William Clark

This 1832 portrait of William Clark (1770-1838 ) by George Catlin hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

"This portrait shows William Clark stoutly respectable as the governor of the Missouri Territory, concerned with organizing the government, normalizing relations with Indian tribes, and settling the vast area of the trans-Mississippi West. But Clark had cut a far different figure when he first entered the territory in 1804 as the co-leader, with Meriwether Lewis, of the government expedition that bore their names. Then, Clark was only briefly removed from an army career spent fighting Indians in the border wars that followed the end of the American Revolution. Clark provided the expedition with much-needed practical savvy about the logistical and political obstacles it faced as it trekked northwest to the Continental Divide and then to the Pacific Ocean. The speed with which Clark went from scout to governor embodied the speed with which the United States explored and settled western lands." -- National Portrait Gallery