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{{Short description|American explorer and Governor (1774–1809)}}
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{{Use American English|date=March 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Meriwether Lewis
| image               = Meriwether Lewis-Charles Willson Peale.jpg
| caption             = Portrait by [[Charles Wilson Peale]] {{circa}} 1807
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1774|08|18}}
| birth_place         = Locust Hill Plantation, [[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle County]], [[Colony of Virginia]] {{small|(now [[Ivy, Virginia]])}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1809|10|11|1774|08|18}}
| death_place         = [[Hickman County, Tennessee]], U.S. {{small|(near modern [[Hohenwald, Tennessee]])}}
| death_cause         = [[Gunshot Wound|Gunshot wounds]]
| title               = 2nd Governor of the [[Louisiana Territory]]
| term_start          = March 3, 1807
| term_end            = October 11, 1809
| appointer           = [[Thomas Jefferson]]
| predecessor         = [[James Wilkinson]]
| office2             = Commander of the [[Corps of Discovery]]
| term_start2         = 1803
| term_end2           = 1806
| president2          = [[Thomas Jefferson]]
| predecessor2        = ''Corps commissioned''
| successor2          = ''Corps disbanded''
| office3             = [[Secretary to the President of the United States|Private Secretary to the President]]
| term_start3         = 1801
| term_end3           = 1803
| president3          = [[Thomas Jefferson]]
| predecessor3        = [[William Smith Shaw]]
| successor3          = Lewis Harvie
| successor           = [[Benjamin Howard (Missouri politician)|Benjamin Howard]]
| occupation          = Explorer, soldier, politician
| spouse              =
| signature           = Meriweather Lewis Signature.svg
<!--Military service-->| nickname            =
| allegiance          = Virginia <br> United States
| branch              = [[Virginia Militia]] <br> [[United States Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1794 (Virginia Militia) <br> 1795–1807 (Regular Army)
| rank                = Captain
| unit                = [[Legion of the United States]]<br>[[3rd Infantry Regiment (United States)|1st United States Infantry Regiment]]
| commands            = [[Corps of Discovery]]; see above.
| battles             = [[Whiskey Rebellion]]
}}
'''Meriwether Lewis''' (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]], also known as the [[Corps of Discovery]], with [[William Clark]].
Their mission was to explore the territory of the [[Louisiana Purchase]], establish trade with, and [[sovereignty]] over the natives near the [[Missouri River]], and claim the [[Pacific Northwest]] and [[Oregon Country]] for the United States before European nations. They also collected scientific data and information on indigenous nations.<ref>Fritz, Harry W. (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=GFFHn18Z7ywC&pg=PA59 ''The Lewis and Clark Expedition'']. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 59. {{ISBN|0-313-31661-9}}</ref> President [[Thomas Jefferson]] appointed him Governor of [[Upper Louisiana]] in 1806.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Fenelon |first1=James V. |last2=Defender-Wilson |first2=Mary Louise |author-link2=Mary Louise Defender Wilson |date=August 24, 2023 |title=Voyage of Domination, "Purchase" as Conquest, Sakakawea for Savagery: Distorted Icons from Misrepresentations of the Lewis and Clark Expedition |url=https://www.jstor.org/pss/1409488 |journal=[[Wíčazo Ša Review]] |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=85–104 |doi=10.1353/wic.2004.0006 |jstor=1409488 |s2cid=147041160|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny|last=Miller|first=Robert J.|year=2008|publisher=[[Bison Books]]|page=108|isbn=9780803215986}}</ref> He died in 1809 of gunshot wounds, in what was either a murder or suicide.

==Life and work==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Meriwether Lewis.svg|thumb|left|upright|Lewis's coat of arms: ''Argent a dragon's head erased Vert holding in the mouth a bloody hand proper''<ref>[https://www.americanheraldry.org/heraldry-in-the-usa/arms-of-famous-americans/other-historic-figures/category/explorers-of-america-and-american-explorers American Heraldry Society - Arms of Famous Americans]</ref>]]
Meriwether Lewis was born August 18, 1774,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meriwether Lewis {{!}} American explorer {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Meriwether-Lewis |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> on Locust Hill Plantation in [[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle County]], [[Colony of Virginia]], in the present-day community of [[Ivy, Virginia|Ivy]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Prats|first=J.J|title=Lt. William Lewis|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1795|publisher=The Historical Marker Database. J.J. Prats|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109100123/http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1795|archive-date=November 9, 2011|access-date=September 15, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was the son of William Lewis,<ref>{{cite web|last=Zontine|first=Patricia|date=April 2009|title=Lt. William Lewis|url=http://www.monticello.org/library/exhibits/lucymarks/lucymarks/bios/ltwilliamlewis.html|publisher=Monticello. org. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009100417/http://www.monticello.org/library/exhibits/lucymarks/lucymarks/bios/ltwilliamlewis.html|archive-date=October 9, 2009|access-date=July 10, 2009}}</ref> of Welsh ancestry, and Lucy Meriwether,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.monticello.org/sites/library/exhibits/lucymarks/lucymarks/lucy.html|title=Lucy Meriwether Lewis Marks (1752–1837): Her Life and Her World|website=Monticello.org|publisher=Thomas Jefferson Foundation|author-first=Patricia L.|author-last=Zontine|date=April 2009|access-date=May 7, 2019}}</ref> of English ancestry. After his father died of pneumonia in November 1779, he moved with his mother and stepfather Captain John Marks to [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].<ref name="Mont">{{cite web|url=http://www.monticello.org/library/exhibits/lucymarks/lucymarks/bios/ltwilliamlewis.html|title=Lt. William Lewis|website=Monticello.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009100417/http://www.monticello.org/library/exhibits/lucymarks/lucymarks/bios/ltwilliamlewis.html|archive-date=October 9, 2009|access-date=August 13, 2012}}</ref> They settled along the [[Broad River (Georgia)|Broad River]] in the Goosepond Community within the Broad River Valley in Wilkes County (now [[Oglethorpe County, Georgia|Oglethorpe County]]). He was also the great-great-grandson of [[David Crawford (colonel)|David Crawford]], a prominent Virginia Burgess and militia colonel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Lottie Wright |url=http://archive.org/details/recordsoflewisme00davi |title=Records of Lewis, Meriwether and kindred families; genealogical records of Minor, Davis, Wells, Gilmer, and Clark families |date=1951 |publisher=[Columbia, Mo.], [Artcraft Press] |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Anchored in the East: Genealogy: Meriwethers |url=http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/lewisandclark/students/projects/homesteads/genealogy/meriwethers.html |access-date=2022-06-20 |website=www2.vcdh.virginia.edu}}</ref>

