Lewis, Meriwether (1774-1809)

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Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809)

Army officer and explorer

Distinguished Family. Meriwether Lewis was born in the Virginia piedmont on 18 August 1774 into one of the state’s earliest and most distinguished families. Meriwether Lewis’s great-grandfather was a Welshman who served in the British army as an officer. He arrived in Virginia in 1635 with a grant from the king for 33, 333 1/3 acres of land. William Lewis, Meriwether’s father, inherited 1, 896 acres of land, slaves, and a house when his father, Col. Robert Lewis, died. In 1769 William married his cousin Lucy Meriwether, the daughter of a land-rich Welsh family. (Between 1725 and 1774 there were eleven marriages between Lewises and Meriwethers.)

Young Boy. Meriwether Lewis was the second child of Lucy and William. In 1779, when Meriwether was five years old, his father died. He inherited £520 in cash, 147 gallons of whiskey, and a plantation of nearly two thousand acres and twenty-four slaves. It was managed by his uncle, Nicholas Meriwether, until young Meriwether became old enough to run it himself. In May 1780 Lucy married Capt. John Marks. When Meriwether was eight or nine, Marks and his new family moved to Georgia.

Frontier Life. The frontier was always a part of Meriwether Lewis’s world. The Virginia piedmont was midway between the frontier and the settlements. It was a place where hunting was great and one could learn wilderness skills, but it was also a place where one could acquire the refinement of plantation society and learn about surveying, natural history, and geography. Lucy Meriwether Lewis was known far and wide for her medicinal remedies, made from herbs that she grew herself. She became a source of information for young Meriwether when he had questions about plants and animals. During the three or four years that he was in Georgia, Meriwether would often go into the forest at night with his dogs to hunt raccoons and opossums.

Education. In 1787, when he was about thirteen, Lewis returned to Virginia for an education. There were no public schools in the South at this time, and planters’ sons received their educations by boarding with preachers who instructed them in Latin, mathematics, natural science, and English grammar. Lewis studied until he was eighteen and then returned to Georgia to move his family to Virginia. By that time he had not learned enough Latin to use it, and his English writing skills were poor. He loved to read journals of exploration, particularly those of Capt. James Cook. His math was good, and he had a solid base in botany and natural history.

Professional Life. In 1794 Lewis enlisted as a private in the Virginia militia. He was able to travel over much of the West, both north and south of the Ohio River. He transferred to the First U.S. Infantry Regiment in 1796 and rose to the rank of captain in 1800. In early 1801, on the basis of “a personal acquaintance with him, owing from his being of my neighborhood,” Jefferson chose Lewis to be his private secretary. Jefferson also wrote to Gen. James Wilkinson, commanding general of the army, requesting that Lewis be released from active duty yet allowed to keep his commission. Jefferson wanted Lewis for this post because of his familiarity with the military, which Jefferson wanted to reduce in size, and for his familiarity and knowledge of the West, which Jefferson wanted to have explored.

Expedition. In January 1803 Jefferson requested funds for an expedition to explore the West, and Congress made the appropriation. Lewis was sent to Pennsylvania to prepare for the trip by studying with some of the nation’s leading scientists, including Andrew Willcot (astronomy and mathematics), Benjamin Rush (biology), Benjamin Smith Barton (botany), and Caspar Wistar (paleontology). By the time the expedition departed in the spring of 1804, Lewis was well prepared.

Governor. The expedition reached the Pacific Ocean on 8 November 1805 and returned to Saint Louis on 23 September 1806, bringing with it great quantities of information on the flora and fauna, Native Americans, and the geography of the region. In recognition of his service Lewis was nominated by Jefferson on 28 February 1807 to be governor of the Louisiana Territory. The nomination was approved by Congress, and on 2 March, Lewis resigned his military commission. The next two years were difficult for him. He took his new position at a time when there was much interest and competition in the fur trade in the Louisiana Territory. British companies based in Montreal were actively involved in the trade on the upper Missouri River; independent hunters and trappers were flocking into the area; white settlers established homesteads; and the Lakota Indians, who controlled the area, were resisting the encroachment. At the same time Lewis was personally engaged in the fur trade and land speculation. Some of his charges to the government were being challenged, and his creditors were pressuring him for payment. Moreover, he was attempting to find a wife, but with little success.

Death . In September 1809 Lewis left for Washington to try and straighten out misunderstandings surrounding the bills he submitted. On 10 October, troubled and unsettled, he arrived at Grinder’s Inn, seventy-two miles outside of Nashville. During the early hours of the next day Lewis shot himself, but the bullet only grazed his head; he then shot himself in the chest. Lewis did not die immediately and asked his servants to kill him. They did not comply with his request, but by sunrise he was dead.