Meriwether Lewis

Lewis Timeline

1774 Born in rural Virginia near Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

1779 Father died, Jefferson became father figure and friend.

1795 Served in Indian Wars in Ohio with William Clark as his commander, friendship began.

1801 Moved into unfinished White House as Jefferson’s personal secretary.

1803

1803

Went to Philadelphia to study with the Philadelphia Philosophical Society.

Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon to fund his European War Campaigns. Expedition through the West is no longer a secret mission.

1804-1806

The Corps of Discovery, under the command of Lewis and Clark, made the first government-funded exploration of the West covering more than 8,000 miles round trip, meeting more than 30 tribes, and adding more than 150 plants and 120 animals new to western science.

1806

Upon returning, appointed Governor of the new territory and was quickly bogged down in politics, frustrated and distracted, had difficulty publishing his findings.

1809

Murder? Suicide? Found dead by ornithologist and artist Alexander Wilson at a wayside inn along Natchez Trace south of Nashville, TN.

– Meriwether Lewis, April 7, 1805