Lewis had no formal education until he was 13 years old, but during his time in Georgia, he enhanced his skills as a hunter and outdoorsman. He would often venture out in the middle of the night in the dead of winter with only his dog to go hunting. Even at an early age, he was interested in natural history, which would develop into a lifelong passion. His mother taught him how to gather wild herbs for medicinal purposes.

In the Broad River Valley, Lewis first dealt with Native Americans. This was the traditional territory of the [[Cherokee]], who resented encroachment by the colonists. Lewis seems to have been a champion for them among his own people. While in Georgia, he met Eric Parker, who encouraged him to travel. At age&nbsp;13, Lewis was sent back to Virginia for education by private tutors. His father's older brother Nicholas Lewis became his guardian.<ref name="Mont" />

[[File:Meriwether Lewis by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, 1805, engraving on paper, from the National Portrait Gallery - NPG-NPG 74 39 9 43Lewis-000001.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait by [[Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin]], 1805]]

He joined the [[Virginia militia]], and in 1794 he was sent as part of a detachment that was involved in putting down the [[Whiskey Rebellion]]. In 1795, Lewis joined the [[United States Army]], commissioned as an ensign—an army rank later abolished and equivalent to a modern-day second lieutenant. By 1800, he had risen to captain and ended his service there in 1801. Among his commanding officers was [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]], who would later become his companion in the Corps of Discovery.

On April 1, 1801, Lewis was appointed as [[Secretary to the President (US)|Secretary to the President]] by President [[Thomas Jefferson]], whom he knew through Virginia society in [[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle County]]. Lewis resided in the presidential mansion and frequently conversed with various prominent figures in politics, the arts and other circles.<ref name="nps">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/LewisClark2/CorpsOfDiscovery/TheLeaders/Lewis/Lewis.htm|title=Corps of Discovery > The Leaders > Meriwether Lewis|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=November 9, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013120351/http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/LewisClark2/CorpsOfDiscovery/TheLeaders/Lewis/Lewis.htm|archive-date=October 13, 2006}}</ref> He compiled information on the personnel and politics of the United States Army, which had seen an influx of [[Federalist Party|Federalist]] officers as a result of "[[Judiciary Act of 1801|midnight appointments]]" made by outgoing president [[John Adams]] in 1801.<ref name="Ambrose">Ambrose, Stephen (1996). ''Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West'', Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|0-684-81107-3}}.</ref> Meriwether was elected a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1802.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Meriwether+Lewis&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-01|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

When Jefferson began to plan for an expedition across the continent, he chose Lewis to lead the expedition. Meriwether Lewis recruited Clark, then aged&nbsp;33, to share command of the expedition.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ambrose |first1=Stephen E. |title=Undaunted courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American West |date=1996 |location=New York |isbn=9780684811079 |pages=98–99}}</ref>

===Expedition west===
{{Main|Lewis and Clark Expedition}}
[[File:Carte Lewis and Clark Expedition.png|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Expedition route]]
After the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803, Thomas Jefferson wanted to get an accurate sense of the new land and its resources. The president also hoped to find a "direct and practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce with Asia".<ref name="books.google.com">Elin Woodger, Brandon Toropov (2004). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8vYA0zDFy_IC&pg=PA150 Encyclopedia of the Lewis and Clark Expedition]''". Infobase Publishing. p. 150. {{ISBN|0-8160-4781-2}}</ref> In addition, Jefferson placed special importance on declaring U.S. sovereignty over the Native Americans along the Missouri River.<ref name=":0" /><ref>''Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny'' Robert Miller, Bison Books, 2008 p. 108</ref><ref name="autogenerated32">''The Way to the Western Sea'', David Lavender, University of Nebraska Press, 2001, pp. 32, 90.</ref>

The two-year exploration by Lewis and Clark was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. They reached the Pacific twelve years after [[Sir Alexander Mackenzie]] did overland in Canada.<ref name="books.google.com"/> When they left [[Fort Mandan]] in April 1805 they were accompanied by the 16-year-old [[Shoshone people|Shoshone]] woman, [[Sacagawea]], the wife of the French-Canadian fur trader, [[Toussaint Charbonneau]]. The Corps of Discovery made contact with many Native Americans in the Trans-Mississippi West and found them accustomed to dealing with European traders and already connected to global markets.

