was dated March 3 of that year. He was thus
made the Governor of all the territory of the United States west of the
Mississippi River. About the same time, Captain Clark was appointed a
general of the territorial militia and Indian agent for that department.
Originally, the territory acquired from France was divided into the
District of New Orleans and the District of Louisiana, the first-named
being the lower portion of the territory and bounded on the north by
a line which now represents the northern boundary of the State of
Louisiana; and all above that line was known as the District of
Louisiana.
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