Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis led the expedition that crossed North America to the Pacific and died three years after returning. Born in Virginia in 1774 to a planter family, he was a neighbour of Thomas Jefferson, joined the militia during the Whiskey Rebellion, and served in the army on the frontier, where he was for a period under William Clark's command. Jefferson made him his private secretary in 1801, which was in effect an apprenticeship for the expedition Jefferson had wanted for twenty years. After the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis was sent to Philadelphia for intensive instruction in botany, zoology, celestial navigation and medicine from the leading American scientists. He asked Clark to share the command, and the two led the Corps of Discovery up the Missouri from 1804, wintered with the Mandan, crossed the Rockies with the help of the Shoshone — whose chief turned out to be the brother of their interpreter Sacagawea — and reached the Pacific in November 1805. Lewis was the expedition's naturalist. He described and collected around 180 plants and 120 animals previously unknown to science, and his journals, when he kept them, are careful and vivid. He had long unexplained gaps in his record-keeping. They returned in 1806 having lost one man. Jefferson made him governor of Upper Louisiana in 1807. He was a poor administrator, drank heavily, ran up debts, and quarrelled with federal officials who refused to honour his expenses. In October 1809, travelling to Washington to settle the accounts, he died of gunshot wounds at an inn on the Natchez Trace. Suicide is the general conclusion; murder has been argued.
- Lived: 1774 CE – 1809 CE
- Nationality: American
- Roles: explorer, soldier