After crossing the Rocky Mountains, the expedition reached the [[Oregon Country]] (which was disputed land beyond the Louisiana Purchase) and the Pacific Ocean in November 1805. They returned in 1806, bringing with them an immense amount of information about the region as well as numerous plant and animal specimens.<ref name="Clark Expedition 2004, pg 60">''The Lewis and Clark Expedition'', Harry Fritz, Greenwood Press, 2004, p. 60</ref> They demonstrated the possibility of overland travel to the Pacific Coast. The success of their journey helped to strengthen the American concept of "[[manifest destiny]]" – the idea that the United States was destined to reach across North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.<ref name="The Lewis and Clark Expedition">{{cite book|title=The Lewis and Clark Expedition|first=Harry W.|last=Fritz|year=2004|page=[https://archive.org/details/lewisclarkexpedi00frit/page/113 113]|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=0-313-31661-9|url=https://archive.org/details/lewisclarkexpedi00frit/page/113}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cz4ts0fCDssC&q=sovereignty|title=Lewis and Clark among the Indians, James Ronda|page=9|via=Google Books|date=January 1, 2002|publisher=U of Nebraska Press |access-date=January 20, 2011|isbn=978-0-8032-8990-1}}</ref>

===Return and gubernatorial duties===
[[File:Meriwether Lewis Historical Marker 1900 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy Philadelphia PA (DSC 3242).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Historical marker, [[Philadelphia, PA]]]]
After returning from the expedition, Lewis received a reward of {{convert|1600|acre|km2}} of land. He also initially made arrangements to publish the Corps of Discovery journals, but had difficulty completing his writing. In 1807, Jefferson appointed him governor of the [[Louisiana Territory]]; he settled in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]].

Lewis's record as an administrator is mixed. He published the first laws in the Upper Louisiana Territory, established roads, and furthered Jefferson's mission as a strong proponent of the [[fur trade]]. He negotiated peace among several quarreling Indian tribes. His duty to enforce Indian treaties was to protect the western Indian lands from encroachment,<ref name="Ambrose" /> which was opposed by the rush of settlers looking to open new lands for settlements. However, due to his quarreling with local political leaders, controversy over his approvals of trading licenses, land grant politics, and Indian depredations, some historians have argued that Lewis was a poor administrator.

That view has been reconsidered in recent biographies. Lewis's primary quarrels were with his territorial secretary [[Frederick Bates (politician)|Frederick Bates]]. Bates was accused of undermining Lewis and seeking his dismissal and appointment as governor. Because of the slow-moving mail system, former president Jefferson and Lewis's superiors in Washington got the impression that Lewis did not adequately keep in touch with them.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/i_r/lewis.htm|title=The West > People > Meriwether Lewis|publisher=[[PBS]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010309182052/http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/i_r/lewis.htm|archive-date=March 9, 2001|access-date=July 4, 2010}}</ref>

Bates wrote letters to Lewis's superiors accusing Lewis of profiting from a mission to return a Mandan chief to his tribe. Because of Bates' accusation, the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] refused to reimburse Lewis for a large sum he personally advanced for the mission. When Lewis's creditors heard that Lewis would not be reimbursed for the expenses, they called in Lewis's notes, forcing him to liquidate his assets, including land he was granted for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. One of the primary reasons Lewis set out for Washington on this final trip was to clear up questions raised by Bates and to seek reimbursement of the money he had advanced for the territorial government.

The U.S. government finally reimbursed the expenses to Lewis's estate two years after his death. Bates eventually became governor of Missouri. However, some historians have speculated that Lewis abused alcohol or opiates based upon an account attributed to [[Gilbert C. Russell]] at Fort Pickering on Lewis's final journey,<ref>Statement of Gilbert C. Russell, November 26, 111, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents, 1783–1854, ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1962) This statement appears to be a deposition written during one of the [[courts-martial]] for General James Wilkinson.</ref> Others have argued that Bates never alleged that Lewis suffered from such addictions and that Bates certainly would have used them against Lewis if Lewis suffered from those conditions.

===Freemasonry===
''See [[List of Freemasons|List of Notable Freemasons]]''

Lewis was a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]], initiated, passed, and raised in the "Door To Virtue Lodge No. 44" in Albemarle, Virginia, between 1796 and 1797.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/10%2C000_famous_freemasons/Volume_3_K_to_P.htm|title=10,000 Famous Freemasons|last=Denslow|first=William R.|date=1957|publisher=Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., Inc.|access-date=February 19, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615130323/http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/10%2C000_famous_freemasons/Volume_3_K_to_P.htm|archive-date=June 15, 2007}}</ref> On August 2, 1808, Lewis and several of his acquaintances submitted a petition to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania requesting 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.<ref>{{cite web|last=Libert|first=Laura|date=May 3, 2003|url=http://www.pagrandlodge.org/freemason/0503/tot.html|title=Pa Freemason May 03 – Treasures of the Temple: Brothers Lewis and Clark|publisher=PaGrandLodge.org. The Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030611022946/http://pagrandlodge.org/freemason/0503/tot.html|archive-date=June 11, 2003|access-date=July 4, 2010}}</ref>

