Fort Southwest Point had a direct link to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which was planned by President Thomas Jefferson, led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and staffed largely by U.S. Army soldiers. In late 1803, four soldiers from Fort Southwest Point volunteered for and were accepted into the expedition: Corporal Richard Warfington and Privates Hugh Hall, Thomas P. Howard, and John Potts. In December 1803, they traveled from the fort to the expedition’s winter camp at Woods River, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. All four served ably and contributed to the expedition’s success. Afterward, the three privates received land grants and extra pay, while Warfington received a land grant but no extra pay. Warfington, born in Louisburg, North Carolina, in 1777, had joined the army in 1799 and in November 1803 was transferred from Captain John Campbell’s company to serve with the expedition. The only corporal in the expedition, he took on duties beyond his rank, commanded one of the three boats that went up the Missouri River to the Mandan Indian villages in present-day North Dakota in 1804, agreed in August 1804 to extend his enlistment, served through the winter on the northern plains, and in the spring of 1805 commanded the keelboat back to St. Louis, earning praise in letters from both captains. Little is known of him after his return to St. Louis in May 1805. Hugh Hall, born about 1772 in Massachusetts and in the army since December 1798, was serving in Captain John Campbell’s company of the Second Infantry when detached to the expedition. He became one of the 33 members of the permanent party, traveled to the Pacific Ocean, and returned to St. Louis in September 1806; he was still living in the St. Louis area in 1809, after which nothing more is known of him. John Potts, born in Germany in 1776 and in the army since 1800, served under Captain Robert Purdy at Fort Southwest Point, joined the permanent party, traveled to the Pacific Ocean, and returned to St. Louis in 1806. In 1807 he joined a fur trading party to the upper Missouri and was with fellow expedition member John Colter at the Three Forks of the Missouri River when he was killed in a Blackfeet Indian ambush that year. Thomas Proctor Howard, born in Massachusetts in 1779 and enlisted in 1801, was detached from Captain John Campbell’s company of the Second Infantry, joined the 33-member permanent party, traveled to the Pacific Ocean, and returned to St. Louis in 1806; records show he was still serving in the army in 1808, and nothing more is known of him afterward.