Lot 220: *CHARLES BALTHAZAR JULIEN FEVRET SAINT-MEMIN 1770 - 1852

black and white chalk on pink paperexecuted in Philalphia in 1802. In anéglomisé gilt-painted glass mat in a giltwoodframe. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson commissioned CaptainMeriwether Lewis (1774 - 1809) and William Clark (1770 -1838), both experienced soldiers, to explore what is nowthe northwestern United States. He requested detailedobservations about natural resources and transcontinentalroutes, and also instructed the men to make contact withIndian tribes. The Louisiana Purchase that same year gavethe expedition added urgency, since almost nothing wasknown about the vast area of land west of the MississippiRiver.Meriwether Lewis was born in Albemarle County,Virginia, and raised in upper Georgia, where he became anexpert hunter. He studied under private tutors inVirginia, early on showing both scientific and literaryaptitude, served in the militia during the WhiskeyRebellion of 1794, and entered the regular army as anensign in May of 1795. In 1801, after a tour of duty onthe western frontier, he was appointed PresidentJefferson's private secretary, arriving in Washingtonsoon after the inauguration, where he took up residencein the White House.The discussions and councils to which he was witnesswere a liberal education for him. Exploration for a landroute to the Pacific was often discussed, and whenJefferson proposed to Congress a journey of discovery onJanuary 18, 1803, his high opinion of Lewis'squalifications to lead such an expedition determined hischoice. Lewis, in turn, chose William Clark as hiscompanion officer, and their names and fame areinseparably united. Their abilities complemented eachother to an unusually high degree, although Lewis was theultimate authority on matters arising during the courseof their westward journey.In May 1804, a party of some fifty men set out fromSt. Louis and headed up the Missouri River, reaching thesite of present-day Bismarck, North Dakota at the onsetof winter, where they constructed a fort to over-winter.The fol