===Lewis and slavery===
Although Lewis attempted to supervise enslaved people while running his mother's plantation before the westward expedition, he left that post and had no [[valet]] during the expedition, unlike William Clark, who brought his slave [[York (explorer)|York]]. Lewis made assignments to York but allowed Clark to supervise him; Lewis also granted York and Sacagawea votes during expedition meetings. Later, Lewis hired a [[free African-American]] man as his valet, John Pernia. Pernia accompanied Lewis during his final journey, although his wages were considerably in arrears. After Lewis's death, Pernia continued to [[Monticello]] and asked Jefferson to pay the $240 owed, but he was refused. Pernia later committed suicide.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/meriwether-lewis-as-slaveowner/|title=Meriwether Lewis as Slaveowner &#124; Frances Hunter's American Heroes Blog|publisher=Franceshunter.wordpress.com|date=December 13, 2011|access-date=May 13, 2015}}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Meriwether Lewis National Monument and Gravesite.jpg|thumb|Meriwether Lewis National Monument located at milepost 385.9 on the Natchez Trace Parkway]]
On September 3, 1809, Lewis set out for [[Washington, D.C.]] He hoped to resolve issues regarding the denied payment of drafts he had drawn against the War Department while serving as governor of the [[Upper Louisiana]] Territory, leaving him in potentially ruinous debt. Lewis carried his journals with him for delivery to his publisher. He intended to travel to Washington by ship from New Orleans, but changed his plans while floating down the [[Mississippi River]] from [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]]. He disembarked to make an overland journey to Washington via the [[Natchez Trace]], an old pioneer road between [[Natchez, Mississippi|Natchez]], Mississippi, and [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], Tennessee. Robbers preyed on travelers on that road and sometimes killed their victims.<ref>[[Willie Blount]], ''Messages of the Governors of Tennessee, 1796–1821'', ed. R.H. White, vol. 1 (Nashville: [[Tennessee Historical Commission]], 1952) p. 349. In 1811, Governor Blount requested additional funds from law enforcement for the Natchez Trace because of the frequent robberies.</ref> Lewis had written his will before his journey and also attempted [[suicide]] on this journey,{{clarify|date=March 2025}} but was restrained.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Holmberg|first=James J.|title=I Wish You to See & Know All: The Recently Discovered Letters of William Clark to Jonathon Clark|journal=We Proceeded On|publisher=Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation|year=1992|volume=18|issue=4|url=http://www.lewisandclark.org/LCTHF_Publications/1992_files/WPO1992NovComplete.pdf|issn=0275-6706|page=11}}</ref>

===Circumstances===
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2019}}
According to a lost letter from October 19, 1809, to [[Thomas Jefferson]], Lewis stopped at an inn on the Natchez Trace called [[Grinder's Stand]], about {{convert|70|mi|km}} southwest of Nashville on October&nbsp;10. After dinner, he retired to his one-room cabin. In the predawn hours of October&nbsp;11, the innkeeper's wife, [[Grinder's Stand|Priscilla Griner]], heard gunshots. Servants found Lewis badly injured from multiple gunshot wounds, one each to the head and gut. He bled out on his buffalo hide robe and died shortly after sunrise. The Nashville ''Democratic Clarion'' published the account, which newspapers across the country repeated and embellished. The Nashville newspaper also reported that Lewis's throat was cut.<ref>''The Democratic Clarion'' October 20, 1809, microfilm, [[Tennessee State Library and Archives]]</ref> Money that Lewis had borrowed from Major Gilbert Russell at [[Fort Pickering (Memphis, Tennessee)|Fort Pickering]] to complete the journey was missing.

While Jefferson and some modern historians have generally accepted Lewis's death as a suicide, debate continues. No one reported seeing Lewis shoot himself; three inconsistent, somewhat contemporary accounts are attributed to Mrs. Griner, who left no written account or testimony. Some thus believe her testimony was fabricated, while others point to it as proof of suicide.{{sfn|Guice|2006|p=35}} Mrs. Griner claimed Lewis acted strangely the night before his death: standing and pacing during dinner and talking to himself in the way one would speak to a lawyer, with face flushed as if it had come on him in a fit. She continued to hear him talking to himself after he retired, and then at some point in the night, she heard multiple gunshots, a scuffle, and someone calling for help.

She claimed to see Lewis through the slit in the door crawling back to his room. She did not explain why she stopped investigating then or decided to send her children to look for his servants the following day. Another account claims the servants found him in the cabin, wounded and bloody, with part of his skull gone, where he lived for several hours. In her last account, three men followed him up the Natchez Trace, where he pulled his pistols and challenged them to a duel. She heard voices and gunfire in his cabin at about 1:00 am. She then found it empty with a large amount of gunpowder on the floor.

Lewis's relatives maintained it was murder. A coroner's inquest held immediately after his death, as provided by local law, did not charge anyone with any crime.<ref>It was referred to in court minutes in the early 1900s, Maury County, Tennessee County Court Minutes, Minute Book Q, p. 538, Maury County, Tennessee Archives. Grinder's Stand was in Maury County, Tennessee, at the time of Lewis's death, and from the early 1830s to 1843, Lewis's grave was the landmark establishing the county's southwest corner.</ref> The jury foreman kept a pocket diary of the proceedings, which disappeared in the early 1900s.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} When [[William Clark]] and Jefferson were informed of Lewis's death, both accepted the conclusion of suicide. Based on their positions and the lost Lewis letter of mid-September 1809, historian [[Stephen Ambrose]] dismissed the murder theory as "not convincing".<ref name=Ambrose />

===Later analysis===
The only doctor to examine Lewis's body did not do so until 39 years later, in 1848.{{sfn|Guice|2006|p=88}} The Tennessee State Commission, including [[Samuel B. Moore]], charged with locating Lewis's grave and erecting a monument over it, opened Lewis's grave. The commission wrote in its official report that though the impression had long prevailed that Lewis died by his own hand, "it seems to be more probable that he died by the hands of an assassin."{{sfn|Guice|2006|p=129}} In the book ''The History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition'', first printed in 1893, the editor [[Elliott Coues]] expressed doubt about Thomas Jefferson's conclusion that Lewis committed suicide, despite including the former president's ''Memoir of Meriwether Lewis'' in his book.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=M.|date=1814|title=History of the Expedition Under the Command of Lewis and Clark|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Bradford and Inskeep|oclc=11603043}}</ref>

