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Lewis, Meriwether, 1774-1809We have 2 books for this author.
Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Corps of Discovery, whose mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. BiographyMeriwether Lewis was born near New York city, in New York, to John Lewis and Lucy Meriwether, and was of Welsh ancestry. He moved with his family to Georgia when he was ten. At thirteen, he was sent back to Virginia for education by private tutors. One of these was Parson Matthew Maury, an uncle of Matthew Fontaine Maury. Parson Maury was a son of Reverend James Maury, who was Thomas Jefferson's teacher for two years. In the 1790s, Lewis graduated from Liberty Hall Academy in Lexington, Virginia (now Washington and Lee University), joined the Virginia militia, and in 1794 was sent as part of a detachment involved in putting down the Whiskey Rebellion. In 1795, he joined the regular Army, in which he served until 1801, at one point in the detachment of his future associate William Clark. He achieved the rank of Captain. He was appointed private secretary to President Thomas Jefferson in 1801. Originally, he was to provide information on the politics of the United States Army, which had seen an influx of Federalist officers as a result of John Adams's "midnight appointments." He later became intimately involved in the planning of the expedition and was sent by Jefferson to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for instruction in cartography and other skills necessary for making scientific observations. Lewis departed Pittsburgh for St. Louis--the capital of the new Louisiana Territory--via the Ohio River in the summer of 1803, gathering supplies, equipment, and personnel along the way. Between 1804 and 1806, the Corps of Discovery explored thousands of miles of the Missouri and Columbia River watersheds, searching for an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean. Sharing leadership responsibilities with William Clark, Lewis led the expedition safely across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific and back, with the loss of a single man--who died of apparent appendicitis. In the course of the journey, Lewis observed, collected, and described hundreds of plant and animal species previously unknown to science. The expedition was the first point of Euro-American contact for several Native American tribes; through translators and sign language, Lewis conducted rudimentary ethnographic studies of the peoples he encountered, even as he laid the groundwork for a trade economy to ensure American hegemony over its vast new interior territory. [1] On August 11, 1806, near the end of the expedition, Lewis was shot in the hip by Pierre Cruzatte, a near-blind man under his command. His wound hampered him for the rest of the journey.[2] After returning from the expedition, Lewis received a reward of 1,500 acres (6 km²) of land. In 1807, Jefferson appointed him governor of the Louisiana Territory; he settled in St. Louis. Lewis was a poor administrator, often quarreling with local political leaders and failing to keep in touch with his superiors in Washington.[3] He was a member of the Freemasons[4] On August 2, 1808, Lewis and several of his acquaintances submitted a petition to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in which they requested a dispensation to establish a lodge in St. Louis. Lewis was nominated and recommended to serve as the first Master of the proposed Lodge, which was warranted as Lodge No. 111 on September 16, 1808. Here his heavy drinking persisted.[1] Lewis died under mysterious circumstances of two gunshot wounds in 1809 at a tavern called Grinder's Stand, about 70 miles (110 km) from Nashville, Tennessee, on the Natchez Trace, while in route to Washington to answer complaints about his actions as governor. Whether Lewis committed suicide or was murdered remains a mystery to this day. [5] Jefferson believed the former, while his family continually maintained the latter. The explorer was buried not far from where he died. He is honored today by a memorial along the Natchez Trace Parkway. LegacyAlthough Lewis died without legitimate heirs, the LEWIS Surname DNA Project does have the putative DNA model haplotype for his paternal ancestors lineage, which was that of the Warner Hall Lewises. He was also related to Robert E. Lee and Queen Elizabeth II, among others. [6] Lewis never married due to his shy personality. He was related to George Washington by marriage: his great-uncle was Fielding Lewis, Washington's brother-in-law. Not only that, but he was a second cousin once removed of Washington's on his father's side. On his mother's side, he was a third cousin of James Madison, and was also related to George S. Patton and Zachary Taylor, among others. For many years, Lewis's legacy was overlooked, inaccurately assessed, and even tarnished by his alleged suicide. Yet his contributions to science, the expansion of the American Empire, and the lore of great world explorers, are incalculable.[7] Several years after Lewis's death, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
Jefferson also stated that Lewis had a "luminous and discriminating intellect." The alpine plant Lewisia (family Portulacaceae), popular in rock gardens, is named after Lewis, as is Lewis's Woodpecker. Geographic names that honor him include Lewis County, Tennessee; Lewisburg, Tennessee; Lewiston, Idaho; and the U.S. Army installation Fort Lewis, Washington. In 1941, a United States Liberty ship named the SS Meriwether Lewis was launched. She was torpeoded and sunk in 1943. Notes
External links
This biographical information was gathered from the Meriwether_Lewis page, courtesy of the Wikipedia project. BooksHistory of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I. To the Sources of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed During the Years 1804-5-6.The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 |
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