Meriwether Lewis

Explorers, Pioneers, and Frontiersmen, 1774-1809

Meriwether Lewis was born in Albermarle County near Charlottesville, Virginia, into a noted planter family. He was the son of John Lewis, a Revolutionary War veteran, who died when he was five. Lewis's mother, Lucy, faced with running the plantation as well as rearing her children, remarried shortly after. From age 13 to 18, Lewis attended area schools taught by ministers. His stepfather died, so Lewis went home to manage the plantation.

Lewis joined the U.S. Army, fought in conflicts with Native Americans and rose to the rank of captain. He also saw action against the disgruntled farmers in the Whiskey Rebellion.

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson, an old family friend, appointed Lewis as his personal secretary. Two years later, President Jefferson selected Lewis and William Clark to lead an exploratory venture into the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Following the great trek, Lewis served as the governor of the Missouri Territory, a job for which he was not suited. On a trip back to the nation's capital to confer with his displeased superiors, Lewis met a sudden and violent death. His body was found with a gunshot wound in a small inn on the Natchez Trace. Jefferson, aware of Lewis's melancholy disposition, surmised that he took his own life; Lewis's family, however, believed he was murdered.