From 1993 to 2010, about 200 of Lewis's kin (through his sister Jane, as he had no children) sought to have the body exhumed for [[forensic analysis]], to try to determine whether his death was a suicide or murder. A Tennessee coroner's jury in 1996 recommended exhumation. Since his gravesite is in a national monument, the [[National Park Service]] must approve. The agency refused the request in 1998, citing possible disturbance to the bodies of more than 100&nbsp;pioneers buried nearby. In 2008, the [[Department of the Interior]] approved the exhumation, but rescinded that decision in 2010, stating that the decision is final.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}} It is nonetheless improving the gravesite and visitor facility.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703384204575509582853734648.html|title=Meriwether Lewis's Final Journey Remains a Mystery|last=Esterel|first=Mike|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=September 25, 2010|location=Hohenwald, Tennessee|access-date=December 13, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927211548/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703384204575509582853734648.html|archive-date=September 27, 2010}}</ref>

Historian [[Paul Russell Cutright]] wrote a detailed rebuttal of the murder/robbery theory, concluding that it "lacks legs to stand on".{{sfn|Cutright|1986}} He stressed Lewis's debts, heavy drinking, possible morphine and opium use, failure to prepare the expedition's journals for publication, repeated failure to find a wife, and the deterioration of his friendship with Thomas Jefferson.<ref name=Ambrose />{{sfn|Cutright|1986}} This refutation was countered by Dr. Eldon G. Chuinard, (physician), who argued for the murder hypothesis on the basis that Lewis's reported wounds were inconsistent with his reported two-hour survival after the shooting. This particular medical theory as well as other medical/psychological theories often cited by numerous Lewis authors (syphilis, malaria, alcohol abuse, mercury poisoning, PTSD, depression, et al.), have been explored by Dr. David J. Peck (physician) and Marti Peck, Ph.D. (psychologist) in their book ''So Hard to Die''. Leading Lewis scholars Donald Jackson, Jay H. Buckley, Clay S. Jenkinson, and others have stated that, regardless of their leanings or beliefs, the facts of his death are not known, there are no eyewitnesses, and the reliability of reports of those in the place or vicinity cannot be considered certain. Author Peter Stark believes that [[post-traumatic stress disorder]] may have been a contributor to Meriwether Lewis's condition after spending months traversing hostile Indian territory, particularly because travelers coming afterward exhibited the same symptoms.{{sfn|Stark|2014|p=247}} According to research from author Thomas Danisi, Lewis's self-inflicted gunshot wounds were not the result of murder or attempted suicide, but a combination of a severe malarial attack, a deranged state of mind, and intense pain.<ref>[https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/presentations/ap_transcripts/mwlewis A New Perspective on the Death of Meriwether Lewis transcript]</ref>

==Memorials==
[[File:Thomas Jefferson Meriwether Lewis biography.jpg|thumb|Letter from [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[Paul Allen (editor)|Paul Allen]] with a biography of Meriwether Lewis, 1813]]
Lewis was buried near his place of death in present-day [[Hohenwald, Tennessee|Hohenwald]]. His grave was located about 200 yards from [[Grinder's Stand]], alongside the [[Natchez Trace]] (that section of the 1801 Natchez Trace was built by the U.S. Army under the direction of Lewis's mentor, Thomas Jefferson, during Lewis's lifetime).

At first, the grave was unmarked. Alexander Wilson, an ornithologist and friend of Lewis who visited the grave in May 1810 during a trip to New Orleans to sell his drawings, wrote that he gave the innkeeper Robert Griner money to erect a fence around the grave to protect it from animals.<ref>''The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson'', Clark Hunter, (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society 1983) 358–367.</ref>

The State of Tennessee erected a monument over Lewis's grave in 1848. Lemuel Kirby, a stonemason from [[Columbia, Tennessee|Columbia]], Tennessee, chose the design of a broken column, commonly used at the time to symbolize a life cut short.<ref>"Report of the Lewis Monumental Commission" ''Messages of the Governors of Tennessee'', 1845–1847, ed. R.H. White, vol. 4 (Nashville: Tennessee Historical Commission 1952), 383–387.</ref>

An iron fence erected around the base of the monument was partially dismantled during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] by Confederate detachments under General [[John Bell Hood]] marching from Shiloh toward Franklin; they forged the iron into horseshoes.<ref>J.B. Killebrew, ''Resources of Tennessee'' (1874).</ref>

A September 1905 article in ''Everybody's Magazine'' called attention to Lewis's abandoned and overgrown grave.<ref>''Everybody's Magazine, John Swain, September 1905.''</ref> A county road worker, Teen Cothran, initiated opening a road to the cemetery. A local Tennessee Meriwether Lewis Monument Committee was soon formed to push for restoring Lewis's gravesite. In 1925, in response to the committee's work, President [[Calvin Coolidge]] designated Lewis's grave as the fifth National Monument in the South.

