The partners' busy schedules in St. Louis also found them and Samuel Parkman making a map of their discoveries in the West, to which Smith was the major contributor. On March 2, 1831, Smith wrote another letter to Eaton, now a few months away from resigning because of the Petticoat Affair, referencing the map and requesting to launch a federally funded exploration expedition similar to the Lewis & Clark expedition. Smith requested that Reuben Holmes, a West Point graduate and military officer, and he lead the expedition.