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The Object of Your Mission:
Your country has just doubled in size and the president has chosen you to lead a group of explorers through this new, uncharted territory. Everything depends on your ability to plan carefully for this important mission.
Your journey will take years. You will travel thousands of miles. The supplies you take could be the difference between life and death. Where is the best place to get what you need for this incredible journey?
If the year is 1803 and your name is Meriwether Lewis, Harpers Ferry, Virginia, is that place.
President Thomas Jefferson hoped to find a water course from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. He convinced Congress to pay for the expedition to map the new territory.
As President Jefferson's private secretary, Meriwether Lewis was trusted to lead the Corps of Discovery. He shared the President's vision, thirst for knowledge, and sense of adventure.
This engraving by J. Jeakes shows what Harpers Ferry looked like about the time that Lewis arrived in 1803.
The Armony and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry had only existed a short time when Captain Lewis came to gather his supplies. The Armory, where guns and gun parts were made, is on the left. The Arsenal, where weapons were stored, is shown in the square.
"The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it's course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregan, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce."
-- President Jefferson's instructions to Captain Lewis, June 20, 1803 |