Auction Date:2014 Jan 15 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Explorers who undertook a two-year expedition in 1804 to discover a navigable route to the Pacific Ocean, in the process exploring and later describing much of the course along the Missouri River. Partial ADS, signed “Capt. Meriwether Lewis,” in the text, one page, 8 x 2, July 22, 1801. This upper portion of a larger page bears retained copies of a receipt on one side, and the beginning of a letter on the reverse. The receipt reads, in full: “Recieved [sic] of Capt. Meriwether Lewis for and on account of Alexander Humphries of Staunton two hundred & fourteen dollars and thirty Cents, in the following manner.” The letter portion on the reverse reads: “(Copy) Staunton July 12th 1801. Dear Sir, This will be handed you by our mutual friend Mr Monroe together with your ac[coun]t. for the maintainance [sic] of a Public Horse Mr. Simmons has.” In fine condition, with some slight toning and mild show-through from writing on opposite side.
ADS, signed “Wm. Clark,” as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, one page, 7.75 x 7, August 1, 1828. In full: “Received of Peter Chouteau Jr. as atty in fact for Baronet Vasquez forty Dollars the amount of public money placed in the hands of Capt. Vasquez to pay some contingency of his Agency in 1827 for which he has been held accountable to the United States." In fine condition, with intersecting folds, and a small hole to upper edge.
After climbing the ranks to Captain in the US Army, Meriwether Lewis ended his service in 1801, taking an appointment as President Thomas Jefferson’s personal secretary, the capacity in which he wrote this letter. Jefferson knew him through Virginia society in Albemarle County and had great respect for his abilities, making Lewis his first choice to lead a transcontinental expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase for both scientific knowledge and to identify potentially beneficial economic resources. Lewis in turn selected William Clark, one of his commanding officers in the Army, to share command of the newly formed Corps of Discovery. The expedition began in May of 1804, just outside St. Louis, and returned there on September 23, 1806.
Following the expedition, Jefferson appointed Lewis territorial governor of upper Louisiana, commander-in-chief of the militia, and superintendent of Indian Affairs; Clark held position underneath him, playing a key role in the unfolding diplomatic policies with the Indian communities. Following Lewis’s death in 1809, Clark became governor of the Missouri Territory, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs, in which position he penned this document, making reference to Peter Chouteau, Jr., nephew of fur trader Auguste Chouteau, one of the founders of St. Louis. Items signed by Lewis are phenomenally rare due to his mysterious early death—this being only the third we have offered—lots offering signatures of both great explorers together are highly sought after.
Auction Location:
5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
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