A Man Called York

August 14, 2009

Story teller Chip Cartwright presented an historical portrayal of the slave who accompanied Lewis & Clark on the Corps of Discovery 1803 - 1806. He was William Clark’s slave and he was called York. On the photo that is Chip in front of a keelboat replica of the Lewis & Clark expedition. He is holding a 1779 .50 caliber flintlock rifle.

York was born on the Clark Plantation in Caroline County, Virginia, in 1770. William Clark was already four years old. The custom in those days was all kids played together, at least until they were 12 years old. Then they found out what the real score was. In 1780, when York was 12 years old, he found out he was to be the personal servant of his former buddy, William Clark, now 16 years of age. He would wake Master Clark up in the morning, make sure he had the right clothes for the day, serve him breakfast and attend to his needs throughout the day. In addition, his job was to protect his master.

Chip explained there were four classes of slaves -- 1) Body servant, 2) House servant, 3) Field hand and 4) Hired out. This last group was for less-than-able-bodied slaves or those who had developed an attitude. The master would hire them out for a year and get paid in advance and that way the master would get some return on this investment, regardless of the results.

So York’s first assignment as a slave was the best available. He got to wear the best clothes, eat the best food, live in the best surroundings and be around cultured and educated people from whom he would learn a great deal, even though he could not read or write. It was illegal to instruct slaves in those skills.

In 1803, when Meriwether Lewis asked William Clark to co-command the Corps of Discovery, York was 25 years old -- over 6’ -4” in height, 220 lbs with a muscular build. York was not given a choice to go or not to go on the expedition. Clark said York would accompany him, even though York was already married. Lewis & Clark had over 100 men from which to choose, with some of the criteria being healthy, able-bodied, special skills and unmarried, in case the group did not make it back. York had frontier skills and was married, but that made little difference in Clark’s decision.

York, along with Sakakawea, was especially helpful in getting the expedition past anxious bands of Native Americans. His blackness made him a curiosity and the Native Americans called him “the black white man.” They followed him around, touched him and tried to rub the blackness from his skin. He took on all comers in the sport of wrestling and won. Indians considered York “big medicine.”

York was the first African American to travel to the Pacific. He was also the first to vote in a democratic decision to locate the second winter quarters at Ft. Clatsop in Oregon -- over 100 years before the right to vote was given to African Americans.
When the expedition returned to St. Louis on September 23, 1806, all members of the party were rewarded with money and land -- except York and Sakakawea. York went back to being William Clark’s manservant, despite repeated requests for a grant of freedom. It took several years to get his grant of freedom, but those years were difficult. Clark’s boyhood companion had become sullen and uncooperative and, for that, Clark punished York with lashes and hired him out at times. York’s wife had been sold and moved to Natchez with his children. Clark refused to do anything to reunite York with his wife and children.

The York story has two endings. One is that, when York was granted his freedom in 1816, he bought a wagon and draft horses provided by Clark to go into the drayage business, which failed in a few years because of York’s lack of basic education. He asked William Clark to take him back and Clark refused. He died of cholera in Tennessee in 1832 and was buried in an unmarked grave by the side of the road.

The other ending is provided the journals of mountain man Zenas Leonard who tells of an old black man who was a Crow Chief leading his young Crow warriors up a hill in battle to kill 69 Blackfeet. This Crow Chief was very happy with his life, having enjoyed the adulation and following of younger generations who learned from him. This story is part of the verbal history of the Crow nation. Zenas Leonard never asked the name of that black man, the great Crow Chief. Was it York? Maybe it was.

York’s story stands for freedom -- that which our armed forces fight for and protect even today. President William Clinton recognized this when he posthumusly granted York his reward as Sargeant in the U.S. Army. Others have also recognized York’s passion for freedom with a large statue in downtown Louisville KY and another in Kansas City MO. His loyalty and desire for freedom has not gone unnoticed.

Thanks for this wonderful story, Chip.