Lewis's invitation
Such was the
situation of his affairs when, on the sixteenth
of July, 1803, he received
a letter from his friend Captain
Lewis[14]
—dated
Washington, June 19th—in which the latter,
after giving confidential information of the projected
expedition
to the Pacific, proposed that
Clark "participate with me
in it's fatiegues, it's dangers and it's
honor," assuring
him that "there is no man on earth with whom I
should feel equal pleasure in sharing them as with
yourself." Clark
promptly responded to this cordial offer,
saying, "as my situation in life
will admit of my absence the
length of time necessary to accomplish such
an undertaking, I
will cheerfully join you."
It will be seen that
Lewis's letter, owing to the slowness of
Western mails, was nearly a month
in reaching Clark. Failing
to hear from his
comrade as soon as he had expected,
and fearing that he could not go,
Lewis opened tentative
negotiations with Lieutenant Moses Hooke of his own
regiment
(the First Infantry), who was then in
charge of military
stores at Pittsburg. In a letter to Jefferson (July 26,
1803)[15]
Lewis describes him as a young man "about 26 years of age,
endowed
with a good constitution, possessing a sensible well
informed mind, is
industrious, prudent and persevering and
withall intrepid and
enterprising." A few days later, however
(August 3), Lewis, then at
Pittsburg, anxiously waiting for his
keel-boat to be completed, received
Clark's acceptance, and
promptly expressed to the latter that he felt
"much gratifyed
with your decision; for I could neither hope, wish, or
expect
from a union with any man on earth, more perfect support or
further aid in the discharge of the several duties of the mission,
than that, which I am confident I shall derive from being
associated
with yourself."