In 2009, the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation organized a commemoration for Lewis in conjunction with their 41st annual meeting from October 3–7, 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.tennesseeanytime.org/node/2414|title=First National Memorial Service for Meriwether Lewis – Commemorates 200th Anniversary of Lewis's Death|date=August 20, 2009|website=TennesseeAnytime.org|publisher=Tennessee News and Information|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823102023/http://news.tennesseeanytime.org/node/2414|archive-date=August 23, 2009|access-date=October 18, 2010}}</ref> It included the first national memorial service at his gravesite. On October 7, 2009, near the 200th anniversary of Lewis's death, about 2,500 people (National Park Service estimate) from more than 25 states gathered at his grave to acknowledge Lewis's life and achievements. Speakers included William Clark's descendant Peyton "Bud" Clark, Lewis's collateral descendants Howell Bowen and Tom McSwain, and Stephanie Ambrose Tubbs (daughter of [[Stephen Ambrose]], who wrote ''[[Undaunted Courage]]'', an award-winning book about the Lewis and Clark Expedition). A bronze bust of Lewis was dedicated at the Natchez Trace Parkway for a planned visitor center at the gravesite. The District of Columbia and governors of 20 states associated with the Lewis and Clark Trail sent flags flown over state capital buildings to be carried to Lewis's grave by residents of the states, acknowledging the significance of Lewis's contribution to the creation of their states.<ref name="We Proceeded On">"We Proceeded On", Journal of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Vol. 36, No. 1, February 2010.</ref>

The 2009 ceremony at Lewis's grave was the final bicentennial event honoring the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Re-enactors from the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial participated, and official attendees included representatives from Jefferson's Monticello. Lewis and Clark descendants and family members, along with representatives of St. Louis Lodge #1, past presidents of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, and the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]], carried wreaths and led a formal procession to Lewis's grave. Samples of plants that Lewis discovered on the expedition were brought from the Trail states and laid on his grave. The [[101st Airborne Division|101st Airborne]] Infantry Band and its Army chaplain represented the U.S. Army. The National Park Service announced that it would rehabilitate the site.<ref name="We Proceeded On" />

==Legacy==
{{more citations needed section|date=October 2018}}
[[File:"(Meriwether) Lewis in Indian Dress (Shoshone)." (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|"(Meriwether) Lewis in Indian Dress (Shoshone)," published in 1816]]
For many years, Lewis's legacy was overlooked, inaccurately assessed, and somewhat tarnished by his alleged suicide.<ref name="Ambrose" /> Yet his contributions to science, the exploration of the Western U.S., and the lore of great world explorers, are considered incalculable.<ref name="Ambrose" />

Four years after Lewis's death, [[Thomas Jefferson]] wrote:
<blockquote>"Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness & perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction, careful as a father of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance of order & discipline, intimate with the Indian character, customs & principles, habituated to the hunting life, guarded by exact observation of the vegetables & animals of his own country, against losing time in the description of objects already possessed, honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves, with all these qualifications as if selected and implanted by nature in one body, for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him.<ref>Jackson, ''Letters,'' Vol II, p. 493</ref></blockquote>

Jefferson wrote that Lewis had a "luminous and discriminating intellect". William Clark's first son [[Meriwether Lewis Clark, Sr.|Meriwether Lewis Clark]] was named after Lewis; the senior Meriwether Clark passed the name on to his son, [[Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr.]]

[[File:Lewis and Clark 1954 Issue-3c.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Lewis and Clark, 1954 issue]]
Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant (de facto co-captain and posthumously, officially promoted to captain in advance of the bicentennial) William Clark commanded the [[Lewis and Clark|Corps of Discovery]] to map the course of the Missouri River to its source and the Pacific Northwest overland and water routes to and from the mouth of the Columbia River. They were honored with a 3-cent stamp on July 24, 1954, on the 150th anniversary. The 1803 Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States. Lewis and Clark described and sketched its flora and fauna and described the native inhabitants they encountered before returning to St. Louis in 1806.<ref>Piazza, Daniel,"Lewis & Clark Expedition Issue", Arago: people, postage & the post, National Postal Museum. Viewed March 22, 2014.</ref>

===Coins===
[[File:1904 Lewis and Clark dollar obverse.jpg|thumb|Lewis depicted on the 1904–05 commemorative [[Lewis and Clark Exposition dollar]]]]
Both Lewis and Clark appear on the gold [[Lewis and Clark Exposition dollar]]s minted for the [[Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition]]. Among the [[early United States commemorative coins]], they were produced in 1904 and 1905 and survived in relatively small numbers.

===Postage stamps===
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was celebrated on May 14, 2004, the 200th anniversary of its outset, by depicting the two on a hilltop outlook: two companion 37-cent [[USPS]] stamps showed portraits of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. A special 32-page booklet accompanied the issue in eleven cities along the route taken by the Corps of Discovery. An image of the stamp can be found on Arago online at the link in the footnote.<ref>"Bicentennial Lewis & Clark Expedition Issue", Arago: people, postage & the post, National Postal Museum online, viewed April 28, 2014. An image of the stamp can be seen at Arago.si.edu, [http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=172055&img=1&pg=1 37c Lewis and Clark on Hill stamp]</ref>

