When the Corps of Discovery returned from the expedition in 1806, each member was given double pay as well as 320 acres of land – each member, that is, except Clark’s personal enslaved man York, who was returned to slavery. For two years, York had been a valued part of the Corps who made significant contributions to the expedition. Yet Clark denied his requests for freedom, writing “…I do not think with him, that his Services has been So great/or my Situation would promit me to liberate him.” 

York was eventually freed sometime after 1815. In 2001 President William Clinton promoted him to the rank of honorary sergeant in the U.S. Army.

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