[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 22342-22343]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 3621--A BILL TO PROMOTE WILLIAM CLARK TO THE GRADE 
                               OF CAPTAIN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARON P. HILL

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 11, 2000

  Mr. HILL of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a cosponsor of H.R. 
3621 to urge its passage.
  Granting William Clark the grade of captain is well-deserved and long 
overdue. Clark acted as a co-commander with Meriwether Lewis during 
their expedition and Lewis felt Clark deserved a rank equal to his. So 
with this bill, today, we can both recognize Clark's role in the 
expedition and carry out Meriwether Lewis's wish that Clark be given 
the rank of captain.
  This issue is of more than passing interest to the people of southern 
Indiana. These historic partners began their expedition at the Falls of 
the Ohio, near Clarksville, Indiana.
  On September 1, 1803, Meriwether Lewis began his journey down the 
Ohio River toward Clarksville, Indiana, where he eventually met his 
partner on the expedition, William Clark. By October 14, Lewis had 
reached the Falls of the Ohio, a set of dangerous rapids created by a 
drop in the river over a two-mile series of limestone ledges. The 
following day, Lewis and his crew safely crossed the falls on the north 
side of the river. They then set out to meet William Clark, who was 
living in Clarksville with his brother, Revolutionary War hero George 
Rogers Clark.
  The noted historian Stephen Ambrose wrote this about Lewis and 
Clark's meeting in Clarksville in his best-selling book Undaunted 
Courage: ``When they shook hands, the Lewis and Clark expedition 
began.'' During the two weeks following the meeting, Lewis and Clark 
selected the first official members of the expedition, a group referred 
to as the ``Corps of

[[Page 22343]]

Discovery.'' Lewis and Clark chose nine men in Clarksville to join them 
on the journey, and as Ambrose notes in Undaunted Courage, there ``the 
Corps of Discovery was born.''
  The crew departed on October 26, 1803, thus marking Clarksville, 
Indiana as the actual point of origin for the Lewis and Clark 
Expedition.
  Mr. Speaker, local officials and interested citizens in the Falls of 
the Ohio area are now planning an event of national significance to 
commemorate the bicentennial of the expedition's beginning. In 2003, 
Clarksville and the surrounding area will play an important role in 
commemorating the expedition and reminding our nation of its 
importance.
  I encourage all Americans wishing to retrace the steps of the 
explorers to visit the Falls of the Ohio and its surrounding area. And 
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3621 so William Clark will receive 
the rank he was promised and so richly deserves.

                          ____________________