===Flora and fauna===
The plant genus ''[[Lewisia]]'' (family [[Portulacaceae]]), popular in [[rock garden]]s and which includes the bitterroot (''[[Lewisia rediviva]]''), the state flower of Montana, is named after Lewis, as is [[Lewis's woodpecker]] (''Melanerpes lewis'') and a subspecies of the [[cutthroat trout]], the [[westslope cutthroat trout]] (''Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi''). Also named after him in 1999, is ''[[Lewisiopsis|Lewisiopsis tweedyi]]'' which is a flowering plant and sole species in genus ''Lewisiopsis'' (in the family [[Montiaceae]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=''Lewisiopsis tweedyi'' (A. Gray) Govaerts GRIN-Global |url=https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=460459 |website=npgsweb.ars-grin.gov |access-date=21 June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nyffeler|first1=R|first2=U|last2=Eggli|first3=RM|last3=Ogburn|first4=EJ|last4=Edwards|year=2008|title=Variations on a theme: repeated evolution of succulent life forms in the Portulacineae|journal=Haseltonia|volume=14|pages=26–36|doi=10.2985/1070-0048-14.1.26|s2cid=85776997|url=https://www.brown.edu/Research/Edwards_Lab/reprints/nyffeler_etal_hasel08.pdf}}</ref>
In 2004, the American elm cultivar [[Ulmus americana 'Lewis & Clark'|''Ulmus americana'' 'Lewis & Clark']] (selling name {{tdes|Prairie Expedition|caps}}) was released by [[North Dakota State University]] Research Foundation in commemoration of the Lewis & Clark expedition's bicentenary;<ref>{{cite web | title=Ulmus americana 'Lewis & Clark' PRAIRIE EXPEDITION | website=Plant Finder | url=https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=437881 | access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref> the tree has a resistance to [[Dutch elm disease]].
{{botanist|Lewis}}

===Geographic names===
Geographic names that honor him include:
* [[Lewis County, Kentucky]]
* [[Lewis County, Tennessee]]
* [[Lewis County, Missouri]]
* [[Lewis County, Idaho]]
* [[Lewis County, Washington]]
* [[Lewisburg, Tennessee]]
* [[Lewiston, Idaho]]
* The U.S. Army fort [[Fort Lewis (Washington)|Fort Lewis]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], the home of the US Army 1st Corps (I Corps)
* [[Lewis and Clark County, Montana]], the home of the capital city, [[Helena, Montana|Helena]]
* [[Lewis and Clark Pass (Montana)]]
* [[Lewis and Clark National Forest]]
* [[Lewistown, Montana]]
* The [[Lewis Range]] of Montana's [[Glacier National Park (U.S.)|Glacier National Park]]
* Lewis Avenue in [[Billings, Montana]]
* [[Gates of the Mountains Wilderness]], a day-use campground north of Helena, Montana's Meriwether Picnic site
* [[Lewis and Clark Caverns]], a cave between Three Forks and Whitehall, Montana
* [[Seaside, Oregon]] has numerous landmarks, museums, and a "Lewis and Clark Avenue" devoted to both of the explorers. This small city is also known as the end of their journey to the Pacific Coast.
[[Fort Clatsop]] was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805–1806. Located along the Lewis and Clark River at the north end of the Clatsop Plains approximately 5 miles (8.0&nbsp;km) southwest of Astoria, the fort was the last encampment of the Corps of Discovery, before embarking on their return trip east to St. Louis.
* [[Lewis and Clark State Park (North Dakota)|Lewis and Clark State Park]], a state park located in [[Williams County, North Dakota]] near [[Williston, North Dakota|Williston]] which is a part of the [[North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department]] system.

===Vessels===
Three [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] vessels have been named in honor of Lewis: the [[Liberty ship]] [[SS Meriwether Lewis|SS ''Meriwether Lewis'']], the Polaris armed [[nuclear submarine]] [[USS Lewis and Clark (SSBN-644)|USS ''Lewis and Clark'']] and the supply ship [[USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE-1)|USNS ''Lewis and Clark'']].

===Academic institutions===
* [[Lewis & Clark College]], Portland, Oregon
* [[Lewis-Clark State College]], Lewiston, Idaho
* [[Lewis and Clark Community College]], Godfrey, Illinois. The campus lies about 11 miles upstream from the Corps of Discovery's departure point.
* [[Lewis and Clark High School]], Spokane, Washington
* Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, [[Albemarle County, Virginia]] was named for Meriwether Lewis, who was born nearby. The school board voted to rename the school in early 2023, despite 85% of community members voting to retain the name.<ref>{{cite web |title=Meriwether Lewis Elementary Renamed|url=https://dailyprogress.com/eedition/page-a01/page_3df33e9c-ff78-5526-8377-cdbceb2955fe.html|access-date=14 January 2023 |location=Chatlottesville, Virginia |language=en}}</ref>
* Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, Portland, Oregon
* Lewis and Clark Elementary School, Missoula, Montana<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Lewis and Clark Elementary School |url=https://www.mcpsmt.org/domain/1837 |website=www.mcpsmt.org |access-date=7 January 2023 |location=Missoula, Montana |language=en}}</ref>

===Popular culture===
* Meriwether Lewis's relationship with [[Thomas Jefferson]]; Lewis's multiple expeditions, journals, and discoveries; and details surrounding Lewis's death play major roles in [[James Rollins]]' seventh [[Sigma Force]] novel, ''The Devil Colony''.
* The mystery surrounding Meriwether Lewis's death played a role in the 2016 book, ''[[The Secret History of Twin Peaks]]'', by author [[Mark Frost]] and in the 1998 novel by Malcolm Shuman, ''The Meriwether Murder''.
* In 2013, on the "[[Nashville]]" episode of the [[Comedy Central]] series ''[[Drunk History]]'', [[Alie Ward]] and [[Georgia Hardstark]] retold the story of Lewis and Clark's expedition and Lewis's death, with [[Tony Hale]] portraying Lewis and [[Taran Killam]] as Clark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/lh1ta6/drunk-history-the-scopes-monkey-trial|title=Comedy Central: Drunk History: Clip}}</ref>
* In 2015, [[Link Neal]] alongside long-time collaborator [[Rhett McLaughlin]], portrayed Meriwether Lewis and [[William Clark]] respectively in the popular web series ''[[Epic Rap Battles of History]]'' as part of the Season 4 episode "Lewis and Clark vs Bill and Ted".

