Lewis, Meriwether, and William Clark

Manuscript document signed by Meriwether Lewis as Governor of the Louisiana Territory, and by William Clark ("Wm Clark") as witness, written in a clerical hand, 1 1/4 pages (15 3/8 x 12 5/8 in.; 391 x 320 mm) on a full sheet of wove paper, St. Louis, 23 August 1809, being a land indenture between Lewis and Pierre (here, Peter) Chouteau, a director of the American Fur Company, also witnessed by William C. Carr, with Lewis's paper seal intact, recording and other dockets on verso; lightly soiled, two ink smears at central fold with tiny loss, neat repairs to a few fold separations.

Manuscript document signed by Meriwether Lewis as Governor of the Louisiana Territory, and by William Clark ("Wm Clark") as witness, written in a clerical hand, 1 1/4 pages (15 3/8 x 12 5/8 in.; 391 x 320 mm) on a full sheet of wove paper, St. Louis, 23 August 1809, being a land indenture between Lewis and Pierre (here, Peter) Chouteau, a director of the American Fur Company, also witnessed by William C. Carr, with Lewis's paper seal intact, recording and other dockets on verso; lightly soiled, two ink smears at central fold with tiny loss, neat repairs to a few fold separations.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Lewis and Clark: a very rare conjunction on a single document of the signatures of the two leaders of the most important exploration of North America.

The Lewis and Clark expedition made its way from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back from spring 1804 through the fall of 1806. Funded by Congress for the purpose of establishing trading ties with the Indians of the western region, the explorers also greatly expanded the geographical knowledge of the West and—perhaps most important—demonstrated the feasibility of transcontinental travel.

After the return of the "corps of discovery" to Washington, Thomas Jefferson appointed Meriwether Lewis (who had earlier served as the President's private secretary) as Governor of the vast Louisiana Territory. William Clark, Lewis's senior in years but his second-in-command during their eponymous expedition, was made the commander of the Territory's milita, as well as the Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis. The two men continued to work together in negotiating trade and peace treaties with the Indian peoples of the area: Poncas, Otos, Pawnee, Blackfoot, Assiniboine, Crow, Hunkpapa, and others.

The present document records an indenture "by & between Meriwether Lewis of the one part, and Peter Chouteau Senior, by Peter Chouteau Junior his attorney in fact, of the other part," for "several tracts or parcels of land, situate lying & being in the district of St. Louis Territory aforesaid [of Louisiana], at or near the village of St. Ferdinand. ..." (In writing the text, the clerk accidently dropped three short phrases, which had to be careted in between lines. However, he scrupulously noted his error directly above the signatures of the Governor and two witnesses: "The words 'hand' 'third day of August' 'fifty' interlined before signed.")

Pierre Chouteau lived as a teenager with the Osage People, which benefited him greatly in his trading business. He amassed a huge fortune, including large real estate holdings around St. Louis, and played a key role in keeping the Osage allied with the United States during the War of 1812. In the summer of 1809, word reached Lewis that the Madison administration was refusing to reimburse some of his sight drafts, believing that he may have been using his official position to profit in fur-trading and other mercantile concerns. It is highly likely that this land indenture was an effort to clarify Lewis's complicated dealings with Chouteau.

Just six weeks after signing the present document, Meriwether Lewis died under still-mysterious circumstances. While journeying to Washington in order to sort out the alleged financial irregularities of his administration of Louisiana, Lewis was shot the evening of 10 October 1809 in a private home some seventy miles from Nashville, Tennessee. All contemporary reports described his death a suicide, and while theories of murder have been advanced with some regularity since, the current historical consensus is that Meriwether Lewis died by his own hand.

The proximity of Lewis's death with the signing of this indenture evidently led someone to question its validity, and its authenticity has been attested by witness William C. Carr and notarized on the verso, 5 January 1810: "Before me the subscriber one of the Justices of the peace in and for the Township aforesaid—Personally came and appeared William C. Carr Esqre one of the Subscribing Witnesses to the within Intrusment of Writing, who being duly sworn on the Holy Evangilists of Almighty God deposeth & saith that he was present, when Meriwether Lewis signed & sealed & delivered the same as his act of Deed that he the deponent subscribed his name thereto as a Witness to the same as well as William Clark."

Documents signed by Lewis are increasingly uncommon on the market; documents signed by both Lewis and Clark are essentially unknown.