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York of the Corps of Discovery: Interpretations of York's Character and His Role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition

2003; Oregon Historical Society; Volume: 104; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/ohq.2003.0005

2329-3780

Darrell M. Millner,

Mormonism, Religion, and History

DarrellM.Millner York of the Corps of Discovery Interpretations ofYork'sCharacter andHisRole inthe LewisandClark Expedition N 1803, Meriwether Lewis andWilliam Clark assembled a diverse company to accomplish a task set for them by President Thomas Jefferson and authorized by Congress ? to travel from theMissis sippi Valley to the Pacific Coast, crossing outside the borders of the United States to describe an unfamiliar landscape, to find a viable com mercial route across the continent, and to establish relations with un known Native peoples. Joining the two captains and the soldiers they had recruited for the expedition was York, Clark's black slave. By winter, the Corps of Discovery had been joined by a French Canadian, Toussaint Charbonneau, who would serve as an interpreter, and a young Indian woman called Sacagawea. The western frontier has always been notable for its interracial and intercultural complexity, and the Corps of Discov ery reflected that reality. The diversity of the Corps, according to histo rian James P. Ronda, is one of the reasons the expedition has such appeal formodern Americans. " [I] t'snot just awhite man s army," Ronda writes, "but rather a group of people frommany different racial, ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds_This is a crazy quilt thatwas and isAmerica."1 One of themost interesting and useful stories to emerge about the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition is that of York, who partici pated fully in the journey and contributed in significant ways to its suc cess. Because race has played such a complex and powerful part inAmeri can history, York's story can take us beyond the particulars of the expedi tion to an exploration of the racial realities and dynamics of American OHQ vol. 104, no. 3 ? 2003 Oregon Historical Society Jerome Hart, photographer,courtesy ofUniversity of Portland 'W'm rf i?$# W'\ *m me K tm*. ?\_ W-; ? -r5'-^ W W; The Naming of Mt. Jefferson (1988), a bronze byMichael Florin Dente, portrays York on thefar right, along with William Clark (middle) and an unnamed American Indian (left). The sculpture is located on the University of Portland campus in Portland, Oregon. life. It is also useful to examine how York isportrayed in the scholarly and popular writing that has been published in the two hundred years since 1805-1806. Those images and characterizations offer insight into the ra cial preoccupations of individual scholars and writers and the nation's collective obsession with race. Millner, York of the Corps of Discovery 303 The Lewis and Clark expedition was notthe first over land journey across theNorth American continent. As early as the 1530s, four Spanish conquistadors, the last survivors of a failed expedition to conquer Florida in 1528, traveled across the continent from Florida toMexico on a route that transversed the present-day American Southwest.2 In 1792, over a dozen years before Lewis and Clark journeyed west, fur-trader Alexander McKenzie led a party of approximately ten adventurers across Canada to the Pacific Ocean.3 And Lewis and Clark's journey did not represent the first time a significant American presence had been established in the Oregon Country. That distinction more properly falls to Captain Robert Gray, who led sailing expeditions to present-day Oregon in 1788 and 1792.4On his 1792 voyage, Gray is credited with being the first non-Native to enter themajor river of the Pacific Northwest, which he named Columbia after his ship. There were undoubtedly other white explorers who traveled through the far west of the North American continent before 1805whom we will never know anything about.5 IfLewis and Clark do not have the distinction of being first,what, then, was the significance of the expedition and what makes itdifferent from the explorations that preceded it?Part of the difference is in the voluminous record the two captains kept of their activities and observations. It is the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition ? along with the field notes, maps, collections of specimens, and other documents of the journey ? that are themost remarkable and lasting product ofthat experience. And it is through the journals thatwe find the clearest and best-marked path to an understanding ofYork. As we re-examine theYork of the journals...