Lewis was born to a Virginia planter family in 1774. His father, who had been an officer in the American Revolution, died when Lewis was five years old, and for a brief time he lived in Georgia when his mother moved there with her second husband.

After assuming the management of his family's Virginia plantation, Lewis joined the state militia in 1794 to help put down the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania. He continued his military career as an officer in the regular army, serving on the frontier in Ohio and Tennessee, and rising to the rank of captain by 1801, when he accepted an invitation from President Thomas Jefferson, an old family friend, to serve as his private secretary.

Even before the Louisiana Territory was purchased from France, Jefferson was ready to send an expedition into the frontier. In January of 1803 Congress approved a plan for an expedition. Jefferson had many reasons f

When the Corps reunited at the mouth of the Yellowstone River they journeyed to the Mandan Villages where the Corps lost four members of their group, the three members of the Charbonneau family and John Colter who joined a fur trading party.

The Mandan Villages in present day North Dakota were reached in October of 1804. The Mandan were extremely helpful to expedition. A fort was given to the Corps as a place to spend the upcoming winter, information on the upcoming land, and supplies for the next leg of the journey were also supplied.

The effects of the expedition were not evident right away but were great. The maps, drawings, and journals brought back by the Corps took some of the fear away from settlers wanting to move into the territory. The fur trade in the west was also expanded greatly by the expedition. The United States' claim to the Oregon Country became stronger then Britain's by virtue of their exploration and presence in the territory.

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Approximate Word count = 2419
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)