===Halls of fame===
In 1965, he was inducted into the [[Hall of Great Westerners]] of the [[National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Hall of Great Westerners|url=https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/hall-of-great-westerners/|website=National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum|access-date=November 22, 2019}}</ref>

==Descendants==
The [[Lewis Arquette|Arquette acting family]] claims to be descended from Meriwether Lewis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-feb-13-me-24843-story.html |title=Lewis Arquette Obituary |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=1986-07-10 |access-date=2016-03-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/15769/Medium_Cool |title='Medium' Cool |access-date=June 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601041932/http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/15769/Medium_Cool/ |archive-date=June 1, 2012}}</ref> Meriwether Lewis never married or had any children, but he has numerous collateral descendants via his siblings.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Descendants of Meriwether Lewis Launch 'Solve the Mystery' Web Site {{!}} History News Network |url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/89814 |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=historynewsnetwork.org|date=June 4, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Families trace Lewis and Clark links |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3077140 |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=NBC News |date=May 12, 2003 |language=en}}</ref> As of 2004 there were around 774 documented collateral descendants of Lewis.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Genealogist tracks down Lewis and Clark descendants |url=https://products.kitsapsun.com/archive/2004/03-22/430354_genealogist_tracks_down_lewis_a.html |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=products.kitsapsun.com}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of unsolved deaths]]
* [[Seaman (dog)]]
* [[Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Lewis, Meriwether|noicon=1}}
* {{cite journal|last=Cutright|first=P. R.|date=March 1986|title=Rest, Rest, Perturbed Spirit|journal=We Proceeded On|location=Portland|publisher=Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation|volume=12|issue=1|pages=7–17|issn=0275-6706}}
* {{cite book|last1=Danisi|first1=T. C.|last2=Jackson|first2=J. C.|date=2009|title=Meriwether Lewis|location=New York|publisher=[[Prometheus Books]]|isbn=9781591027027}}
* {{cite book|last=Ambrose|first=Stephen E.|date=1996|title=Undaunted Courage|location=New York|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|isbn=9780684811079|url=https://archive.org/details/undauntedcourag000ambr}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Guice|editor-first=J. D. W.|date=2006|title=By His Own Hand?: The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis|location=Norman|publisher=[[OU Press]]|isbn=9780806137803}}
* {{cite book|last=Fisher|first=V.|date=1962|title=Suicide or Murder?: The Strange Death of Governor Meriwether Lewis|location=Denver|publisher=A. Swallow|isbn=9780804006163}}
* {{cite book|last=Stark|first=P.|date=2014|title=Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire|location=New York|publisher=Harper Collins|page=247|isbn=9780062218292}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Thwaites|editor-first=R. G.|editor-link=Reuben Gold Thwaites|date=1904|title=Original Journals of Lewis and Clark|url=https://archive.org/details/originaljournals12lewi|location=New York|publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company|oclc=70430802}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal|last=Abrams|first=Rochonne|title=The Colonial Childhood of Meriwether Lewis|journal=Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society|volume=34|date=July 1978|pages=218–227}}
* {{cite journal|last=Abrams|first=Rochonne|title=Meriwether Lewis: Two Years with Jefferson, the Mentor|journal=Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society|volume=36|date=October 1979|pages=3–18}}
* {{cite journal|last=Abrams|first=Rochonne|title=Meriwether Lewis: The Logistical Imagination|journal=Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society|volume=36|date=July 1980|pages=228–240}}
* {{cite book|last=Stroud|first=Patricia Tyson|title=Bitterroot: The Life and Death of Meriwether Lewis|date=2018|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9780812249842|location=Philadelphia}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://www.nps.gov/lecl/learn/historyculture/meriwether-lewis.htm Meriwether Lewis at nps.gov]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100307212650/http://www.history.com/topics/meriwether-lewis Meriwether Lewis] on [[The History Channel]]
* [http://www.c-span.org/video/?163696-1/writings-lewis-clark "Writings of Lewis and Clark"] from [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[American Writers: A Journey Through History]]''
* {{Gutenberg author|id=2733|name=Meriwether Lewis}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Meriwether Lewis|sopt=t}}
* {{Librivox author|id=1383}}
* [[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.clark|Lewis and Clark Expedition Maps and Receipt]]. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

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{{succession box|before=[[James Wilkinson]]|title=[[List of Governors of Missouri|Governor of Louisiana Territory]]|years=1807–1809|after=[[Benjamin Howard (Missouri politician)|Benjamin Howard]]}}
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{{American frontier}}
{{Governors of Missouri}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Meriwether}}
[[Category:Lewis and Clark Expedition people]]
[[Category:18th-century American explorers]]
[[Category:19th-century American naturalists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Virginia]]
[[Category:Governors of Louisiana Territory]]
[[Category:American Freemasons]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:American people of Welsh descent]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in Tennessee]]
[[Category:Explorers of Montana]]
[[Category:Explorers of Oregon]]
[[Category:History of Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Lewis family|Meriwether]]
[[Category:Military aides to the president of the United States]]
[[Category:Multiple gunshot suicides]]
[[Category:People from Ivy, Virginia]]
[[Category:Personal secretaries to the president of the United States]]
[[Category:United States Army officers]]
[[Category:Unsolved deaths in Tennessee]]
[[Category:1774 births]]
[[Category:1809 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American explorers]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]