York (Lewis and Clark) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

York was an African American slave best known for his participation with the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Lewis and Clark Expedition

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...

. As William Clark's slave, he performed hard manual labor without pay, but participated as a full member of the expedition. Like many other expedition members, his ultimate fate is unclear. There is evidence that after the expedition's return, Clark had difficulty compelling York to resume his former status, and York may have later escaped or been freed, but nothing is entirely clear on this.

Early life

York was born in Caroline County

Caroline County, Virginia

Caroline County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 28,545. Its county seat is Bowling Green. Caroline County is also home to The Meadow stables, the birthplace of the renowned racehorse Secretariat, winner of the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Preakness and...

near Ladysmith, Virginia

Ladysmith, Virginia

Ladysmith is an unincorporated community in Caroline County, in the U.S. state of Virginia....

. He, his father, his mother Rose and younger sister and brother Nancy and Juba, were slaves of the Clark family. York was William Clark's servant from boyhood, and was left to William in his father's will. He had a wife whom he rarely saw, and likely he lost contact with her when she was sent to Mississippi in 1811. He is also known for his heroic bravery for saving Lewis from a Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear

The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...

. It is not known if he fathered any children.

Lewis and Clark Expedition

In 1804, Clark took his slave York when he joined the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Lewis and Clark Expedition

. York was a large, strong man who shared the duties and risks of the expedition, and was the only African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

slave member of the Expedition. The journals record that the assignments given him attest to his skill in scouting, hunting and field medicine, but included manual labor in extreme weather conditions. York used a firearm to hunt game such as buffalo, as well as for "protection." The native nations treated York with respect, and he "played a key role in diplomatic relations" because of his appearance. When the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

, York voted along with the rest as to where the Expedition would build winter quarters.

Historian Robert Betts says that the freedom York had during the Lewis and Clark expedition made resuming enslavement unbearable. After the expedition returned to the United States, every other member but York received money and land for their services. York asked Clark for his freedom based upon his good services during the expedition. Clark refused. York pleaded to be reunited with his wife, who was a slave in Louisville

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

; he even offered to work in Louisville and send Clark all his earnings. Clark refused, pleaded financial difficulties, although he let York send a couple of buffalo robes to his wife and, a couple of years later, visit her for a few weeks.

Clark said York was "insolent and sulky", whipped and jailed him, and threatened to sell him in New Orleans. Clark hired him out to a "severe master" in 1811, and he remained a slave at least until 1816. No reliable information has been published on York after this date. Two accounts, that historians cannot corroborate, were those of Washington Irving

Washington Irving

Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...

and Zenas Leonard

Zenas Leonard

Zenas Leonard was an American mountain man, explorer and trader, best known for his journal Narrative of the Adventures of Zenas Leonard...

. When Irving interviewed Clark in 1832, Clark claimed to have freed York, but that York regretted being free because he was a failure at business, and died trying to get back to serve his master as a slave again in St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

. Betts, as well as other historians doubt the accuracy of Clark's story saying that it reflects pro-slavery arguments that Africans were happy to be slaves, and could not lead successful lives as free people.

Betts and Historian Áhati N. N. Touré suggests another possibility: that York simply refused to return to Clark, and escaped to freedom. Zenas Leonard reported meeting with an African man living among the Crows in north-central Wyoming in 1834, writing: "In this village we found a negro man, who informed us that he first came to this country with Lewis & Clark — with whom he also returned to the State of Missouri, and in a few years returned again with a Mr. Mackinney, a trader on the Missouri river, and has remained here ever since - which is about ten or twelve years. He has acquired a correct knowledge of their manner of living, and speaks their language fluently. He has rose to be quite a considerable character, or chief, in their village; at least he assumes all the dignities of a chief, for he has four wives, with whom he lives alternately."

Legacy

A statue of York, by sculptor

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

Ed Hamilton

Edward Norton Hamilton, Jr. is an American sculptor living in Louisville, Kentucky, who specializes in public art. His most famous work is The Spirit of Freedom, a memorial to black Civil War veterans, that stands in Washington, DC, in the Shaw neighborhood near Howard University. Hamilton has...

, with plaques commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition and his participation in it, stands at Louisville's Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere

Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere

Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere is a public area on the Ohio River in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Although proposed as early as 1930, the project did not get off the ground until $13.5 million in funding was secured in 1969 to revitalize the downtown area . On April 27, 1973 the Riverfront...

, next to the wharf on the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

. Another statue of York stands on the campus of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

. Dedicated on May 8, 2010, it does not focus on York's face, since no images of York are known to exist. Instead, it features fragments of William Clark's maps "scarred" on the statue's back.

The opera "York" (composer Bruce Trinkley and librettist Jason Charnesky), based on York's life, was composed for the first international conference on the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial and performed at Penn State Opera Theatre.

"Yorks Islands

Yorks Islands (Montana)

Yorks Islands, also known as "Yorks 8 Islands" or "York's Islands" or simply "York Island" are a group of several islands located in the Missouri River, in Broadwater County, Montana, about 4 miles south from Townsend, Montana, along U.S. Highway 278...

" are a group of islands in Broadwater County, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, which were named for York by the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Lewis and Clark Expedition

. The islands were originally named "Yorks 8 Islands," but have since become known as "Yorks Islands" or simply "York Island." The naming of "Yorks 8 Islands" is not found in the narrative

Narrative

A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...

journal

Journal

__FORCETOC__A journal has several related meanings:* a daily record of events or business; a private journal is usually referred to as a diary....

s of Lewis and Clark. Instead it is found in Clark’s tabulations of “Creeks and Rivers,” by the entry, “Yorks 8 Islands.” The Lewis and Clark Expedition also named another geographical feature for York, "York's Dry Creek", a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

of the Yellowstone River

Yellowstone River

The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National...

, in Custer County

Custer County, Montana

-Economy:The main source of income for Custer County has largely come from cattle ranching and dryland farming. Miles City serves as the center of commerce in an area extending for 100 miles in every direction...

, Montana

Montana

. This name

Name

A name is a word or term used for identification. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name...

was later abandoned, and the creek

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

was renamed "Custer Creek".

In 2001, President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

posthumously granted York the rank of honorary sergeant in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

External links

Clark's Unrepentant Captive
Lewis and Clark Journals, Members of the Expedition (U. Nebraska)
Who was York?
Lewis and Clark website @ PBS http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/

Recognizing York: A Community Iniciative. Lewis and Clark College, Portland Oregon.

York of the Corps of Discovery Darrell M. Millner, Oregon Historical Quarterly 104.3 (Fall 2003)
Searching for York, Oregon Experience (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Vote 4 York Black Heritage Stamp 2013, Jackson Davis V

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Early life

Lewis and Clark Expedition

Legacy

See also

External links