14 mayo 1804 año - Corps of Discovery Expedition Begins

Descripción:

President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the expedition into the newly purchased Louisiana Territory to the west of the Mississippi. The Corps of Discovery was a select group of US Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. They were to explore and map a practical route across the western half of the continent, and to establish an American presence in this territory to force negotiations with European powers. The campaign's secondary objectives were scientific and economic: to study the area's plants, animal life, and geography, and to establish trade with local Native American tribes.